Subtitles Archives

Gogo adds close captioning on all inflight entertainment

January 31, 2016/0 Comments/in Subtitles /by Tina Lannin

Gogo LLC announces that they have reached an agreement with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) to provide close captioning on all of their in-flight streaming content. The full release can be found at the NAD website with an excerpt below.

Deaf and hard of hearing airline passengers will soon have close captioning for on-demand in-flight entertainment videos. The National Association of the Deaf (NAD), a non-profit civil rights organization of, by, and for deaf and hard of hearing individuals, and Gogo LLC, the global leader in providing broadband connectivity solutions and wireless entertainment to the aviation industry, have reached a historic agreement for Gogo to make closed captioning available for 100 percent of programming content sourced by Gogo and streamed through its on-demand in-flight entertainment service, Gogo Vision.

This is the first agreement of its kind with an in-flight entertainment company, and is the result of the parties’ mutual intent to increase access for people who are deaf and hard of hearing to movies and television that are viewed in flight on U.S. domestic flights. Passengers using their own personal Wi-Fi enabled devices can access a Gogo Vision server located on aircraft of certain airlines that contain an extensive library of movies and television shows.

Under the agreement, Gogo has now added technology that will enable customers to have the option to display closed captions for content with closed captions sourced by Gogo; Gogo has also begun sourcing new content with closed captions where available; and Gogo will replace all of its existing sourced content with content that has closed captions through a phase-in process that will be completed by June 30, 2017. All captions will be consistent with Federal Communications Commission standards for completeness, accuracy, synchronicity, and placement.

“We are excited to work with NAD to offer Gogo Vision’s entire library of movies and TV sourced by Gogo to passengers who are deaf and hard of hearing,” said Ash ElDifrawi, Gogo’s chief commercial officer. “Watching movies on a passenger’s own device has become a very popular product for Gogo and we are excited to provide access to this product to the deaf and hard of hearing.”

Closed captioning improves YouTube viewing figures

November 17, 2015/2 Comments/in Subtitles /by Tina Lannin

Did you know over 60 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute? Wow.

How can you maximise the chances that your target audience will a) even find your video and b) watch it?

The answer: closed captioning.

A study by YouTube showed that videos with closed captioning get 4% more views than those without captions. Why is that? Because using closed captioning can improve how high up in search results Google places your video (that’s known as SEO).

Google can’t search the audio file of your videos. So, even if you have content on there that is relevant and useful to your target audience, Google won’t see it, and so won’t show it to your potential audience. That’s a real missed opportunity.

Using closed captioning can help Google find your video, recognise the keywords that describe the content, and then add it to the search results pages it produces when your potential customers ‘Google’ those keywords.

Closed captioning v auto-captioning from YouTube

YouTube does already provide an auto-captioning service that’s based on automatic speech recognition. But there are two good reasons not to use it:

1 – Because YouTube’s auto-captions are only 70% accurate, compared to close captioning’s 100% accuracy. After all the time and resources you have invested into creating a professional video, the last thing you want YouTube to do is create something incomprehensible and/or embarrassing like this:

2 – Because Google recognises that auto-captions are inaccurate and ignores them. Google and other search engines will only read files that have been uploaded to the video, like those provided through closed captioning.

Closed captioning for better rankings at home and abroad

Closed captioning isn’t just available in English. Our translation team can provide captions in over 80 different languages. That enables both international and non-native speakers to access your videos. And, just as with closed captioning in English, relevant search engines will read and index the captions. That can prove a big boost to your SEO, as there is less competition for keyword ranking in languages other than English.

Use transcripts to make your viewing figures even better

At the same time as sourcing closed captioning of your video it makes sense to create an accurate transcript of the film. Add it into the ‘description’ field for your video and you’ll help Google to find it, read it and show it to your potential customers.

To find out more about our subtitling services, contact us.

Offline captioning services

July 26, 2015/0 Comments/in Subtitles /by Tina Lannin

Offline captioning services: An explanation.

