👤 Human Captioners. No Machine Captions.
Movie Captioning Services for Better Accessibility and Global Reach
Any Video · Any Platform · Any Caption Format
Vanan Services provides 100% human film captioning services for features, documentaries, shorts and trailers, with English captions from $1.00 per minute and 100+ other languages from $7.00 per minute. Closed captions for US television are produced to meet Federal Communications Commission (FCC) caption quality rules, and our closed, open and Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (SDH) files help you meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, with 24/7 support.
Clients include filmmakers, broadcasters, universities, businesses, healthcare providers and content creators: 28,700+ served since 2009.
Accessibility and broadcast standards supported
990+ Google reviews
Up to 60 min;
rush & same-day available
Industry expertise
No commitment · Secure & confidential · Broadcast & platform-ready files
🎬 Festival or release deadline this week? Rush delivery within 2 to 24 hours, and same-day for short films on request. Get your captions today
Closed Captions & SDH
Speaker labels, sound effects & non-speech audio
Broadcast Caption Standards
Scenarist Closed Caption (SCC) files to Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) 608/708 standards
Streaming & Platform Files
SubRip (SRT), Web Video Text Tracks (WebVTT) and platform-ready caption files
Human Timing & Review
Accuracy, synchronization & readability checked
Multilingual Captioning
Human captioners across 100+ languages
What Are Film Captioning Services?
Film captioning services, also called movie captioning services, turn a film's dialogue, speaker names, sound effects and music cues into time-coded text synchronized to each scene. The result is a closed caption file viewers switch on, open captions burned into the picture, or an SDH file for a streaming platform or festival.
For US television, captions are produced to meet the FCC caption quality rules in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at 47 CFR 79.1: accuracy, synchronicity, completeness and placement. When a nonexempt program that aired on US television with captions is later delivered online, 47 CFR 79.4 can apply to it as well; for other online and theatrical releases, the distributor, platform or venue sets the caption requirement.
Every caption is written by a human captioner to a 99+% accuracy standard, and clients rate Vanan Services 4.9★ across 990+ Google reviews. If you have any questions about your release, call us at 1-800-230-7918.
Closed Captions vs Subtitles vs SDH
| Type | Purpose | Content included |
|---|---|---|
| Closed Captions | Accessibility | Dialogue, speaker identification, sound effects, and audio cues |
| Subtitles | Translation, or dialogue text for viewers who can hear | Spoken lines only, same-language or translated, with no sound cues (see film subtitling) |
| SDH Captions | Accessibility for deaf and hard of hearing viewers | Dialogue, speaker identification, sound effects, and music descriptions, in a subtitle-style file (SDH subtitling) |
| Open Captions | Viewing with no caption setting, such as screenings and social clips | Dialogue and sound cues burned permanently into the picture |
Reliable Film Captioning Services by Native Experts
Vanan Services provides reliable film captioning services by native experts in over 100 languages, with English captions from $1.00 per minute and other languages from $7.00 per minute. Contact us at
1-800-230-7918. Our captioners work around the clock across time zones, and each film is assigned by language and accent. We offer captioning for cinematic content, ensuring that your films are accessible and engaging for all viewers, including deaf and hard of hearing audiences.
We have experience in captioning films of different genres. Every file passes a three-step human check by a captioner, an editor and a senior reviewer. Our movie captioning service delivers captions at a 99+% accuracy standard on the agreed timeline.
We also specialize in post production captioning, ensuring that every frame of your film is timed with perfect precision to enhance viewer experience.
We also provide fast turnaround: Rush delivery within 2 to 24 hours at +50%, with the exact time based on file length, language, and audio quality. Whether you are a broadcaster, a post-production company, a film production company, or delivering to streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, or Max, you can rely on our professional film captioning services. Get in touch with our film captioning company for a free quote, and you will know our exact prices. Files stay confidential: transfers are secure, access is limited to your assigned team, and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are available.
