Adding subtitles?

FlaxSeed · Post by **FlaxSeed** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:09 pm

Hey all.

Erm, this is no doubt 'noob,' but I'm actually planning on adding subtitles to a video of mine. However, I haven't come across any real guides. I could probably add them pretty easily in premiere or something, but I was going for how its done in fansubbed openings. How it highlights particular parts of the words as they're sung. I just see a lot of fancy effects and was wondering if there are any guides any of you could point me towards. That's be awesome. ^^

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 5:20 pm

I'm actually planning to add similarly styled subtitles on one of my next videos; what I envision is two image files for each line, in two different colors, plopped into adjacent video tracks in Premiere Pro, and use the Garbage Matte on the one in the higher video track to hide or reveal each syllable when the time comes.

So if I wanted the line to start out yellow and end up white, I'd put the yellow version in one video track and the white version in the next higher track, both set to the same location on the screen. Then I'd throw the Garbage Matte onto the white one and move the right edge of the matte all the way over to the left so that the whole line was hidden; thus, only the yellow would be showing. Then I'd animate the right edge of the Garbage Matte to reveal each syllable of the white version over top of the yellow version as the music got to them.

As for creating the subtitle images themselves, I plan to use either Premiere Pro's titler, The GIMP (since I don't have Paint Shop Pro), or both.

wurpess · Post by **wurpess** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 6:05 pm

Actually, I just did a karaoke vid for a MEP, and I did the text in Photoshop, imported to premiere, then put the text frames where I wanted them, copied and pasted a duplicate one on top of it, then used the razor tool to divide the top line where I wanted it to change colors, then used the crop and tint effects to make it the color I wanted and make the part I wanted the different color.

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 6:10 pm

Yeah, actually, sorry I forgot about that. You don't need two different subtitle images, you can just use Premiere's color adjustment on one of the copies to get it to the right color.

Osakaness · Post by **Osakaness** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 8:35 pm

The stuff you see from anime op/ends are usually done in SubStation Alpha (SSA for short) with a VirtualDub plugin called Textsub. All of which are FREE and highly recommended for karaoke and timing subtitles.

Here is a good fansubbing guide that covers how to use SSA:
http://hilltop.bradley.edu/~dsmith94/Tu ... ob_2-0.txt

note: For the karaoke timings, I'd suggest you start off with the basic millisecond timing {\K}, {\k} before moving on to make complicated/timing consuming things like this:

(This is just part of my Fading Days AMV karaoke script i did last year. All it is basic fading in/out of the syllables, {\r} is the key.)

FlaxSeed · Post by **FlaxSeed** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:25 am

*hugs everyone* Thanks, all.