SiNg0d
16th June 2009, 09:29 AM
Ever wondered how the hell those rippers out there create the subtitles that allows you to see foreign movies and understand what the hell those actors are saying onscreen? Well its no that hard, time consuming though, but child’s play. First lets see the definition of subtitles. As per Wikipedia-
“Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added information to help viewers who are deaf and hard-of-hearing to follow the dialog.”
Enough of this. Now to the real part. You could use the numerous softwares available on the net, both the paid and free (available to those, well, who can find them!) and in this regard again to quote Wikipedia-
“Subtitles can also be created by individuals using freely-available subtitle-creation software like Subtitle Workshop and then hardcode them onto a video file with programs such as VirtualDub in combination with VSFilter which could also be used to show subtitles as softsubs in many software video players.”
Now, there are two new terms here, Hardcode and Softsubs. Well as the name suggests the first term signifies that the subtitles have been, lets say etched, on the video itself, that is there is no way u can remove those subtitles now. And as for softsubs these are the subtitles that exist as a separate file along with the media file, hence you can choose to have them or remove them. What we are creating here are softsubs.
The following show you how to make srt files for small videos like some home video or something. ( I say this because this type of subtitling is a very tedious job and takes a lot of patience. I usually do it for small vids).
Lets look at a small sample of the subtitle I created for the song “What a Wonderful World”.
1
00:00:06,039 --> 00:00:10,080
I see trees of green,
2
00:00:10,090 --> 00:00:13,055
Red roses too
3
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:19,060
I see them bloom for me and you
4
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,080
And I think to myself,
Now, let’s analyse these statements. The number before each statement signifies the number of the subtitle. Then what follows is the time duration for which the subtitle would remain on the screen. It follows the following syntax-
HH:MM:SS,MS --> HH:MM:SS,MS
Start Time --> Stop Time
Now, naturally the statement that follows this is the subtitle! Now for this you require a software that gives you a graphic visualization of the audio in your video. I generally use Virtual DJ. Its easy to use!
Step 1: If you are making a video for a song, then take the lyrics off the net or for the home movies, hmm you’ll have to take them down as they say it! Sorry!
Step 2: Open Notepad and start your subtitle, with the first statement.
Step 3: With the music software, check the time period for which that particular statement was spoken. Take then down.
Step 4: Using the format write them down to the Notepad file.
Step 5: Continue this until the all the statements are done with.
Step 6: Save the text file into the same folder as your video and with the same name as the video but the file extension as .srt
Voila! You have created your own subtitle file!
“Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added information to help viewers who are deaf and hard-of-hearing to follow the dialog.”
Enough of this. Now to the real part. You could use the numerous softwares available on the net, both the paid and free (available to those, well, who can find them!) and in this regard again to quote Wikipedia-
“Subtitles can also be created by individuals using freely-available subtitle-creation software like Subtitle Workshop and then hardcode them onto a video file with programs such as VirtualDub in combination with VSFilter which could also be used to show subtitles as softsubs in many software video players.”
Now, there are two new terms here, Hardcode and Softsubs. Well as the name suggests the first term signifies that the subtitles have been, lets say etched, on the video itself, that is there is no way u can remove those subtitles now. And as for softsubs these are the subtitles that exist as a separate file along with the media file, hence you can choose to have them or remove them. What we are creating here are softsubs.
The following show you how to make srt files for small videos like some home video or something. ( I say this because this type of subtitling is a very tedious job and takes a lot of patience. I usually do it for small vids).
Lets look at a small sample of the subtitle I created for the song “What a Wonderful World”.
1
00:00:06,039 --> 00:00:10,080
I see trees of green,
2
00:00:10,090 --> 00:00:13,055
Red roses too
3
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:19,060
I see them bloom for me and you
4
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,080
And I think to myself,
Now, let’s analyse these statements. The number before each statement signifies the number of the subtitle. Then what follows is the time duration for which the subtitle would remain on the screen. It follows the following syntax-
HH:MM:SS,MS --> HH:MM:SS,MS
Start Time --> Stop Time
Now, naturally the statement that follows this is the subtitle! Now for this you require a software that gives you a graphic visualization of the audio in your video. I generally use Virtual DJ. Its easy to use!
Step 1: If you are making a video for a song, then take the lyrics off the net or for the home movies, hmm you’ll have to take them down as they say it! Sorry!
Step 2: Open Notepad and start your subtitle, with the first statement.
Step 3: With the music software, check the time period for which that particular statement was spoken. Take then down.
Step 4: Using the format write them down to the Notepad file.
Step 5: Continue this until the all the statements are done with.
Step 6: Save the text file into the same folder as your video and with the same name as the video but the file extension as .srt
Voila! You have created your own subtitle file!