It’s always been a conversation stopper over the past 20-odd years – “What do I do? I’m a subtitler.” Unless the person is in the professional broadcast or video business, people go away thinking I’m a foreign language translator or a sign language interpreter. I provide offline captioning services.

Multiply that confusion by a thousand, trying to persuade the public to make their online videos accessible. There’s a vague desire to have what is spoken turned into words on screen, but no idea how they would materialise in practice.

Closed captioning or creating subtitles is the process of adding text to a video, to make it accessible to deaf, hard of hearing, or non-native language viewers. Subtitles can be a direct translation of what is heard or a translation of the spoken language.

Creating the subtitles

The subtitles are carefully worked out by the subtitler so that:

The words are in synch with the speech.
Subtitles are on screen for enough time for the viewer to watch the subtitles as well as follow what’s going on visually.
Split into easy-to-follow, grammatically cohesive subtitles.
Line endings are, where possible, at natural points to aid reading.
Placed at a point on screen not to obscure onscreen graphics or a speaker’s lips.
Accents and tone of voice are sensitively represented.
All names, places and registered trademarks are researched and accurate.
The subtitles are often carefully timed to come in and out exactly with the shot changes and avoid a lot of short spaces between the subtitles, which lead to a “flashing” effect and can be tiring on the eyes.

Subtitling formats

When subtitling an online video, consider the following;

Access

How will the subtitled video be accessed by viewers? Will it be accessed via YouTube, Vimeo or other public online platforms? Will it be hosted on an organisation’s intranet? If so, will it be embedded from YouTube etc, or uploaded to the organisation’s own platform? Will you want to transfer the actual video file to specific people? Would you want to burn it to DVD?

There are upwards of 20 subtitle file formats currently in use, so it’s very important to let the subtitle provider know how you want the subtitled video to be accessed, so they can provide you with a compatible subtitle file format. Some platforms use formats where the coding for subtitle positioning or colours isn’t carried over.

Open or closed captions

Do you want subtitles that are there all the time or subtitles that are turned on and off? If you need a video file with permanent subtitles, it’s also possible, if working with mainstream amateur video editing / conversion software, to save costs by using the professional subtitle file to “burn” subtitles into your own video.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Would it be useful to make the entire spoken content of your online video searchable, rather than rely on keywords? By uploading a subtitle file to a YouTube video, the entire spoken content of the video is now “visible” to Google and other search engines, and each word or phrase is searchable. You don’t need to rely on keywords.

How much do offline captioning services cost?

Depending on what you decide, they all entail different offline captioning services and hence costs.

These range from supplying a professional format subtitle file with words and timecodes embedded (the quickest and cheapest way) to using the subtitle file to “burn in” the subtitles permanently to a copy of the video in post-production or video editing software. And if you need professional quality video with burnt-in subtitles, you may need a post-production video professional as well as a subtitler.

The most convenient and cost-effective way of providing you with a deaf-accessible video is to upload the video to YouTube along with a professional subtitle file to provide “closed caption” subtitles. This can be set to unlisted or private, if you want to choose who views the video. You can then just email the link and the viewer can choose to turn the subtitles on or off, if needed.

Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing (SDH)

Definition

A subtitle file for the deaf and hard of hearing is a list of separate subtitles, each reflecting what is being said on the screen. Each subtitle is embedded with timecoded cues for when the subtitle begins and ends, corresponding to the video’s timecode.

How are SDH different from offline captioning services?

With subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, it is clear who’s speaking. This can be done with speakers being identified in different colours or the subtitles being placed appropriately on the screen.

All relevant non-spoken sounds are labelled with sound effects. For example, during a horror film, you might have the subtitle “suspenseful music” which gives additional information to the deaf viewer.

Send us your video for offline captioning services

Most video files are too large to be emailed, and need to be transferred to us via Dropbox, WeTransfer, or similar software. Alternatively, we can subtitle your YouTube video direct from your YouTube channel. We can advise you.

What we need to know before quoting for offline captioning services

Do you want a subtitle file to upload to the online video to provide closed captions? If so, what platform is being used and / or what format subtitle file do you require? We can subtitle any video format.

