Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH), or closed captions, are created by adding information to the subtitles track that is not accessible to deaf or hearing-impaired audiences. This can include background sounds and noises, and stylistic features such as name tags, colour coding, and positioning, that helps the viewers identify the speakers with ease.

The criteria of relevance is used to decide whether including or omitting some information. Whenever possible, the clients are involved in this process as these decisions can affect the way the film is perceived by its audience. For example, a certain character is speaking with a particular accent or intonation, or dialogue needs to be shortened to fit in the space and time available.

We strive to keep up-to-date with this rapidly evolving sector, and to ensure that our subtitles are fully compliant with the current accessibility requirements, including Creative Scotland, British Film Institute and Ofcom requirements for Disability Access Materials.

Screen Language can currently produce subtitles in a wide variety of formats including .srt, .ssa, .stl (EBU), .vtt, ttml, .smil, .xml. Subtitles can be text-based or image-based. Image-based subtitles are larger folders that can be imported into editing software such as Final Cut Pro, Adobe Encore and DVD Studio Pro.