I am wondering what are the guidelines for making good subtitles. I do know about the existence of Google ;-) but I am wondering what you guys think about it. Let me explain.
I mean, for example, keeping lines to a maximum of 40 chars. But what if a line becomes 41 chars? And what if it is 44 chars? 50? One has to decide what to do, and make some kind of 'optimum-decision'. I am talking about the conflict between the number of characters, the time one has to read that line, the readability decrease when it is split by a hard return (the eyes will have to travel), or -even worse- by a completely new line (the yes will lack an 'overview'), or taking away some of the original meaning. Creativity is tough.
Then there is for example 'comment' text. I mean text which is not spoken, but like a non-existing voice-over explaining what is going on. Sometimes there is a lot to read. Like in a documentary, the name of a person speaking, his function, some more data, etc. Sometimes one must choose between forcing to read 150 characters in 0.8 seconds (good luck), or doing some nasty tricks (nasty). What is preferred?
And what about hard returns? Look:
(40/15)
I can split one long line into two lines
after ch #40.
or
(30/31)
I can split one long line into
two more or less equal lines.
What is nicer to read..?
And then what about compatibility? I mean for example italics. Great to use this for 'thoughts' of a person, or the above mentioned comments, or a line which is not translated, because in the context of the movie it should not be translated (like "hasta la vista, baby" in Terminator 2). What to do? Use italics, or not? And with <i> and </i> or just <i> (subtitle workshop is not showing the end-tag, even if it's present in the source).
And what about the three dots after a split line, if according to the grammar, there should be a comma? Include those three dots anyway, or is the comma enough to show that another part is coming? Look:
Is the comma enough,
or should there be dots?
or
is the comma enough,...
or should there be dots?
Life is tough, eh?