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Thread: Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos

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Number of posts in this thread: 7 (In chronological order)

From: Sudheer Babu
Date: Tue, Oct 06 2020 4:02AM
Subject: Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos
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Hi All,

Just want to understand how important are the captions/subtitles for music
videos live/pre-recorded under 1.2.2 – Captions (Pre-recorded) and 1.2.4 –
Captions (Live).
If anyone has come across such and can explain what's the ideal expectation
here for music videos.

example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJBfv9CHlcw

In Youtube, I don't see the Captions for the above video example provided.
Will this pass 1.2.2?

Thanks,
Sudheer

From: Patrick H. Lauke
Date: Tue, Oct 06 2020 5:21AM
Subject: Re: Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos
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On 06/10/2020 11:02, Sudheer Babu wrote:
> Just want to understand how important are the captions/subtitles for music
> videos live/pre-recorded under 1.2.2 – Captions (Pre-recorded) and 1.2.4 –
> Captions (Live).
> If anyone has come across such and can explain what's the ideal expectation
> here for music videos.

The fact that it's a music video doesn't change the fact that there is
spoken (sung) content, and that needs captions. If it was only
instrumental, then yeah, you don't need captions (though ideally, you'd
make it clear - if it isn't already from context - that there is music
playing...it's acceptable to have this mentioned elsewhere in the page,
in the title of the video, or with a single caption "[Music]" or similar).

In terms of examples...well, most youtube videos uploaded by artists
seem to lack explicit captions, but that's really their failing.
Examples of captions done right are, in essence, just the same as
examples of videos with appropriate captions, e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uir2MGC8g8 (just to pull out a random
example).

And as for "how important" ... well, it's the difference between passing
and failing those particular SCs.

P
--
Patrick H. Lauke

https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke

From: Mallory
Date: Tue, Oct 06 2020 10:25AM
Subject: Re: Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos
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those who use captions like to talk about how they feel about music lyrics in memes
https://twitter.com/kratsg/status/1310676581287899142

On Tue, Oct 6, 2020, at 1:21 PM, Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
> On 06/10/2020 11:02, Sudheer Babu wrote:
> > Just want to understand how important are the captions/subtitles for music
> > videos live/pre-recorded under 1.2.2 – Captions (Pre-recorded) and 1.2.4 –
> > Captions (Live).
> > If anyone has come across such and can explain what's the ideal expectation
> > here for music videos.
>
> The fact that it's a music video doesn't change the fact that there is
> spoken (sung) content, and that needs captions. If it was only
> instrumental, then yeah, you don't need captions (though ideally, you'd
> make it clear - if it isn't already from context - that there is music
> playing...it's acceptable to have this mentioned elsewhere in the page,
> in the title of the video, or with a single caption "[Music]" or similar).
>
> In terms of examples...well, most youtube videos uploaded by artists
> seem to lack explicit captions, but that's really their failing.
> Examples of captions done right are, in essence, just the same as
> examples of videos with appropriate captions, e.g.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uir2MGC8g8 (just to pull out a random
> example).
>
> And as for "how important" ... well, it's the difference between passing
> and failing those particular SCs.
>
> P
> --
> Patrick H. Lauke
>
> https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
> twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
> > > > >

From: Jonathan Avila
Date: Tue, Oct 06 2020 10:33AM
Subject: Re: Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos
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I'd add that just a music character in the captions is likely not enough if the music is communicating a mood, effect, or something more than just decoration. I find that in many videos music foreshadows events and sets the stage to put the watcher on edge -- which you don't get without at least some indication of the mood, tone, genre of the music being indicated. Another example - playful light staccato music might indicate that people are play fighting, etc. rather than at real odds.

Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > On Behalf Of Mallory
Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2020 12:26 PM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.


those who use captions like to talk about how they feel about music lyrics in memes
https://twitter.com/kratsg/status/1310676581287899142

On Tue, Oct 6, 2020, at 1:21 PM, Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
> On 06/10/2020 11:02, Sudheer Babu wrote:
> > Just want to understand how important are the captions/subtitles for
> > music videos live/pre-recorded under 1.2.2 – Captions (Pre-recorded)
> > and 1.2.4 – Captions (Live).
> > If anyone has come across such and can explain what's the ideal
> > expectation here for music videos.
>
> The fact that it's a music video doesn't change the fact that there is
> spoken (sung) content, and that needs captions. If it was only
> instrumental, then yeah, you don't need captions (though ideally,
> you'd make it clear - if it isn't already from context - that there is
> music playing...it's acceptable to have this mentioned elsewhere in
> the page, in the title of the video, or with a single caption "[Music]" or similar).
>
> In terms of examples...well, most youtube videos uploaded by artists
> seem to lack explicit captions, but that's really their failing.
> Examples of captions done right are, in essence, just the same as
> examples of videos with appropriate captions, e.g.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uir2MGC8g8 (just to pull out a random
> example).
>
> And as for "how important" ... well, it's the difference between
> passing and failing those particular SCs.
>
> P
> --
> Patrick H. Lauke
>
> https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
> twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
> > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> >

From: Sudheer Babu
Date: Thu, Oct 08 2020 11:53PM
Subject: Re: Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos
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This makes more sense to me now, thanks for that tweet!

