subtitles preferred format for encore (and premiere)

[Daniel Ludwig]

MAC od PC?

[Ginger Gentile]

I work on PC, some of the other people working on this work on MAC–if there is a format that works on both, the best.
The idea is that I will get the subtitles in a format that will then be places in the sequence and automatically go to where they need to go–this exists?

[Daniel Ludwig]

Ginger,
there are subtitle-tools for MAC and PC, some are free, some not.

for example PC-software: https://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Video/Other-VIDEO-Tools/Subtitle-Workshop.shtml

for mac you can use annotation edit from zeitanker: https://www.zeitanker.com

premiere itself could not import/export any subtitle-format because of its title-tool-implementation. you can´t even import FCP-XML and work on the text, simply not possible. annotation edit can generate subtitles that will work within encore.

zeitanker is also selling the annotation trascriber app, this is for transcription – very easy, 29€ cheap and very good for quick spotting.

afterwards the project-file could be exported using anntation edit to go to encore – very easy – one klick.

cheers

danny

[Ginger Gentile]

Hi Danny,
I myself will not be doing the subtitles–I will receive them from the subtitling company, “ready to put in the movie” with the timecodes. They asked me what format I want them, as they can do them in any format–what format should I ask them in?

Thanks for letting me know that I won´t be able to do subtitles in Premiere, I guess I will need to put them in manually from a text file if I need to burn them into the movie, correct?

[Daniel Ludwig]

the most easy way is to create a STL-file. but you might be awared that the need to give you the ISO-coding (UTF-8, UTF-16), otherwise it could be possible that special character will not be correct with other languages.

most subtitle-applications could convert STL to any other format that you need, like the encore-format.

for example STL looks like this:

// Format for Spruce Maestro/DVD Studio Pro
//—————————————–

// Title: Track – English Copy
// Author: No Author
// Language: English
// Date: 03/16/13
// Offset: 00:00:00:00
// Format: 24p – 24

$TapeOffset = False
$FontName = Helvetica
$FontSize = 23
$Bold = False
$Italic = False
$ColorIndex1 = 7
$ColorIndex2 = 1
$ColorIndex3 = 1
$ColorIndex4 = 0
$TextContrast = 15
$Outline1Contrast = 12
$Outline2Contrast = 6
$HorzAlign = Center
$XOffset = 0
$VertAlign = Bottom
$YOffset = 0
$FadeIn = 0
$FadeOut = 0
$BackgroundContrast = 0

$Italic = True
00:01:10:13,00:01:16:00, You get 50 points for the next question| about Burkina Faso.
00:01:18:17,00:01:20:05, Ready?| -Yes.
00:01:21:10,00:01:28:08, What do the farmers in this| village eat for lunch?
00:01:29:12,00:01:32:03, 1. Nutritious dirt.
00:01:34:17,00:01:36:08, 2. Beetles.
00:01:38:08,00:01:40:03, 3. Spaghetti.
00:01:47:17,00:01:50:00, Number 3, spaghetti.

while encore-text looks like this, it´s a so called FAB-text:

1 00:01:10:12 00:01:15:22 You get 50 points for the next question
about Burkina Faso.
2 00:01:18:15 00:01:20:04 Ready? -Yes.
3 00:01:21:08 00:01:28:06 What do the farmers in this village eat for lunch?
4 00:01:29:09 00:01:32:00 1. Nutritious dirt.
5 00:01:34:15 00:01:36:05 2. Beetles.
6 00:01:38:06 00:01:40:01 3. Spaghetti.
7 00:01:47:14 00:01:49:21 Number 3, spaghetti.

cheers

danny

[Matt Stoddart]

Echoing what Daniel said about asking for an SRT file.
If you are PC then a great little (free) Subtitling tool, Subtitle Edit3.3.2 ( https://www.nikse.dk/ ) which has the text preset for Encore and loads of other functions.
You can also ask the company to supply you with a Premiere edl with the corresponding bitmaps which you can import into Premiere if required.

Thanks
Matt Stoddart

[Ginger Gentile]

Great, I will ask for an SRT file and then I can use it for encore and premier, as long as I change it for each program (as I understand, encore needs a heading with information as showed above, while premier doesn´t, it also doenst need line breaks, correct?)

The only languages I will subtitle for are Spanish and English, so I don´t think I need to worry about asian characters for now.

[Matt Stoddart]

What you should get from the subtitlers are two lots of files;
1) SRT – which you can convert into the text file needed for ENCORE.
2) A Premiere edl file with the accompanying tifs of the subtitles

If you tell the subtitler you are editing in Adobe Premiere and tell them what frame size and aspect ratio you are working in they will supply the rest.
The tiff are normally supplied as 4 colour tiffs
E2 [Outer Edge]…….Color 1
E1 [Inner Edge]…….Color 2
PA [Face] …………Color 3
BG [Background]…….Color 4

The EDL should link up with all the tifs files , once they are on the timeline just drop the appropriate key effect on the subtitles.

You can create a Premiere EDL and tifs from a SRT file, but this is normally a function of the more expensive subtitling programmes, Lemony is one of them.

Do you need the subtitles on the Premiere time line for cutting purposes or just as a reference?

[Ginger Gentile]

Hi Matt,
This is my first time finishing up a film–I will burn a dvd where the subtitles are optional in Encore but some festivals ask that the subtitles be burned into the actual film (especially because the spoken language is Spanish) and then presented on DVD, or more likely, digi beta, HD or other support, including a hard drive. So I will be rendering the film on Premier to send then to make the digibeta, HD tapes, etc
In the past I have only made digibeta tapes of my shorts, and the formats are changing all the time. I know that for cinema releases in Argentina (where the film was made)it has to be presented in 2K.

[Matt Stoddart]

Ah, I see.. you do need both.

Thanks
Matt