There are a variety of ways you can make digital media more accessible. Animated films can get dubbed into another language by recording different voice actors. A subtitle can go a long way.
Foreign films can maintain the integrity of their original language, but feature subtitles so others can read along.
Using subtitles expands an audience immediately. It provides accessibility to those who speak other languages.
Ready to use subtitles to get your video content out to the whole world?
What is a subtitle?
How to create subtitles
The best way to begin, when it comes to adding subtitles, is to have a transcript of the video. A transcript is a complete write-up of all the dialogue from the video. It doesn’t break it out by scene but is a great reference when trying to accurately insert subtitles. It’s also easier to translate from a single document rather than trying to watch the video and translate on the fly.
Once the new text is ready, you have three options when it comes to adding subtitles:
- Insert them yourself by typing each subtitle and locking it to a specific time code
- Hire a service that handles transcription, translation, and subtitling to manage the project for you
- Use software to automatically create subtitles
Each option has its pros and cons. Inserting them yourself is very time-consuming. Hiring a service could mean an unexpected expense. Using software to auto-generate subtitles has a direct impact on accuracy. These programs are often less than 75 percent accurate. To decide which option is right for you will most likely mean looking at your video content on a case-by-case basis.
When to use subtitles
Subtitles have a very distinct purpose, they bring clarity to your footage in a way that can greatly expand your audience. They allow you to take your video, recorded in one language, and make it accessible to those in other countries. Subtitles can appear in any language, giving your content unlimited potential.
For many video production professionals, subtitles are the only way to go when translating a live-action foreign film. Dubbing is okay in animation since the way character mouths move isn’t necessarily true to the exact words they’re saying in the first place.
However, dubbing live-action means the words will never really line up with mouth movements. It’s distracting. Reading subtitles in your native language, of actors speaking in their native language, lets you enjoy what’s happening on screen without missing a beat. Yes, you have to look down to the bottom of the TV for a few seconds to read the dialogue, but you still get to watch the entire movie.
Enhancing comprehension, improving access
Subtitles are yet another dynamic element you can add to your next video production project, and ECG Productions can help. We provide a variety of methods for integrating subtitles into your video content, with options to change up fonts, backgrounds, and more. Our services can accommodate a wide range of languages, including:
- Albanian
- Arabic
- Bengali
- Bosnian
- Bulgarian
- Chinese
- Croatian
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- English
- Estonian
- Filipino
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hungarian
- Icelandic
- Indian
- Indonesian
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Luxembourgish
- Malay
- Nepali
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Portugese
- Romanian
- Russian
- Serbian
- Slovak
- Somali
- Spanish
- Swahili
- Swedish
- Thai
- Turkish
- Ukranian
- Urdu
- Vietnamese
Let us help you create subtitles to expand the reach of your next video project. It’s just one of the many services we offer at ECG. To learn more, contact our talented team today.