Introduction 2 Generating Content 3



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Video and Audio Guidance



Videos: content creation


When creating videos, deliver the key message immediately, as many users don’t watch videos all the way through. Keep your videos relatively short to maintain interest. If the material requires longer treatment, consider making a series of short videos.

YouTube video metadata


Video metadata is the information that surrounds your video: Title, Description and Tags. This metadata plays a large role in the visibility and consumption of videos on YouTube and helps search engines find your videos.

Video titles


Titles are an important tool to describe your content. They compel users to click on your video. Think of them as taglines or magazine headlines that will grab the viewer’s interest. Remember to:

  • Include relevant keywords to maximize search and discovery traffic.

  • Portray your content accurately.

  • Place keywords first in the title and branding at the end.

  • Try to keep titles to around 75 characters or fewer, including spaces, but don’t exceed 100 characters, including spaces.


Video descriptions


Begin your description with the most relevant information – only the first few sentences will appear on a video watch page and next to the thumbnail in search results. Include the keywords that are used in the title and that will be used in the tags, as well as additional relevant keywords. Follow a structure or template to create uniformity in all your video descriptions. Always include:

  • Link to your channel page and a subscription link with a call to action (CTA).

  • Links to related content/sites/videos/channels/users referenced in the video with a CTA.

  • Links to social media accounts with a CTA.

  • The http:// that turns links into hyperlinks (URL shorteners are great to track clicks) and exclude the country/language code from the URLs as IP/Location detection should redirect user to relevant content.


Video tags


Tags should always be topically accurate and concise. In addition to content-specific tags, create a set of ‘standard tags’ for your channel that can be applied to any video you publish. These tags should apply to most of the content you produce.

Video thumbnails


Thumbnails, along with your video title, act as mini marketing posters for your content on YouTube. YouTube creates an automatic selection of thumbnail images drawn from stills of your video. Always choose thumbnails that are:

  • clear and in-focus

  • bright with high-contrast

  • showing close-ups of faces (if relevant)

  • visually compelling

  • well-framed with good composition

  • showing foreground standing out from background

  • representing the content accurately


YouTube advanced settings


Embedding on other sites: allowing other users to embed your videos can also help the seeding process. Videos may get more views within the context of a relevant website than on YouTube. All views are counted on YouTube.

Syndication: enabling syndication will allow people to see your video on their mobile, iPad and TV.

Comments and responses


Video responses: do not allow video responses or commenting on your videos unless you have the resources to police the comments. It’s not easy to delete unwanted comments.

Privacy: set the video to ‘public’ so that it’s available for all to watch.

License: select the standard YouTube license.

Video location

Adding video location to a video makes that video more relevant to users in or near that location.


Audio


HTML5 aims to standardise elements on a page and reduce the use of plugins. In the past you’d need a plugin, such as Flash or Quicktime, to be able to listen to music and video. Now, in HTML5, you can simply put a video inside some ‘video’ tags (as easily as you would put an image inside an ‘img’ tag). This also applies to audio files, although some formats are not supported by all browsers.

Captions, subtitles and transcripts: overview


Captions, subtitles and transcripts for videos (and transcripts for audio files or podcasts) are a requirement for any video and audio content to achieve the maximum compliance to accessibility – an important part of making online content available to as many people as possible.

Note: unless otherwise stated, all aspects of this section apply equally to captions and subtitles. Transcripts have a unique and different set of guidelines and criteria of acceptance, and are also described in this section.

(Technology changes constantly: the guidelines in this section are applicable as of April 2013.)

Getting started: captions and subtitles


Captions and subtitles (and transcripts) are the audio elements of a video in written text format. They usually take the form of narration or dialogue, but can sometimes include information to help people follow the dialogue, such as descriptions of music, background noises, ambient audio and other sounds in a video’s audio track.

Videos are accessible to a wider audience through captions and subtitles: they enable people who wouldn’t otherwise understand the audio track to follow the content – for example, the hearing impaired, people in a noisy environment, those who don’t have audio on their computers or who speak other languages.



The difference between captions and subtitles is that:

  • captions are primarily for the hearing impaired

  • subtitles are written for hearing viewers in a language that’s different from the language used in the video

Captions are in the same language as the video's audio track and subtitles are in a different language. For example, a bilingual English/Welsh website would have clearly labelled captions (for English text) and subtitles (for Welsh text).

Captions: overview


Captions are defined as "synchronized text equivalents of audio information in the same language as the audio, conveying not only speech content but also non-speech information such as sound effects, music, laughter and speaker identification and location." They are important because they:

  • Provide missing information for people who have difficulty processing speech and auditory components of visual media (regardless of whether this is due to hearing loss or a cognitive delay).

  • Are essential for the deaf and hard of hearing.

  • Are beneficial to users with English as a second language or with reading and literacy problems, especially with word identification and meaning.

  • Have been linked to higher comprehension and retention levels (when compared to viewers watching the same media without captions).

  • Are indexed by search engines quickly and accurately, so that your videos will reach more people.


