Subtitles in FCP 7 vs. external program

I am working on a short 15-minute video that has several foreign speakers that need subtitles. There will actually be two versions of the video released (one in English and the other in Vietnamese). I am editing in FCP 7 but wonder if I should subtitle in this program or use an external program. I am looking to create a professional quality video that will be shown primarily on the web, but also projected at meetings. In the past I wasn't happy with FCP text but that was a previous version.


Thanks for the advice.

Allyssa,

From my point of view I never would use Boris for subtitles -- you can't export or import subtitles for/from reviews of translations. Doing changes also cost more mouse clicks.

Text in FCP isn't that bad with the right generator settings. There is a free generator I created for subtitles at
http://www.spherico.com/filmtools/textUp/
That generator allows to work in a "subtitle" style rather than to offset or drag each subtitle to the right vertical position.

The next question is: do you want to do the subtitles on the final version of your project, or do want to start earlier and let the subtitles somehow "travel" with your edits.
For the first one there are several apps which allow to do that, but in mayny cases you have to type or paste the text as same as within FCP at the right time. Quality might be better for rendered subtitles.
In the second case you could do the same (type or paste the text into a generator) but you you got more control during the edit.

Last thing is -- only you can answer -- how much is your time worth?
With the right workflow you can save a lot of time.

A customer quote for the professional version of TextUp
THANK YOU!
This is the best, most life-saving-est plugin EVER.
I'm doing subtitles on some 5 minute mini-docos and this plugin cut the job down from 90 horrible, tedious minutes per doco to 30 fun, breezy minutes per doco.
With 20 mini docos to do, it's also restored my will to live.
THANKS AGAIN, best $45 ever spent.

He still doesn't have the "best workflow ever" but obviously saved a lot of time.

For collaborative translation work you also may have look at my TitleExchange. The main free version is limited to 50 subtitles for some features. But there are several free applications which come with the installation which don't have any limitations.
http://www.spherico.com/filmtools/TitleExchange/index.html
Especially have a look a gText -- which is totally free.

-Andreas

Spherico
http://www.spherico.com/filmtools
X-Files Pro, tools for working with FCPX
http://www.spherico.com/filmtools/X-Files/index.html

"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby
become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will
also gaze into thee." - Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Hello Asta,

You may contact me off list at kiel{at}spherico(dot)com

Regards
Andreas

Spherico
http://www.spherico.com/filmtools

"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby
become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will
also gaze into thee." - Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Alyssa,

TextUp is not a program it's a plugin for FCP.
So drag the plugin to “/Library/Application Support/Final Cut Pro System Support/Plugins/” or “/Library/Application Support/Final Cut Express Support/Plugins/”. Relaunch FCP/FCE to register the plugin. In the Viewer you’ll find the new generator at “Spherico Text -> TextUp Pro” in the generator list.

The generator will just use the means FCP allows. But once you figured out the generator settings you need for your project the rendering quality will be fine. This has been proved with hundreds of movies.

A basic documentation for TitleExchange can be downloaded here:
http://www.spherico.com/filmtools/TitleExchange/TitleExchange_Help.pdf

-Andreas

Spherico
http://www.spherico.com/filmtools
X-Files Pro, tools for working with FCPX
http://www.spherico.com/filmtools/X-Files/index.html

"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby
become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will
also gaze into thee." - Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

I once did something like that amd used same finak cut 7. What you can do is use Both- English in top and the other language under then try and change colours for easy separation and identification. It makes it look neater if the English has bigger fonts than the other language.

cheers