Helping Audiences Engage with Your Media
We know that each project will have one or sometimes multiple commercial objectives as well as potential legislative requirements to consider. For each of our media subtitling solutions, we set out below a brief explanatory guide to make sure you choose the right media-to-text solution to suit your needs. Feel free to call or email to discuss your needs if you are unsure what service is best for your business. We are here to help!
Verbatim transcript of dialogue and conversation with timecoding
Useful for:
> Film, TV and media production companies who have their own in-house captioning teams
> Film, TV and media production companies who wish to review or submit content prior to broadcast
A post-production transcript is a typed version of the audio content of a media file which is transcribed for subtitling (or captioning) purposes. It also contains some non-verbal information such as sighs, yawns, laughs etc.
Optional onscreen text for accessible viewing
Useful for:
> Television, film or media programmes that require compliance with broadcast legislation
> Subtitling for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH)
> Online learning programmes (where switch-on option is enabled).
> Multimedia videos, including YouTube video subtitling, for better search engine ranking, increased accessibility and engagement (where switch-on option is enabled).
Widely referred to as subtitling, closed captions are those which can be opted into by the viewer, usually at the press of a button. Whilst subtitling simply provides an onscreen text version of the dialogue, closed captioning provides additional or interpretive information for a viewer, such as musical cues or background sounds to provide context, or the addition of a speaker’s name if they are off-screen at the time the dialogue is spoken. It is similar to open captioning, however, closed captions can be turned off.
Open captioning is the onscreen text that you cannot switch on or off so the text is permanently built into the media file. It is ideal for increasing accessibility and engagement for videos on social media and other online platforms or to ensure that the occasional use of a foreign language is permanently translated as part of the media file, or for instance, to set a date or location for the viewer.
Useful for:
> Multimedia videos (including YouTube subtitling, Facebook and Instagram Video subtitling etc.) to increase accessibility, engagement and reach
> Permanent translation of any dialogue in foreign languages
> Embedding of a place name or date in a TV programme or film to orientate viewer
Open captioning is the onscreen text that you cannot switch on or off so the text is permanently built into the media file. It is ideal for increasing accessibility and engagement for videos on social media and other online platforms or to ensure that the occasional use of a foreign language is permanently translated as part of the media file, or for instance, to set a date or location for the viewer.
Optional onscreen text to complement existing audio on a media file
Useful for:
> An additional service for Television, Film or Media Programming where the viewer may not be hard of hearing or who may be partially hard of hearing who can primarily hear the dialogue, sounds and soundtrack but does not want to miss any dialogue
> For those who are learning to read or for whom English is their second language to increase exposure and understanding of the English language
> Online Learning Programmes when you want to reinforce the message
Subtitling is closed captioning with less detail. Subtitling is simply the onscreen text version of the dialogue and contains no additional or contextual information. This is useful in situations where the original audio is preserved, but viewers can understand the dialogue and still hear the soundtrack as it was intended. It is also useful for translating parts of a media file that are spoken in a different language.
