Subtitles are great. They have the ability to enhance your content, allowing it to reach a wider audience.
Subtitling:
Provides people with hearing and cognitive impairments greater accessibility to content
Allows viewers to enjoy content in their native dialect, and aids in the learning of a foreign language
Improves speech comprehension and context in complex scenes
Aids in improving literacy by providing a better understanding of the meaning and pronunciation of words
Provides an immersive experience
Although processing and delivering subtitling can be a complex task, Rally can help by automating and streamlining the workflow.
Ingesting Subtitles in Rally
Rally can ingest and process a wide variety of subtitling files, and store useful metadata about the file for use in down stream processing:
Subtitle ingest in Rally
Once a file is uploaded to cloud storage, a Rally supply chain can automatically be triggered to ingest and store the file to the correct content placeholder.
Once attached, the supply chain can then identify and analyse the format of the subtitle, and extract key data, such as the frame rate, language, and timecode information.
Verification
Not all subtitling formats are the same.
Some formats can contain rich metadata including asset titles, language, positioning, textual encoding etc. Other formats may only contain a list of timecodes and text to be displayed on screen.
Using Decision Engine, Rally can automatically compare the technical details of a subtitle file with the stored video content, and based on specific requirements, highlight to the operator where key metadata may be missing or requires verification:
Decision Engine requirements validation
On a mis-match of required metadata, Rally can create a workorder and assign it to an operator group. The workorder could be:
A simple decision to accept/reject the file
A full metadata form to complete the missing information
An Accurate.Video workorder to preview the content and subtitle file
Previewing Subtitles in Rally
Subtitles can be previewed with an asset’s proxy in the Rally UI using Accurate.Video Accurate Player. This gives the operator the ability to playback a subtitle file and proxy with basic player controls.
Accurate.Video Accurate Player
Accurate.Video Validate can be used to provide a more granular playback with timecode markers, metadata edits, and a multi-file timeline.
Accurate.Video Validate UI
Editing Subtitles with Rally
Editing content requires editing subtitles.
Rally has multiple integrations with both cloud-based and onsite subtitle edit providers. A supply chain can gather the required elements for an edit, and based on decisions, can create a workorder to push to various providers.
Rally’s integration with Adobe® Premiere Pro removes the complexity of editing content. Using the Rally Access panel within a Premiere Pro session, subtitle edit workorders can be automatically ingested to the timeline with supporting metadata.
Subtitle edits in Adobe Premiere Pro
Once the edit is complete, and the workorder closed, Rally can automatically import any new subtitle files created.
Localising
One subtitle file can be used to generate multiple.
The translation of original source material can be a time consuming process. Multi-lingual subtitle operators are often required to translate and produce new subtitle files for each language. Having a transcription of the content can speed up this process. Supporting material can be created using the Rally Decision Engine and leveraging Rally’s integration with Closed Caption Creator, a caption tool available in the Rally Application Services Market.
Script generation in Rally
In some some situations, there may not even be a source subtitle to work from. Rally can use 3rd Party services, such as AWS Transcribe and Google Video Intelligence to create subtitle files and scripts from the source material.
Using AWS Transcribe to produce source captions
The resultant files from AWS Transcribe can be checked using Accurate.Video Validate before being sent to the language service provider.
Services like Google Translate and AWS Transcribe can also be implemented to provide machine-based translations of scripts and plain text subtitles, speeding up the process of localisation.
Transformation
Distribution can be complex.
Once all the components for an asset have been finalised, Rally can use a wide range of providers to convert the media into downstream packages for distribution.
Example flow for OTT packaging in Rally
Direct integration with transcode and packager providers like Vantage, AWS MediaConvert, FFmpeg, Hybrik, Unified Packager and Closed Caption Generator allows Rally to produce distribution packages containing multiple subtitle assets.
Each subtitle can be converted, retimed and segmented into the correct streaming format from the original file in the same workflow as the audio/video conversion, or individually created and added to the package at a later date.
Conclusion
Augmenting assets with subtitles can greatly enhance your content, opening it up to a wider audience. The manual preparation and processing of subtitling content can be time consuming and complicated. Rally can remove this complication and automate the flow of multiple subtitles from receipt to distribution.
Ready to see how Rally can improve your content localization process? Reach out to your Technical Account Manager or contact us to start the conversation.
