Contact for Broadcast Client Service Team (VIP Care Team)
Email: helptv@extremereach.com
Phone: AU -1300 423 787 (Press 1 for VIP Care Team) NZ - 09 281 3664
Operational Hours: 8:30 am - 8:00 pm (AEST) Monday to Friday.
There are many choices when choosing to do captioning and audio description. Below is a breakdown of the different options. If you have any questions at all then please give us a call.
File Types
SRT – is the most common caption file format. It is a text format. SRT can be used on platforms such as
Facebook, YouTube, Windows Media Player, Vimeo, Adobe Presenter. SRT doesn’t hold positioning of the captions, therefore they will always be at the bottom of the screen.
NOTE : The srt file is just a timed text file that has no fonts. It just takes on the font of the platform. We have no control over that.
STL – this is another common caption file format. STL can be uploaded to YouTube. This caption file can hold positioning thus never covering any supers or onscreen text. STL is the format used on broadcast television programs.
WebVTT – is similar to the SRT format however it can hold positioning. WebVTT can be used on platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo, Brightcove, JW Player and many more.
SCC - is commonly used with broadcast and web videos. It is most commonly requested for deliveries to Netflix, iTunes, Adobe Encore and Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro many more.
Social Sites
Facebook – aspect ratios, see below. Can be closed captions (SRT file) or burn-in. SRT files don’t hold positioning. If you have supers or disclaimers on the bottom of the screen, the captions will cover them.
Instagram –aspect ratio 1:1, must be a burn in as it does not yet support closed captions.
Twitter - Ratio: 16:9 or 1:1 (square), must be a burn in as it does not yet support closed captions.
YouTube – aspect ratio 16:9, srt file or burn in, YouTube does support closed captions.
A question we will always ask is:
Dialogue Only or HOH? (Hard of Hearing)
Did you need the captions to be for hearing impaired (which includes sound effects captions, music description captions, prefixes for offscreen speakers) or did you just want dialogue? If you need to meet WCAG you will need HOH captions.
Dialogue only is generally used for uploading to social media.
A Couple of Things To Think About
- On screen supers or text. We will always try to avoid them but if you are using a SRT file then we have no control over its positioning. It will always be at the bottom of the screen.
- Do you have a script? If you do please send it with the video. The script is very useful for our captioners to verify the spelling of a name or event.
- Do you need to include Audio Description on your project?
- Will this video be shared overseas? We can also help with language translation and subtitles.
- Do you need to include a Transcript of your video? You will need to choose – timecoded or not.
Transcript Version 1
| TIMECODE | SPEAKER | CONTENT |
| 00:00:00:00 | INTERVIEWEE | Instagram-heavy. It's not surprising, but it does show that we can actually use strategically different platforms to target different programs within Spring Fashion Week. |
| 00:00:10:22 | INTERVIEWER | I think I'm done. Cool. |
Transcript Version 2
| SPEAKER | CONTENT |
| INTERVIEWEE | Instagram-heavy. It's not surprising, but it does show that we can actually use strategically different platforms to target different programs within Spring Fashion Week. |
| INTERVIEWER | I think I'm done. Cool. |
Choices with Burnt In Caption Files (Open Captions)
Style 1: (Standard)
Font: Segoe UI
Font Colour: White
Font Size: 6.5% of video height (70px for 1920x1080)
Vertical Margin: 3% of video height (32px for 1920x1080)
Background Colour: Black
Background Transparency: 40%
Style 2: (Standard)
Font: Segoe UI
Font Colour: White
Font Size: 6.5% of video height (70px for 1920x1080)
Vertical Margin: 3% of video height (32px for 1920x1080)
Shadow Colour: Black
Shadow Transparency: 60%
For both styles – combination of single/double lines, raised above supers or to top of screen if covering import detail such as faces.
Style 3: (Custom) *More expensive than standard
Font: Your Font (must be supplied by you)
Font Colour: Any
Font Size: 6.5% of video height (70px for 1920x1080)
Vertical Margin: 3% of video height (32px for 1920x1080)
Shadow Colour: Black
Shadow Transparency: 60%
For custom styles – combination of single/double lines, raised above supers or to top of screen if covering import detail such as faces. Custom styles incur a higher cost.
Audio Description – for the visually impaired
There are a number of ways to deliver audio description on your online/social media videos. We suggest sending us the media first so we can look at it and offer our recommendation.
- Recorded AD – We write the audio descriptions, record them, mix them to your soundtrack. We deliver you a .wav file which you can upload/add to media.
- AD Layback – We write the audio descriptions, record them, mix them to the soundtrack and lay it back onto the media. You can then upload this version. Note – Players don’t allow 2 audio tracks so you would have to upload 2 versions if you want a ‘clean’ version and an AD version.
- Extended AD – When your video is dialogue-heavy and there is no time to include the AD, you need to extend the top/tail of the video to allow time to put in a description – usually 5-10 seconds - and if there are other places throughout the video where AD is required, then the video will be paused in order to add audio descriptions.
- AD Transcript – If you are not in a position to upload a recorded AD version or extended AD version, then an AD transcript is the way to go. We write the AD, edit it in with the caption/dialogue and deliver back to you a file to upload with your video. The vision impaired can then use that file through a ‘reader’ on their device to obtain the information in your video. If you already have a caption file for the video, supply that as well so that we can use the text of the caption file in the AD transcript.