Where Innovation Is Tradition

Hands-On: Captioning/AD 101

AHEAD in Virginia Spring Conference March 28, 2014

Where Innovation Is Tradition

Purpose

Offering instruction on the basics of the captioning process, we will cover different strategies for adding captions to your videos and discuss the pros and cons of outsourcing vs. in-sourcing.

The hope is that this brief intro informs you for starting your own in-house process, for purchasing decisions, for communicating with IT personnel, or for engaging in further research.

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What We Will Cover

• Captioning/Audio Description Basics• Hands-On (YouTube, QuickTime,

YouDescribe)• Alternative Options• Resources• Q&A 

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What is Captioning?

“...spoken dialogue as printed words on the television screen.  Captions are specifically designed for viewers who are deaf and hard of hearing, however, they allow anyone to follow along through carefully placed words that identify speakers, on- and off-screen sound effects, music, and laughter.”

http://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/captioning.html

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Captioning or Subtitles

Captioning• Deaf/Hoh• Move to denote speaker• Notate sounds/other

significant audio (e.g., dog barking)

• Aims to render all utterances• Render tone (e.g.,

whispering, [BRITISH ACCENT])

• Open vs. closed

Subtitles• Hearing who do not

understand language of dialogue

• Positioned bottom-center • Selective rendering of audio• Open vs. Closed

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E.g., Captions

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E.g., Subtitles

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Captioning Format Types

Transcripts and support files

.clean.txt .txt (may contain sync

markers)

Web-based captions .vtt (HTML5) .srt (YouTube/Vimeo) .qt.txt/qt.smil

(QuickTime) .smi/.asx (Windows

Media Player) .dfxp.xml (Flash) .rt/.rt.smil (RealPlayer) List goes on...

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What is Audio Description?

“...the accessibility of the visual images of theater, television, movies, and other art forms for people who are blind, have low vision, or who are otherwise visually impaired....It is commentary and narration, which guides the listener through the presentation with concise, objective descriptions of new scenes, settings, costumes, body language, and "sight gags," all slipped in between portions of dialogue or songs.”

http://www.acb.org/adp/ad.html#what

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e.g., Accessible Video (Stuck on an Escalator)

Stuck on an Escalator Video (Accessible Version), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQUAs3syuJE

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Creating Accessible Videos Using YouTube, QuickTime, and YouDescribe

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HANDS-ON: Captioning with YouTube

1. Log into your YouTube account.

2. Click the Upload button.• Public/Unlisted/Private?

3. Select one of the videos provided for you:• Perfect Pitch• What 2 Wear?• How Did You Prepare?

4. After uploading your video, follow the instructions for uploading your captions file (i.e., ends with .srt).

5. Edit your captions.6. Repeat process using text

file (i.e., ends with .txt) instead of captions file.

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HANDS-ON: Audio Description with YouDescribe

1. Log into your YouDescribe account.

2. Enter the name of the video that you would like to describe in the ‘Search’ field.

3. Click the link to ‘Create/Edit Descriptions’ link next to your video.

4. Watch the video in the Authoring Description window. Pause the video at the location where you want to insert a descriptive clip.

5. Press record and speak your description into the microphone. Click on Stop when finished recording.

6. Click the Upload button. When the Upload completes, you should see a new clip added to the table of clips.

7. Resume watching after the upload completes. Repeat steps 4-6 until the video is over. No need to save anything at the end. Each of your description clips is saved when you upload it.

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DEMO: Audio Description with YouDescribe

• E.g., YouDescribe:• 100 Year-old BFFs, http://youdescribe.ski.org/rel/search.php#

dialog

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DEMO: Adding Captions with QuickTime Pro

1. Open QuickTime Player 7.2. Click File, ‘Open File...’.3. Select “PerfectPitch.qt.txt”. 4. Once file opens, click Edit, then

Select All. 5. Click Edit, Copy. 6. Again, click File, ‘Open File...’.7. Select “PerfectPitch.mp4” video

file to open it.

8. Once file opens, click Edit, Add to Movie.

9. Play movie (captions to be adjusted).

10. Click Window, Show Movie Properties.

11. Select “Text Track” and adjust offset for movie.

12. Play movie to make sure captions are properly adjusted.

13. Finally, click File, Save As a “self-contained” movie.

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Captioning – Alternative Options

In-House Student workers IT Staff Campus TV DSS Staff

3rd-party Automatic Sync

($2.65/$1.45) 3PlayMedia

($2.35/$1.00) Cielo24 ($1.50) Docsoft ($1.75) eScribe ($1.80/$1.25) List goes on...

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Additional Resources

Captioning• Adding Captions Files or Transcripts to YouTube [PDF]• Captioning Output Formats (Automatic Sync)• Captions Format Converter (3PlayMedia)• Captioning with QuickTime Pro (Univ. of Wisc)

Audio Description• YouDescribe – How to Create Audio Descriptions [Video]• YouDescribe – Step-by-Step Instructions

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Contact Information

Assistive Technology Initiative

Address: George Mason University4400 University DriveMSN 6A11Fairfax, VA 22030

Phone: 703-993-4329Fax: 703-993-4743Email: ati@gmu.edu Web: http://ati.gmu.edu