Subtitles, Captions & Accessibility

Text-on-screen for dialogue used to be optional for a lot of indie films. It isn't anymore. Streaming platforms mandate closed captions, broadcasters require them, festivals increasingly ask for subtitle files, foreign markets need translated subtitles, and accessibility law and expectation mean that leaving out captions excludes deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. On top of the obligation, there's opportunity: captions dramatically expand who can watch and enjoy your film, including the huge number of viewers who watch with sound off. So this is a delivery element to plan for, not scramble on — and the first step is clearing up terms that get used interchangeably but mean different things. Subtitles translate spoken dialogue (assuming the viewer can hear, e.g. a foreign film subtitled in English). Closed captions / SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing) transcribe dialogue and describe relevant sound — "[door slams]", "[ominous music]", speaker IDs — for viewers who can't hear the audio. And closed vs. open refers to whether the text can be turned on/off (closed, a separate file) or is burned permanently into the picture (open). Knowing which one a spec is asking for is half the battle.

The captioning landscape

What to know and produce:

• Subtitles vs. SDH. Subtitles = translated dialogue for hearing viewers. SDH/closed captions = full transcription plus sound descriptions and speaker IDs for deaf/HoH viewers. Platforms usually want SDH; foreign sales want translated subtitles. You may need both.
• Closed (file) vs. open (burned-in). Closed captions are a separate sidecar file the viewer toggles; open captions are permanently in the picture. Most delivery wants closed/separate files so they can be turned on and off — don't burn them in unless asked.
• The file formats. Common sidecar formats: SRT (simple, widespread), VTT (web), and the pro formats like TTML/IMSC and DFXP that platforms often require. DCPs use their own subtitle format (SMPTE or Interop XML). Deliver the exact format the spec names.
• Timing & readability. Good captions are correctly timed to the dialogue, stay on screen long enough to read, break lines sensibly, and don't cover important image. Bad timing is worse than none — it's distracting and looks unprofessional.
• Accuracy & completeness. Transcribe accurately, include all dialogue, and for SDH capture meaningful sounds. Errors and omissions are both an accessibility failure and, for platforms, a QC rejection.

Get them made right, and early

The practical path to good captions on a budget is straightforward once you know it. You can generate a first-pass transcript quickly — many tools (including AI-assisted ones and features built into editing software) will auto-transcribe your dialogue and produce timed captions — but never ship an auto-generated caption file without careful human review, because automatic transcription mangles names, technical terms, overlapping dialogue, and anything mumbled or accented, and those errors read as sloppiness and fail QC. Treat auto-captioning as a time-saving first draft, then proofread and correct it line by line against the actual dialogue, fix the timing, add SDH sound cues if required, and check readability. For translated subtitles into other languages, use an actual translator who understands subtitling (not just literal translation) if you can, because subtitling is a craft of condensing meaning to fit reading speed, and a clumsy translation undersells your film abroad. Two workflow tips. First, make your captions from a locked cut — if you caption before picture lock, every edit change throws off the timing and you redo the work, so wait until the film is locked. Second, keep your caption files organized alongside your master and stems (from Chapter 2), because different deliveries want different caption formats and languages, and having a clean, corrected master subtitle file means you can export it to SRT, VTT, TTML, or a DCP subtitle format as needed rather than starting over. Increasingly, delivery specs will list exactly which caption/subtitle deliverables they need — closed captions in a specific format, particular languages, SDH — so treat captions as a first-class deliverable on your checklist, not an afterthought you bolt on the night before. Done well, they satisfy the requirement, meet your responsibility to make your film accessible, and widen your audience. That completes the core craft of delivery — masters, formats, DCPs, and captions. Module 3 turns to the specific packages each destination demands, starting with the one most indie films chase first: festivals.