CLOSED/OPEN CAPTIONS & SUBTITLES GUIDELINES
- Nikola Mateja
Please, carefully read the below information to ensure your submission is correct!
For RAZOR submission, you should follow the Australian CC accessibility standards and create Open Captions in the correct styling.
Subtitles provide a text alternative for the dialogue of video footage – the spoken words of characters, narrators and other vocal participants. Most often used to translate audio to different languages.
Closed Captions (CC) not only supplement for dialogue but other relevant parts of the soundtrack – describing background noises, phones ringing and other audio cues that need describing. CC can be turned on and off.
Open Captions (OC) are following the same rules as CC, but are always visible and can’t be turned off (are burned into the film).
Captioning comes in two forms: opened and closed. Closed captions (CC) are the most common. SBS defines closed captions as captions that can be hidden (thus closed), until ‘opened’ by the viewer. Essentially, CC can be turned on or off.
Open captions have the same content as closed captions, except open captions are permanent and cannot be turned off. Whether captions are open or closed, the media producer has control over the way captions appear. This includes the location of captions, size, font, colour and duration.
Subtitles are generally applied to translated dialogue for media in foreign languages. In contrast, captions include descriptions of important non-dialogue audio like “music” or “sighs”. Many countries legally require both live and pre-recorded television programs to be CC.
- CENTRE FOR ACCESSIBILITY AUSTRALIA
SUBTITLES , CC & OC COMPARISON
SUBTITLES | CLOSED CAPTIONS | OPEN CAPTIONS |
|---|---|---|
Assumes viewers can hear audio | Does not assume viewers can hear audio | Does not assume viewers can hear audio |
Only includes dialogue | Includes dialogue, sound effects, music etc. | Includes dialogue, sound effects, music etc. |
Designed for audiences who are not fluent in the original language | Primarily designed for audiences who are Deaf or hard of hearing | Primarily designed for audiences who are Deaf or hard of hearing |
Developed prior to a film or TV show release | Often added after the film or TV show is released | Often added after the film or TV show is released |
Translates languages as text | Displays all dialogue and audio as text | Displays all dialogue and audio as text |
Can be burned in or not | Can be turned on and off (using .SRT file) | Burned into the film |
If your film needs subtitles or captions, make sure to follow the guidelines below.
Guidelines for Subtitles and Captions:
Should hold a maximum of two lines of text on screen at a time.
In case of CC - should have a coloured background with high contrast (i.e. white on black).
In case of Subtitles - should have high contrast with the film (i.e. coloured background or stroke).
Font should be similar to Arial (a sans serif font).
Font should be large enough to read easily.
In case of CC - Background noises, or non-speech sounds, should be added in square brackets in capital letters.
Punctuation and both lower- and upper-case letters should be used.
Limit captions to 20 to 30 characters on screen per second.
Left-justify or Center-justified multi-line captions.
Should be placed in the center of the lower third of the screen, but move when obscuring important visual elements.
VISUAL EXAMPLE OF SUBTITLES AND CAPTIONS
