Description

Caption style is about the readability of captions as they are presented to the viewer. The act of reading captions is a bit like speed reading. You get used to it after a while, but you don’t get to manage how fast it goes. The video does that for you. Captions may initially feel faster than you’d like, but over time you get used to the caption rate. As you might imagine, in a TV show like Gilmore Girls or a Woody Allen movie where the the dialog is rapid fire, the captions will go quickly. So how you write your captions, where you parse or break your caption lines, will matter a lot in terms of caption clarity.

In the early days of captioning, caption writers were told to limit the number of characters in their captions to approximately 120 words per minute. Since we often speak faster than that, anywhere from 140 to 170 words per minute and more, caption writers sometimes had to edit down their captions. This resulted in changed and missing words, which also meant that in many cases the original meaning of what was being said was modified.

Deaf and hard of hearing caption viewers complained and as a result, the norm for captioning is to create verbatim captions. Caption writers may not change, modify, or otherwise edit what someone is saying.

Novice captioners tend to dump large amounts of text into a caption, without regard for where each caption line, or caption, ends. This kind of captioning will make the caption experience close to unreadable.

In the following two clip images, notice the the long and uneven captions.

Also, notice the number of words per line. Also, notice that the first word of the second caption is the last word of the sentence.

Watch the first, unwieldy video.

The next two clip images are re-written for readability. Caption lines are parsed at grammatically logical break points and the number of words and characters per line are also significantly shorter.

Watch the second video as it is re-written for readability.

Discussion: Comparing the two sets of captions

Share your impressions of each caption example with the course mentor and learners who are currently taking this course.

Join the discussion here.

A List of 5 Style Considerations

1. Be Error Free

Make sure you proof your captions and aim for accuracy. Ideally, find a partner who can proof your work. Captioning is labour-intensive. If you’re the captioner, you’re too close to the content to properly proof your work.

2. Be Consistent

Keep your captions consistent in style and presentation. A set of short caption lines followed by long caption lines forces caption reader to make constant adjustments for reading speed.

3. Cover All Essential Aspects of the Audio

Complete textual representation of audio, including speaker identification where needed and non-word utterances, background sounds, and music.

4. Stay in Sync

Align the start and end of captions with the audio.

5. Don’t change words.

Create a verbatim transcript. Don’t leave words out or make changes. Don’t edit the dialog.

A list of 6 basic rules for caption writing

1. Lines and length

Ideally, keep to 2 lines of text, and try not to go beyond 32 chars per line, though if needed, 38 characters is the upper limit*

Avoid creating longer character line lengths. Should the user decide to increase the caption text size in YouTube, captions with longer lines will end up covering the entire screen.

2. Where Should Text Appear?

Ideally, captions would be placed next to speakers or sounds as is the convention in broadcast captioning. YouTube’s caption editor currently places captions at the bottom centre of the video.

Since captions shouldn’t clash with titles and text, if you have production control over the video, be sure to reserve the bottom 1/4 of the screen.

3. Do not break a modifier from the word it modifies

Incorrect:

Mark pushed his red

bicycle up the hill.

Correct:

Mark pushed

his black truck up the hill.

Incorrect:

Donald hide behind

the couch.

Correct:

Donald hide

behind the couch.

Incorrect:

Charles and Jean

Aucoin went on a date.

Correct:

Charles and Jean Aucoin

went on a date.

4. Don’t break lines after a conjunction

Incorrect:

Our visitors arrived, and

gathered around the table.

Correct:

Our visitors arrived

and gathered around the table.

5. Do not break an auxiliary verb from the word it modifies.

Incorrect:

My teacher said I could

have done better work.

Correct:

My teacher said

I could have done better work.

6. Never end a sentence and begin a new sentence on the same line

Incorrect:

caption 1

He suspected that his face

turned pale. He knew he

caption 2

wouldn’t be able to speak

if spoken to. Running toward

caption 3

the void, he halted…

Correct:

He suspected that his face

turned pale.

