For this week's assignment, you have two choices:
1. You may use any program of your choosing to attempt to add captions to a video clip. In my exploration on captioning, Camtasia Studio worked well, however it would be good to investigate how other options work for adding captions to video clips. If you choose this option, you will need to add captions to a video clip that includes at least 30 seconds of recorded narration.
If you select this option, please upload your completed video to a location online where I can view it (such as Google Video, YouTube, Blogger, or other location) and include the URL in your post.
or
2. You may write about adding captions to a video project. If you select this option, you should address some or all of the following topics:
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Are there any specific digitals stories on the Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling website (go to the Examples menu to view stories) that would be helped by adding captions? --Please name at least one specific story.
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Are there other videos that you that you feel would be improved by adding captions?
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What would that benefit be?
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Are there different categories of captions that might be added to the same video project (such as different languages, for example)? Please elaborate.
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How might an educator use captioned videos instructionally?
- Are there other audiences that might benefit from captioned videos?
- Is there anything else about captioning that you would like to add?
When you have completed this assignment, post a comment in which you discuss your work on this assignment.
13 comments:
I used Camtasia to add captions to a new portion of my video project. I got frustrated trying to manipulate the various parameters to make it fit within my personal aesthetics, so I just gave in to the default settings and called it a day. Creating the captions was very easy and did not require much time at all. I saved the completed file as an AVI and uploaded it to my video blog, where you can view it.
I said I would post something about translating using Microsoft Word 2007, so here it is. I figure it would surely be easier with screenshots or a tutorial video, but You can't post anything like that through blogger. So I'll try describing it, and if anyone has questions they can let me know.
First - write something in Word.
Second - Click on the "Review" tab across the top.
Third - Click the "Translate" button, fourth button from the left on top.
Fourth - A side window pops up. Chose the "from" and "to" languages. Click the little green arrow - "Translate the whole document."
Fifth - It then tells you it's going to take you to a webpage and asks you if that's cool. Say yes. Then the page pops up with your translated text on it. Copy and paste as you will.
That's about it. Seems to work pretty well.
Jamie
I was able to use my previously created video with narration and then added captions.
It is availabel here:
http://viking.coe.uh.edu/~gkitmacher/ISSTrial1.wmv
Using Sony Vegas, captions are quite easy. The most difficult part was that, like with Photoshop or Imageready, Vegas works in layers with several video layers available and my captions did not show up until I figured out they needed to be on the top layer in order to overlay the video images. Once I figured it out, its a simple drag and drop to position the captions higher in the sequence.
Captions are easy to create, modify and position, and you can even use effects such as rotating. (I have not yet figured out how to scroll.)
The more I use the Vegas program, the easier it appears to be to use and the more comfortable I am with it. And unlike Premiere, it always works.
Hi, y’all. The lesson on captioning presents aesthetic and technological challenges. In the class demonstration the added captions appeared in paragraph-like stacks of sentences, and looking at Shaunna’s project I see similar results. When viewing the video I stopped looking at the captions and focused on the image being presented. These old eyes tend to avoid small print except when absolutely necessary. I wonder if running captions, being less static and maybe in a larger font, would hold my attention. Probably not. I am a lazy person and the narrator (in this case, Shaunna) is doing a fine job informing me without the effort of reading.
I like to watch movies from other countries and deal with the subtitles well. Usually subtitles are in large print and easier to read, but even then I always feel like I am missing the subtleties of the imagery and acting because I am too busy reading. Subtitles at the opera are convenient because they are simple and can be understood at a glance and then I return to focusing on what’s on stage and the singing—the often drawn out or repetitious style of singing gives me time to get back to what’s important after glancing at the subtitles. So for me subtitles at the opera actually add to rather than distract from the experience.
I looked at several of the art entries posted at Educational uses of Digital Storytelling website. First I watched Journey into Process and thought “no captions necessary.” It is mostly music and images that speak for themselves. There isn’t narration so I don’t think captions would be a positive addition. A hearing impaired viewer would not need captions to understand this narrative.
Then I clicked on Van Gogh’s Letters to Theo. I think the video is mislabeled. It was about a man named Kenny. Mostly it was old photos and letters with music and narration—a very personal story about a woman’s uncle killed in the war. Though captions could be added I don’t think it would improve or add to the experience of watching this digital narrative. The handwritten letters were clearly readable and the images of the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, letter informing the family, casket, and memorial wall did not need words at all—even for the hearing impaired.
Next I watched two of the narratives about James Surls. Captions could work well with them. There was a lot of information given by the narrator that a hearing impaired viewer would not get otherwise, and most of the images are presented in a way that would allow for captioning at the bottom without interference or conflict.
The entry on Christo and Jean-Claude’s installations would be a tough order for captioning. The still shots were labeled at the bottom so captioning would interfere with what’s already there. However, without captioning, a person with impaired hearing would miss most of the information presented.
