BFI Closed Captions and Audio Descriptions

Enhanced Access Materials – Captioning and Audio Description for BFI Content

The British Film Institute (BFI) offer funding for short films through the National Lottery Funds designated for film. When submitting a film to BFI, open captions, closed captions and audio description are required as enhanced access materials.

At Capital Captions, we work with BFI closed captioning, audio description and closed captioning.

Details can be found below…

Narrative Audio Track (Audio Description)

This requirement involves a narrative description of the visual onscreen content of a film, recorded as a voiceover which is synced to your video.

Our Audio Description Services include a step-by-step process:

1. Script writing. A professional writer will watch through the video, writing visual descriptions as required, adding time codes for reference. Narration will be added where gaps in dialogue allow time for voiceovers to be clear and not clash with existing audio content.
2. Editing. The script will be sent to the filmmaker where the text can be confirmed or edited as required according to preferences.
3. Voiceover Recording. Using the final script, a professional voice artist will record the narrative within the time slots allocated.
4. Narrative Audio Track Editing. The voice recordings will be optimized to ensure they fit seamlessly and are synced correctly to tie in with the existing audio.
5. Final Audio Description Track supplied. A final WAV or MP3 file will be provided to the client who can then add the file to track 8 of their MXF file as required.

Open and Closed Captions for BFI (EBU-TT and STL)

Open captions and closed captions should be supplied to BFI to ensure access for Deaf and Hard of Hearing audiences. The open captions will be rendered onscreen by the server or projector to be visible to the entire audience. In contrast, closed captions should be supplied with a DCP only, and are not typically visible to the entire audience but are utilized as required.

Creating open and closed captions follows the process as below:

1. Video Transcription. Prior to creating captions, a professional transcriptionist will type out dialogue in the form of a transcript or plain text.
2. Captioning. Using the transcription (or a script if provided), the text will be timed to create captions. At this stage, elements for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing will be added, including sound effects, formatting such as names, italics or positioning to indicate speakers.
3. Closed Caption export. Once a caption file is complete, adhering to STL and EBU-TT specifications, closed captions will be provided to the client ready for delivery to BFI.

Open Subtitles

A video will require open subtitles to be burned in when the language spoken is not English and the intended audience may otherwise not understand what is said. The need for open subtitles is considered by the BFI to be an editorial decision. For instance, there may be instances where foreign dialogue is not subtitled, where either the dialogue is not important or to reflect the fact that protagonists within a video do not understand what is being said.

Creating open subtitles for foreign language content involves the following process:

1. Subtitling in Source Language. Prior to translating, subtitles should be created in the source video language.
2. Subtitle Translation. Once subtitles have been created in the source language, they will be translated into the target language.
3. Subtitle Burning. On completion of translation, subtitles will be burned into the target video in the target language. Formatting choices can be confirmed as required in terms of subtitle size, colour, style and positioning.
4. Video with Open Subtitles supplied. A final video with open subtitles will be supplied to the client, ready for delivery to BFI.

If you are submitting a film to BFI and are looking for a provider to work on your closed captions and/or audio description, please don’t hesitate to contact us today for a full quote.