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The first question is, “Do you need captions for a video or subtitles for a DVD or do you need captions for both a video and a DVD?” If you determine that you need captions for a video or a DVD, ask yourself these questions. What kind of caption style do I need? What is the caption video master format needed? What DVD authoring system is being used to produce the DVD?

Basically, there are two kinds of caption styles to choose from, scroll-up or pop-on. Scroll-up style of captions is lines of text that continually scroll across the screen, line by line, so that the viewer is reading left to right. The typical productions for this style include documentaries, narrated videos, sports and news, media with minimal characters.

Pop-on style of captions is text broken into phrases and sentences that are strategically placed over the character that is speaking. The productions for this style include feature films, animated cartoons, sit-coms, and media with multiple characters. DVD subtitles are represented in a way that is similar to the pop-on style of captions, however they are usually at the bottom center of the screen.

The primary difference between captions and subtitles are captions are all capital white letters with a black box behind the words. Subtitles can be produced with various fonts, sizes and colors with no black box behind the words.

There are three elements that are needed for video captions. 1) A verbatim script, 2) the video master or a digital file, 3) a VHS with time code recorded on channel 2 (if we get a video master.) Once these three elements are received, a caption file is produced. A caption master will be produced with this file and an encoder in a duplication-like process. However, with new technology, we can now export a digital file for NLE systems. (Read the article on new technology on the website!)

If it’s DVD captions or subtitles that are needed, only two elements are needed: a script and a VHS with time code recorded on channel 2 from the master being used for the DVD authoring process or a digital file. Once the caption/subtitle file is produced, it is exported to a specific file type that will accommodate the DVD authoring system. These exported files for captions include .cc or .scc, txt, and for subtitles, .stl, .son, tiff and others. Captions are activated on a DVD the same way as a video, through the TV remote.

In the next article, I’ll talk about how you can save money by extracting captions from a video for DVD caption or subtitle files. This process will save you lots of money.