Movie title

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under film title (disambiguation) .

The movie title is next to the movie poster of one of the most important marketing factors in the film exploitation . A distinction must be made between the original title of a film in its original language and the country-specific or international distribution title of a film, which can differ significantly from the original title. In addition, it can happen that a film is listed under several alternative reference titles , for example if a film was withdrawn from the market due to censorship requirements or for reworking and is later re-released with a different title. Films that have already been published are also occasionally released under a new title for TV broadcasting and video distribution. During the production phase there is often a temporary title, the so-called working title .

Translation strategies

Translation strategies of movie titles

Title identity
→ Keep the original title	Pulp Fiction → Pulp Fiction Dirty Dancing → Dirty Dancing
Title analogy
→ Literally translated titles	The Great Dictator → The great dictator Prizzi’s Honor → The honor of the Prizzis
Title variation
→ modification	Picnic at Hanging Rock → Picnic on Valentine's Day Hard Target → Hard Targets
→ reduction	Hero and the Terror → Hero Up at the villa → Die Villa
→ extension	The Swarm → The Deadly Swarm Bowfinger → Bowfingers big number
Title innovation
→ Newly formulated titles	Above the law → Nico Impromptu → In love with Chopin
Hybrid forms
→ Simple title	Everyone Says I Love You → Everyone says: I love you
→ Title structure	DOA → DOA - On Arrival Murder Night Game → Final Game - The Killer Claw

Traditionally, a German film title was chosen for German distribution (e.g.  Star Wars , 1977). In addition to pure translation ( title analogy ), reinterpretations of the film title were also widespread at this time ( title innovation ), e.g. B.  The Invisible Third ( North by Northwest , 1959). From the 1980s onwards, the original title was sometimes provided with a German addition or subtitle ( tagline ) (e.g.  Beverly Hills Cop - I solve the case in any case , 1984), or the German translation was added to the original title (e.g. B.  La Boum - The Fete , 1980). In addition to these hybrid forms , the strategy of title variation is also common, in which the film title is modified, but still has a structural similarity to the original title. Smaller modifications such as plural formations or individual word changes, reductions and extensions are possible (see table).

The reasons for the significant deviations of the German rental title from the original title are partly difficult or impossible to transfer phrases (e.g.  Jaws  → Der Jaws , 1975) or puns (e.g.  Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels  → Bube, Dame, König, grAS , 1998). Usually, the German film names should also be particularly effective in advertising (e.g.  Lethal Weapon  → Lethal Weapon - Zwei stahlharte Profis , 1987) or, in the case of comedies , sound particularly funny (e.g.  Help!  → Hi-Hi-Hilfe! , 1965 or Airplane!  → The unbelievable journey in a crazy airplane , 1980).

In recent years, however, there has been a growing trend towards untranslated (English) original titles (title identity ). The share in Germany is now over 50%. In this way, the recognition effect is guaranteed in the global film market , which is highly competitive due to the changed consumer culture of films. The prerequisite for the retention of the original English titles is the high attractiveness of English (see also Americanization ) as well as an improvement in English skills in the relevant cultural areas . In 1961, 22%, in 1979 41% and in 1989 already 58% of German citizens said they spoke English. The spread of computers and the Internet in recent years can be expected to further improve general English skills.

Overall, the development in Germany shown in the table results for the translation strategies mentioned. The strong trends of the rising share of title identity and the falling share of title analogy are particularly evident .

Development of translation strategies in Germany

	1930s	1940s	1950s	1960s	1970s	1980s	1990s	2000s
Title identity	(10%)	10.5%	08.5%	15.1%	17.7%	28.2%	42.7%	56.5%
Title innovation	(25%)	39.5%	30.5%	38.7%	38.3%	31.1%	24.0%	21.7%
Title analogy	(50%)	28.9%	35.4%	22.7%	22.5%	15.3%	11.9%	04.3%
Title variation	(15%)	13.2%	19.5%	16.8%	15.8%	14.6%	11.9%	13.0%
Hybrid forms	-	07.9%	06.1%	06.7%	05.7%	10.8%	09.6%	04.3%

Phraseologisms

In not a few cases , film titles are phraseologisms , as they, like film titles, are or must be concise and meaningful and arouse the interest of the recipient . The sequence of linguistic units of meaning (phraseologism), which has grown into a fixed form, can be divided into different classes with regard to film titles, which are explained below using examples.

When creating a model , expressions are “formed according to a [fixed] structural scheme”. This can be used, for example, to relate to previous films, for example The Fast and the Furious  (2001) and 2 Fast 2 Furious  (2003). With the twin formula "words of the same part of speech  [...] are combined with a conjunction or a preposition to form a paired formula", for example in Side by Side  (1998) or Mr. & Mrs. Smith  (2005). Twin formulas are particularly short and concise and are therefore well suited as film titles. The group of comparative phraseologism , "a fixed comparison that often serves to reinforce a verb or adjective, " is also widespread . A subject to which a comparison is made is not absolutely necessary, for example in Wie ein Wilder Stier  (1980) or Scharf wie Chili  (2005). For the special identification of films, proper names are often used, such as Roter Drache  (2002) or Der rote Kakadu  (2006). Winged words are also commonly used as movie titles, for example ... Because They Don't Know What They Do  (1955), a quote taken from the Bible . Modifications are also conceivable in order to anticipate content-related elements from the film. The film A Duke Seldom Comes Alone  (2005) is based on the adage “An accident seldom comes alone”. In this way it is suggested that the Duke will also suffer a misfortune. Something similar can be  deduced from the film titles So Close To Heaven  (1995) and So Far From Heaven (2002).

literature

• Andreas Schreitmüller : Film title. MakS, Münster 1994, ISBN 3-88811-557-4 .
• Regina Bouchehri: Film title in intercultural transfer. Publishing house for scientific literature, Berlin 2008. ISBN 978-3-86596-180-8 .
• Noëlle Rouxel-Cubberly: Les titres de film. Economie et évolution du titre de film français depuis 1968. Michel Houdiard, Paris 2011, ISBN 978-2-35692-062-1 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ James zu Hüningen: working title. In: Lexicon of film terms. Hans J. Wulff and Theo Bender, accessed March 11, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Bouchehri: film title in intercultural transfer . 2008, p. 85 ( limited preview in the Google book search - partly adapted according to the source situation, taking into account the German film title).
3. ^ Frank Preuß: Film title in German for advanced learners. derwesten.de , August 7, 2009, accessed on March 11, 2014 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Bouchehri: movie title in cross-cultural transfer . 2008, p. 66 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Bouchehri: Film title in intercultural transfer . 2008, p. 89 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
6. ^ Schreitmüller: film title . 1994. p. 328.
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Kathrin Nehm, Tim Fischer: Phraseologisms as a film title. April 2006, accessed March 12, 2014 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Harald Burger: Phraseology. An introduction using the example of German . 2nd, revised edition. Berlin 2003, Erich Schmidt Verlag. P. 44f.