TEXT:
...
Feature
...
DO’s
...
DON’Ts
...
Additional Information
...
CASE
Visit the Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP) Captioning Key for more detailed guidelines.
Text
Case
- Mixed case characters are preferred for readability
- Use
...
...
...
...
FONT
USE:
...
- capital letters for shouting not for emphasis.
Font/Color
- White Characters on a dark translucent background
- Medium weight, sans serif font
- A drop or rim shadow
- Proportionally spaced
...
Include:
- Upper and lowercase letters with descenders that drop below the baseline
- Multi line captions should be left aligned
DO NOT
...
- , avoid overlap with other characters
...
...
A font, or typeface, is a set of characters at a certain size, weight, and style. Font characteristics must be consistent throughout the media.
...
LINE DIVISION
...
DO NOT BREAK:
...
Line Division
- Do not break a modifier from the word it modifies
...
- Do not break a prepositional phrase
...
- Do not break a person’s name
...
- or the title from the name with which it is associated
...
- Do not break a line after a conjunction
...
- Do not break an auxiliary verb from the word it modifies
- Never end a sentence
...
- /begin a new sentence on the same line unless they are short, related sentences containing only one or two words
...
When a sentence is broken into two or more lines of captions, it should be broken at a logical point where speech normally pauses.
...
CAPTION PLACEMENT
Caption Placement
- Multi-lined captions should be left aligned when technically possible
- Captions are placed on the bottom two lines
- It is preferred that there are no more than two lines per caption
- If placing captions at the
...
- bottom of the screen
...
- interferes with visuals/graphics, place captions elsewhere on the screen where they do not interfere
...
- Place all captions with reasonable margins
...
- Placement should not interfere with names, faces, or mouths of speakers or text/graphics that are essential to the comprehension of the media
...
...
Caption Placement(vertical and horizontal) refers to the location of captions on the screen
LANGUAGE MECHANICS:
Language mechanics incorporate the proper use of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and other factors deemed necessary for high-quality captioned media.
...
Feature
...
DO’s
...
DON’Ts
...
Additional Information
...
SPELLING AND CAPITALIZATION
- Speaker identification should be used
Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar
Spelling and Capitalization
- Be consistent in the spelling of words throughout the media
- Capitalize proper nouns for speaker identification
- Lowercase sound effects, including both descriptions and onomatopoeia. Except when a proper noun is part of the description
...
DO NOT:
- Emphasize a word using all capital letters except to indicate screaming or shouting
...
...
PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR
Commas:
...
Punctuation and Grammar
- When captioning a list separated by commas, use a serial, or Oxford, comma
...
...
...
...
- When a speaker hesitates or
...
- stutters, caption what is said
...
...
...
...
Ellipses:
...
- Do not use an ellipses to indicate that the sentence continues into the next caption
...
...
Quotation Marks:
- Use an ellipsis when there is a significant pause within a caption
- Use quotation marks only for on screen readings from a poem, book, play, journal, or letter
- Beginning quotation marks should be used for each caption of quoted material except for the last caption
...
...
...
Spacing:
...
...
...
Italics:
- Use italics:
- When a person is dreaming, thinking, or reminiscing
...
- There is a background audio that is essential to the plot, such as a PA system or TV
- The first time a new word is being defined
...
- There is off-screen dialogue, narrator, sound effects, or music
...
- For foreign words and phrases, unless they are in an English dictionary
- When a particular word is heavily emphasized in speech
...
...
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC:
...
Feature
...
DO’s
...
DON’Ts
...
Additional Information
...
SOUND EFFECTS:
Sound Effects and Music
Sound Effects
- Describe sound effects in present tense
- A description of sound effects, in brackets, should include the source of the sound. However, the source may be omitted if it can be clearly seen onscreen
- The described sound effect should be on the first line of the caption, separate from the onomatopoeia
- Described sound effects and onomatopoeia must be lowercased
...
...
- Caption background sound effects only when they are essential to the
...
- content
...
Sound effects are sounds other than music, narration or dialogue.
...
MUSIC
...
Background Music:
Music
- Do not caption background music with a duration under 5 seconds
- A description(in brackets) should be used for instrumental/background music when it’s essential to the understanding of the program
...
- If possible, the description should include the performer/composer and the title
- Use descriptions that indicate the mood
...
...
- Avoid subjective words, such as “delightful”, ”beautiful,” or “melodic”
- Nonessential background music should never be captioned at the expense of dialog
- Do not caption background music with a duration under 5 seconds
...
Lyrics
...
- Caption the lyrics verbatim
- Lyrics should be introduced with the name of the artist and the title in brackets, if the presentation rate permits
- Caption lyrics with music icons
- Use one music icon at the beginning and end of each caption within a song, but use two music icons at the
...
- end of the last line of a song
...
...
SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Feature | DO’s | DON’Ts | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
Intonation, Play on words, and No Audio |
|
|
|
Foreign Language, Dialect, Slang, and Phonetics |
|
|
Reference:
...