Do you want a video file with open captions (burnt-in subtitles)? What video format and what quality do you require? Can you use a subtitle file in conjunction with your own video editing software to burn the subtitles and make the job cheaper? If so, what format subtitle file is compatible?

When is your deadline? Do you require a 24 hour turnaround?

Does the video have a spoken English soundtrack? We sometimes get requests to add subtitles to videos which only have sign language and no audio track. We can translate and subtitle these videos for you. What languages do you require your subtitles to be in? We can subtitle your videos in over 80 languages.

Contact us for your closed captioning needs

The Hobbit: SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

June 14, 2015/0 Comments/in Subtitles /by Tina Lannin

What are SDH subtitles?

SDH subtitles are not always seen by TV viewers in the UK; we often get cheaper poor quality respeaking using Dragon voice recognition software. SDH subtitles were recently shown on a British TV channel’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – this was worth a viewing not just for the enhanced cinematography, but for the amazing quality of the subtitles themselves, causing a storm on social media. SDH subtitles are subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing are a transcription – they are subtitles in the same language as the spoken dialogue, with added information for those who cannot hear the environmental sounds or lyrics. Such subtitling gives fuller access to the film for deaf and hard of hearing viewers, those who cannot understand the spoken dialogue, or have problems understanding the accents.

The highest standards of SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing will have very close synchronisation of audio and subtitles, with the subtitles showing in different colours for different speakers. This film’s deaf viewers certainly got a wowser of an experience!

The production budget for this movie was $250,000,000 and to add subtitles would not have cost very much at all, less than 0.001% of the overall budget. We believe that subtitles (or closed captions) should be budgeted for from the very start for each movie, and should not be an afterthought or omission. Sir Peter Jackson, the film’s producer, has shown that it can be done.

Feedback from deaf and hard of hearing viewers

Well done Sir Peter Jackson. You did a sterling job for 360 million deaf and hard of hearing viewers around the world by ensuring your movie was subtitled properly. We very much enjoyed the subtitling experience and we want more of this! We are very pleased that ITV broadcasted the subtitle track as it was meant to be.

Ahhh – now we have an expert subtitler doing The Hobbit – on ITV – so much you miss at the cinema…. and via DVD – LOVING the add ons… I’m in heaven now. Different colours are working… grammatically correct, background noises are given.. who did this? Thought it was amazing – got so much more than I got from either the cinema or the DVD – that subtitler needs a medal for giving us access to “hidden noises” and umms and ahhs and screams…. it was like you were actually experiencing it in real life – finally! – Viewer

I’m watching it too.. Very good!! – Viewer

I did, really enjoyed it – subtitles were great. – Viewer

Were great x – Viewer

I enjoyed it alot.. it gave me all the sounds effects which sometimes gets missed out – Viewer

I tried watching it before without subtitles but had to give up. Tried again last night and finally got to enjoy it because of the subtitles. – Viewer

Brilliant subtitles – Viewer

I saw all three films at IMAX and for all its wondrous Hi-Fidelity I could hardly understand any of the dialogue – thankfully I read the books as a lad so knew what was going on mostly.
Had to buy the BluRay discs to get the subtitles to really enjoy it.
ITV deserve little praise for the subtitles for the Hobbit – they were supervised and coded by Peter Jackson himself – All ITV had to do was transmit them as provided on the film subtitle track.
What is apparent is how much we all enjoy programmes that meet these high standards.
We should call for this same high standard on EVERY pre-recorded content and work hard to get Live programming to match the best in class.
Automatic transcribing is not good enough – its lazy with a ‘We don’t care’ attitude – it’s all about the numbers we say we subtitle.
Not Good Enough broadcasters!
Could it be time for IBA to levy fines for under-performance? – Martyn Butler

Giving feedback on great SDH subtitling for deaf viewers

Do let this film’s producer Sir Peter Jackson and ITV know what you think of their SDH subtitles. It’s always nice to receive praise for a job done well. We loved these subtitles and we hope to see more of such outstanding quality.

