Description

In this module, we’ll be working with the YouTube Caption editor. We’ll upload a short sample video, and learn to the basics for working with the caption editor.

To prepare for this module, you’ll first need to do the following:

1. Create a YouTube account if you don’t have one already. Go to www.youtube.com and register. Hint – if you already have a gmail account, you can use it to set up your YouTube “channel”.
2. Download the sample video file ‘SproutIdeasCamp2014.mp4’ from Vimeo here.

Go to the youtube site - www.youtube.com and sIgn in with your account. Select “My Channel”, one of the options in the index on the left side of the web page. Any current videos can be found on this page.

3. Look for the Upload button on the top right side of the web page. When prompted, select SproutIdeasCamp2014.mp4* and upload it.

You’ll see an option to make your video pubic to everyone, have it be unlisted, or keep it private where you can send invitations to anyone you’d like to view the video. For the purposes of this video, select private as there is currently a copy of the video on YouTube.

4. Click on the “Select files to upload” button once you’ve selected “Private”. As the file size of this video is quite small, processing time shouldn’t take more than a few minutes at most.

5. When your video is finished, click on the ‘Video Manager’ button at the bottom right side of your screen. This will take you to your currently uploaded videos and provide you with various tools, including the YouTube caption editor.

6. Select the Edit drop-down button next to your video. Select the ‘Subtitles and CC’ menu item.

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You’re now in the YouTube Caption Editor.

8. Click on the “Add new subtitles or CC” dropdown button, and choose “Create new subtitles or CC”

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9. You’re now set up to add captions and adjust timing.

It’s a good idea to watch the video without initially attempting to caption it, as this will provide you with a better understanding of what the video is about, instead of experiencing the video as a series of constant and fragmented pauses as you work through each and every caption.

When you begin to caption, play ahead for a short stretch of time, to become aware of how close together each caption is.

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Getting the First Few Captions Down

The first caption of your video deals with background music. You’ll want to do the following:

1. Set the video to the point right at the moment the music starts

2. Enter the caption “[Music plays throughout]” in the edit box on the right side.

3. Press the return key to generate a new caption.

You’ll see a caption box appear under the video. With your mouse, you can adjust the start and end times.

4. Play the video a little longer but before the first person speaks and then drag the right side of the caption box to that location.

5. Test the start and end times by dragging the player controller back to the point before the caption first appears.

6. Make any necessary adjustments but dragging the left or right side of the caption box.

7. Alternately, you can click on the timecode in the caption edit box.

In this instance, the timecode is set up as minutes:seconds.tenths of a second.

8. Once you’re satisfied, you’ll want to continue to add captions.

The next caption contains dialog and requires a second line.

You may have noticed that generate a new line in a caption takes something more than pressing the returnkey, as the returnkey is how you generate the caption. The keyboard shortcut for a new line in a caption is ‘Shift+Control”.

In this instance, line 1 contains the line “The 2014 Sprout Ideas Camp” and line 2 finishes with “is a program”.

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A few tips about how to go about captioning.

1) Always remember to save your work. The “Save” button is at the bottom right of the screen.

2) Once finished, click on the “Publish” button to add your captions to the video.

3) Invite a friend to “proof” your project and learn about what you may have missed.

4) You can always edit your captions. Just reselect the video in the “Video Manager” and choose the caption option.

You can now share your video with others according to privacy setting you selected. This can be changed at any time.

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Caption Work Flow

Some captioners transcribe and create timecode as they go, generating the caption, managing the parsing, and setting the timecode. Others prefer to transcribe the video without timecoding. Once the transcription is finished, the text can be broken into captions and added at the appropriate times.

Wrapping Up

The Youtube caption editor works best for short projects that don’t contain a lot of dialog or run more than 4 - 6 minutes in length. For longer projects or if you are looking for an edit tool that provides you with better timecode manipulation, you’ll want to consider purchasing an offine caption editor. The following editors provide Mac and Windows versions:

Camtasia - www.techsmith.com

Movie Captioner - www.synchrimedia.com

Annotation Edit - www.zeitanker.com

Another online caption environment that is far more robust than YouTube’s editor is Amara - www.amara.org

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Task

Post a link to your captioned YouTube video here, ensuring that the "Is this for an assignment?" dropdown is set to the name of this lesson.

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