Who is in-charge of Closed Captioning, Subtitles and Audio Description in the production chain? Since closed captioning is a regulatory requirement and needed for broadcast, VOD and web, I wanted to know who is tasked with getting the closed captioning done in the production of a: 1. Independent Documentary/Film 2. TV Series 3. Studio productions As responsibilities shift from a producer of an indie to a producer for a studio film. Who is the person in charge on decision for these. Is it mostly decided by the Producer, production manager or post production supervisor?
Post-Production : Who is in-charge of Closed Captioning, Subtitles and Audio Description in the production chain? by Khurram Suhrwardy
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If you're asking who pays for the CCs, I wouldn't know. But speaking to the technical aspects for TV, I just wrapped Post on a bi-lingual (Spanish/English) series. We used LNS as our CC service; I sent them a QuickTime of the picture-locked show (well, we could make changes to the picture after LNS had started their work, but not to the audio). They sent back an AAF file. I imported that file into Avid Media Composer, added it as a data track, then exported the full show for our (internal) Master Control for broadcast playout. So, pretty easy for me. When editing/isolating segments for the Web, I was able to bring along the CC file and edit it (cut it down or rearrange it ) just as I did the picture and sound elements. When I was done with the edit, I exported the CC file separately; that file was uploaded to YouTube as a separate step, and perfectly corresponded to the content. Regarding subtitles, they are typically done in-house by the Post team (again, I'm strictly talking TV). You might get a transcription of the program audio, but then someone has to create the subtitles within the NLE. Avid has a nice feature called SubCap where you can point to the transcription file (.txt or Word, for example), import it, and then with some manual manipulation, you've got your subtitles. By "audio description", I assume that you mean Descriptive Video Service (WGBH's invention, wherein on-screen action is narrated, for viewers who have trouble seeing). As far as I know, that is not required by law and, therefore, less common. For our bilingual show, we ended up using SAP in an unusual way. Our show is meant for viewers who can speak both English and Spanish (the interviews were in both languages), but we didn't want other viewers to tune out. We considered doing subtitles-- any English translated to Spanish, and any Spanish translated to English-- but our GM didn't want the screen clutter (and thought that having essentially "burned in" text would be a put-off to people who spoke both languages). We then considered having dual closed captions: one CC that was all Spanish (Spanish would stay Spanish, and English would be translated) and one CC that was all English (English would stay English, and Spanish would be translated to English). However, that was hard to pull of in Avid (which, as of now, can only pass through one CC file), and it wouldn't really satisfy FCC rules for having one verbatim on-screen at all times. Not to mention that viewers would have trouble accessing the second CC. So, we decided to do SAP for English-speaking viewers. A translator came in and I recorded her (live, real-time) doing a translation of Spanish-to-English. For this, I used Avid's audio punch-in tool, which allows Avid to play at the same time it is recording; so, I played the Spanish from the timeline for her to hear, and at the same time recorded her translation on a separate (in-synch) track in the timeline. This was key because, although she was remarkably good at doing the translation on the fly, after she'd left for the day, I had to do some editing of her recordings (find the best takes, tighten up when needed, etc.). I don't speak Spanish, so I'd have been lost if her English translation didn't line up with the Spanish!
Hey Jonas. Thanks for the detailed response. The way you devised the SAP workflow was very interesting. Also, I didn't know that AAF could be edited along with the rest of the show. That is a very good feature missing from the other editing suites.
Khurram, sounds like you've been in the trenches of closed captioning! I should clarify: Avid can't edit the AAF file in and of itself; in fact, you can't even see the CCs displaying in the Avid (maybe you can with some special hardware). So, if there was a typo in the file, you're out of luck; the CC house will have to send you a new file. In other words, the CC file, once in the Avid, is "baked". However, if you cut out a 10-minute chunk of your show, as long as you do the edit to the data/CC track along with your picture and sound tracks, the CCs will still be correct. Same with any other editing operation, including segment mode/rearranging of your timeline. Premiere might be able to do that, too?