Director of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Sir Peter Jackson (Facebook page)
viewerservices@itv.com
Twitter @itvpresscentre @ITV
Facebook

121 Captions SDH subtitles services

Subtitling for you in any video format, in over 80 languages, 24 hour turnaround

Find out more about SDH subtitles or contact us

Bravo Bravissimo for your subtitles!

May 31, 2015/0 Comments/in Subtitles /by Tina Lannin

This auto captioning is definitely making us cross eyed

Where are the subtitles?

The ladies on the 121 Captions team are fans of Bravissimo, a British bra company. We were disappointed to discover their online video explaining how a bra should fit properly had poor subtitles.

When you upload a video to YouTube, and select the YouTube subtitling option, this generates automatic captions which are infamously poor and inaccurate. We had a good laugh at the errors and shared this with Bravissimo. We reminded them there are 360 million deaf people worldwide who would benefit from captioned videos, half of them being their potential customers.

YouTube’s auto captioning on Bravissimo’s bra fit video

What happened next?

Selecting closed captions on YouTube

To their enormous credit, Bravissimo responded straight away. They apologised, investigated and reinstated the correct subtitles on the same day.

The new subtitles are correct and professionally edited. Well done, Bravissimo!

We wish all suppliers were so responsive and cared so much about their customer experience. They have certainly gained a lot more fans.

Now that Bravissimo’s video is correctly subtitled, their customer base should increase even more.

To view the professional closed captions, click the CC button then choose “English (United Kingdom)”.

If you choose “English (auto-generated)”, these are the poor automatic subtitles which all deaf viewers know and love!

Check out the re-subtitled Bravissimo bra fit video below with professional closed captions. Isn’t it fabulous?

Subtitles add value to your videos, not just access

Did you know that adding professional captions to your YouTube videos will increase your channel views?

Check out this graph which outlines the value of adding captions.

You can add either closed captions (viewers can switch on and off) or open captions (permanently visible).

If you have videos on YouTube, Vimeo, or your staff intranet that need subtitles added, contact us about our professional video subtitling service on bookings@121captions.com

How subtitles are made for TV

April 11, 2015/0 Comments/in Subtitles /by Tina Lannin

This video explains how subtitles or closed captions are made for TV.

Interview with Ofcom: Subtitles on television

September 21, 2014/0 Comments/in Subtitles /by Tina Lannin

Ofcom talk about subtitles on television

DURATION: 11:28

Are you interested in the quality of subtitles on television in the UK? See Hear speak to Peter Bourton of Ofcom about the regulation of subtitled and signed television in the UK, as well as a new consultation about signed television services.

To find out more about subtitles for your pre-recorded TV program or video, contact us at bookings@121captions.com

On-demand access to subtitling services

December 26, 2013/0 Comments/in Subtitles /by Tina Lannin

Availability of broadcast subtitling services

Subtitling services have never been so bad. It seems that everywhere you look, the quality is poor.

Keep an eye out on the area of ATVOD – legislation may be on its way in a few years time for subtitling services / off-line captions.

Broadcasting: Sensory Impairment

Question

Asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to improve the availability of access services to on-demand broadcasting content for people with sensory loss.[HL3794]

Lord Gardiner of Kimble (Con): As noted in the Government’s Connectivity, Content and Consumers: Britain’s digital platform for growth strategy paper published in July, the Government has committed to work with Ofcom and The Authority for Television

17 Dec 2013 : Column WA173

On-Demand (ATVoD) over the next three years to look at how the amount of Subtitles and Audio Description (AD) available via non-linear network providers can be improved. Progress will be monitored via ATVOD’s annual survey of its members, that also assess their efforts made on this issue.

The Minister for Communications will be writing to Peter Johnson CEO of ATVoD to let them know that he will be monitoring responses to the 2013 ATVoD survey to review what progress is being made to make online (non-linear) TV and Catch-Up and On-Demand services more accessible to disabled and older consumers. If it is clear that progress isn’t being made in three years’ time – a reasonable timeframe in our view – we will consider legislation.

Source ATVOD

To find out more about our subtitling services, contact us.

Movie captions: it’s not illegal to use 10 fingers

June 2, 2013/in Subtitles /by Tina Lannin