Types of Video Captioning
Video captioning refers to the process of displaying a synchronized text version of the dialogue and nonverbal sounds of videos on the screen. Captions enable the deaf or hard-of-hearing and people with special literacy needs understand the audio of visual recorded media as much as hearing people do. These are usually used in television shows, movies, online videos, and educational tools.
Captions are typically displayed at the bottom of the screen and can be color-coordinated for videos with multiple speakers to distinguish who is speaking. In other cases, captions are positioned where the sounds are coming from or which person is speaking. Below are the different types of video captioning:
Open Captions
Open captions, or hardcoded captions, automatically appear on the screen as they are embedded in videos and cannot be removed by viewers. These are always in view and permanently engraved for everyone to make use of, giving videos a universal touch for people whose first language is not English or vice versa. Open captions are mostly used in foreign films, public event videos, and YouTube videos. You can identify if a show or video utilizes open captions if there’s an “OC” symbol indicated on TV program guides, DVDs, and cinema guides.
Closed Captions
Unlike open captions, closed captions are on-screen text descriptors that can be turned on or off by viewers as needed, made possible by keeping the transcript in a separate file as supported by a media viewer software. These are usually helpful for people with hearing and/or cognitive impairments - both children and adults. Hearing people utilize this as well, oftentimes when they’re in noisy locations or when speakers are strongly accented. You can identify if a video has closed captioning when you see a “CC” symbol commonly shown in program guides and DVD covers.
Captioning enables individuals and companies to meet legal obligations or become Section 508 compliant. Video captioning services help you develop accessible, deaf-friendly visual materials that will surely widen your audience range.
TranscriptionWing, in particular, offers video transcriptions or captioning in highest quality for any purposes - be it films, documentaries, sermons, or educational tools. Get an instant quotation using our transcription pricing calculator.