We offer specialized French, Italian, Urdu, Hindi, Arabic, Korean, Vietnamese, and Polish subtitling services, ensuring your content reaches a global audience with accurate and timely subtitles.
Vanan Services, Inc.
224 W 35th St #1206-5,
New York, NY 10001.
(646) 481-2955
Monday to Friday: 24 hours
Saturday & Sunday: 6 AM to 10 PM
Our online support is available 24/7. For quick assistance, click the button below.
Film Captioning Services: 99+% Accuracy & Quality Checks
Every film caption file passes three human steps before delivery: a captioner writes it, an editor times it to the picture, and a senior reviewer reads it against the audio.
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A 99+% accuracy standard, with character names and terminology kept consistent across the film
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Sync checks: every caption is timed to the spoken word and checked line by line before delivery
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Readability: reading speed kept within the platform's limit in characters per second (CPS) or words per minute (WPM), such as up to 20 CPS for adult programs and 17 for children's programs in the Netflix English (USA) Timed Text Style Guide, with clean line breaks
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Quality control (QC) pass covering spelling, speaker labels and SDH sound cues
Our Simple Film Captioning Workflow
Upload your film securely
We review your file and requirements
We transcribe and time-code the audio
We create accurate, accessible captions
We convert captions into your required format
We perform quality checks
We deliver the final caption files
We offer revisions and support
Optimized Film Captioning Services with Defined Workflow & Support
Captioning a film goes smoothly when the final cut, script and speaker names arrive together at the start.
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Inputs: final cut, script/dialog list, speaker names, and style guide
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Steps: transcription, spotting/timing, SDH cues, QC, client review, export
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Versioning: track timecode changes and deliver updated files per cut
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Support: 24/7 online services during review cycles
Our Captioning Process: 100% Human Captioners
Human Transcription
Professional native-language captioners transcribe every word, sound effect, and music cue. No automatic speech recognition is used.
Upload Your File Now →Caption Editing & Sync
Human editors time-code every line and verify synchronization, speaker identification, punctuation, and placement.
Final Review by a Senior Captioner
A senior reviewer reads every caption against the audio and checks timing and completeness before delivery.
Start your order →Every caption is created and verified by human captioners. We never deliver machine-generated captions.
✓ Response within minutes ✓ Free revisions for 30 days after delivery
Why Should You Hire a Professional Movie Captioning Service?
Are you wondering why to hire a professional film/movie captioning service provider? Captions are required by law for many videos in the United States: FCC rules cover most television programming, and the Department of Justice enforces the ADA's accessibility rules. Captioning the video helps deaf and hard of hearing viewers follow every line. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders reports that about 15% of American adults, or 37.5 million people aged 18 and over, report some trouble hearing.
If you are looking for reliable subtitling companies in New York, Vanan Services offers professional solutions tailored to meet your needs. We protect every film with strict NDA, secure encrypted file systems, and authorized-access workflows, ensuring complete confidentiality for unreleased or sensitive content. Our movie transcription and subtitling services provide accurate, time-synced subtitles that enhance the viewing experience and meet industry standards.
A transcript published with your video gives search engines text they can read, and captions reach the many viewers who watch with the sound off, which calls for accurate captions. With our open captioning services for film, we deliver captions directly on the video, making your content accessible without requiring viewers to turn on subtitles. Talk to us about movie captioning services for your next release.
Closed Captioning Rates & Turnaround
Film captioning is priced per minute of runtime, based on length, language, and delivery requirements, and human-produced to a 99+% accuracy standard. English captions start at $1.00 per minute; captions in other languages start at $7.00 per minute. No setup fee, no minimum order. Your exact quote is confirmed in writing within minutes.
