The Carrot: More than 35,000,000 people in the U.S. alone report some degree of hearing loss which could make it impossible for them to follow the soundtrack of a video without captions. Many people who do hear have cognitive challenges that make it hard for them to assimilate information presented audibly. Also, some of your students will be non-native speakers of English and captions will make it much easier for them to comprehend your presentations. Finally, captioning makes allows viewers to search your videos for keywords, allowing them to pinpoint sequences of interest within the complete video.
The Stick: Quite simply, it's the law. All faculty, whether they teach online or oncampus, are required to meet the State and Federal requirements for ensuring accessibility of all course offerings. All courses must be accessible regardless of whether or not a disabled student is currently enrolled. This means that all videos must be captioned and all audio materials must be accompanied by a transcript.
Captions have been around since the earliest days of film, and throughout this time they have been largely taken for granted by the public at large. Many people are surprised to learn of the complexity and variety of captioning concerns and techniques, especially with the recent proliferation of digital media formats on the World Wide Web. However, there is some reason and purpose behind the scenes that makes it all easy to deal with, once you understand the basics.
The process of captioning consists of two stages: the first, transcription of the soundtrack into a text file, is by far the most time-consuming. Think of this as the written script of the soundtrack of the video. Once this is accomplished, insertion of the text captions into the video in sync with the video action is relatively quick and simple. This second syncing process is what allows the text to be displayed at the correct time interval of the video, so that the audio is played at the same time that the text gets displayed.
Captions vs. Subtitles
They both look similar to the casual observer, but there are some important differences between captions and subtitles. Traditionally there were established rules regarding the use and formatting of captioning and subtitles, but with the advent of digital media much control was lost over the use and techniques of the two technologies. Originally, subtitles were intended to simply provide translation for speakers of other languages, and captions were intended to provide all of the relevant audio information in textual form for native speakers who couldn’t hear.
Visually, captions are different from subtitles because captions always have a dark background, while subtitles are just white text with no background. There is a more important difference between captions and subtitles than the way they appear onscreen: subtitles are usually a translation of the spoken dialogue, while captions are always in the native dialogue being spoken onscreen, and captions also include other sound events besides dialogue.
Today you can find examples of captions being used as subtitles and vice versa, but whether they be subtitles or captions is ultimately moot, as long as they are providing an equivalent experience for those individuals who are unable to hear the content.
Formatting Concerns
In general, it is advised that you format captions according to the following principles:
Use two lines
Left-align the two lines
Try to keep less than 32 characters per line
Use a sans serif font such as Helvetica, Arial, etc.
Use both upper- and lower-case letters
Transcribe dialogue word for word, but avoid nonsense syllables such as “uh” and “err.”
It is also important to pay attention to how your lines break. You should always try to stick to the following principles:
Keep modifiers with the word they modify
Keep prepositional phrases together
Keep a person’s name and title together
Break lines before a conjunction
Keep auxiliary verbs with the word it modifies
Break captions at the end of a sentence
When a sentence is broken into two or more lines of captions, it should be broken at a logical point where speech normally pauses unless it would exceed the 32-characters-per-line requirement.
1. Do not break a modifier from the word it modifies. Example:
INAPPROPRIATE
APPROPRIATE
Mark pushed his black truck.
Mark pushed
his black truck.
2. Do not break a prepositional phrase. Example:
INAPPROPRIATE
APPROPRIATE
Mary scampered under
the table.
Mary scampered
under the table.
3. Do not break a person’s name nor a title from the name with which it is associated. Examples:
INAPPROPRIATE
APPROPRIATE
Bob and Susan
Smythe are at the movies.
Suzy and Professor
Barker are here.
Bob and Susan Smythe
are at the movies.
Suzy and Professor Barker
are here.
4. Do not break a line after a conjunction. Example:
INAPPROPRIATE
APPROPRIATE
In seconds she arrived, and
he ordered a drink.
In seconds she arrived,
and he ordered a drink.
5. Do not break an auxiliary verb from the word it modifies. Example:
INAPPROPRIATE
APPROPRIATE
Mom said I could
have gone to the movies.
Mom said I could have gone
to the movies.
6. Never end a sentence and begin a new sentence on the same line unless they are short, related sentences containing one or two words. Example:
INAPPROPRIATE
APPROPRIATE
He suspected that his face
turned pale. He knew he
wouldn’t be able to speak
if spoken to. Running toward
the void, he halted…
He suspected that his face
turned pale.
He knew he wouldn’t be able
to speak if spoken to.
Running toward the void,
he halted…
Examples courtesy of Captioned Media Program's Captioning Key for Educational Media.
Presentation Rate
The timing of captions will depend somewhat on the speaker who is onscreen, but in general, the following principles should be observed:
Allow for a minimum of 1.5 seconds duration for each 32 characters of text.
Allow a minimum of two seconds duration to display the last 32 characters of text before blanking or moving captions.
Do not display any one caption for less than one full second.
The maximum presentation rate should be three seconds duration for each 32 characters of text.
Italics
Italics are used in captions to indicate off-screen dialogue, such as from the following sources:
Voice-over reading by a narrator
Off-screen dialogue
Dreaming, thinking, etc.
Background audio: PA system, stereo, television, etc.
Foreign words
Emphasis
Graphic courtesy DCMP's Captioning Key.
Sound Effects
Sound effects should be captioned as well when they add meaning to the content or are important for any reason. When including sounds in your captions, follow these principles:
Include all important sounds
Use description (in brackets) and onomatopoeia (the sounds an animal makes, like “Meow” or “Moo”)
Italicize if off-screen
Lowercase
Sustained sounds use present participle (-ing)
Be as precise as possible
Graphic courtesy DCMP's Captioning Key.
Music
It is important to include music information in your captions, especially when it directly supports the visual content, or adds important information that the characters will respond to. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when dealing with music in your captions:
Use descriptions that indicate mood.
Caption lyrics verbatim, including the name of vocalist or group and song title in brackets.
Place musical notes around lyrics, and separate with a space.
When no lyrics are available, or you can’t use them, provide a description.
When to Caption and Not
Here is a simple summary of when to caption and when not.
Caption: If the material has video and audio and will be archived for a course or used repeatedly in other courses, then you need to have the material captioned. Please note: If the material has audio and video, you need to caption. A transcript is not sufficient.
Caption: If the video will also be shown in the classroom, regardless of whether it is instructor-owned or campus-owned, caption it.
Caption: If you take clips from longer works and string them together and archive the finished video, then it needs to be captioned.
Caption: Any video created by the campus and placed on a public Web site.
Transcript: If the material is audio only, no video, and is archived, then a transcript is all you need.
Do not caption: If the material is only for this term and the class has restricted access (i.e., it’s password protected and only students who are enrolled in the class have access), then you only need to caption (or provide a transcript) if a student requests captioning as an accommodation.
Do not caption: If the material is on YouTube and you are just providing a link, then you only need to caption if a student requests an accommodation. (Please note: YouTube videos are not public domain. Permission may be required to caption.)
Do not caption: If the material is student work or other raw footage that will not be archived.
Do not caption: There is no need to caption longer works if you are just pulling clips from it. Wait and caption the montage that you create.
Do not caption: If the video already has foreign language subtitles, do not caption unless requested to do so as an accommodation.
As a simple rule of thumb: If you’re keeping it and more than a limited audience might access it, then caption or transcribe it.
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Captioning Resources Finding captions on VHS tapes , DVDs, Web Media, Etc.