Subtitles

MoBetta wrote on 7/1/2002, 3:16 PM
I am currently working on a documentary project and will be using subtitles for Spanish talkingheads. I've been sampled the Text Generator in V.V. 3.0 and the results are OK. I browsed the forum for past messages and not much information was available.

Does anyone have any tips to pass along on producing killer subtitles!!!!!!

MoBetta

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 7/1/2002, 3:29 PM
Play around with the text generator some more ;)

What more do you want that it doesn't do? Just as a word of advice, fancier text isn't very helpful if you have a lot that you want people to actually read.
Tanjy wrote on 7/1/2002, 3:47 PM
I did a project recently with lots of subtitles that had to be in perfect sync.

1. First mark the parts where there's a new sentence. You can do this quickly by just playing your clip in the timeline and hitting M.

2. Go back to the first marked point and create your first subtitle using the Text Generator. I like mine plain white, sans serif with a slightly feathered drop shadow. This will be your template for the others.

3. Now from the timeline just copy and paste this text clip a whole bunch of times to the subsequent markers by CTRL-dragging it. Don't do too many at once. Now edit the text of each generated text clip, replaying often. I usually have the whole text file all typed up in Notepad in the background so I can just copy and paste each line without having to retype anything.

4. Try to do subtitles as the last thing, after you've done all your other edits. Otherwise they will start swimming around and going out of sync. That can be a real mess.

Replay often to check the syncing and save often.

If anyone has a quicker or more efficient way I'm all ears.


Tanjy wrote on 7/1/2002, 3:57 PM
I agree. Keep the titles as simple as possible. Otherwise it looks cheesy and amateurish. The content of the video should speak for itself, unless you're doing a video that focuses on words or use of the alphabet, like those read along shows on TV.