| Service | Starting From | What It Is |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign-language captioning (same-language, non-English) | $7.00/min | Time-coded captions in the film's own language, across 100+ languages |
| Burned-in captions (open captions) | $5.00/min | Captions burned into the picture, for screenings, trailers and social clips |
| English closed captions (SRT / VTT / SCC) | $1.00/min | Same-language, time-coded caption file for streaming, festival screeners, YouTube, Vimeo, or broadcast |
| Subtitle translation (different language) | $11.20/min | Transcription and translation together, timed as a subtitle file for viewers in another language |
| Foreign-language subtitling (no script) | $9.60/min | Dialogue-only subtitles, transcribed and timed from the audio. See our movie subtitling services |
| Foreign-language subtitling (script provided) | $7.00/min | Dialogue-only subtitles timed from the script you supply |
Turnaround
Delivery time depends on file duration and language specification. The tiers below apply to English and top major languages, with or without a script; longer files and rare-language projects receive an exact delivery date, confirmed in writing with your quote.
| Tier | Delivery | Rate Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 2–3 business days for films up to 60 minutes | Base rate |
| Feature-length or rare language | Over 60 minutes, or a rare language: delivery date confirmed in writing with your quote | Base rate |
| Rush | Rush delivery within 2 to 24 hours | +50% |
| Same-day | Shorter projects, on request | Quoted |
Same-day delivery can be arranged for short films and trailers. The exact rush time depends on file length, language, and audio quality, and is confirmed with your quote.
Ways to lower your cost: supply a script for dialogue-only subtitles (it lowers the starting rate from $9.60 to $7.00 per minute), choose a standalone SRT/VTT file instead of burned-in captions for English, pick standard turnaround, or bundle 60+ minutes of runtime for volume pricing.
Ballpark Examples
| Project | Service | Typical Starting Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 10-minute short film, English captions | Closed captions (SRT/VTT) | from ~$10 |
| 30-minute documentary, captions burned into the file | Burned-in (open) captions | from ~$150 |
| 90-minute feature, English captions | Closed captions (SRT/VTT/SCC) | from ~$90 |
| 90-minute feature, captions in another language | Foreign-language captioning | from ~$630 |
Illustrative only, based on clean single-speaker audio and standard turnaround. Your exact quote is confirmed in writing within minutes.
Not sure yet? Start with a free captioning trial. Upload a short clip and see the quality first.
Volume Pricing for Multiple Films, Trailers, and Series
Volume pricing starts at 60 minutes of runtime, so a slate of shorts, a series, or a feature with its trailers is quoted together.
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Volume discounts available for bulk minutes and ongoing releases
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Special rates for education, non-profit and healthcare clients
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Consolidated invoicing available for multi-asset deliveries
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Contact information: call 1-800-230-7918 for a custom quote
Types of Films We Caption
- Feature films: full-length releases captioned for streaming, theatrical and broadcast delivery
- Short films: festival and online shorts, with same-day delivery on request
- Documentaries: interviews, narration and archival footage, with every speaker labeled
- Trailers/promos: trailer captions, plus burned-in versions for social media
- Festival submissions: caption files prepared to each festival's technical specification
- Corporate films: brand films and internal releases
- Indie films: independent film captioning from $1.00 per minute in English
- Educational films: classroom and training films, with special rates for education clients
- Social media films, animated shorts, and more
Deliverable Caption File Formats for Film Delivery
We deliver film captions in the exact format your distributor, festival, or platform requires:
- SRT
- WebVTT
- SCC
- European Broadcasting Union subtitle files (EBU STL)
- Timed Text Markup Language (TTML), Distribution Format Exchange Profile (DFXP) and Internet Media Subtitles and Captions (IMSC1)
Broadcast delivery is also supported, including CEA-608 and CEA-708 captions when needed for TV and cable workflows.
Which Caption File Does Your Platform or Film Festival Need?
