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Participating Frequently
February 12, 2012
Answered

Plain Subtitles on video in Premiere Elements 10

  • February 12, 2012
  • 2 replies
  • 23166 views

Hi there - I have just purchased Adobe Premiere Elements 10 and I am trying to add subtitles to some video clips that I have on file.  The main problem that I am coming up against is the templates used for Titles - there doesn't appear to be a plain one, the one that interests me is the Fun Lower Third but I don't want the wave on the clip - just the text.  Is there any way I can edit the wave out or am I going about this in completely the wrong way? I would be grateful for any help you guys could offer me.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer the_wine_snob

    Any Title can be used as a Lower-Third. Those with an otherwise good layout for you, can be altered to suit. There will be "placeholder Text" and possibly a Shape, perhaps with a Style applied. In the Titler (Title editor), you can use the Selection Tool to Select and Delete, or modify any of the Templates, as is needed.

    If you will be creating many "sub-title" type Lower-Thirds, I would use Steve's suggestion to create what you want from a Blank Title, and get the font, any Styles, etc., that you want, and then Save that Title as a Template for future use. I have a few dozen personally created, or modified Title Templates in the "Hunt Titles" sub-folder, so I can just draw upon those.

    Now is probably a good time to talk a bit about Titles. First, they are incorporated into the Project file (PREL), and are defined by XML language. At this point, they do not exist, beyond that Project. If you will want to use them in other Projects, you will Save as a Template (PRTL) file, which can only be opened by PrE, or PrPro (same format for both programs). The Template is Saved to your HDD, where you direct the program to do so. I keep mine in the Library section, and in a sub-folder, "Hunt Titles," so that Titler can find those Templates easily, and that sub-folder will appear in the drop-down list.

    Next, when one uses a Title in PrE, that Title first appears in the Project Panel (be a bit careful here, as PrE also wants to place it onto the Timeline, where the CTI - Current Time Indicator, or Playhead, is located, so you want to watch out for that, incase you have the CTI in some place, other than were you want the Title placed.) Also, you can have many Instances of that Title on the Timeline, BUT they are all linked to the one in the Project Panel - they are but Instances (think identical clones) of that ONE Title. Any change to one of those Instances, and those changes will affect the Title in the Project Panel, plus EVERY Instance of it on the Timeline. This is good for making global changes/corrections, but can get confusing, if you want that Title and all of its Instances to remain unchanged, but want different, albeit similar Titles, based on that one. For that, you will want to Duplicate Title, and name it something else, or use a Title Template, naming it differently. With sub-titles, you will want the same general layout and look, but will want different Titles, not just Instances of one. Each will then be unique, and can be changed, without affecting what you have already done. That is one way that I use Title Templates - creating new Titles from them, having them appear as discrete Titles in the Project Panel, and then dragging any Instances of each, that I need, where I want them on the Timeline.

    Last, though we see the "background" as black, it is really Transparent. In the Titler, if we are working with an overlay Title, with Video, or still Images (or even other Titles) below it, we will see that underlying material "thru" the Transparent Background. That is why Steve's method is perfect - a Lower-Third is not really a Title, limited in height, but is a full-frame Title, but most is totally Transparent - just the Text, or Shape, is placed in the Lower-Third of the Frame.

    Good luck, and happy Titling,

    Hunt

    2 replies

    the_wine_snob
    the_wine_snobCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    February 12, 2012

    Any Title can be used as a Lower-Third. Those with an otherwise good layout for you, can be altered to suit. There will be "placeholder Text" and possibly a Shape, perhaps with a Style applied. In the Titler (Title editor), you can use the Selection Tool to Select and Delete, or modify any of the Templates, as is needed.

    If you will be creating many "sub-title" type Lower-Thirds, I would use Steve's suggestion to create what you want from a Blank Title, and get the font, any Styles, etc., that you want, and then Save that Title as a Template for future use. I have a few dozen personally created, or modified Title Templates in the "Hunt Titles" sub-folder, so I can just draw upon those.

    Now is probably a good time to talk a bit about Titles. First, they are incorporated into the Project file (PREL), and are defined by XML language. At this point, they do not exist, beyond that Project. If you will want to use them in other Projects, you will Save as a Template (PRTL) file, which can only be opened by PrE, or PrPro (same format for both programs). The Template is Saved to your HDD, where you direct the program to do so. I keep mine in the Library section, and in a sub-folder, "Hunt Titles," so that Titler can find those Templates easily, and that sub-folder will appear in the drop-down list.

    Next, when one uses a Title in PrE, that Title first appears in the Project Panel (be a bit careful here, as PrE also wants to place it onto the Timeline, where the CTI - Current Time Indicator, or Playhead, is located, so you want to watch out for that, incase you have the CTI in some place, other than were you want the Title placed.) Also, you can have many Instances of that Title on the Timeline, BUT they are all linked to the one in the Project Panel - they are but Instances (think identical clones) of that ONE Title. Any change to one of those Instances, and those changes will affect the Title in the Project Panel, plus EVERY Instance of it on the Timeline. This is good for making global changes/corrections, but can get confusing, if you want that Title and all of its Instances to remain unchanged, but want different, albeit similar Titles, based on that one. For that, you will want to Duplicate Title, and name it something else, or use a Title Template, naming it differently. With sub-titles, you will want the same general layout and look, but will want different Titles, not just Instances of one. Each will then be unique, and can be changed, without affecting what you have already done. That is one way that I use Title Templates - creating new Titles from them, having them appear as discrete Titles in the Project Panel, and then dragging any Instances of each, that I need, where I want them on the Timeline.

    Last, though we see the "background" as black, it is really Transparent. In the Titler, if we are working with an overlay Title, with Video, or still Images (or even other Titles) below it, we will see that underlying material "thru" the Transparent Background. That is why Steve's method is perfect - a Lower-Third is not really a Title, limited in height, but is a full-frame Title, but most is totally Transparent - just the Text, or Shape, is placed in the Lower-Third of the Frame.

    Good luck, and happy Titling,

    Hunt

    1UKDivAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 13, 2012

    Bill - you are obviously a super expert on this and I thank you for the information that you provided.  I think I have now cracked the problem of getting the subtitles on to the movie but it seems such a convuluted process.  This is what I am trying to do - I have a 5 minute clip of my wife's friends (who are German) who are sending goodwill messages on my mother's recent birthday.  They are talking German and my mother is English. So, in order for her to understand what they are saying I am entering subtitles in English.  As far as I can gather I need to break the movie down into clips and insert the subtitle to match the conversation that is being spoken at that time and then rejoin the clips to make the movie.  When I tried this the quality of the subtitles and the movie itself was pretty bad - I can only think that there must be a rendering problem.  Is the method I have described above the only way that you can add subtitles to a clip with a lot of speech?

    Legend
    February 13, 2012

    There is no reason to break your video into short clips.

    If you're working in Timeline mode, you can add titles, as I've advised above, and adjust them so that they their duration matches the dialogue.

    Legend
    February 12, 2012

    Go into the Titles workspace. You get in there by clicking the "T" in the lower right corner of the Monitor panel.

    Once you're in this space, you can select any font and color it any color you want.

    1UKDivAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    February 13, 2012

    Steve - many thanks. It's got me going in the right direction...