Font for closed captions in Premiere Pro CC? (Premiere Pro 14.9 and earlier)

[kinkersnick127]

Hi,

I'm creating closed caption in Premiere Pro CC and wondering if it's possible to change the font/tracking/leading etc.?

The font, spacing between letters and words and just general style of the default captions is awful!

Do closed caption files imported into Premiere suffer from the same problem?

As a side question, is there a good way of creating subtitles on the Mac, that is free and easy?

Thanks

[Ann Bens]

No idea, I think you are stuck to one font for the time being.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

[Kevin-Monahan · Accepted solution]

kinkersnick127 wrote:

Hi,

I'm creating closed caption in Premiere Pro CC and wondering if it's possible to change the font/tracking/leading etc.?

The font, spacing between letters and words and just general style of the default captions is awful!

Hi kinkersnick127,

No, you can't change the font or anything about the format of the text. Only the color.

kinkersnick127 wrote:

Do closed caption files imported into Premiere suffer from the same problem?

That text style is the norm for closed captions. You can't change it.

kinkersnick127 wrote:

As a side question, is there a good way of creating subtitles on the Mac, that is free and easy?

I don't believe there are any good free tools, but some offer a free trial. Once you get your captions done, you can edit them from scratch.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Dennis de Pijper]

Is there any chance we are getting font controls with the closed captions tool anytime soon?
It would make working with subtitles a lot easier.

Many Thanks

Dennis

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Dennis,

Use the Titler for subtitles, not closed captions. What you wish to do is different.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Magnus Allgurén]

Dennis,

I work as a freelance editor for a museum. I do a lot of subtitling in different languages. If you are doing the same, you may want to look into a plugin called EZ Titles, made for displaying subtitles in Premiere Pro as one continuous video clip. It's not for free but may be worth it. To create/edit the subtitle scripts I use a freeware program called Subtitle Workshop, which can save subtitles in a multitude of formats.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Thanks for your comment, Magnus!

[Dennis de Pijper]

Thank you very much Magnus, will try it out soon!

[Amit_Makan]

I am experiencing similar challenges and criticisms for a multilingual documentary film, using the closed caption tool. Almost everyone who looks at the final cut says they find difficulty reading the subtitles due to the font, and spacing in between the letters. Sincerely hope some font options will come soon in order to avoid switching back to FCP. Thanks

[381968]

Calling the default style of the captions "awful" is being kind.  Who in hell would make this choice?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi 381968,

If you wish to create closed captions with different fonts, you need a dedicated Closed Caption program like this. Premiere Pro should really only be used to edit closed captions, not create them.

Are you sure you want to create captions or do you want to create subtitles? Two different things with the latter designed in the Title tool.

Thanks,
Kevin

[381968]

Not interested in subtitles.  Just feel the default captioning font in Premiere Pro is not the most readable choice. The choice baffles me.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi 381968,

There aren't many choices on fonts as far as closed captions go. Sorry.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Johnny_Zet]

Hi all,

have the same feeling as others. How one of the leading producers of film software
could do such a poor solution. It is really a poor solution, that first of all, you really have to struggle with limited formats being readable by Premiere (e.g. .srt that is one of the most popular format!),
secondly, editing the captions is like someone made this function between lunch and smoking. On top of it all, the final look of the subtitles looks like notepad from windows, modest, poor and unreadable text.

And I am not talking about titler and colorful fonts that are needed. Any cheap subtitles merging soft have better solutions reg, increasing font size, encoding etc.

Now i have an issue with Chinese text, that is not visible at all...

i am a bit tired of the fact, that there always is something missing, that must be ptached, or you have to surft to read about others complaining and hope for a solution using 3 external software.
It really is a poor, disappointing finish, as for a leading company producing film editing software, sorry to be so honest.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Johnny,

• As I said, there is an extremely limited number of fonts available for closed captions. It's not like any font can be chosen.
• Premiere Pro is not an application for creating closed captions, it is more suitable for editing existing captions. File a bug report if you are having trouble with the editing process.
• You mention subtitles. What I am speaking of is closed captioning for folks that have hearing disabilities. Subtitling is a totally different thing.

If you are having trouble with foreign language text, then that is a totally different issue. Create a separate post describing your issues.

Thanks,
Kevin

[marchofer]

1. Well the closed caption text is just text. How it is displayed in the final "viewer" depends entirely on the viewer and the settings you make there (or the file format you are using for the CC's has the meta data section to define formatting of the text in its standard ). BUT…Premiere Pro SHOULD let us editors CHOOSE how we want to preview the captions IN the program monitor i.e. Just to make it easier for us to read and work with them, without having to have 3x3 meter TV connected to it. So, THAT is from a editors point of view. Even if the CC file in the end doesn't have any format infos, so let me at least choose INSIDE Premiere for internal use.

2. Premiere Pro is not an application for creating closed captions: That might have been not the core intention of the developers back in the days, but seriously, CC belong nowadays in the intl market to the core functionalities of a NLE Suite. And honestly, all the tech is already there, its just not thought about and a little bit shoddily implemented. But as soon as PP can show me the text in the Monitor, technically I should be able to change the font, size etc. Actually, I should EVEN be able to Hardcode them into the vid file, cause the renderer OBVIOUSLY has access to the data and can render it ( cause it shows it to me in the program window !? ).