The platform or festival you deliver to sets the caption file, and its own review decides acceptance. Send us its current delivery specification with your film and we prepare the file to it.
| Destination | What it asks for | What we deliver |
|---|---|---|
| Netflix | Timed text to the Netflix English (USA) Timed Text Style Guide: up to 42 characters per line, two lines, up to 20 characters per second for adult programs | SDH or caption file in the format your delivery spec names |
| Prime Video and other streamers | The caption format in your distributor's or aggregator's delivery schedule | SRT, SCC, DFXP or TTML, as specified |
| FilmHub | English SDH captions for every title, in SRT (SCC only if no other source), up to 43 characters per line and 25 characters per second, per FilmHub's caption requirements | English SDH in SRT, to those limits |
| Film festival, online screening | A sidecar file in the festival's format; the Sundance 2024 technical specifications asked for WebVTT with timecode from 00:00:00:00 and did not accept SRT | WebVTT, SRT or SCC, per the festival's current specification |
| Broadcast TV | CEA-608 and CEA-708 captions | SCC and MacCaption (MCC) files |
| YouTube and Vimeo | A caption file uploaded with the video | SRT or WebVTT |
| Archive and international distribution | The timed-text format named in the delivery specification | Extensible Markup Language (XML) formats such as TTML, DFXP, IMSC1 and Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers Timed Text (SMPTE-TT), or binary EBU STL files |
| Social media and trailers | Captions visible with the sound off | Burned-in (open) captions |
New York Film Captioning Services for Accurate Subtitles
In New York’s fast-moving film scene, you need subtitles that land every line the first time. If you’re a Tribeca indie director, a streaming producer in Brooklyn, or a university film team in Manhattan, your story deserves to be heard and understood. Many creators also evaluate different captioning companies in New York to ensure consistent quality, accuracy, and dependable turnaround for their productions. With our New York film captioning services, you get frame-accurate timing, clear speaker IDs, and accurate SDH cues so viewers never miss a beat. Ever seen a key joke fall flat because the subtitle was late? That tiny slip can change the whole moment.
Our New York film captioning services are built for real-world releases. We use native-level linguists, industry style guides, and multi-step QC to keep dialogue, slang, and on-screen text true to your cut. You also get secure file handling, rush turnarounds, and format-ready delivery for festivals, theaters, and platforms. Since May 15, 2022, New York City movie theaters must show some films with open captions under the city's Administrative Code section 20-699.7, according to the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment. Each theater sets the caption format it needs for those showings, so check with the venue; we can supply a burned-in caption version when one is asked for.
For teams refining content before release, our post production captioning support helps align final subtitles with edited visuals, updated dialogue, and last-minute creative changes.
Send your cut when you’re ready. We’ll share a free quote, follow a results-driven workflow, and keep things smooth with collaborative review and fast revisions for accurate subtitles that feel natural to your audience. Our New York office is at 224 W 35th St #1206-5, New York, NY 10001.
What Can Affect the Final Cost of Film Captioning in New York
Rush delivery (+50%)
Heavy accents, low audio quality, crosstalk, or overlapping dialogue
Large casts with frequent speaker changes and detailed speaker IDs
Burned-in/open captions (rendered onto the video)
Translation subtitles (captions plus translation)
Multiple deliverables (e.g., SRT, VTT, SCC) from the same master
Retiming or re-exporting captions after picture edits
Accurate Movie Captioning Service by Native Language Experts
Vanan Services provides accurate movie captioning service by native language experts, perfectly synchronized with the video. We can caption in over 100 languages and dialects. Our native captioners have the required experience in providing movie captions in languages such as Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and many more.
Be it a short film making project, movie trailer and advertisement, or a full-length movie, we can do it all. We have the experience of captioning different genres of films such as action, adventure, animation, comedy, crime, documentary, drama, fantasy, romantic, thriller, horror, science fiction, etc. Our enthusiastic and professional movie captioners understand the language, culture, tone, and other nuances of the film as well as closed captioning requirements, so that the captions read naturally and relate to your target audience.
We also support offline captioning services for film studios and post-production houses captioning finished, recorded footage.
Our captioners follow a rigorous multi-step quality control process that includes proofreading, timecode verification, and style-consistency checks against our 99+% accuracy standard. For closed captioning services for films, call us or chat with us. Volume pricing applies from 60 minutes of runtime.
