From: vpc1156@tamsun.tamu.edu (Victor Paul Campano)
Subject: "synopsizing" videos; a new tool for everyone!
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 23:00:18 GMT


I have been subtitling anime for three years now using my Amiga computer and
software I wrote myself.  During that time I became aware of the problems
and limitations that subtitlers face.  It takes several hours of work to
create a finished product, even if you already have a script in hand.  The
people who actually do the translating have thier time and effort invested,
and a computer, Genlock, and video decks and/or laserdisks are all
necessary too.  This leads to a situation of the haves and have nots,
with the people who own all that expensive equipment busting a gut to do
subtitling which still doesn't please those who don't but who always want
EVERTHING subtitled.

Several months ago, I began to conceive of a tool to bridge this gap.  I
knew that it was possible in a very low-tech way to edit pictures into an
anime work (sort of like how they did the dialog in old silent movies).
These pictures could (I reasoned) contain text explaining the following
scene in sort of a synopsis format, which (while not as good as sub-titling)
would increase comprehension of the show.

Of course, people would ask, "If you're going to go to all that trouble,
why not just sub-title it?".  I have two good answers;

1) Scripts are hard to come by.  Synopsies for just about any animated show
are available to anyone with access to the internet.

2) Subtitling requires time and expensive equipment.  Synopsizing (I'll call
it that for lack of a better term) can be done with practically any VCR and
a cheap Amiga computer (using my software, of course), and the job can be
done in a much shorter period of time.

So, for those who have any Amiga computer and a VCR or two, I sat down and
wrote TST (Thom's Synopsis Tool).  This program reads a synopsis that you
have edited into discrete pages and displays the lines of text centered on
the screen.  You can create your own graphic backgrounds to place the
text on top of, and you can use any Amiga font in any color you choose.

All Amiga computers sold in North America generate standard NTSC video, which
can be recorded directly to video tape.

Let me tell you my experiences using this software.  First, I found synopsies
of Ranma 1/2 (done by Hitoshi Dio, BTW) for shows I knew I had at home.
I downloaded them from the FTP site, ocf.berkeley.edu.  Then I used a text
editor to clean up a few misspellings, formatted each line to APPROXIMATELY
50 or less characters, and put slashes between pages to define which lines
went together on a page.

Then I downloaded a few ranma GIF pictures, and edited them using a paint
program (an invaluable tool).  I edited them so the colors of the
background were dark and muted, so that when the text overlaid them, the
text would stand out.

Then I ran the program, which put my background graphic on the screen and
put the first page of text over it.

Then I set up two VCRs, one as a source VCR with the Ranma II Episode 3
(the one where Cologne first shows up) episode, and the other as a target
VCR with a blank tape in it.  I hooked the source VCR to the target VCR, and
the target VCR to the TV.  I also ran a video cable from my Amiga to the
target VCR, but I didn't hook it up.  I still had my computer monitor hooked
up to my computer, so I could read the next page to be displayed.

Then I started playing the source VCR, and recording on the target VCR.
when the show came to a point where I wanted to insert a page of sysnopsis,
I paused both VCRs, and switched the input to the target VCR from the other
VCR to the Amiga.  Then, I un-paused the target VCR and let it record
several seconds of the Amiga screen  (enough to let the audience read it).

Then I switched the video into the target VCR again, and went back to
recording the show.  I did this for each of the ten or so pages of information
I wanted to display, for the entire half-hour episode.

The result?  Well, not sterling, certainly.  Here are my conclusions.

The better VCRs you have, the better.  This doesn't mean you can't get clean
edits from a standard 4-head (that's what I have, and the edits were free
of any pop or jitter).  However, one of the problems my friends had with the
finished product was that I was not perfect in inserting the graphic pages
precisely between scenes.  Sometimes one or two seconds of a new scene
would go by before I put up the synposis screen, and this was disconcerting.
Obviously a VCR with jog/shuttle controls would be a big help here.

Many times the person who wrote the synopsis doesn't mention particular
scenes because it is obvious to most people what is going on in that scene.
However, when my friends became used to having each scene explained to them
beforehand, they became confused when seeing a scene which the preceding
synopsis page hadn't mentioned.  The moral of this story is that you should
first run over the video once to identify any synopsis omissions, and change
the synopsis to at least say a sentence or two about that scene.

I don't see any reason that this program and system of mine should not be
useful.  I will be the first to say that it is no replacement for out
and out subtitling, but on the other hand, I've always wanted something like
this so that I could show my friends the many episodes of Patlabor, Ranma,
and other T.V. shows I have without them relying on me to explain everything.

That's why I am placing my 1.0 version of TST in the public domain; so that
perhaps a new standard of animation can be born, somewhere between subtitling
and nothing at all.


Thom Robertson

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I am posting this for my friend, Thom, who lost USENET access recently.
Replys to him may be made though this net address.
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