07 October 2022
Managing your subtitling agency. How to know what you exactly need.
Inside the very sophisticated art of subtitling there are many different services and concepts that can be confusing. Trying to deal with an external subtitle translation agency when you are running headfirst into a strict deadline doesn’t make things easier.
Let’s look at how best to choose a subtitling agency and effectively communicate your needs.
Even though many believe that subtitling is set to disappear as a human craft, it’s impossible to ignore the challenges associated to allocating such a delicate task to AI only. The dangers of this are perhaps best exemplified by the language fiascos related to subtitling in some popular Netflix series such as Bridgerton or Squid Game. To avoid this, the use of human-processed subtitling techniques is highly advisable.
Of course, if you’re reading this, you’re probably already aware of all that. In which case, let’s jump right into how to do it best.
First of all – what specifically do you need? Subtitling process can differ depending on whether the final product is going to be a film or a short ad for social media. Both have different audiences, formats, specifications and probably different budgets. Obviously, auto-captioning a video and commissioning a team of highly trained linguists to make sure that spelling is correct and consistent with your brand’s style guide are completely different things.
Secondly, what is the language and market? Is it only English? And if so, which locale are you targeting? The US? The UK? Somewhere else entirely? It is important to make this clear from the beginning, as the grammar and style will depend on this.
It is important to note here that any professional video subtitling company should be aware of the general subtitle guidelines and rule languages in their different locales. As an example, here in the United Kingdom the Subtitle Guidelines by the BBC are the most common standard.
It’s also important to consider the need for translation from the beginning. Many companies only realize they will need translations when they have already engaged with a closed captioning company that can only offer English or a limited range of languages.
It’s also possible for the opposite situation to arise, in which a translation company needs to deal with the technical side of subtitling, but they are not confident with skills such as how to use a .srt file.
That’s before even considering the need for voiceover. While this goes far beyond the art of subtitling and remains a completely different service that only an audio-production company can do, it is important to consider whether you will need your video dubbed or voiced over. And if so, in how many languages?
You don’t need to focus on film subtitling companies only, as this will limit your options too much. Look out for translation and subtitling agencies that have facilities to record and process the dubbing of your video production.
It’s also important to consider the format of any deliverable files. Many video subtitle translation agencies struggle when it comes to deal with final files, so be prepared to share the working files and be clear on the deliverable format that you wish to receive. It is useful to ask your agency to share working files with you just in case your design team needs to make any changes, either on the captions or the layout.
Also, it is a good idea to consider some common guidelines on subtitling formats. The character limit for each line is usually around 43 for European languages, 23 for Asian languages, as an example.
Netflix has hints on when to break lines and when not to, and other platforms will have their own guidelines.
The best subtitling companies are usually aware of all of these aspects of the subtitling process and other services related, but the best advice would be to always check with your agency and explore how far they could get in helping you with your subtitling needs.
Most films and videos that need subtitling were not created with this specific task in mind. As a result, people in the video typically talk naturally, with all of the baggage that verbal communication normally brings. Think of the ums and ahs, the grammatically incorrect half-sentences, the illogical jumps, and implied information that we encounter every day in spoken communication but rarely see written down. All this must be taken into account when subtitling, if not for other reasons, then simply because there is limited space on screen to display the subtitles (or captions), and a limited time to show them – as well as a minimum amount of time they must be displayed to be readable and understood. You could say that, while subtitling is not translation in the traditional sense, it’s an equally transformative adaptation, this time of speech to text.
Each project is different and requires due attention and a proper understanding from the earliest stages to make sure it results in the successful subtitling project that your company deserves.
Perhaps the best advice when it comes to finding the best subtitling services is to find an agency that can match the specific needs of the your project, no matter how big or small, while also maintaining enough flexibility to adapt to the ever changing needs of a subtitling project.
Subtitling involves a number of different tasks that can all be done simultaneously or split into separate tasks and carried out sequentially.
In some cases, it might make sense to do it all simultaneously, but Alpha CRC believes that it is generally better to split the tasks to avoid all linguists having to do the same tasks of e.g. transcribing the video, and potentially getting different meanings.
Alpha CRC offers both translation and subtitling services for projects of all sizes. Alpha Studios provides audiovisual services from its studios in London. Read the prospectus detailing all of its services.
