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Captioning without Software
This lesson will take you through a step-by-step process of captioning a video using a simple word processing program. To do this process, you will need to be using either QuickTime or RealMedia video.
For this process , there are three components.
- Video file
- Text file (which has the time codes and text of captions)
- SMIL file (which serves like a web page to connect the video and text files in the appropriate way)
Download Archive of Sample Files
Step 3: Creating an SMIL File
The third step is to create an SMIL file which connects the video and text files together. By just replacing certain portions of the following code, you can create a captioned video. What follows below is the same as in the SMIL file in the archive which is named: test.qt.smil.
Renaming the File: Once you have created your .smil file, you can open it with a Real Media player or a QuickTime player. If the captioned video plays to your satisfaction, then rename the name of that file to ending with either .rm or .mov, depending on your video source. Be sure to save this renamed file in the same folder as the original movie and the text file.
CONGRATULATIONS! You have just created a captioned video which can now be uploaded to a website. Just have the link on the website point to the renamed SMIL file and you have made your media accessbile. See an example on this site.
Directions for working with SMIL file
ANYTHING CAPITALIZED AND IN BLUE SHOULD BE REPLACED.
The information in red are directions. They can be deleted or left in place. They will not affect the functioning of the captions.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<smil xmlns:qt="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/resources/smilextensions"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-smil" qt:time-slider="true">
<head>
<meta name="title" content="TITLE OF VIDEO"/>*/Optional: You can either give this a specific title or delete it.
<meta name="author" content="AUTHOR'S NAME"/>*/Optional: You can either put in an author's name or delete it.
<meta name="copyright" content="COPYRIGHT INFO"/>*/Optional: You can delete this if you don't wish to put in copyright information.
<layout>
<root-layout height="355" width="410" background-color="black"/>*/This is the overall all size of what will be diplayed in the video player, with both the captions and the video. You will need to adjust this if you adjust the size of the video or captions.
<region height="240" width="320" background-color="black" left="45" top="5" id="videoregion"/>*/This is the size of your actual video file. In this case, it is a video that is 240 pixels high and 320 pixels wide. If you adjust the size of the video, you will also need to adjust the margins which are the numbers after "left" and "top".
<region height="100" width="400" background-color="black" left="5" top="245" id="textregion"/>*/This is the size of the area where the captions will display.If you adjust the size of the video, you will also need to adjust the margins which are the numbers after "left" and "top".
</layout>
</head>
<body>
<par>
<video region="videoregion" src="INSERT MOVIE FILE NAME HERE WITH EXTENSION"/>
<textstream region="textregion" src="INSERT FILE NAME OF TEXT OF CAPTIONS"/>
</par>
</body>
</smil>
Step 1: Video File | Step 2: Text File | Step 3: SMIL File
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