EASIT, Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training.
This is Unit 3A
Easy-to-understand and subtitling
element 3, Technical aspects
videolecture Subtitling principles, guidelines, and conventions.
I am Luis Alonso, from Universidade de Vigo, Spain
and in this short video lecture I will give you a quick overview
of the subtitling principles, guidelines, and conventions
required for easy-to-understand subtitling.
Regarding visual aspects
subtitles should be placed at the bottom of the screen
provided they do not hide
relevant visual information or inserts.
Should that be the case
they should be moved either horizontally or upwards
to where no relevant information is obscured.
As for the number of lines
subtitles should contain a maximum of two lines
and follow a pop-on or block presentation
which yields better reading results than e.g. scrolling subtitles.
They should also be written in a size and type of font that is easy-to-read
such as Arial, Verdana, Tiresias, or Biancoenero.
Readability is also improved
when there is enough colour contrast between subtitle characters
and its background.
This can be achieved by using boxes, borders, or shadows.
As for the temporal aspects
one of the main issues to address
is reading speed.
Intralingual subtitling guidelines in different countries
those of the BBC in the UK
the CAB in Canada
ABC in Australia
FBO in Denmark
DCMP in the US
and UNE in Spain
recommend a maximum of 16 characters per second for adults
and between 10 and 12 for children.
Other issues
regarding the temporal aspects of subtitling are
number one, a minimum duration of a subtitle on the screen
which ranges, in different guidelines
between 1 and 2 seconds.
Number two, the need of a gap between subtitles
for the viewer to detect a subtitle change
which, again, ranges in different guidelines
between 2 and 4 frames.
Finally, subtitles should be in synchrony with the audio
and subtitle changes should match with shot changes
ensuring that, wherever possible
subtitles are not displayed across different shots.
Regarding the typographic conventions
subtitlers should follow those used in the subtitles of the language
of the recipient for whom the subtitles are intended.
Proper text division is fundamental
because it makes subtitling easier to read and understand.
Subtitles should be segmented at natural linguistic breaks
that is, respecting syntactic groups.
The decision between creating one-line or two-line subtitles
depends on the pace of the scene.
One-line subtitles reflect quickness
whereas two-line subtitles reflect calm.
Subtitlers should also bear in mind
the common rules of easy language on the text level
specially the need to adjust content and information structure
to the target groups.
Regarding language criteria
most of the basic common lexical and syntactic rules
of easy language displayed in Unit 2, element 1
can be applied to subtitles.
You can also watch the video lecture
Subtitling parameters. Editorial aspects.
And we recommend that you look into the rulesets of your own language.
This video lecture was prepared by Ana Pereira and Luis Alonso
from Universidade de Vigo.
You can reach us at pereira@uvigo.es
and at lalonso@uvigo.es.
EASIT has received funding from the EC programme
Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education
grant agreement 2018-1-ES01-KA203-05275.
The EC support for this publication
does not endorse the contents
which reflect the authors' views.
The EC cannot be held responsible
for any use of the information contained therein.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Partners of the EASIT project.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Università Degli Studi Di Trieste.
Universidade de Vigo.
Stiftung Universität Hildesheim.
SDI München.
Dyslexiförbundet.
Radiotelevizija Slovenja.
Zavod RISA.
EASIT. Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training.