It is more of a norm these days that video content has to have subtitles. To order to reach a wider audience, videos and similar media has to have subtitles. Language barrier in this way is removed and there is an improved level of engagement. Multilingual subtitling comes especially handy while reaching a broad global audience.
However, creating the best of subtitles involves a lot of hard work and synchronization with the media content itself. Not many in actuality go on to produce high-quality subtitles. For a video content creator, it becomes extremely important to understand how subtitles get created. A subtle difference always lies between subtitles and captions. Once the difference between subtitling and captions become clear to the creator, video creation becomes much easier.
So What Indeed Are Captions?
To put it in short;
- Captions are exact transcriptions of the video’s audio content. This may not be in-sync with that action on the screen.
- Captions are particularly helpful to people with hearing problems or rather deaf.
- Captions are placed as white texts on black bars.
- These are normally placed at the bottom of the screen.
- Captions can be turned on and off in accordance with need.
Now to Understand Subtitles;
- The main intentions of subtitles are to give the viewers a real-time depiction of the happenings on the cinema screen.
- Subtitles are intended for people who don’t speak the language spoken on screen.
- Subtitles do not cover other sounds heard on screen.
As mentioned before, multilingual subtitling simply adds value to the video irrespective of the end-user audience’s location. An interesting study shows subtitles also help users to increase their English language proficiency. Subtitles are usually added at the post-production stage. Overall the benefits of subtitles are;
- Helping the video reach a wider audience
- Grow the overall engagement of the audience
- An increase in accessibility
- The video has better chances to rank high in search rankings.
- Videos with subtitles also clock longer viewing times amongst the audience.
Subtitles just can’t be written straightaway but has to have some quality to it. A creator has to keep in mind; subtitling provides information without being in any way inaccurate or distracting. An expert subtitle maker knows how to pace the subtitles syncing with that of the video’s presentation. If for any reason a creator overlooks this vital part, the results might be disastrous. The timing of the subtitles is not just when the text appears but also when it disappears. Shorter well-crafted subtitles can carry the same information as longer ones. The substitute words if chosen carefully will beautifully carry the meaning of the dialogues.
Subtitles in videos are a must to reach a wider audience across the globe. However, careful execution and knowledge become absolutely important for the creator to create the video content’s necessary impact. There’s also a difference between caption and subtitles that needs to be understood.
