Des: dubbing and subtitling the true-crime series
The project
Services:
Dubbing and Subtitling
Languages:
German, French, Castilian Spanish and Japanese
Des is a British true-crime drama depicting the killings of boys and men by Dennis Nilsen, the infamous Scottish serial killer. The chilling three-part series depicts Nilsen’s 1983 arrest following the unearthing of human remains close to his home, after a five-year reign of terror on the streets of London. David Tennant was praised for his convincing transformation into Nilsen and his portrayal of the sadistic murderer when the drama first aired on TV back in September. He scooped the Favourite Actor accolade at the 2020 TV Times Awards, and Des was nominated for Best Miniseries at the C21 International Drama Awards in the same year.
VSI was contacted by STARZ, who requested dubbed and subtitled versions of the three 60-minute English episodes of Des. The target languages were German, French, Castilian Spanish and Japanese, and the project was assigned a fast turnaround for all languages.
Our approach
Prior to receiving the final materials from the client, VSI planned each step of the production process, assigning accredited and vetted subtitlers, actors and directors to the project. The workflow was coordinated by staff at our facility in Los Angeles, but included a combined effort from our teams in Berlin, Paris, Barcelona and Tokyo.
The dubbing and subtitling work for Des went smoothly and without any challenges. Our teams worked together, despite the distance, maintaining regular communication. To ensure consistency in all four languages, creative decisions were shared and adapted to each territory, producing a united viewer experience across the target audiences.
