Subtitles Font Size

[David Bogie]

You might repost all the stuff from the forums where you have placed this same question so the answers you received are shared equally.

Your 25 pixels of SD are a different proportion of the horizontal lines in HD, 25/480 (0.05) vs 25/1080 (0.02) viewing distance is a factor but if you wish to maintain the same apparent visual ratio, you would need, umm, 50-60 pixels.

I try to divide my subtitles/captions into 6 second blocks and I cut them on and off with 5 frames between blocks.

bogiesan

This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: “For crying out loud, read the freakin’ manual.”

[Bouke Vahl]

David,
You need a masterclass subtitling.
Rule #1:
A subtitle comes on when somebody starts to speak, and goes off when he shuts up. (or max one second later)

Rule #2:
You split up (when the sentence is long) subtitles on logical places, so each title has a meaning of is own. You also try to put the break in a breath pause or alike.

Rule #3:
There is an average read speed of about 11 chars a second.
But that rule is not hard. Double negative is never easy to understand, that takes way longer. So avoid that. If it is simple language, if you can read the title out loud (no mumbling!) in it’s duration it’s good.
This comes out to about 6 seconds for a FULL title. (most are not…)

And there are about 26 more rules…

Most important, stay in sync. If you do so, it’s a pleasant viewing and people trust the translation. (See the different “der Untergang” subtitle fun movies…)

Bouke

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