3. Subtitles and Captions are different things: Well maybe in the textbook they are. But in a real production environment, they are not always totally different. Why not giving me the options of DOING both. The data is there, who it is in the end worked with ( sidecar, hardcode ) all depends on the different case. If I want to make a caption for people with bad hearing, GREAT…I write down all the stuff but maybe also let me use the same data for a subtitle track ( which honestly is kinda the same ). Preaching up and down that CC's and Subtiltles are completely different things, are somehow is neglecting production reality. To do subtitles with the Title tool is just cumbersome.

Titles are just not really helpful for complex subtitle projects. Period. If I have to subtitle a 30 mins feature etc. then I'd rather go with a separate ST tool which is sleak and fast. But I also want to be able to import a STL, SRT or whatever file and work with it right in the NLE. Preferably I would not even want to use a 3rd party tool. Let it all be done in PP. Make it simple.

Yes, I already put in a Feature request.

[Michal_K]

I totally agree with you!

I don`t understand why Adobe wants to integrate a tool which in my opinion has a really huge potential (creating of editable closed captions AND subtitles inside PPro) and only wants to use some of its functions. Where is this limitation coming from?

[rmartin215]

Even if I change the font size in the scc file, it does not carry over to premiere 2014.  The quicktime player makes the font much more readable.  If  you tube can create good captions, which they do, they why can't Adobe?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Michal,

Thanks for the post.

I totally agree with you!

I don`t understand why Adobe wants to integrate a tool which in my opinion has a really huge potential (creating of editable closed captions AND subtitles inside PPro) and only wants to use some of its functions.

It's not that we only want to use "some of its functions." The functions simply aren't available within Premiere Pro right now.

Where is this limitation coming from?

I believe what you are looking for are "open captions," which aren't currently available in Premiere Pro. Feel free to make a feature request for that here: http://adobe.ly/feature_request

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Marc,

Thanks for posting.

all the tech is already there, its just not thought about and a little bit shoddily implemented.

Actually, the tech for creating captions as you wish does not exist yet within Premiere Pro. We are aware that people want greater flexibility and easier workflows regarding onscreen text, though, including captions and subtitles.

Subtitles and Captions are different things: Well maybe in the textbook they are. But in a real production environment, they are not always totally different. Why not giving me the options of DOING both.

I see you already filed a feature request for what you want, so thanks for that.

Preaching up and down that CC's and Subtiltles are completely different things, are somehow is neglecting production reality.

Captions are a pretty recent feature, so we're doing our best there to improve the feature as time moves forward. Again, a feature request is your best bet.

I'd rather go with a separate ST tool which is sleak and fast.

That's what I would suggest for longer productions.

But I also want to be able to import a STL, SRT or whatever file and work with it right in the NLE. Preferably I would not even want to use a 3rd party tool. Let it all be done in PP. Make it simple.

Sounds good!

Thanks,

Kevin

[JOHN MONDO]

Compared to Avid totally useless. On Avid I have a wysiwig editor that displays captions as they appear, I can change fonts and colours, boxes and how they appear, position etc and apply stylesheets and use automatically adjustable boxes, apply settings globally or to a single track of video or even project wide, I can choose to export my captions as both open and closed. Adobe's implementation IMO opinion is totally useless and the replies above do not address the problem.

"there is a very limited number of fonts available" - Well at least display them as they will appear on the final output. Not as something kerned out wide, super small etc with no box behind them like it should be. Plus you do have a choice of size etc.

Really it's a half-baked implementation and essentially useless - what's more you need to properly support the two major formats used by broadcasters EBU19 fo PAL countries and SMPTE for NTSC countries and they need to be display options.

This is an important issue for Adobe as the lack of support points to a lack of care for the hearing impaired community. I think it needs moving up the priority list.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi John,

Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated. If you could summarize your requests here, it would be appreciated: http://adobe.ly/feature_request

Adobe's implementation IMO opinion is totally useless and the replies above do not address the problem.

Not to make excuses, but closed captioning is a fairly recent feature and it has been improving as time moves forward. I expect that you will continue to see this feature get better in future versions.

I agree that much can be improved.

This is an important issue for Adobe as the lack of support points to a lack of care for the hearing impaired community.

Indeed, we do care. That's why we implemented the feature and continue to improve it. Sorry that the development has not been as far along as you would have liked it to be.

I think it needs moving up the priority list.

The best way to do that is to file that feature request. Thanks again for your response.

Regards,

Kevin

[rmartin215]

I can't get the cc process to work correctly in Premiere 2014.

I create an SCC file with Subtitle Edit, inspection of which indicates that the timecodes are correct.

However, when imported into premiere, they are off by over a second.

Need to get it to work.  Thanks.

[monstremoi]

Hello there,

We didn't test with Subtitle Edit - we tested extensively with files from MacCaption / CaptionMaker and Annotation Edit.

Feedback is important, especially when someone reports being disappointed. I can always take a look at a file you have, and see if there is a problem with the file, or if there is a problem with PPRO.

Regards,

CM

[Michal_K]

hi, I`m using subtitle edit and subtitle workshop and it works fine. but normally I import a xml-subtitles into premiere. are you sure your projects have the same fps? you can also try to switch from timecode to frames` numbers, I think that way you can be 100% sure your subtitles were imported correctly into premiere.