Premiere Pro Beginner Workflow: Captions and Subtitles for Accessibility

Captions and subtitles make dialogue understandable when audio is unclear, when viewers are in noisy/quiet environments, and for Deaf/Hard of Hearing audiences. In Premiere Pro, you can create time-synced caption items, edit their timing and text for readability, and export them either as a separate file (sidecar) like .srt or as text rendered into the video (burned-in). This chapter focuses on building captions from scratch, refining them to professional standards, and exporting both versions.

Captions vs. Subtitles (Practical Difference)

• Subtitles: typically represent spoken dialogue (often translated), usually without non-speech audio cues.
• Captions: include dialogue plus relevant audio information (e.g., [door slams], [music], speaker IDs when needed). For accessibility deliverables, captions are often required.

In Premiere Pro, the workflow is similar; the difference is what you choose to include and how you format it.

Create Captions from Scratch in Premiere Pro

1) Add a captions track

Use the Text workflow to create a caption track tied to your sequence timing.

• Open Window > Text.
• Go to the Captions tab.
• Click Create captions track (wording may vary slightly by version).
• Choose a format appropriate for your delivery (common: SubRip (.srt) for sidecar export; broadcast formats may differ).

Tip: If you know you must deliver an .srt, selecting an SRT-style caption track early helps keep you within typical limitations.

2) Create caption segments manually

To build captions from scratch, you’ll create segments and type the text.

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• Move the playhead to where the first spoken line begins.
• In the Captions panel, click + (Add caption segment).
• Type the caption text for that moment.
• Set the segment’s start and end by trimming the segment edges in the timeline (or adjusting timecode fields in the Captions panel).

Repeat for each spoken phrase. Work in short passes: first get all segments roughly placed, then refine timing and readability.

Timing: Make Captions Feel “Locked” to Speech

Basic timing rules you can apply immediately

• Start a caption when the words begin (not too early).
• End a caption shortly after the words finish (not too late), but avoid “flashing” off instantly.
• Avoid very short durations: captions that appear for a fraction of a second are hard to read.
• Avoid long holds where the caption stays on screen long after the speaker moved on.

Step-by-step: refine timing with trimming

• Zoom into the timeline around dialogue.
• Select a caption segment and trim its in/out points so it aligns with the spoken phrase.
• Play back the line and watch for “early/late” feeling.
• Adjust so the caption appears as the speaker starts and disappears as the thought ends.

Sync check habit: After a timing pass, play the clip without stopping and watch only the captions. If you notice yourself “waiting” for text or reading text that’s already outdated, adjust.

Readability Standards You’ll Use in Real Projects

Safe lengths (keep captions easy to scan)

Different clients and regions have different specs, but these practical guidelines work well for most web and social deliverables:

• 1–2 lines max per caption.
• Keep lines balanced (avoid one very short line and one very long line).
• Avoid overly dense captions: if a sentence is long, split it into two sequential captions.

If you’re unsure, prioritize: fewer words per caption, more frequent caption changes, and clean timing.

Line breaks (where to split a line)

Good line breaks reduce eye strain and improve comprehension. Break lines at natural language boundaries:

• Between clauses: When we got there, | the store was closed.
• Before conjunctions (sometimes): I wanted to go, | but it started raining.
• Between speaker name and dialogue if needed: JORDAN: | I’ll call you back.

Avoid splitting:

• Names from surnames (when possible)
• Articles from nouns: the | camera
• Prepositions from objects: on | the table

Punctuation and casing

• Use standard punctuation to reflect meaning and pacing (commas help readability).
• Use ellipses (…) sparingly to indicate trailing speech; don’t overuse for every pause.
• Use dashes for interruptions or abrupt changes: I was just—
• Keep casing consistent. Many modern web captions use sentence case; some specs require all caps. Follow the client spec when provided.

Speaker changes

When two speakers appear in the same caption window, make the change obvious:

• Prefer splitting into separate captions if timing allows.
• If they must share a caption, use separate lines and a dash:

- Are you coming? - In a minute.

For off-screen or unclear speakers, you may add a label if required by the deliverable (e.g., [Narrator]), but keep it minimal.