With professional script translation support, production teams can prepare multilingual scripts that align with captioning workflows and maintain consistency across different language versions.
What Captions Do Movies Require. Open or Closed? (Global Overview)
Movies can use open captions or closed captions, but the preference and requirement vary by region, distribution platform, and accessibility laws.
|
Region |
Theaters Use |
Streaming Uses |
|
U.S. & Canada |
Mostly Closed Captions |
Closed Captions |
|
UK & EU |
SDH / Mix of Open & Closed |
Closed Captions |
|
Australia/NZ |
Closed Captions |
Closed Captions |
|
India |
Open Subtitles |
Closed Captions |
|
China |
Open Subtitles |
Mix |
|
Japan |
Open Subtitles |
Closed Captions |
|
South Korea |
Open Subtitles |
Closed Captions |
|
Middle East |
Open Subtitles |
Closed Captions |
We understand the different captioning requirements around the world, and we deliver every format your film needs: whether open, closed, SDH, or platform-ready files.
Why Choose Vanan Services for Film Captioning Service?
Vanan Services has served 28,700+ clients in the US and 150+ countries since 2009. Our online open captioning and closed captioning services for film are created with high accuracy by our team of experienced captioners. We provide video captioning, film transcription, and movie subtitle services. We can be a reliable partner for all language solutions.
We not only provide film captions but also cover any training video, broadcasting video clip (broadcast captioning), awareness video, documentary video, education video, movie interview video, company profile video, news or documentary, product marketing, quiz show, class lectures, interview video, seminar, foodie video, video tutorial, Spanish songs, advertisement video, cooking video, product tutorial, and fitness advertisement video, Christian video, webinar, health awareness video, property developments, and many more.
Industries Served
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Entertainment
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Media & broadcasting
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Corporate communications
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Advertising & marketing
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Film festivals
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Indie production houses
Film Captioning Services File Formats
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Example deliverables (redacted): FilmTitleEN.srt, FilmTitleEN.vtt, FilmTitleEN.scc
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BEFORE (raw): 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:14,000 i can’t hear you
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AFTER (delivered SRT): 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,080 [JORDAN] I can’t hear you.
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AFTER (delivered VTT): 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:16.600 [SFX: DOOR SLAMS] [MAYA] Run!
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AFTER (delivered SCC): 01:16:18:10 01:16:20:05 [MUSIC SWELLS] [ANNOUNCER] Tonight…
Streaming Platforms We Prepare Captions For
We prepare caption files to each platform's published specification; the platform's own review decides acceptance.
Netflix
Amazon Prime Video
Hulu
Disney+
Max
Apple TV+
YouTube
Vimeo
FilmHub, plus other platforms on request
Caption Files Prepared for Streaming & Festivals
Platform-ready captioning experience you can verify:
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We deliver captions formatted for major streaming and video hosting platforms, plus festival screening needs
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You can review caption samples before you order on our captioning samples page
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Free revisions for 30 days after delivery.
How Vanan Compares on What Buyers Check
| What Buyers Compare | Typical Providers | Vanan |
|---|---|---|
| Price for English captions | Starting rates seen: $1.50–$2.75/min (checked October 2026) | From $1.00/min |
| Foreign-language captioning | Language range varies by provider | 100+ languages, from $7.00/min |
| Accuracy | Often an automatic captioning tier next to a human tier | 99+% accuracy standard, 100% human captioners, never machine-generated |
| Compliance | General claims | Closed captions produced to meet FCC §79.1 for US television; files that help you meet ADA Title II (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA), Section 508 (WCAG 2.0 AA), the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) and the European Accessibility Act (EAA) where they apply to your release; SCC/MCC broadcast delivery |
| Turnaround | Varies | Standard 2–3 business days for films up to 60 minutes · Rush delivery within 2 to 24 hours · same-day for shorter films on request; longer films get a delivery date in writing with the quote; fixed quotes, free revisions for 30 days |
| Track record | N/A | 17+ years · 189,000+ minutes captioned · 4.9★ from 2,456+ reviews |
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:19,552
[Music]
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00:00:19,552 --> 00:00:23,323
Welcome to
World Wide Business
I'm Kathy Ireland.
