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Subtitles: where to place them?
Thread poster: Pedro Álvares
Pedro Álvares
Pedro Álvares  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 19:11
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Feb 14, 2022

Hello,

I'm working on a project that includes subtitling a video. My initial intuition, as well as the guidelines I received from the customer, was that subtitles should appear exactly when the voice of the narrator begins and disappear when it ends.

However, after having worked on it for a while, my impression is that a caption is better placed a few miliseconds after the voice begins and should disappear a few miliseconds (if not a full second) after it ends. I feel ... See more
Hello,

I'm working on a project that includes subtitling a video. My initial intuition, as well as the guidelines I received from the customer, was that subtitles should appear exactly when the voice of the narrator begins and disappear when it ends.

However, after having worked on it for a while, my impression is that a caption is better placed a few miliseconds after the voice begins and should disappear a few miliseconds (if not a full second) after it ends. I feel this allows the necessary time for the viewer to realise she is hearing a voice, deciding she will read the caption and actually turn to reading the caption on the bottom of the screen. It takes her longer to extract the meaning of what she hears than would someone who understands what is being said.

For context, the video is a demonstration of an activity that is narrated by a voice off screen. The voice is describing what is being seen with a steady, unhurried rhythm. This means there are no constraints in where and when to place the subtitle, as it happens when a movie or a dialogue scene is the case.

I was wondering if anyone had any insight that could approve/disapprove my impression.

Thank you in advance. ▲ Collapse
 
Tony Bennjamin
Tony Bennjamin  Identity Verified
Indonesia
Local time: 00:11
Member (2013)
Indonesian to English
+ ...
Hard-subbed video. Feb 15, 2022

Hi, does the client means by hard-subbed video?
 
Jan Truper
Jan Truper  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 19:11
Member (2016)
English to German
Netflix timing guidelines Feb 15, 2022

Here you find Netflix' timing guidelines, which you can apply for your scenario as well:

https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/360051554394

Pedro Álvares
 
Pedro Álvares
Pedro Álvares  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 19:11
English to Portuguese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
No Feb 15, 2022

Tony Bennjamin wrote:

Hi, does the client means by hard-subbed video?


Hi, Tony. I don't think the video is hard-subbed, if I understand what you mean.
 
Juan Jacob
Juan Jacob  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 11:11
French to Spanish
+ ...
No... Feb 17, 2022

...subtitle must indeed apear exactly when the actor speaks.
And yes: let few miliseconds (if no other subtitle just after), why not a second? New softwares with sound waves stricly put Time In and Time Out when actor speakes and stop speaking. That Time Out, in my opinion, is very frustrating. Subtitling is a time issue... if you have some time more, use it.

Pedro Álvares
 


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Subtitles: where to place them?







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