[Tech1] Fwd: Re: Proms last night

[Keith Wicks]

Interesting to hear that at least one director cared about the readability
of captions and understood the problem. I've wondered why they don't
usually bother to get someone unfamiliar with the words to try reading the
captions. These days, some are shown so briefly that they appear as mere
flashes on the screen. When I find that a caption has disappeared before
I've had time to read it, I automatically try reading the following
captions at high speed — just in case. But that spoils my enjoyment of the
programme so much that I usually end up ignoring the captions, or even
switching off.

KW

On Thu, 16 Sept 2021 at 22:37, vernon.dyer via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk>
wrote:

>
> I'm reminded of a director, can't remember who, can't remember where,
> can't remember when, who when supering a caption would read it out aloud,
> slowly and distinctly, twice before losing it. He held that doing that gave
> sufficient time for the viewer to read it once.
>
>
> (I shall say this only once:) best wishes ..... Vern
>
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone
> ------------------------------
> -------- Original message --------
> From: Alan Taylor via Tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk>
> Date: 13/09/2021 08:49 (GMT+00:00)
> To: tech1 <tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk>
> Subject: Re: [Tech1] Proms last night
>
> I’ve noticed on quite a few programmes that the combination of unwise
> graphics ( poor choice of font, small font size & low contrast with
> background ) together with minimal screen time ends up with captions which
> cannot be read. It’s even more difficult if any of the words are
> unfamiliar, such as proper nouns or foreign words.
>
> I suspect that the explanation is similar to the problem of indistinct
> drama dialogue. The production team are already familiar with the words and
> can read them in an instant when they see the caption. On the other hand,
> the viewers are suddenly presented with them for the first time and cannot
> necessarily make out all the words very rapidly. By the time they are 80%
> through making out what the text says, the director has got bored with it
> and fades it out.
>
> There might also be issues with small text being reasonably legible in the
> control room, but not so legible after the video signal has been compressed
> and distributed.
>
> Alan Taylor
> ------------------------------
> -------- Original message --------From: Alan Taylor via Tech1 <
> tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> Date: 13/09/2021 08:49 (GMT+00:00) To: tech1 <
> tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk> Subject: Re: [Tech1] Proms last night I’ve noticed
> on quite a few programmes that the combination of unwise graphics ( poor
> choice of font, small font size & low contrast with background ) together
> with minimal screen time ends up with captions which cannot be read. It’s
> even more difficult if any of the words are unfamiliar, such as proper
> nouns or foreign words.I suspect that the explanation is similar to the
> problem of indistinct drama dialogue. The production team are already
> familiar with the words and can read them in an instant when they see the
> caption. On the other hand, the viewers are suddenly presented with them
> for the first time and cannot necessarily make out all the words very
> rapidly. By the time they are 80% through making out what the text says,
> the director has got bored with it and fades it out.There might also be
> issues with small text being reasonably legible in the control room, but
> not so legible after the video signal has been compressed and
> distributed.Alan Taylor
>
> --
> Tech1 mailing list
> Tech1 at tech-ops.co.uk
> http://tech-ops.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/tech1_tech-ops.co.uk
>
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