Welcome

At INFER we have a lot of experience managing projects to completion. We typically work in 4 phases: Discovery, Design, Implementation and Release.

• Discovery – This is usually a brief conversation by phone or email in which we learn about your project including translation, format, and testing. We also find out how you want your subtitles to behave, decide whether you need a design phase, and set a timeline. At the end, we provide you with a project plan and, if you choose to hire us, we collect your down payment and sign contracts.
• Design – Subtitles are usually white text with black borders centered on the screen. If that’s all you need, we skip this phase. If you want something different, we use this phase to figure out what you need and define the design guidelines for your project. A design phase can take 1 hour or several days, depending on your needs, and may include producing samples for your review. At the end, we provide you a project plan and, if you choose to hire us, we collect your down payment and sign contracts.
• Implementation – In this phase we create the subtitles you requested, test them in our studio, and submit them to you for review. We also edit the subtitles based on your feedback and conduct joint review sessions with you as needed. During this phase we report our hours and progress to you each day so you can stay on budget.
• Release – In this phase we deliver your finished subtitles to you in your chosen format(s). If you contracted us to deliver a video file with integrated subtitles, we upload the finished file for you to download. We also review your final invoice with you and request payment.

In general, when we work from a rough English translation, we can process 40 lines per hour including re-writing and setting the timing. The actual time required depends on several factors:

• the total number of lines
• the amount of simultaneous speaking
• the amount rapidly speaking characters

Fast talking and crowded scenes take twice as long to get the timing right. And if we need to translate to English first, that can add several days.

If you’re not sure what format you need, we can help you figure it out during our Discovery Phase. In general, you should choose the subtitle format that you need for your software or your distribution method.

For example, if you’re editing your video, most editing software can import an SRT file. But if you’re posting your video online for streaming you’ll probably want to use WebVTT as the format because VTT files give you much more flexibility in presentation and they stay in synch better with streaming video. It is always best to check your editing software or your streaming service for the best format. Here’s a link to Vimeo’s list of formats.

When you import a subtitle file into your editing software, the software usually saves it in a proprietary format. If your software allows you to export your subtitles, it may also offer you different options for the output format. At INFER, we have tools for converting most subtitle formats to the best format for your project.

We can support any format you need and we have tools for converting from one format to another. That said, we typically work with SRT, SUP, and VTT files. With advances in internet speeds and streaming quality, most projects today are choosing downloads and streaming for their distribution. SRT and VTT are the preferred formats for these, but INFER can provide whatever format you need for your particular needs.

There are too many subtitle formats to list them all here but we like this excellent Wikipedia page which details the main differences between each format. In general, the file allows you to control these elements:

• Timing – All formats let you control the timing of the subtitles, though do it by video frame while others do it by time code. Some formats allow you to time subtitles down to 1 millisecond, while others only allow 10 milliseconds. In our opinion,  1 millisecond is preferred.
• Large text blocks – Some formats (e.g. WebVTT) allow more than the usual 2 lines. This helpful if you need to do full screens of text, credits, etc.
• Special Information – Some formats (e.g. WebVTT) allow you to include extra data that may or may not display on screen including character names, translator information, and more.
• Special Formatting – Some formats allow you to specify special formatting for subtitles. For example, WebVTT allows you to specify colors, borders, shadows, fonts, sizes, alignment and other elements for each subtitle in the file.
• Screen Position – Some formats (e.g. WebVTT) allow you to specify the vertical and horizontal position of your subtitles.

The short answer is yes. At INFER, we focus on writing and timing subtitles. Controlling when they display is usually done in video production. While this is not usually part of the work we do, we can help your video editor or disc producer set up your subtitles so they display when and how you want.

When you force subtitles to display all the time, they are called Hard or Open subtitles. When you allow viewers to turn the subtitles on and off, they are called Soft or Closed subtitles. This wikipedia article explains the differences in detail, but we provided a little more information below.

• Hard Subtitles – The subtitle text is irreversibly added to your original video frames. No matter how a viewer watches the video, the text will always be there. This prevents the user from switching languages or turning the subtitles off..

• Soft Subtitles – The subtitle text is overlaid on the original video stream while playing. Soft subtitles can be done in 2 ways:
  • They can be pre-rendered as small images that get displayed over your video. This is the way subtitles are handled in DVD and Blu-ray discs. On these discs, the images are a separate part of the video stream. Your viewer can turn them on and off or switch between languages. Most disc players can handle the different subtitle streams, but some older or cheaper players have been known to have problems with too many streams or streams with different formatting (e.g. colors).
  • They can also remain as plain text in an external subtitle file (e.g. an SRT or VTT file). To use these, your audience needs a video player that can read the subtitle file. Most computer software that plays video can read separate subtitle files including the our favorite, VideoLAN, and the standard Windows Media Player. Some standalone disc players can also read subtitle files (see your manual).