Adding subtitles - how long does it take

mark-woollard wrote on 10/17/2007, 10:05 AM
In the past, I've outsourced the work of adding CC to a documentary video for tape distribution. Now I want to add subtitles to a DVD. It's a 20-minute documentary with fairly constant talking heads/narration.

I would outsource the creation of a transcript - cost about $70.

If I were to import that text file into DVD-A how long might it take me to synch the subtitles?

Thanks
Mark

Comments

MPM wrote on 10/18/2007, 9:01 AM
To be perfectly honest, I think it's more a matter of how fast and skilled you are than anything else... That said, I'd think the transcription & syncing done at the same time would be the way to go.

There are programs available, many free, just for that, where you type the dialog as you hear it. Only instead of just typing a transcript you're entering the text where/when it occurs. It might be more work I suppose, but not enough to break into separate tasks.

While DVDA is the best I've found for working with and syncing subs, it's strength is in syncing &/or restoring sync for the complete sub track. You Do Not want to try syncing every sub event there. Use the specialty programs, and when you've got it right, import into DVDA & *IF nec* fine tune.
Sol M. wrote on 10/19/2007, 6:58 PM
Actually, I think Vegas is one of the best tools for the job when it comes to subtitling. I've subtitled feature-length projects, and it couldn't have been simpler.

What makes it so great is Vegas' regions. You simply play through the video and add regions wherever subtitles should appear. Once done, you've got perfectly timed and easily adjustable subtitle segments.

To add text to these regions, you have a couple options (which option is ideal will depend on your workflow):

1) Manual: Basically, manually type in the text into each region (as the region's label). You could first create all of your regions and then go back to the beginning and work on adding the text, however, I prefer to add text to each region as they are created. This way, I get to focus on each region before moving on to the next, and when I reach the end, I'm done!

2) Automatic: This method requires a text file with the same number of paragraphs as there are regions on the timeline (i.e. 5 regions = 5 paragraphs of text). Using the free scripted linked below, you can automatically add the text from each paragraph to the respective region on the timeline. This method is especially useful if you are getting your video transcribed and are provided with a text file (hint, hint).

The final step is getting the regions exported from the Vegas timeline into a text file that can be imported in DVD-A as subtitles. The tool for that job is a great little free script by Vasst called SubText which can be found at the following link:
Vasst SubText

As previously mentioned, SubText offers the ability to import a text file as text for regions as well as export regions to a properly formatted file for importing into DVD-A as subtitles.

While there are specialty tools for the job, I wouldn't personally use any other after using this workflow. It's faster and more precise in my experience.
MPM wrote on 10/21/2007, 9:20 AM
I'm actually glad to hear of another way to do it -- the more possibilities the better chance more folks will. :?P

The only thing I might suggest adding to your workflow, as an option for those who might find it useful, is to get the text into Subtitle Workshop or similar before importing into DVDA. It can check and handle things like sub width (# of char) & timing durations that might be useful, kind of like using the grammar checker in your word processing software just to make sure you didn't miss something.