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Captioning Digital Multimedia
Geoff FreedCarl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center
for Accessible Media (NCAM)WGBH Educational Foundation
http://ncam.wgbh.org
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What to expect
Part I: Brief history; current state Part II: How it’s done
— editors— style
speed; convenience; quality Part III: What’s next
— formats— standards— recommendations— regulations
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3About NCAM
Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at the WGBH Educational Foundation (NCAM); at the WGBH Educational Foundation (NCAM); http://ncam.wgbh.org
Part of the Part of the Media Access Group The Caption Center (1972)The Caption Center (1972)Descriptive Video Service (1990)Descriptive Video Service (1990)NCAM (1991)NCAM (1991)
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4About NCAM
R&D facility with the mission to make electronic media of all types accessible R&D facility with the mission to make electronic media of all types accessible
to people with sensory impairmentsto people with sensory impairments Work funded by federal grants, private foundations and strategic partners Work funded by federal grants, private foundations and strategic partners
large and smalllarge and small Expertise in on-line accessibility of all kinds (Web, multimedia, PDF, Expertise in on-line accessibility of all kinds (Web, multimedia, PDF,
captioning, description, etc.)captioning, description, etc.) Expertise in standards and guidelines (Section 508, WCAG, SMIL, ATSC, Expertise in standards and guidelines (Section 508, WCAG, SMIL, ATSC,
SMPTE, TTML, PDF, Flash, e-books/textbooks, image description, etc.)SMPTE, TTML, PDF, Flash, e-books/textbooks, image description, etc.)
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Part I:General Information
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What are captions?
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What are captions?
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What are captions?
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What are captions?
A visual representation of spoken narration or dialogue Indicate important non-speech information:
— sound effects, music, laughter— speaker identification
Synchronized to appear simultaneously with audio Displayed in either pop-on or roll-up styles In some countries, captions are called subtitles
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What are captions?
Captions and foreign-language subtitles are not the same thing— captions contain information in addition to narration and dialog;
subtitles do not— captions are frequently positioned on the screen to indicate who is
speaking; subtitles are not
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What are captions?
Captions can be closed or open:— closed captions can be turned on and off by the user— open captions are visible to everyone and cannot be turned off
QuickTime Player, iTunes, Apple mobile devices, RealPlayer, Flash, Silverlight and Windows Media Player all provide caption controls
— some are custom, some are not HTML5 introduces browser playback and control
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What about transcripts?
A transcript provides a text version of the audio track— a transcript is useful for creating captions— a transcript is a by-product of the captioning process
Transcripts should be considered a supplement to, not a replacement for, synchronized captions
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Captions can be displayed by allmajor multimedia players
QuickTime (embedded or external track/QTtext format)
below the video regionbelow the video region translucent overlaytranslucent overlay transparent overlaytransparent overlay
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Captions can be displayed by allmajor multimedia players QuickTime or iTunes (embedded track/SCC)
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Apple devices: iTunes
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Apple devices: iTunes
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RealPlayer (external track; RealText)
Captions can be displayed by allmajor multimedia players
below the video regionbelow the video region transparent overlaytransparent overlay
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Captions can be displayed by allmajor multimedia players
Windows Media Player (external track; SAMI)
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Captions can be displayed by allmajor multimedia players
Flash (ccPlayer; TTML)
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Apple devices/SCC captions
iPod nanoiPod nanoiPhone/iPod touch/iPadiPhone/iPod touch/iPad
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Captions can be displayed by allmajor multimedia players
Some BlackBerry smartphones
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More and more on-line programming is captioned
ABC.com Hulu.com Hulu desktop MTV NBC.com Netflix Instant Play YouTube others
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On-line customization
Some players allow customized views— YouTube (no account required)— Hulu (account required to save preferences)
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Part IIa:How It’s Done/General Rules
CC University (the abbreviated course)
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Authoring captions
The most important aspect of caption writing is not…— software— technical format— delivery— UI
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Authoring captions
The most important aspect of caption writing is… accuracy— accurate transcription— accurate spelling— accurate editing— accurate formatting— accurate timing— accurate reviewing
Speed, convenience/quality
