Films for Training or Education

Why? Film is by far the most effective medium for people to learn. It is infinitely more powerful than books or lectures. You need look no further than the success of Hollywood and the same industry in other countries to see why. Having long recognised the enormous need for production of films for both Training AND Education with Arabic Soundtrack or Subtitles, Middle East Training has always strived to increase availability. How? As film production standards are so high in, and such a huge range of films is already available from, English-speaking countries, translation of existing films is nearly always prefered to shooting a new film. The cost of producing a film to these standards starts at US$ 4,000 per minute, and can be many times that amount if the film involves drama and a large cast is involved. The choice between Soundtrack or Subtitles in Arabic is not a difficult one to make in view of the big difference in costs. Training films for business skills can usually benefit from the economy of subtitles for educated adult audiences, but films for vocational training, as well as for education, usually must have an Arabic soundtrack as many viewers may not be sufficiently educated to read subtitles and/or follow the film itself simultaneously.

Who?
Middle East Training produces more Arabic versions than any other company in the world. We enjoy full confidence of the vast majority of the world's leading producers, who make available to us the elements of production which are vital to producing a final product which equals the high quality of the original English-only film.

Which?
One thing we have learned over many years is that we cannot anticipate which films our customers will decide are the highest priority for them. Therefore those which already exist in Arabic have already been voted both suitable and of high priority by your peers.

When?
What we can do is subsidise production costs to some extent, to encourage more Employers and Governments to create what their people desperately need to learn. Progress has been tragically slow and we have seen the gap widening every year between developed countries and developing ones. Developed countries have been making enormous use of these materials in both education and training for generations, and continue to do so, whilst developing countries in Arabia have yet to make any significant use of them at all.
Every year the gap in education and work performance between "developed" and "developing" increases substantially. Sending people to USA, UK etc., for college or training courses will never be enough to close the gap. Only effective Education and Training in-country will ever succeed in closing the gap.

Where?
Almost every classroom and training room in the world's leading economies has a television in it. Almost every school in Arabia has just ONE television, usually kept in the Principal's office!

What cost?
The subsidised cost of providing Arabic Soundtrack for suitable films is UAE Dirhams 1000 per film plus Dirhams 75 per voice, per minute of running time. The cost of providing Arabic Subtitles on-screen is usually much lower, particularly for dramatised films involving a large cast of actors, at Dirhams 1000 per film, plus Dirhams 50 per minute of running time. If we ALREADY HAVE production elements of a film, the cost for subtitling is only Dirhams 50 per minute. A 20-minute film therefore costs only Dirhams 1000 to subtitle, and if the purchase price for the English film is greater than the subtitling cost by Dirhams 500 or more - we will absorb total costs of subtitling! You get it FREE.

Normal production time is 6 weeks.

Although video cassette is the normal method of delivery, films can also be digitised for delivery on Video CD, DVD or via broadband LAN, WAN or Intranet. Our Training Advisers are qualified to advise on availability and suitability of materials for translation. Please contact them with enquiries.