Closed Captioning in FCP

[DVXguy]

hey guys.. I came up with a new way to Close Caption music videos in Final Cut Pro (FCP). This is a good system for anyone looking to submit a video to MTV or FUSE since they'll only accept videos that are closed captioned.. would love your thoughts..

http://www.trendsettermarketing.net/tutorials/final_cc_intro_video.mov

[DVXguy]

none of you guys have ever submitted your own music videos to MTV?

[milksac]

It's hard to market a service like this when users can buy a tool for a relatively cheap price and do it themselves.

[DVXguy]

you cant do it yourself for cheap.. you can't closed caption a single video yourself unless you drop 5-10K..

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

you cant do it yourself for cheap.. you can't closed caption a single video yourself unless you drop 5-10K..

Well, it would have been good to caption your video for those of us who watch such in situations where it is inconvenient to have audio...

[milksac]

you cant do it yourself for cheap.. you can't closed caption a single video yourself unless you drop 5-10K..
You can caption using Avid Media Composer for $2500. If history is any indication I would expect that Apple/FCP will include captioning in the next release. I think you have a decent service to offer, however I think the timing is off. The cost of captioning software is going down. More options; good for the content creators, not so good for service providers.

[Butcher]

Media Composer can't do Closed Captioning. If you're thinking of the Subcap effect--yes, it can help to lay them out, and I believe you can then export them to run through a closed captioning program, but there is absolutely no native closed captioning in Media Composer.

You either have to take a generation hit by making a tape-to-tape dub while rolling captioning live to record it (like a TV news broadcast) using expensive equipment, send it out to a captioning house, or spend a lot of money to bring the software/hardware in-house.

There really is no cheap, DIY captioning option on the market. At least, none that I'm aware of. Hopefully there will be more development in this area though, since the US now requires CC on all longerform commercial programming, including infomercials.

Michael.

[NoahK]

Might want to describe the method and pricing in lieu of making people go watch a video.

Noah

[DVXguy]

yea i'm working on how to best explain it now.. In addition, I'm also working on the best work flow to ensure the end-user keeps their FCP correct for a successful caption. Right now my rates are $199.00 for a music video close caption and $6/min. for longform. It's $5/min if they provide the transcript with timecode.

butcher is correct. there is a big difference between closed captioning and subtitling.

[DVXguy]

Might want to describe the method and pricing in lieu of making people go watch a video.

Noah


The method in a nutshell is this.. you upload a small low res version of your video to my ftp along with a transcript. We email you back a black quicktime file that is less then 1mb in size. Unzip the file and then place our quicktime over your video on your timeline. ( a slate within our file gives you the correct timecode on where to place it) crop our quicktime 98% from the bottom. Export the video and you're done! Your video will now meet broadcast standards.

If the video is a music video, we also provide you with the paperwork and information to properly submit a music video to MTV, FUSE, or Much Music..

Check out my site for other clients.

trendsettermarketing.net

[sunporchmedia]

This only works for standard def output, right? What is the current state of solutions for cc for HD projects? I understand that there is some kind of standards or hardware bottleneck for digitally close-captioning high def projects. Can you shed some light on this?

By the way, your rates sound very reasonable, especially when one considers the value of their own time to execute alternative solutions.

[DVXguy]

This only works for standard def output, right? What is the current state of solutions for cc for HD projects? I understand that there is some kind of standards or hardware bottleneck for digitally close-captioning high def projects. Can you shed some light on this?

By the way, your rates sound very reasonable, especially when one considers the value of their own time to execute alternative solutions.


correct.. this would be for 8 or 10 bit uncompressed. CCing Hd stuff is an entirely different animal. There is no line 21 equivalent for HDTV so things are a little messy with it on several fronts.

my target audience for this is really the director that is doing a music video for MTV or FUSE. Both channels (as well as music choice, much music, and others) are still broadcasting in standard definition.

90% of the time, these videos are being edited in a private location and not a high end studio. For those people you have two choices..

1.) bring a hard drive to a post house and pay to have the video converted from HD to SD, then create a digital Betacam master, then CC the video, then make your new CC'd digibeta master. (average cost being $200 + $50 + $300 + $50 = $600)

2.) Down convert thru FCP, CC the video in final cut, then send out the file to create the master. (average cost is $199 + $45 = $244)

Also, in many cases the CC could be done the same day. so there's a significant time savings. Especially if you're a director location outside of a major city.

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

The method in a nutshell is this.. you upload a small low res version of your video to my ftp along with a transcript. We email you back a black quicktime file that is less then 1mb in size. Unzip the file and then place our quicktime over your video on your timeline. ( a slate within our file gives you the correct timecode on where to place it) crop our quicktime 98% from the bottom. Export the video and you're done! Your video will now meet broadcast standards.

If the video is a music video, we also provide you with the paperwork and information to properly submit a music video to MTV, FUSE, or Much Music..

Check out my site for other clients.

trendsettermarketing.net

Do you bank on the top lines of a Standard Def video stream ending up on line 21 in the result? As opposed to using the DV VAUX info portion of the DV spec?

[DVXguy]

Do you bank on the top lines of a Standard Def video stream ending up on line 21 in the result? As opposed to using the DV VAUX info portion of the DV spec?

there is a different between ccing dv and ccing 8 or 10 bit uncompressed. if I were to cc a dv video, it would be a little bit different.. normally I have the client upload the 720X480 music video to my ftp, cc it and then return the file. (file size is usually 1gb.) 720X486 files are usually too big to upload since they are in the 5-6gb range.

[Ferret Lady]

yea i'm working on how to best explain it now.. In addition, I'm also working on the best work flow to ensure the end-user keeps their FCP correct for a successful caption. Right now my rates are $199.00 for a music video close caption and $6/min. for longform. It's $5/min if they provide the transcript with timecode.

butcher is correct. there is a big difference between closed captioning and subtitling.

i'm working on my first video that my client wants to send to muchmusic. i'm pretty sure it's required to be close captioned and i explained it's not something i do, and they asked if i coudl recommend a place to get it done cheap. how does $199 compare to other places?

the video is SD already by the way.

[DVXguy]

pm sent.