How to Create Subtitles - Nice and Easy!

1. Skillshare Subtitles Course #1 Intro: Do you want to add subtitles to your videos but, you don't know how to create them? Perhaps I can help. Hi, I am Everson. I am a multilingual content creator. Besides producing articles for magazines and social media platforms, I deal with video editing, translations, transcriptions, and of course: subtitles. In this course, I will explain how to create subtitles and also, I'll share some of my best practices, as well as some tips and tricks. These days, people watch videos with subtitles and for a variety of reasons. Creating subtitles it's easier when you have a solid foundation. So, we are going to go over the different types of subtitles, how you can create them, and which kind of software you need to do it. The software I use is Adobe Premier Pro, but there are many other options that work very similar. I will also show you how to create subtitles without any special software at all! Once you understand how subtitles are created, the process is very similar in most editing programs. And last but not least, I will also discuss some best practices, suggest a few software options, and give away a few tips and tricks. Your class project is to create a short video with subtitles. And if you don't have a video available, I've created a short video that you can use to practice and create your first captions. You can download it from the resources section. However, feel free to use any video you have, if you prefer. 2. Skillshare Subtitles Course #2 Why Add Subtiltes to Videos: Video is becoming increasingly popular and not just on YouTube and social media. It is easy to access, easy to understand, and easy to use. By adding subtitles to your video, you can instantly make your content accessible to a wider audience. Subtitles allow people with hearing disabilities to see your content. They can be displayed when the viewer can not hear the audio, for example, at night, when your spouse is sleeping, and you forgot your headphones. They can help make the content more understandable, especially if the audio is not clear or someone is speaking with a heavy accent. Subtitles can be provided in different languages, making your videos accessible to people around the world. Once you know how subtitles are constructed it is not very difficult to create them. However, if you were starting from scratch, they can be a bit time-consuming. Especially if you are creating subtitles for a long video, or if the audio is not that clear. And is often a pretty monotonous and repetitive job. Before we start creating our subtitles, I'd like to mention that I am here to help. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will try to help the best as I can. And without further ado, let's get started and create some subtitles. 3. Skillshare Subtitles Course #3 Subtitles Types: To start, you need to be clear about what kind of subtitles you want for your content. There are two types of subtitles. In the first type, you have to create subtitle files. When you upload your video to a platform, you usually add the subtitles as a separate file. The viewer of the video can then turn the subtitles on or off. It is also possible to upload multiple versions, for example, in different languages. In the second option, the subtitles are burned into the video. This means that they are saved along with the video. They cannot be changed or edited, and you cannot turn them off or remove them. Let's take a closer look at these two types. When you create the subtitle as a separate file, the viewer can choose to play the video with or without subtitles. Subtitle files are text files that are structured in a specific way. Take a look at this example. As you can see, each subtitle display, it is formatted in the same way. In the first line there is a sequential number. This is followed by timestamps. They indicate where in the video the subtitle should appear and when it should disappear. And at the end, we find the actual subtitles. And depending on how you want them formatted, they can be in one or, two lines. Theoretically, you can also create subtitles manually by simply typing them in a text editor. However, you should be very thorough when you are doing so because any small mistake can lead to an error when loading the subtitle file. You can also translate these text files on many platforms. It is possible to upload multiple subtitle files and in this way, you can create different subtitles for different languages. The viewer can then decide which language they want to activate when watching the video. The second option is that you can burn the subtitles directly into the video. Then they will be always displayed and cannot be switched on and off. These subtitles are a fixed part of the video. They are much less flexible than separate files, but they have their advantages. For example, you can format them to look the way you want. You can add specific fonts or, different colours or your own logo on it. When you create separate subtitle files, you don't have these options. They will always display in the standard way dictated by the platform you uploaded them to. Here's a tip for you: If you decide to burn in your subtitles, make sure you have a backup copy of your video without the subtitles. Okay, now it's finally time to create a subtitle. First, we will discuss how to do it properly. And then after that, I'll give you a hack that you can use to create subtitles, even if you don't have any available software. 4. Skillshare Subtitles Course #4 How to Create a Subtitle File (: Now it's time. Let's create subtitles. The first step is to transcribe your video and create the timestamps. And after that, I will show how to export them as a separate file or, burn them into the video. Like I mentioned before, the software I use Premiere Pro. However, there are many other software programs with similar features. They all work in almost the same way. And when you understand the basics of creating subtitles, I am sure you can do it in the software of your choice. Worst-case scenario if you can't find your way around the software you are using, there are plenty of resources on the Internet that explains the exact step-by-step setup of each software. The first step to take is to create the transcription. To create a transcription, you need to write down word for word, everything that is said in the video. Again, there are two different ways to do this, manually or automatically. To start creating transcriptions manually on Adobe Premiere Pro, it's quite simple. Just open Adobe Premiere Pro, load the practice video, and then select the timeline, select Captions, and then, Create New Caption Track. You're going to leave the Format Subtitle: On and Style: None. OK! Now you click on the Plus button, so you will add a new caption segment. And the segment is here. And now what you have to do is do the transcription. Basically, you have to write down everything that you listen when you play the movie. So let's start. So, you're listening. As one first tip, the voice terminated on these points. So you can already stretch this caption segment. In here you're going to type what you have heard. All right? So, now we play. OK, Your first caption segment was created. Now we have to continue creating segments. So, we click on the plus. We