Styling captions and subtitles: video productions that are not on YouTube


If captions and/or subtitles are being commissioned for video productions that won’t appear on YouTube, then you may have to brief the production company. If so, take note of the following points:

  • Don’t use graphical captions or subtitles.

  • Keep file sizes as small as possible by using text-only xml files: they are easier to edit and to update in-house, if necessary, without the expense of running the captions/subtitles to a third party for specialist preparation. If you commission them in the .sbv format, they can be used instantly and easily for YouTube and also added to DVDs.

So, commissioned captions and subtitles should be delivered to the production company:

  • un-styled

  • un-formatted

  • non-graphical

  • in text only, ideally as .sbv files

Guidelines for captions and subtitles


To ensure consistency the following guidance covers delivery, guidelines, examples, and so on.

Closed captions only


There are two types of captions:

  • closed captions: must be able to be turned on or off at will

  • non-closed (open) captions: are printed on the video itself

Closed captions appear only when the user selects this option, as opposed to open captions, which are a permanent part of the picture (making it impossible to change). Closed captions are the usual, more flexible option.

Captions must be:

  • in an easy-to-read format

  • synchronised to appear at the appropriate time in the audio, or as close as possible

  • verbatim when time allows, or as close as possible

  • equivalent and equal in content

  • accessible

  • readily available to those who need or want them

Adhere to the following guidelines as far as possible:



  • make sure captions appear on-screen long enough to be read

  • display on-screen captions on no more than two lines

  • synchronise captions with spoken words

  • identify speakers when more than one person is on-screen or when the speaker is not visible

  • punctuate to clarify meaning

  • make sure spelling is correct

  • write out sound effects if this will aid understanding

  • caption all words, regardless of language or dialect

  • preserve and identify slang words and accents

  • always use good grammar (even though translating speech to text might sometimes require creative use of punctuation)

Captions: examples


Dialogue

Off-screen dialogue is depicted with the name of the speaker indicated in round brackets ( ).



Sound effects – no dialogue

Special effects, background and ambient audio are indicated by the use of square brackets [ ].


Subtitles


Key points about subtitles:

  • They are written for people who speak a different language from the language used in the video.

  • They present the audio elements of a project (whether video, audio, podcast, etc.) in a language that is different from the one originally recorded.

  • They usually don’t indicate information other than dialogue and are often edited; some may translate onscreen printed information such as a street sign.

  • The style, delivery and guidelines for captions generally applies to subtitles. The main difference is that ambient or colour is not included.

Using captions and subtitles in production


Closed captions appear only when the user selects this option. However, the video producers should be aware that, with captions selected, the lower section of the video will be partially obscured by the captions and their corresponding semi-opaque black background. This is also the case if subtitles are selected by the user.

Therefore avoid having vital information presented in an area of the screen that might be blocked by the captions.


Transcription


Transcripts are basically audio description, which makes video accessible to people who are unable to see it. They provide information about movements or actions that are important to the understanding of the content and cannot be grasped from the audio information alone.

How to make transcripts


There are two stages to creating a text transcript of an audio or audiovisual multimedia resource:

  1. generation of the transcript

  2. publishing the transcript on a web page

Generation of the transcript is far more challenging and time consuming than writing captions or subtitles: it involves listening to and writing down spoken content and any non-spoken audio information that is central to understanding.

This means watching the video in order to provide additional text to supply key information about visual events (in other words, text equivalents of what would be spoken as part of an audio description), so that people who are deaf-blind can understand the content.

As a rule of thumb, the transcript should contain:


  • All spoken content, including speaker name.

  • Any additional contextual information relating to the spoken content – for example, whether dialogue is whispered or shouted.

  • Any non-spoken information without which understanding of the video or audio content would be reduced or lost.

  • Any text that would be spoken as part of an audio description – and visual events important to the understanding of the content.

  • Representation of on-screen visuals that inform or relate to the content or context of the video.

As with captioning, there’s a degree of subjectivity to transcripts. Capturing spoken dialogue is the easy part – you simply listen and record what’s being said and by whom. It’s more difficult to convey the colour, mood and atmosphere of the video. Some rules of thumb include:

  • Describe what you observe as well as what you hear.

  • Always include what is essential to know, such as actions and details that would confuse or mislead the audience if omitted. For example, if the subject says ‘as you can see’ and points to his new tractor, this needs to be included.

  • When possible, describe actions and details that add to the understanding of mood, appearance, setting and atmosphere. For example, if the subject rolls her eyes to convey annoyance, this should be represented in words.

  • Describe as consistently as possible, using the same character names and terminology throughout a production, unless exceptions are warranted.

  • Describe any obvious emotional states but don’t attempt to describe what is invisible, as a mental state, reasoning, or motivation. For example, if the subject chokes up and wipes away a tear, this is an important visual indicator of the mood.

  • Include titles and credits, if any exist.


Example of a transcript


Here, non-spoken information is provided using italicised text with brackets;
the speaker is indicated in bold, and the off-screen speaker is announced clearly:

(Alistair sits in front of a painting showing the straw house and talks.)

