Subtitles and Caption Caption Timing and Synchronization 2

Question 1

What is 'caption drift' in the context of live broadcasts?

Accepted Answer

Progressive accumulation of delay between audio and captions over time

Answer

Caption drift occurs in live broadcasts when small timing delays accumulate, causing captions to fall progressively further behind the audio.

Question 2

Which timecode format is most commonly used in professional subtitle files for film and broadcast in the U.S.?

Accepted Answer

HH:MM:SS:FF (hours:minutes:seconds:frames)

Answer

Professional subtitle and caption files use SMPTE timecode format (HH:MM:SS:FF) which includes frame-level precision.

Question 3

What is the recommended maximum gap between the end of one caption and the start of the next?

Accepted Answer

No more than 2 seconds

Answer

Best practices recommend gaps between captions not exceed 2 seconds to avoid confusing viewers about when speech resumes.

Question 4

In subtitle production, what does 'snapping' a caption to a scene cut mean?

Accepted Answer

Aligning the caption in or out point to coincide exactly with a video edit

Answer

Snapping aligns caption timing precisely to video edit points to avoid captions crossing cuts, which looks unpolished.

Question 5

What is the '6-second rule' in captioning?

Accepted Answer

The maximum recommended duration for a single caption block

Answer

The 6-second rule states that no single caption block should remain on screen for more than 6 seconds to maintain viewer engagement.

Subtitles and Caption Practice Test