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General

Captions sho uld include:

 All words spoken by characters (including stuttering etc).


 Words spoken by a narrator.
 The words to any song.
 Identification for off screen speakers.
 Descriptions of sound events that impact on the story or meaning.

Captions should not include:

 Every word or sound effect where the pace of a video sometimes makes it impractical.
 Information that is already displayed on screen, e.g. text in a Powerpoint slide.

Font
 Characters should use a white san serif font, such as Arial or Helvetica.

Background
 Captions should have a black background box.

Sentence Style
 Each sentence should use a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters.
 Punctuation should follow normal style and conventions.
 Punctuation should convey, as much as possible, the way speech is delivered.
 Use ellipses when there is a significant pause within a caption (e.g. It's so...majestic).
 In order to maintain reading rate, non-essential information can be removed.
 Spell out numbers from one to ten, but use numerals for all numbers over ten.

Spacing
 Each line should be no more than 37 characters in length.
 Each caption should run over no more than two lines.
 Line and caption breaks should reflect the natural flow of the sentence and its
punctuation.

Timing
 Captions should coincide with the relevant soundtrack, to preserve the relation
between sound and visuals.
 The reading speed should not exceed 180 words per minute (3 words per second).
 The pace of a video sometimes makes it impractical to include every word or sound
effect in caption form.
 No sentence should remain on screen for less than 2 seconds.

Sound and Speaker Identification


 Any noise or music that enhances the visuals, contributes to characterisation or adds
atmosphere should be captioned.
 Sound effects should be shown in square brackets, e.g. [dog barking]
 The speakers name should be identified in round brackets, e.g. (John)
 Speakers names and sound effects should be shown on a line of their own,e.g.
(Bill)
I don't think your solution
would work in this case.

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