Alistair: “I will huff and puff and blow your house down.”

(Shot of the outside, where a wolf is approaching, howling.)

Man’s voice (from outside the room): “Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin.”

YouTube


Although we’ll cover the basics here, please note that support for captioning and subtitles in YouTube is both sophisticated and constantly evolving. See the latest guidance at:

http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=guide.cs&guide=2734661


Transcript files


A transcript file must be saved as a plain text file without any formatting. There must not be any special characters such as &, £ or smart quotes.
A transcript might look like this:

FISHER: All right. So, let's begin. This session is: Going Social with the YouTube APIs. I am Jeff Fisher, and this is Johann Hartmann, we're presenting today. [pause]


Auto-captions


If the language spoken in the video and the text is the same (such as for captions in English), YouTube can synchronise the display of the text with the delivery of the speech automatically for you using ‘auto-captions’. This is extremely effective and easy to do. But please watch it through carefully to ensure the captions correspond correctly to what’s said.

Adding captions manually


If auto-captioning on YouTube is not useful, you can add the ‘timings’ manually. These are literally the hours/minutes/seconds/milliseconds position of where the dialogue takes place in the programme and is how the captions are assigned to that particular area.

You can do this by: 1) adding timing to your transcript to create an .sbv file; or commissioning a third party to do it for you; or by accessing software or freeware.

Here's what a (*.SBV) caption file might look like – the first numbers indicate when the caption begins; the last numbers indicate when it ends, eg:

0:00:03.490,0:00:07.430

FISHER: All right. So, let's begin. This session is: Going Social

0:00:07.430,0:00:11.600

with the YouTube APIs. I am Jeff Fisher,

0:00:11.600,0:00:14.009

>> and this is Johann Hartmann, we're presenting today.

0:00:14.009,0:00:15.889



[pause]

Standard captioning practices that help readability include:



  • Adding descriptions inside square brackets, such as [music] or [laughter] helps people with hearing disabilities to understand what’s happening in the video.

  • Adding tags such as >> at the beginning of a new line helps to identify speakers or a change of speaker.

Editing


On YouTube, you can edit auto-captions or your own captions directly online. Follow these steps:

  1. Sign into your YouTube account

  2. On the Captions pane, click on any track; this can be the Machine Transcript track or your own.

  3. Click inside any line in the caption track panel (you can edit the text, but not the timing).

  4. Click OK to save your changes to a line.

  5. Click Save to save the entire caption track.


Uploading and downloading


Once you've created your transcripts or captions/subtitles file, you can upload to YouTube to attach them to your video. Follow these steps:

  1. Mouse over your username (located in the upper right corner of every page).

  2. Click on Video Manager; you’ll then be directed to a page showing your uploaded videos.

  3. Find the video to which you'd like to add transcripts or captions/subtitles and click the down arrow located to the right of the Edit and Insight buttons. Select the Captions button from the drop down menu.

  4. Click the Add New Captions or Transcript button on the right-hand side of the page; you’ll be prompted to Browse for a file to upload.

  5. Select a caption/subtitle or transcript file to upload. If you’re uploading a transcript (no timecodes), select Transcript file, otherwise, select Caption file.

  6. Select the appropriate language; you can also enter a track name if you wish.

  7. Click the Upload File button.

To download auto-captions for a video, you must be the video owner.
If this is the case, follow these steps:

  1. Sign into your account.

  2. On the Captions pane, click on any track; click on the Download button.

  3. YouTube will then save a file called captions.sbv to your desktop.

Note: you won’t necessarily be downloading the caption file in the format you uploaded it, so it’s recommended to save any captions file you make locally.

Captioning tools


More information on captioning and tools for this purpose can be found at http://www.dcmp.org/ciy/

Video healthcheck


Commissioning

1a

Does the video already exist? (Check whether another local Healthwatch or organisation has produced a similar one you can use.)

1b

Do you have a clear idea of what the video should say, how long it should be, who it is aimed at, who can approve the script and who can sign off the finished video?

1c

Have you budgeted for captions and, if necessary, subtitles?

Describing your video

2a

Do you have a YouTube account to upload videos to? If not, set one up with approval from head of local Healthwatch.

2b

As you upload the video, make sure you have followed instructions in this document for naming and description.

2c

Have you linked back to your local Healthwatch site in the description of the video?

2d

Have you used a full range of tags to help your video be found?

Captions/Transcriptions (a legal requirement for public sector sites)

3a

Have you created a transcription of everything that is said and happens in the video?

3b

Try using YouTube’s auto caption feature to save you from having to add timings by hand.

3c

Add a full transcription of the text, either at the bottom of the video description field in YouTube, or on the page on the site in which you’re embedding the video, or both.

3d

Watch the film with the sound turned off. Does it make sense?

Subtitles 

4a

Is it important for the video to be understood by people who are not fluent in English?

4b

If you have a caption document with timings (which you can download from auto caption), you can then send this for translation as long as the numbers for timings are left alone.

4c

Make sure your video editor does not burn subtitles into the video. Ask him or her to refer to this document.


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