listen to the video. So I will stop here and adjust the caption segment there, and I will write down what the video said. And to continue the transcription, I just have to repeat the same steps. New caption segment. Listen to the audio. Adjust the segment. And write here the new text. As soon as the transcription is done, and you are happy with the results, you can just click on these three dots, and Export the File as SRT file. And that's it. Creating subtitles manually in Adobe Premiere Pro. In theory, you could also create your subtitles in a plain text format. As long as you format them to look exactly like the default, you should be fine. But it's easy to make a mistake, and when you make one tiny mistake, the whole file will not be accepted at all. As you can imagine, this manual process is very time-consuming. And there's also software that will automatically transcribe the video for you. Just be sure to double-check the text afterwards. These automatic transcriptions are often full of errors and spelling mistakes. But as you can see, most softwares automatically adds the timestamps, for us to save some time along the way. 5. Skillshare Subtitles Course #5 Spoiler Alert 2: Spoiler alert! If you use Premiere Pro, they will soon release a feature that can automatically transcribe the video for you. It is still in beta status. And I am actually testing it right now. And now let's see how we do it with the Transcribe Sequence, the new feature still on beta version of Premiere Pro. First, you load your video on the Project Media window. Then you go to Captions. And then you will select Transcribe Sequence. You just leave this menu as is, and you hit Transcribe. And here you have it! Once the transcription is created, you should look out for any spelling or, grammar mistakes that can happen. If everything seems OK, you can click on Create Captions. Again, just leave this box as it is, and click OK. And that's it! As you can see here, all the caption segments are correctly placed on the timeline. You should have a look and check if all the timestamps are correct. And now you have three options to choose from. Option number one, you can just export the video and the work is done. Option number two, you can click here on the three dots and select Export to SRT File. Option number three, You can export as well to a Text File. 6. Skillshare Subtitles Course #6 Youtube Hack: Now then, if you do not have software that can transcribe it for you, I have a hack for you. The YouTube Hack is actually quite simple. Go to your YouTube channel, upload your video, and then... wait! It takes some time until YouTube creates the transcript. Check if the transcription is ready by clicking on these three dots. Then, you will see here, open transcript, and here's your text. Now, you can copy this text and use it in your video editing software to make your subtitles. 7. Skillshare Subtitles Course #7 Formating Subtitles: After you have manually created your subtitles, adjusted all the timestamps, and made sure there are no spelling errors, you don't need to do anything else. But if you want, you can still adjust the formatting. To format your subtitles on Premiere Pro is quite easy. Just access this Essential Graphics panel, and then you can select a different font. There are quite a lot of fonts to choose from. You can select a different effect for your font, like bold or italics or only captions. And you can also position your subtitles in different parts of your video. Just pick the one that you like the most. Like any text editor, you can play with the colour of the fonts, with the position and the spacing. So there are quite a lot of resources for you to play around. 8. Skillshare Subtitles Course #8 Exporting Burned In Subtitles: Otherwise, if you think everything is ready, load the video and subtitles into the software, and export them with subtitles burned in. To save burn in subtitles, you just have to do three steps. Go File, Export, Media. Then, on this menu here, you'll select Captions. And on the drop-down menu, Burn Captions into video. And then you just hit Export. 9. Skillshare Subtitles Course #9 Loading the (: If you create the SRT file in a separate program, you need to load the video and the SRT file in Premiere Pro. Now, to load an SRT file to your video, you just go to File Import, select the SRT file you want, and then you just drag and drop from the Project Media window to the timeline. Here, you just leave as it is and click OK. And there you have it. Check if everything is OK. Make the final adjustments and export your video. As you can see, it now looks as the same as when we create the subtitles manually. You can simply export them as we showed before. 10. Skillshare Subtitles Course #10 No Software, No Problem: If you don't have a software to create subtitles, use the YouTube hack we explained in the last chapter. This is a fantastic way to create separate subtitle files. However, if you want to burn the subtitles into your video, but don't have a software that can do it. You have another option. The easiest way is to create images with your subtitles on a transparent background, and insert them into your video. You can also use the text function of your video editing program. But, in my experience, that gets pretty messy, and it's easier to create images in a separate software. However, this is very… very time-consuming and so is only suitable for short videos. If you need to do this regularly, you are usually better off finding a software that has this feature. There are even free options like: Da Vinci or Resolve. And before I forget, you can get the PDF file, Best Practices for Creating Subtitles, in the download section of this course. 11. Skillshare Subtitles Course #11 Software Suggestions: And here are some software suggestions for you. As a Paid Software, you can start with Adobe Premiere, Zubtitle Aura Video Editor, Movavi Video Editor Plus or Happy Scribe On the Free Software section, my suggestions are: Da Vinci Resolve Jubbler, Open Subtitle Editor Aegissub and DivXLand Media. 12. Skillshare Subtitles Course #12 Tips & Tricks: And here are some tips and tricks for you. Most social media platforms have tutorials on how to add subtitles. Check this out and also get some extra help on YouTube. Next tip. Not too many people realize this, but every single video that gets uploaded to YouTube, gets transcribed, automatically by the service. Just click the subtitles Closed Captions option at the bottom right of the video, and you're good to go! However, you will notice that the transcription is not always perfect. It is done by computers, not actually people. You can fix that by manually correcting the subtitles by yourself. Just go to your YouTube channel and click on the option Transcriptions. 13. Skillshare Subtitles Course #13 You made it: OK, that's it! We reached the end of the course. Before we go, I would like to tell you that I really appreciate that you take the time to participate in the course, and I hope that the course content is being helpful for you. From time to time, I will check all the comments received. So, if you have any questions or suggestions, please share them in the comments section. In this way, we can continue learning from each other. OK, then! Thanks for watching. All the best. And see you in the next class!