The volume of the narration and music is very low in the digital narrative about pinhole cameras that is posted on the site, so I turned the controls up all the way on my laptop to make it audible. The narrator’s information would be lost on the hearing impaired, but the graphics presented filled the screen so captioning would have to be placed over details and markings in the graphics—making them cluttered or difficult to read.
So out of the ones I watched, the Surls stories are the best candidates for captioning.
For a while I was working on copying a DVD with one of Akira Kurosawa’s films on it. Subtitles in English had been added to the DVD—and I noticed other languages were available when I was copying it—but I recorded the movie without captioning. Since I have seen this particular movie several times I already knew the dialog—or at least the English translation of the dialog—and enjoyed seeing Kurosawa’s “pure” work for the first time without the subtitles. Do they distract from his work? Yes. Are they necessary? Yes, unless the viewer knows Japanese it would be impossible to understand Kurosawa’s intentions. Cut and dried opinion is that captioning is, in many cases, a necessary distraction.
Captioning is not just to assist the hearing impaired. It can be a way to reach across cultures. I have a closed captioning setting on my television that I sometimes use. If I could watch some of my favorite movies or television shows with English dialog and Spanish subtitles I think I could learn the Spanish language quicker than from structured dialog in prepared lessons. I don’t hear other languages well. Seeing them in print helps. It would be interesting and maybe helpful to individual learning styles to watch different languages captioned over videos recorded in English.
Captioning in videos seen in environments such as bars or public places allow video/film/sports/news to be enjoyed even though there is a lot of background noise. Classrooms seldom get as loud as a bar but there are sometimes a lot of distractions—especially for students that have trouble concentrating. Captioning also allows for watching video without disturbing others in environments where quiet is the protocol. Last month was in a waiting room at Methodist Hospital and still was able to watch the news.
If captioning is used it should be fitted to the particulars of the video. If it runs at the bottom it should not distract from or overlay important images or labels. If it is for translation it should be accurate. It should complement the viewing experience so plans need to be made a priori for adequate space at the bottom of frames.
I had a hard time choosing a video that it would be helpful to have captions with. I don't really feel that any videos need captions unless it is for a viewer that is hearing impaired or is in another language. But then that would go for all of the videos and not just a single one. The only video (and I feel that this is a stretch) that I would say could really use captions would be the one about Puerto Rico and that is only because it is difficult to hear and understand the narrator over the music. I think that videos that are in universal topics could benefit from having captions that are in different languages. However, being ADD myself and a multi-tasker I would be more distracted by the words and would therefore pay attention less to the video itself. I have a hard time watching subtitled videos because I concentrate too much on the words and miss important parts of the visual aspect of the video. Obviously captioning can be beneficial for those that speak a different language if the captioning is done in their language and for those that are hearing impaired. While thinking about ways that I could use captions in my classroom, however, I thought back to when sing-a-long videos were popular. I remember learning the songs to popular (my favorite!) Disney songs by watching these sing-a-long videos. I think that would be a really neat way to use captioning by putting text with educational music videos (such as the color and alphabet songs that my students sing in class). I would be curious to know if there is a way to highlight the text as the words are sung as was done in the sing-a-long videos that I remember.
See my blog at http://video-lrschmidt.blogspot.com/ for my answer to the captions question.
Laura's discussion of captioning the Engines of Our Ingenuity episodes is one that's quite intriguing to me since I think she made an excellent point about how these stories could be used to help students struggling with English (and Shakespeare).
And this would be a fairly easy task to accomplish since the text for every episode has already been transcribed and can be easily copied from the Engines website.
Hi everyone,
I found a really great captioning device in YouTube. It is now offered as a recent addition to their services. Here is the link to their tutorial . I think I did it properly, however, at this time, the captions have not shown up yet. Until they show up, I plan to keep at it.
It seems to work! You may have to turn on closed captions to see it. Here's the video's link
I've uploaded my video here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5814243770404272110
I'm using iMovie, which does not appear to have a caption option. I'm simply adding titles and timing them as best I can. I tried using Adobe Encore to add captions, but the program is far beyond my capabilities without watching hours of tutorials.
I used Windows Media Player for adding captions. It worked well, and the text options are easy to manipulate.
I want to try Camtasia as well because it seems to flow better.
In general it is difficult for me to figure out where to put text and captioning, I don't know if I should have text as I record myself reading it, or should it be in the background?
Trying not to be repetitive is difficult.
I tried used Adobe Premiere elements but on the trail version there is a watermark in the back that doesn't go away. This got annoying pretty fast.
I also tried using Camtasia but it ran too slowly on my machine, so I decided to use Pinnacle which was relatively easier for me to use and worked a lot faster on my machine.
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