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Despite the ubiquity
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today's need for the
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[Music]
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00:00:19,552 --> 00:00:23,323
Benvenuti a
World Wide Business
Mi chiamo Kathy Ireland.
3
00:00:23,323 --> 00:00:26,126
Nonostant l'ubiquità
di audio e video
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oggi più che mai, la
parola stampata
è importante.
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[Musique]
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Bienvenue dans
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Je suis Kathy Ireland.
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00:00:23,323 --> 00:00:26,126
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que "Vanan Services".
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[Música]
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00:00:19,552 --> 00:00:23,323
Bem-vindos
World Wide Business
Me chamo Kathy Ireland.
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00:00:23,323 --> 00:00:26,126
Apesar da onipresença
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[Música]
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Bienvenidos
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Soy Kathy Ireland.
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Pese a la omnipresencia
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hoy la necesidad por las
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y nadie responde a esta
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que Vanan Services
Captioning Precision for Every Film Genre
At Vanan Services, we provide film captioning services held to a 99+% accuracy standard on every project. Our captions are tailored to reflect dialogue precisely while respecting cultural nuances, making your content resonate with diverse audiences. We specialize in multilingual captioning, allowing your films to reach global viewers without language barriers. Whether it’s a documentary, animation, or feature film, we deliver fully customized captions that align with your specific genre and audience needs. Our YouTube closed captioning services ensure your content is accessible and optimized for YouTube audiences, enhancing engagement across the platform.
To meet the fast-paced demands of the industry, we offer flexible options, including rush captioning services for tight deadlines. We deliver major file formats such as SRT, VTT, and XML, prepared to the specifications of platforms such as YouTube and Netflix. We also provide a corporate video captioning service to help businesses make their internal and promotional videos more accessible. With frame-accurate synchronization, your captions will align perfectly with your video, enhancing the viewing experience for your audience.
Every captioning project undergoes rigorous proofreading to a 99+% accuracy standard. Every caption is written, timed and reviewed by human captioners. With our inclusive approach, we create captions that make your films accessible to deaf and hard of hearing audiences.
Compliance Standards We Follow for Our Film Captioning Services
- ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)
- FCC caption quality rules (47 CFR 79.1)
- CVAA (21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act)
- WCAG 2.1 AA for ADA Title II, and WCAG 2.0 AA for Section 508
- Section 508 (US federal accessibility standard)
- EAA (European Accessibility Act), for releases in the European Union
File Formats
Closed Captioning Services for Documentary
Our documentary captioning services provide accurate, high-quality captions for your documentary films, ensuring they are accessible to a wider audience. We specialize in delivering captions that meet industry standards, enhancing the viewer's experience while adhering to legal requirements. Whether you're looking to make your documentary accessible for deaf and hard of hearing viewers or need to comply with broadcast regulations, we provide seamless captioning solutions. Trust our team to ensure your documentary reaches and engages all audiences with professional captioning services tailored to your needs.
Scalable, Standards-Based Film Captioning Solutions
Our film captioning services help you meet key accessibility rules such as the ADA and WCAG, and closed captions for US television are produced to meet FCC caption quality standards. For distributor and broadcast deliveries, files follow the caption specification your contract names. Whether you require captions as open captions (burned into the video) or closed captions (toggleable), we provide tailored solutions that fit your distribution requirements.
After delivery, we provide free revisions for 30 days and 24/7 technical support to address formatting or syncing concerns.
When you're preparing for a global release, our video dubbing service ensures your film speaks the language of your audience.
For blind and low-vision viewers, our audio description services add narration of the on-screen action alongside your captions.