He knew he wouldn’t be able

to speak if spoken to.

Running toward the void,

he halted.

7. Identify speakers and background sounds with square brackets

Incorrect:

(Upbeat music throughout video)

Correct:

[Upbeat music throughout video]

Discussion: Your questions about 5 Style Considerations and 7 Basic Rules

Post your questions to the Discussion Forum about the Style Considerations and 7 Basic Rules.

Join the discussion here.

Exercise: creating well parsed captions

Look at the dialog in the following transcript Your assignment is to break the text into a series of short and well formed captions, keeping in mind the caption style considerations and the 6 basic rules for caption writing.

Transcript for video: Taking It Global for Educators Introduction

[music plays throughout]

[woman] Sometimes the world's problems can seem really overwhelming.

After all, faced with global challenges like these, what can one person really do?

Well, you're not alone.

As a teacher, you have the ability to empower your students to shape a better world, and TIGed can help.

We support teachers worldwide in using technology to facilitate transformative, global learning experiences.

Visit our site to access free education resources that make it easy to bring diverse perspectives and world issues into your classroom.

Take an e-course to learn how to design global learning journeys that support curriculum objectives and develop 21st century skills.

Get involved in international learning projects and connect online with classes around the world to address the issues that matter most to you and your students.

By using TIGed to connect with and learn about the world, your students will become global citizens who are strong cross-cultural communicators, technologically savvy and informed about issues that matter.

Students will be empowered to understand and act on the world's greatest challenges and be better equipped to succeed in today's global knowledge based economy.

With TIGed, you and your students can make a difference.

Visit tiged.org today to start taking your classroom global.

[music fades out]

Now that you’ve finished the parsing exercise, please watch the actual video.

TakingITGlobal for Educators Introduction

The captions used in the video are listed below. You can use this to review your work. As no two set of captions are alike, compare your parsing decisions with that of the captions below to compare approaches.

Clip 1

[music plays throughout]

--------

Clip 2

[woman] Sometimes the world's problems

can seem really overwhelming.

--------

Clip 3

After all,

faced with global challenges like these,

--------

Clip 4

what can one person really do?

--------

Clip 5

Well, you're not alone.

--------

Clip 6

As a teacher, you have the ability

to empower your students

--------

Clip 7

to shape a better world,

and TIGed can help.

--------

Clip 8

We support teachers worldwide

in using technology

--------

Clip 9

to facilitate transformative,

global learning experiences.

--------

Clip 10

Visit our site

to access free education resources

--------

Clip 11

that make it easy

to bring diverse perspectives

--------

Clip 12

and world issues

into your classroom.

--------

Clip 13

Take an e-course to learn how

to design global learning journeys

--------

Clip 14

that support curriculum objectives

and develop 21st century skills.

--------

Clip 15

Get involved

in international learning projects

--------

Clip 16

and connect online

with classes around the world

--------

Clip 17

to address the issues that matter most

to you and your students.

--------

Clip 18

By using TIGed to connect with

and learn about the world,

--------

Clip 19

your students

will become global citizens

--------

Clip 20

who are strong

cross-cultural communicators,

--------

Clip 21

technologically savvy

and informed about issues that matter.

--------

Clip 22

Students will be empowered

to understand and act

--------

Clip 23

on the world's greatest challenges

and be better equipped to succeed

--------

Clip 24

in today's global knowledge based

economy.

--------

Clip 25

With TIGed, you and your students

can make a difference.

--------

Clip 26

Visit tiged.org today

to start taking your classroom global.

--------

Clip 27

[music fades out]

————

Discussion Question: How did your captions compare with those in the video?

Use the online discussion forum ask any questions that come up during this exercise, and share your experiences with your mentor as well as other learners.

Join the discussion here, ensuring that the "Is this for an assignment?" dropdown is set to the name of this lesson.

Continue to Module 4 - Using the YouTube Caption Editor »