DISTRIBUTION LISTS
An integral part of the subtitle and captioning process is the creation of scripts containing the spoken dialogue of a film or video production. From these scripts various forms of subtitles, captions, and translations are created.
Be aware that delivery of inadequate lists may result in rejection by the studios, putting a crimp in the studio's ability to distribute your film and often delaying payment to you. Cinetyp is on the Approved Vendor list of all the major studios.
Cinetyp employs a skilled editorial staff to prepare a variety of scripts and lists. We produce all of the industry-standard script documents demanded by studios and production companies, including spotting, dialogue, continuity, and combined lists. We also provide a number of exclusive script document formats that are unique to Cinetyp.
If your film is being translated for subtitling or dubbing, we can provide translations in Spanish, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, and many other languages.
Spotting Lists
Spotting lists for subtitles are prepared by analyzing both the dialogue and scenes of a movie. Preparing spotting lists is more than just a mechanical effort: it's part art and part science. Each line spoken by an actor is transcribed, and its exact location in the movie (accurate to the frame) is noted as "in" and "out" times.
The duration of the subtitle is carefully metered to ensure that it doesn't flash on the screen too briefly, making it difficult for the audience to read. Similarly, subtitles that are on screen for too long can distract the viewer. If the dialogue spans a scene cut, the in- and out-times may be adjusted slightly to enhance the readability of the subtitle.
Spotting lists contain several important pieces of information. The most common elements of spotting lists are:
Subtitle number. This allows easy cross-referencing.
In-time. This is the first frame of the subtitle. For film, in-times are expressed in feet-and-frames; for video, in-times are expressed in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames.
Out-time. The last frame of the subtitle.
Duration. This is the total number of feet-and-frames (or seconds and frames, for video) the subtitle will remain on the screen.
Who-to-who. The who-to-who is a notation of who is speaking, and to whom. It is typically used by translators as an aid for ensuring proper gender and formality of speech.
Subtitle text. This is the text of the subtitle. Because people can speak many times faster than they can read, it is not always possible for subtitles to be a verbatim transcription of an actor's lines. The text of the subtitle may be carefully edited to reduce the word count (called abridging or truncating), all the while keeping intact the original flavor and intent of the spoken dialogue.
Annotations and lab notes. Annotations are brief explanations of unusual terms and phrases (including idioms and colloquialisms), and are used by translators. Lab notes are comments addressed to laboratory handling the subtitling of your film.
Dialogue Lists
Dialogue lists are intended as a literal record of all the spoken dialogue in a film or video production. This record is typically used for preparing translations for dubbing purposes.
Dialogue lists contain:
The name of the character speaking.
The spoken dialogue, including (in most cases) utterances and interjectives such as "ah," and "ooomph!"
Dialogue lists may or may not also contain annotations to aid in the translation process, in-times (a marker that indicates where in the movie the dialogue takes place), and simple scene descriptions. Cinetyp is able to tailor the contents of the dialogue list to your specific needs.
Continuity Lists
A continuity list contains all the scenes and shots of a film or video program. The movement of the camera and actors are usually noted. The continuity list is the most time-consuming document to produce, and is typically only created as a delivery requirement between production company and studio. The list is a shot-by-shot description of all the action in a movie, and therefore serves as a kind of legal description of the film for copyright purposes.
More often than not, continuity is combined with dialogue and/or spotting information to produce a combined list, detailed next.
Combined Lists
The combined dialogue and spotting list (CDSL) is a single document containing both dialogue list and spotting list.
The dialogue and spotting are presented side-by-side, allowing easy cross-referencing between the two. Short descriptions of major scene changes are often included.
The combined continuity and spotting list (CCSL) is similar to the CDSL, but also contains the detailed continuity of the film.
Requirements
We will require the following elements to begin work on your Dialogue or Spotting List:
- Reference Media (see Tech Specs)
- Lined Script
- Cast List
For creating a Combined Continuity Spotting List (CCSL), we will require the above documents, as well as a file containing the Final Main and End Credits for the film.
Please go to Tech Specs for instructions on delivering film/video materials.