Our captions include speaker labels, sound effects, tone indicators, and background audio descriptions, giving deaf and hard of hearing viewers a complete on-screen experience. We handle large-scale projects, with volume pricing for bulk film captioning orders. As your content requirements grow, our services scale to provide continuous, reliable support. Our standardized quality assurance processes and adherence to streaming platform guidelines keep quality consistent from one release to the next.
With Vanan Services, you get a comprehensive solution that delivers quality, precision, and accessibility, ensuring your films captivate audiences worldwide.
Do you provide SDH subtitles and follow platform caption style guides?
Yes. We deliver both closed captions and SDH subtitles, and we follow the style guide your platform names, such as the Netflix Timed Text Style Guide.
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Closed captions: dialogue + speaker IDs + non-speech audio cues
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SDH subtitles: subtitle-style with sound descriptions for accessibility
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Follow platform rules for reading speed (CPS/WPM) and line breaks
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Deliver consistent punctuation, italics, and music/FX conventions
What happens if I send a new cut after captioning starts, and how does it affect delivery?
A new cut after captioning starts means the captions are conformed to it: we review your change list, retime or rewrite only the affected captions, and confirm the new delivery date before work continues. Captioning from the picture-locked cut avoids this step.
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Standard vs rush depends on film length and complexity
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New cut after start: change list reviewed, then captions are retimed
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Multiple versions labeled clearly to avoid mix-ups in delivery
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Contact information: call 1-800-230-7918 for scheduling options
Can you confirm accessibility compliance for film caption delivery in writing?
We do not issue compliance certificates, because accessibility compliance also depends on the video player, the platform and the distributor. Captions are produced to the standards listed below.
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Closed captions for US television produced to meet FCC caption quality rules, and caption files that help you meet ADA requirements where they apply
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Caption files for web players used to meet WCAG captioning criteria
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Platform and festival style guides followed when your delivery spec names them
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Confidential handling for unreleased cuts
Captioning File Formats Supported by Our Captioners
Case Study: English to English, Film Captioning Services for a Media Production
Client Information
Client Industry: Media and Entertainment
Location: United States
File Information
File Type & Duration: Video file (.mov), 90 minutes and 12 seconds
Goal
The client, an independent media production entity, required professional captioning services for a 90-minute feature film. The objective was to create accurate, well-timed English SRT captions from the film’s audio, including all dialogues, speaker differentiations, and lyrical content. The caption file needed to align with industry standards and be fully accessible for downstream distribution platforms.
The client provided an accompanying script; however, it was noted that the film diverged in parts from the script. This called for accurate transcription aligned with the spoken content. Additionally, there was a requirement for verbatim captions and proper labeling of speaker identities throughout the video.
Key Challenges
- Poor Audio Clarity in Songs: Several portions involving song lyrics were indistinct or partially inaudible, complicating the transcription of lyrical segments.
- Inconsistencies Between Script and Audio: The provided script had disparities from the actual spoken content, requiring careful verification and updates.
- Multiple Speakers (6–10): The presence of numerous voices demanded precise speaker tagging and differentiation.
- Content Complexity: The video contained mature themes and adult content, necessitating sensitive handling during caption creation.
Speakers & Languages
Speakers: 6–10 speakers
Languages Used: English (Source and Target)
Delivery Time
Completed within 6 business days on the schedule agreed with the client for a feature-length file.
Strategy
The Vanan team employed a multi-phase approach:
- Initial Transcription: A professional transcriber created a verbatim transcript using the film’s audio as the primary reference, noting instances of unclear lyrics as "indistinct."
- Quality Control and Editing: A language specialist was then engaged to enhance and correct the transcript, cross-referencing the official script and the original film.
- Lyric Verification: Due to the inaudible nature of some musical segments, a public lyric database was consulted to fill in missing words where possible.
- Caption Formatting: Once validated, the finalized transcript was time-coded into an SRT file using industry-standard captioning software.
- Proofreading: A final round of proofreading ensured caption synchronization and formatting consistency across the video.
Results
- Comprehensive Accessibility: The film was now accessible to a broader audience, including deaf and hard of hearing viewers.
