Subtitles: where to place them?

Forum: Subtitling
Topic: Subtitles: where to place them?
Poster: Pedro Álvares

Hello,

I'm working on a project that includes subtitling a video. My initial intuition, as well as the guidelines I received from the customer, was that subtitles should appear exactly when the voice of the narrator begins and disappear when it ends.

However, after having worked on it for a while, my impression is that a caption is better placed a few miliseconds after the voice begins and should disappear a few miliseconds (if not a full second) after it ends. I feel this allows the necessary time for the viewer to realise she is hearing a voice, deciding she will read the caption and actually turn to reading the caption on the bottom of the screen. It takes her longer to extract the meaning of what she hears than would someone who understands what is being said.

For context, the video is a demonstration of an activity that is narrated by a voice off screen. The voice is describing what is being seen with a steady, unhurried rhythm. This means there are no constraints in where and when to place the subtitle, as it happens when a movie or a dialogue scene is the case.

I was wondering if anyone had any insight that could approve/disapprove my impression.

Thank you in advance.