Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Duration / Spotting of subtitles
Poster: Monica Paolillo
Post title: Tricky question
Hello Noukita and welcome.
It's a tricky question the one you asked because, when it comes to subtitling, each and every media content can pose different issues and challenges and often it's a matter of subjective choices based on the special features of the projects.
You described a very common situation and all I can do is try to tell you what I'd probably do in the first scenario, presuming I was able to grasp exactly the situation you find yourself in. First of all, what you have to keep in mind is that a subtitle cannot stay on the screen for more than 7 or 8 secs. So it's a good idea in the case you describe to opt for single liners instead of two-line subtitles. Also in some cases, when the speaker speaks very slowly for example, you will find yourself having to split the sentences in a way that may even force you to subtitle the speaker's hesitations and their own corrections as well, therefore sentences can be broken as long as the syntax of each subtitle can stand alone independently. This is very important and it's what you have to worry about in your case. You will have to break sentences for rhythm's sake, which has to be consistent, and to make sure subtitles don't stay on screen too long forcing the viewer to read them multiple times. But be careful, you shouldn't have the subtitle disappear if the person's still speaking so you'll have to rearrange your structure to make sure that doesn't happen.
In the second scenario, we all want to have subtitles disappear on shot changes but in the case you describe, which is common for documentaries and one-to-one interviews, I would not wait until the person gets on screen if they start speaking earlier than that. What you want to do is make sure your subtitle, coming in when the person starts speaking, will not go off screen too soon after the shot change. Just have it there a little longer. This is to make sure the viewer doesn't get distracted. Hope this makes sense in your specific case.
This is just my two cents, Noukita. To tell you exactly what you should do, I would really need to see the video so the above suggestions may or may not make sense in your specific situation. Also, even though there are standards we all want to meet, many times you find yourself making subjective choices based on the specific cuts of the video, for example, or on other parameters you have to come to terms with in daily practice.
Best of luck for your future and happy subtitling!
[Edited at 2013-03-26 14:15 GMT]
[Edited at 2013-03-26 14:48 GMT]
[Edited at 2013-03-26 15:53 GMT]
Topic: Duration / Spotting of subtitles
Poster: Monica Paolillo
Post title: Tricky question
Hello Noukita and welcome.
It's a tricky question the one you asked because, when it comes to subtitling, each and every media content can pose different issues and challenges and often it's a matter of subjective choices based on the special features of the projects.
You described a very common situation and all I can do is try to tell you what I'd probably do in the first scenario, presuming I was able to grasp exactly the situation you find yourself in. First of all, what you have to keep in mind is that a subtitle cannot stay on the screen for more than 7 or 8 secs. So it's a good idea in the case you describe to opt for single liners instead of two-line subtitles. Also in some cases, when the speaker speaks very slowly for example, you will find yourself having to split the sentences in a way that may even force you to subtitle the speaker's hesitations and their own corrections as well, therefore sentences can be broken as long as the syntax of each subtitle can stand alone independently. This is very important and it's what you have to worry about in your case. You will have to break sentences for rhythm's sake, which has to be consistent, and to make sure subtitles don't stay on screen too long forcing the viewer to read them multiple times. But be careful, you shouldn't have the subtitle disappear if the person's still speaking so you'll have to rearrange your structure to make sure that doesn't happen.
In the second scenario, we all want to have subtitles disappear on shot changes but in the case you describe, which is common for documentaries and one-to-one interviews, I would not wait until the person gets on screen if they start speaking earlier than that. What you want to do is make sure your subtitle, coming in when the person starts speaking, will not go off screen too soon after the shot change. Just have it there a little longer. This is to make sure the viewer doesn't get distracted. Hope this makes sense in your specific case.
This is just my two cents, Noukita. To tell you exactly what you should do, I would really need to see the video so the above suggestions may or may not make sense in your specific situation. Also, even though there are standards we all want to meet, many times you find yourself making subjective choices based on the specific cuts of the video, for example, or on other parameters you have to come to terms with in daily practice.
Best of luck for your future and happy subtitling!
[Edited at 2013-03-26 14:15 GMT]
[Edited at 2013-03-26 14:48 GMT]
[Edited at 2013-03-26 15:53 GMT]