Non-speech information (captions vs subtitles)

For accessibility captions, include only what helps understanding:

• [laughter], [applause], [door closes]
• [music] or [somber music] if it affects tone

Avoid describing everything; include cues that change meaning or context.

On-Screen Placement Considerations

Captions are usually placed near the bottom center, but you may need to move them to avoid covering important visuals (lower-thirds, product text, faces, or UI).

Practical placement workflow

• Identify moments where bottom captions cover critical content.
• Select the affected caption segment(s).
• Adjust placement (where supported) so the caption clears the important area while staying consistent and readable.

Rule of thumb: Don’t “bounce” captions around constantly. Move them only when necessary, and keep placement changes consistent across adjacent captions.

Styling Options (and When They Apply)

Styling depends on the caption format and delivery. Some exports preserve styling; others (like basic .srt) are primarily text and timing.

Common styling choices for burned-in captions

• Font: choose a clean sans-serif.
• Size: large enough for mobile viewing.
• Contrast: white text with a subtle shadow or background box.
• Background: a semi-transparent box can improve readability over busy footage.

Consistency matters more than decoration: keep one style throughout unless a spec requires otherwise.

Where to style

In Premiere Pro, caption appearance can be adjusted via the Text/Captions tools (exact controls vary by version). If you are delivering burned-in captions, preview them over the actual footage at 100% scale to confirm readability.

Editing Captions Efficiently

Use a two-pass edit

• Pass 1 (coverage): create segments for all spoken content with rough timing.
• Pass 2 (polish): refine timing, line breaks, punctuation, and speaker changes.

Quality checklist (quick but strict)

Export Options: Sidecar vs Embedded vs Burned-In

Sidecar captions (e.g., .srt)

A sidecar file is delivered alongside the video. The player/platform loads it as a separate caption track.

• Pros: viewer can toggle on/off; easy to revise; often required by platforms.
• Cons: styling is limited; platform may override appearance.

Export approach: Export the caption file format (commonly .srt) from the captions export options so you get a standalone file.

Embedded captions (inside the video file)

Some deliverables require captions embedded as a selectable track within the video container (not burned into pixels). Support varies by codec/container and destination.

• Pros: stays with the file; still toggleable.
• Cons: not all platforms honor embedded tracks; specs can be strict.

When exporting, look for caption options that indicate embedding into the output file (availability depends on your export settings).

Burned-in captions (open captions)

Burned-in captions are rendered into the image. Viewers cannot turn them off.

• Pros: guaranteed visibility everywhere; styling is preserved.
• Cons: not toggleable; harder to revise (requires re-export).

Export approach: Enable the option to burn captions into the video during export (or convert captions to graphics/text layers if your workflow requires it). Always preview a short test export to confirm size and contrast.

Sync Checking Before Delivery

Do a “no-looking-away” playback

• Play the full captioned section in real time.
• Read captions as if you cannot hear the audio.
• Mark any moment where you can’t finish reading before the caption changes.

Check for common sync problems

• Captions drift late/early: often caused by incorrect segment timing or edits that shifted dialogue without updating captions.
• Overlapping captions: two segments visible at once (depending on format), or back-to-back segments with no breathing room.
• Cut-off words: segment starts after speech begins or ends before the last word.

Practical fix: If a caption feels rushed, either extend its duration (if possible) or split the text into two captions with earlier start timing.

Assignment: Caption a 45–90 Second Clip

Goal

Create clean, readable captions for a short dialogue-heavy clip and export both a burned-in version and an .srt sidecar file.

Steps

• Choose a 45–90 second clip with clear dialogue and at least two sentences.
• Create a captions track and add caption segments from scratch.
• Do a timing pass: align each segment to speech.
• Edit for readability: limit to 1–2 lines, add sensible punctuation, and fix line breaks.
• Handle speaker changes clearly (split captions when needed).
• Move captions only when they cover important on-screen information.
• Run a full sync/readability playback.
• Export Version A: burned-in captions (open captions).
• Export Version B: sidecar .srt file.

Self-review rubric (score yourself 1–5)