Subtitles

If you make subtitles in FCP they will be permanent.

Use a San-Serif font such as Helvetica or Arial with a thin, dark border to keep them readable. In FCP the Text > Lower Third generator is the best option as these are automatically centered.

Also consider shortening your text without losing the context. No need to have the subtitles reflect the script word for word. The viewer should not have to spend all their time reading.

Subtitles in DVD Studio Pro use a text document as their basis, in which you specify the font, size, color and timecode based in and out points. You can provide a button to switch the diplay on and off, or have them permanently on (Force Display).

Here is an example of a subtitle file used in DVDSP:

$FontName = Arial
$FontSize = 65
//The following subtitles are for scene one.
00:00:12:04 , 00:00:14:12 , Lemurs are the bullies of the wild.
00:00:16:14 , 00:00:19:08 , Here we see them bring down a moose.

Lots more information in the DVD SP User Manual -just do a search for "Subtitles".

http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/fcplugins/
http://www.digital-heaven.co.uk/fcplugins/dh_subtitle.php

Their Subtitle tool is great and it's only US$20.00. As Nick points out, once you create text items to be used as subtitles, they are burned into the video permanently. So you wan tot be sure you are working on a completely rendered and exported movie from each of your entire project's timelines.

Subtitles are often confused with captions and the captioning system that is built into some television broadcasting formats and other video playback systems like VHS.

bogiesan

Arial font is broadly used and it is a good choice.
Ideally subtitle should appear when the talent starts speaking and end when she stops speaking.
In FCP you can easily extend or shorten the subtitle clip by dragging outwards or inwards the clip's in/out point.
Use Boris text editor for flexibility, try to keep subtitles within two lines (avoid three lines if you can) and turn on Title Safe.
If you need versions with and without subtitles you still have the option to do so in both FCP or DVDstudio (In DVDstudio you create a second track to be linked to the main menu and apply subtitles as appropriate), yes you may need to create a dedicated subtitled movie.

It depends on how many subtitle lines you have and on how many choices and slight adjustments you need to make (font size, colour, outlines, length etc.) however, once you get the hang of it I'd say It'll take you even just minutes (again it depends). You can quickly duplicate a subtitle as many times as you need and simply paste/replace text on each of it. Yes you can copy and paste subtitles in the subtitle text space.

G.