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Authoring captions
Example 1 Example 2
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Authoring captions
Most caption-authoring applications follow the same basic procedure
— transcribe audio external transcription/import is usually easier (if permitted)
— format and edit the text divide text into discrete captions divide rows within captions edit if/as necessary
— time the captions verbatim vs edited
— review; export
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Authoring captions: transcription
Accurately represent what is spoken— spelling, spelling, spelling— don’t add information— don’t edit unless there is reason to do so
reading level; special vocabulary “there’s three things…” vs “going to/gonna” fillers don’t censor
— indicate different speakers when necessary— indicate sound effects when necessary
Generally speaking, it’s faster to transcribe into a text editor and import the text into the caption editor
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Authoring captions: formatting
Make the captions easy to read— use appropriately sized fonts— use fonts that are easy to read
sans serif vs serif open characteristics
— break rows in logical places— break captions in logical places
end punctuation natural pauses
Formatting is especially important for small-screen readability
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Authoring captions: timing
Time the captions to appear when corresponding words are spoken
— lead/lag +/- one second if it is appropriate for speed— take advantage of pauses (to an extent)— align with shot changes (+/- one second) for a cleaner appearance
Verbatim timing is expected unless there is a reason to do otherwise
— language level/comprehension
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Authoring captions: timing
Timing example 1 Timing example 2
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Authoring captions: reviewing and exporting
Always review carefully— correct/edit/re-time as necessary— if a long video has been captioned by multiple authors, ensure that
everyone has followed the same style rules spelling, timing, editing, presentation conventions
Export to the appropriate target format
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Part IIb:How It’s Done/Caption Editors
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Various editors
Annotation Edit CapScribe Open CPC DIVX Gnome Subtitles Jubler MAGpie MovieCaptioner Subtitle Workshop vSync format converter SubPLY, Subtitle Horse (on-line editors; export captions in various
formats)
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(Cautiously) Using YouTube
YouTube can generate a complete caption file (transcribed and timed) for you (aka auto-caption)
— upload video; wait for caption file to be generated— download caption file, clean up and re-upload
edit with a text editor use a caption editor (required if re-timing is necessary)
— demo: not bad but still requires clean-up and correction You don’t have to do any clean-up, but… In most cases, you must correct the auto-generated file
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Other YouTube options
Upload a plain-text transcript— YouTube will generate a timed script (movie)— download caption file; correct timing; re-upload
Upload your own complete caption file (movie)— in most cases, this is the most accurate option— TTML, SRT formats; others
File-creation guidelines for YouTube caption files
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Let others write captions for you
Professional captioning agency, such as the Media Access Group at WGBH
Crowdsourcing— free labor— loss of quality control
YouTube Subtitler CaptionTube Universal Subtitles Overstream dotSUB
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Part III:What’s Next?
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New rules
21st Century Video Communications and Video Accessibility Act— programs that were originally captioned for broadcast must retain
captions when distributed over IP does not govern mobile television
— FCC now considering final rules— distribution format for captions/subtitles under consideration (or not)
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Formats
Old way— each multimedia player/device used its own text-display format
New way— all players and devices use a single non-proprietary format (e.g.,
TTML) The real way…
— no single format will be used by all devices FCC ruling on formats for IP distribution will have big impact
–VPAAC working-group recommendation is SMPTE-TT
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Formats
Existing open formats— TTML
BBC, Netflix, Flash video, others TTML community group at the W3C
— SMPTE-TT convert broadcast captions for IP delivery UltraViolet
Coming soon— WebVTT (WHAT-WG)— WebVTT (W3C)— WebVTT (W3C community group)
Prediction— no agreement on a single contribution format— TTML, SMPTE-TT and WebVTT will be the primary contribution formats
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Viewing captions the new way: Web
HTML5 makes it much easier to embed video/audio into Web pages
— <video>, <audio>; no plug-ins— <track> to identify and synchronize external caption/subtitle file(s)
currently no agreed-upon baseline format (no agreed-upon video format, for that matter)
— no public <track> support today, but soon What it might look like
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Viewing captions the new way: mobile
Apple, BlackBerry devices Mobile TV (OTA)
— ATSC M/H (A/153) supports CC carriage— some LG and RCA receivers decode captions if available— receivers also available to build into cars/buses
watch television while traveling at speeds up to 120 mph— currently no regulations mandating ATSC M/H captions
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Resources
List available at http://tinyurl.com/coa9ykk