After you drop a video in YouTube, YouTube will automatically apply captions. It may take several days for them to appear, so keep track and go back.
In YOUR VIDEOS select the video you want by clicking on the title.
From the left column, select SUBTITLES. Do not choose the option on the bottom right. There will be no subtitles. It exists to apply a text file that you have created elsewhere.
DUPLICATE AND EDIT. This will apply the subtitles.
After this, there will be several options. Select the line that says PUBLISHED. Hover over the word PUBLISHED and click the EDIT icon. It is ok if you pick the wrong one. Just X out and try a different one. You should get to a page that lists everything said. It will be in one long text block with no punctuation breaks.
Go through manually adding punctuation and editing.
*If you don’t finish, the new file will have already been created. Don’t duplicate again. If you select to duplicate, all your edits disappear, as if it were raw. You will only see the work you have already done if you choose EDIT.
Expect captioning to take five to six times the length of the video to transcribe. For a long oral history interview, it takes much longer. While tutorials are straight reading of text, there are some rules of captioning that have to be followed for conversations.
Most importantly, the speaker has to be identified on each line, whether they are on screen or not.
(Hall) Welcome to our interview. Please tell us a little about yourself.
(Cozart) Hello. I am the world’s greatest librarian.
(Hall) I find that unlikely since I am the world’s greatest librarian.
Next, time synchronization is very important. The words should appear when they are being said. You tube automatically does this, but you still need to verify accuracy by listening. You can make timing changes in the editor, which should be open while you are verifying accuracy.
Each frame of the video should only contain one to three lines of text, with 32 characters maximum per line. Each line should last a minimum of one second on screen.
Neatness counts. It is not just ok to remove the Ums. It is recommended. This is called Clean Read.
For other tips and specific issues, visit the Described and Captioned Media Program site.