- High Caption Accuracy: Despite challenges, the final SRT maintained accuracy above 98%.
- Enhanced Viewer Experience: Speaker labeling and detailed transcription significantly improved comprehension of scenes with overlapping dialogues.
- Client Satisfaction: The client acknowledged the team’s effort in resolving inconsistencies and refining the lyrical content.
Testimonial
“Vanan’s team handled our film’s captioning with utmost precision and professionalism. Their responsiveness and ability to deal with tough audio was especially impressive.” - Media Production Manager, Entertainment Industry
How to Find Us?
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. We caption feature films, shorts, documentaries, trailers and festival submissions with full SDH treatment: dialogue, speaker identification and sound descriptions, prepared to the requirements of the festival, distributor or platform you deliver to.
Vanan Services offers affordable closed captioning for films in any language. English captions start at $1.00 per minute, captions in other languages start at $7.00 per minute, and burned-in captions start at $5.00 per minute, so a 90-minute feature costs from $90 in English or from $630 in another language. Volume pricing applies from 60 minutes, with no setup fee and no minimum order.
Films up to 60 minutes are delivered in 2–3 business days as standard. A feature-length film, or one in a rare language, gets a delivery date confirmed in writing with your quote. Rush delivery within 2 to 24 hours is available at +50%, with the exact time based on file length, language, and audio quality, and same-day delivery can be arranged for shorter films.
Closed captions show the dialogue plus speaker names and sound cues, and viewers switch them on or off. Open captions show the same text burned permanently into the picture. Subtitles show only the dialogue, usually translated, while SDH files add the sound cues to a subtitle-style file, which many streaming platforms ask for.
Yes. Every caption is written, timed and reviewed by human captioners, and we never deliver machine-generated captions. Each file goes through a captioner, an editor and a senior reviewer, to a 99+% accuracy standard.
We deliver SRT, WebVTT, SCC, MCC, EBU STL, DFXP, TTML, IMSC1 and burned-in open captions, all exported from one timed master. A format added later is built from that master, with line-length and timing checks where the new format needs them.
The platform's delivery specification decides. FilmHub, for example, asks for English SDH captions in SRT for every title, Netflix works from its Timed Text Style Guide, and Prime Video titles follow the distributor's delivery schedule. Send us the specification and we prepare the file to it; the platform's own review decides acceptance.
Each festival publishes its own technical specification. For its 2024 festival, Sundance asked for online screening captions as a sidecar WebVTT file with timecode starting at 00:00:00:00 and did not accept SRT files. We prepare caption files to the current specification of the festival you are entering.
Yes. Burned-in (open) captions are rendered into the picture, so they show on any screen without a caption setting, which suits screenings, trailers and social clips. Burned-in captions start at $5.00 per minute, and a separate caption file can be delivered from the same timed master.
Yes. Documentaries often mix interviews, narration and archival audio, so every speaker is labeled and unclear words are marked rather than guessed. On one 90-minute feature with 6–10 speakers and partly inaudible song lyrics, our final SRT file kept accuracy above 98%.
Yes. We caption films in 100+ languages from $7.00 per minute. When the captions must be in a different language from the audio, our closed captioning translation service handles transcription and translation together from $11.20 per minute.
Vanan Services provides Korean film captioning by native Korean captioners, who carry the tone, culture and other nuances of the dialogue into the captions. Korean captions start at $7.00 per minute.
Captions for US television are produced to meet the FCC caption quality standards in 47 CFR 79.1 (accuracy, synchronicity, completeness and placement), and our files help you meet ADA requirements where they apply. Compliance also depends on the player, platform and distributor, so we do not issue compliance certificates.
Yes. Files move by secure transfer, access is limited to the team assigned to your film, and non-disclosure agreements are available for unreleased cuts and embargoed material.
Upload your film or send a link, tell us the formats and style guide you need, and we confirm the price and delivery date in writing within minutes. Captions come back ready to publish or deliver.
