Captions guide

Filmmakers can benefit from adding captions to their films. It can increase their audience, including deaf/hard-of-hearing viewers and non-native English speakers. If you’re not sure what to include in captions, you can read our basic guide below.

Captions should be on screen for long enough to be read by a deaf or hard-of-hearing viewer who will also be trying to take in other visual information at the same time.
Sounds should be captioned especially if they are not obvious to the eye, e.g. [dance music] or [dog whimpers].
Captions need to be clear and big enough to read. Using drop shadow, text stroke or box behind text can help.
Use a simple and clean font that is easy to read.
Don't use colours that are too hard on the eyes.
Check for any spelling and grammar errors.
If a character switches to another language but is not intended for the audience to understand, you should still caption this. For example: [speaks in Spanish].

There are many tutorials online on how to add captions to your videos. If you’re still unsure, please get in touch and we’ll do our best to help.