Create optional closed captions

1 Add caption role

Place the playhead where the subject starts to speak. Choose Edit>captions>add Caption. Click on Format dropdown. Choose ‘Edit Roles’, then ‘CEA-628’. Click ‘Apply’.

2 Change caption format

Click on the caption box’s Format dropdown menu and choose the CEA-628 format. This makes your captions compatible with sites like Vimeo and viewable on DVD.

3 Type the first sentence

Drag to extend the blue caption bar to the end of the man’s first sentence (at around 5:00 sec). Double-click on the blue bar and type the interviewee’s first words into the caption box.

4 Customise caption

Go to the Caption Inspector. In Alignment, click the Centre Text icon. In Text Background Opacity tick semi-transparent to reveal some of the background video under the caption.

5 Duplicate caption

Click on the caption bar and choose Edit> Copy. Place playhead at the start of the next sentence and choose Edit>paste. Type in the next sentence. Fine-tune the length of caption.

6 Add remaining captions

Repeat the last step to add more captions to the timeline. Modify the text of each caption to match the subject’s ongoing dialogue. Trim the length of each caption as required.

7 Troubleshooting

If there’s a problem with a caption bar’s content it will turn red. This can occur if the caption overlaps another. Tap Return to create a new line if the top line is too long.

8 Export movie

Choose File>share>vimeo. The caption track will be uploaded with the video. To export captions to be embedded into a DVD track choose File>export captions. Click ‘Export’.

9 View captions on Vimeo

Play your video on Vimeo. You can toggle the optional embedded subtitle captions on and off by clicking the CC (Closed Captions) icon and choosing ‘English Cc’ or ‘None’.