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Tutorial for Subtitles

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Learn How to Create an English Subtitled Movie

Preparation

  1. Before transcribing an iBiology talk, please contact the iBiology Science Outreach Program Manager via email at monica(AT SIGN)ibiology(DOT) org and we will send you more info about uploading your transcript and/or subtitled Quicktime movie. This way we can avoid duplicate transcription and can ultimately get more seminars transcribed.
  2. Download InqScribe software at http://www.inqscribe.com (educational discount available)
  3. Go to the talk you would like to transcribe on the iBiology website at https://www.ibiology.org and download the High_Res QuickTime file you want to transcribe.

InqScribe

InqScribe is transcribing software. The nice thing about InqScribe is that you can change the speed at which the video plays back as well as set shortcuts for pausing, inserting time codes, rewinding, etc. InqScribe inserts time codes within the transcribed text that correspond with time points in the QuickTime movie. InqScribe can then assemble and export a subtitled QuickTime movie. If you are using a PC make sure you are using Quicktime 7.6. Newer versions don’t work.

  1. Before you start transcribing, it would be a good idea to make shortcuts for inserting time codes, toggling pause and play, and skipbacks (rewinding the QuickTime movie). To do this, go to Edit > Edit Shortcuts and within this pop-up it will be straightforward to assign key strokes to various commands.
  2. Within the InqScribe menu, click on Select Media Source in the upper left-hand corner and select the QuickTime file you want to transcribe.
  3. The main text window on the left hand side will be where you transcribe the text. Start by inserting a time code using the shortcut you established in step 1.
  4. I have found it useful to set the play rate to 0.7x while transcribing. While transcribing the text, use your shortcut to pause/play the QuickTime video while typing out your transcript.
  5. Insert time codes frequently (Every 30-40 characters or so) as the subtitle lengths build up quickly.
  6. To export the QuickTime movie with subtitles, go to File > Save Subtitled QuickTime Movie. Here you can select various features such as where you want the subtitles placed, font type, and font size. Choose the Verdana font at 36 (largest font size possible). Make sure to place the subtitles below the movie. Save as a self-contained movie.

Tips for editing

  1. InqScribe has no spell checking so copy and paste the text into Word and run spell-check (turn off grammar or it will detect all the timestamps), you can then either copy and paste the text back into the InqScribe text window, or go between the Word document and InqScribe and edit as you go along.
  2. Use transcript settings in the upper right hand corner to change how timestamps are recognized. Recognize Unbracketed Time Codes is a useful setting when bringing text back into InqScribe, particularly translated text (See below)
  3. It will probably be necessary to edit timestamps to break up some of the longer subtitles after the first QuickTime video is exported. To do this, open the exported movie, locate the subtitles that are too long, and go back and insert new timestamps within the InqScribe text box. To make this a little easier, you can click on any timestamp within the InqScribe text box and the associated QuickTime movie will go to that exact time within InqScribe. You can then insert your cursor at the part of the sentence you want to insert a new timestamp and use your shortcut to insert a timestamp when the video reaches the matching point.

Exporting a transcript

  1. To make a transcript for eventual translation, export the InqScribe text by going to File > Export > Tab delimited-text.
  2. This tab-delimited text can then be imported into Excel. Note that the timestamps get duplicated (it makes a start and stop instead of just one time point). To get around this, delete the second column of timestamps within Excel.
  3. When importing tab-delimited text to Excel make sure that the column data format is text. Otherwise the time codes formats will be changed by Excel.
  4. The transcripts can then be translated line by line into whatever language you want, resulting in the translated text associated with the correct timestamps. See the iBioTranslation protocol for more detailed information.
  5. Copy and paste the translated text and timestamps from Excel into the text box in InqScribe. It is important to bring in the text this way so the accents are kept properly and no extra symbols are added (this was a problem in the past, you cannot import the tab delimited text into InqScribe using their import function properly).
  6. Add the Media Source as described above if necessary. You may need to adjust the Transcript settings to recognize unbracked timestamps. Export the subtitled QuickTime movie.
  7. You now will have both a translated transcript in excel, as well as a subtitled Quicktime movie. The iBio team would be interested in both, but one or the other will also suffice! Thanks for your help!

Learn how to create a translated movie >>