Delivery (Studio) / Audio/Visual Deliverables

Deliverable (A4): Closed Captions

A full list of all Audio/Visual (Schedule A) deliverables can be found (here).

Due: Directly After Mix and Ready For QC

Deliver to:  Your Schedule A Representative / Post Exec

Closed Captioning QC Standard

  • Here is the QC standard for Closed Captions, Subtitles and SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of hearing):

CC_Subs_SDH_QC_Standards

Closed Captioning Guidelines

  • All captions must adhere to the following guidelines:
STANDARD CEA708 (preferred) or CEA608
FILE FORMAT .SCC
.CAP
.SRT
OVERALL TIMING & CONFORM Closed Captions must start at Hr 1 and conform to 23.98 master
DISPLAY All timed text must be Pop-on or Pop-Up
CHARACTER LIMIT 32 Characters per line
DURATION
  • Minimum duration: 10 frames per test event
  • Maximum duration: 10 seconds per text event (except for song lyrics or on-screen text, which may exceed 10 seconds).
  • Timed text must not remain on screen during times of silence.
  • All outpoint must be used to remove the timed text from the screen during silence or extended pauses.
FRAME GAPS 2 frames minimum (regardless of frame rate)
LINE TREATMENT 3 lines maximum (including any blank lines between captions)
POSITIONAL DATA All timed text should be center justified/center positioned and placed at bottom of the screen unless covering text or a lower third graphic in which they should be at the top of the screen.
READING SPEED
  • Adult programs: 400 words per minute
  • Children’s program: 160 words per minute.
TIMING Text should be timed to the audio or within 2-3 frames of the audio. If more on-screen time is needed for better reading speed, the out-time can be extended up to 10 or 12 frames past the timecode at which the audio ends.
FORMATTING Text should be provided without any text effects including bolding, italicizing (exceptions below) and underlining.
LINE BREAKS If multiple lines are necessary, each line must be broken so that they are of similar character lengths. Line Breaks should occur after punctuation marks, before conjunctions, and before prepositions.
CONTINUITY
  • Do not use ellipses (3 dots) or dashes when an ongoing sentence is split between two or more continuous subtitles.  
  • Use an ellipsis to indicate a pause or dialogue trailing off. In the case of a pause, if the sentence continues in the next subtitle, do not use an ellipsis at the beginning of the second subtitle. 
  • Use a hyphen without a space to indicate two speakers in one subtitle, with a maximum of one speaker per line. 
  • Use two hyphens to indicate abrupt interruptions. 
SPEAKER ID /
SOUND EFFECTS
  • Use brackets [ ] to enclose speaker IDs or sound effects.
  • Only use speaker IDs or sound effects when they cannot be visually identified. 
  • Use a generic ID to indicate and describe ambient music (e.g., rock music playing over a stereo) 
  • If video is a concert, lyrics must be present on screen when sung, surrounded by the ♪ symbol.  
ITALICS Use italics for the following timed text:
  • Voice-over dialogue such as:
    • Narration
    • Internal thoughts
    • Dialogue from another location that is not on screen yet
    • Speaker IDs should be added as needed
    • Speaker IDs should not be italicized
    • Example: JOHN: Our story begins here, 30 years ago today.
  • Dialogue transmitted over phone, radio, computer, or other electric device
    • Example: OPERATOR [OVER PHONE]: Please hold. An agent will be with you shortly.
  • Song lyrics

FILE NAMING

  • BARCODE [TITLE-ID+ASSET-TAG]_CATALOG_TITLE_(VERSION and/or EPISODE)_(CAPTION-STANDARD)_FRAMERATE_(LANGUAGE)_START-TIME.EXTENSION/FORMAT 

  • Please reach out to your designated Schedule A Representative at Fox Entertainment Studios for Title ID

  • Asset Tag:
    T01 – 23.98/29.97DF
    T02 – NTSC/29.97
    T03 – PAL/25 or 50i

  • Examples:
    818T01_DEADLY_SINISTER_LIFETIME_708_2997DF_ENG_ST01000000.scc
    818T01_DEADLY_SINISTER_708_2398_ENG_ST01000000.cap  

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Deliverable (A3): QC Master Video & Separate Audio
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Deliverable (A5): Dialogue Continuity Script (ABS or CCSL)

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