On Tue, Oct 6, 2020 at 9:56 PM Mallory < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:

> those who use captions like to talk about how they feel about music lyrics
> in memes
> https://twitter.com/kratsg/status/1310676581287899142
>
> On Tue, Oct 6, 2020, at 1:21 PM, Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
> > On 06/10/2020 11:02, Sudheer Babu wrote:
> > > Just want to understand how important are the captions/subtitles for
> music
> > > videos live/pre-recorded under 1.2.2 – Captions (Pre-recorded) and
> 1.2.4 –
> > > Captions (Live).
> > > If anyone has come across such and can explain what's the ideal
> expectation
> > > here for music videos.
> >
> > The fact that it's a music video doesn't change the fact that there is
> > spoken (sung) content, and that needs captions. If it was only
> > instrumental, then yeah, you don't need captions (though ideally, you'd
> > make it clear - if it isn't already from context - that there is music
> > playing...it's acceptable to have this mentioned elsewhere in the page,
> > in the title of the video, or with a single caption "[Music]" or
> similar).
> >
> > In terms of examples...well, most youtube videos uploaded by artists
> > seem to lack explicit captions, but that's really their failing.
> > Examples of captions done right are, in essence, just the same as
> > examples of videos with appropriate captions, e.g.
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uir2MGC8g8 (just to pull out a random
> > example).
> >
> > And as for "how important" ... well, it's the difference between passing
> > and failing those particular SCs.
> >
> > P
> > --
> > Patrick H. Lauke
> >
> > https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> > https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
> > twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
> > > > > > > > > >
> > > > >

From: L Snider
Date: Fri, Oct 09 2020 6:28AM
Subject: Re: Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos
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This leads from Jonathan's comment...I have seen a few videos in the last
month that used 'sad music', 'energetic music' etc. in the captions and it
was a great way to know what was going on (I use captions on Facebook, I
rarely listen to a video on there).

Cheers

Lisa

On Tue, Oct 6, 2020 at 1:33 PM Jonathan Avila < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
wrote:

> I'd add that just a music character in the captions is likely not enough
> if the music is communicating a mood, effect, or something more than just
> decoration. I find that in many videos music foreshadows events and sets
> the stage to put the watcher on edge -- which you don't get without at
> least some indication of the mood, tone, genre of the music being
> indicated. Another example - playful light staccato music might indicate
> that people are play fighting, etc. rather than at real odds.
>
> Jonathan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > On Behalf Of
> Mallory
> Sent: Tuesday, October 6, 2020 12:26 PM
> To: WebAIM Discussion List < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
> Subject: Re: [WebAIM] Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos
>
> CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not
> click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know
> the content is safe.
>
>
> those who use captions like to talk about how they feel about music lyrics
> in memes
> https://twitter.com/kratsg/status/1310676581287899142
>
> On Tue, Oct 6, 2020, at 1:21 PM, Patrick H. Lauke wrote:
> > On 06/10/2020 11:02, Sudheer Babu wrote:
> > > Just want to understand how important are the captions/subtitles for
> > > music videos live/pre-recorded under 1.2.2 – Captions (Pre-recorded)
> > > and 1.2.4 – Captions (Live).
> > > If anyone has come across such and can explain what's the ideal
> > > expectation here for music videos.
> >
> > The fact that it's a music video doesn't change the fact that there is
> > spoken (sung) content, and that needs captions. If it was only
> > instrumental, then yeah, you don't need captions (though ideally,
> > you'd make it clear - if it isn't already from context - that there is
> > music playing...it's acceptable to have this mentioned elsewhere in
> > the page, in the title of the video, or with a single caption "[Music]"
> or similar).
> >
> > In terms of examples...well, most youtube videos uploaded by artists
> > seem to lack explicit captions, but that's really their failing.
> > Examples of captions done right are, in essence, just the same as
> > examples of videos with appropriate captions, e.g.
> > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Uir2MGC8g8 (just to pull out a random
> > example).
> >
> > And as for "how important" ... well, it's the difference between
> > passing and failing those particular SCs.
> >
> > P
> > --
> > Patrick H. Lauke
> >
> > https://www.splintered.co.uk/ | https://github.com/patrickhlauke
> > https://flickr.com/photos/redux/ | https://www.deviantart.com/redux
> > twitter: @patrick_h_lauke | skype: patrick_h_lauke
> > > > > > archives at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > >
> > > at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives
> > > > > >

From: Guy Hickling
Date: Tue, Oct 13 2020 2:53PM
Subject: Re: Captions/Subtitles for Music Videos
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Then there is the other kind of video where the information is given
entirely visually on screen with no speech, but there is background music
that is purely decorative. It's often done in company presentations, for
instance. The music doesn't convey atmosphere or any emotion. (It often
just provides a heavy beat. Probably just so there is a sound of some sort
even though it doesn't mean anything.)

I have never asked that there should be any reference in the captions to
such music, but I am pondering that as a result of this thread. I suppose a
person with partial deafness might possibly like to know music is present
so they can turn it right up to listen, or turn up whatever aid they have.

However it has always seemed to me to be a bit over the top to ask someone
to go to the trouble of amending their video's captions just to insert
"[music]" in such cases. Yes, maybe, if it is meaningful music conveying an
emotion or effect (in which case insert "[sad music]" or whatever). But not
for purely decorative music. What do people think?