Video & Subtitling

Subtitling, voice-over, captioning and full multilingual video production, built for audiences that text alone will not reach.

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Video does something written translation can't. It reaches people with limited literacy in their own language, and that group is larger than most communication plans account for. A translated PDF assumes a reader. A video assumes a listener, and the audience for the second is bigger.

It's also the format community audiences actually share. A two-minute in-language explainer moves through a WhatsApp group in an afternoon. A fact sheet doesn't move at all.

What we produce

  • Subtitling with proper timing, reading-speed limits and line breaks that respect how the language reads, delivered as SRT, VTT or burned in.
  • Voice-over by native-speaking professional voice artists, cast for the register the content needs. A public health message and a recruitment ad want different voices.
  • Closed captions for accessibility in English and in-language, which is a legal obligation for much government content and a benefit everywhere else.
  • Animation and full production, where original footage does not exist or does not suit the audience.
  • Transcription and translation of existing footage, including community-recorded material.

The detail that decides whether it works

Text expands. A subtitle that fits comfortably in English runs 20 to 30 per cent longer in many languages, and simply translating the file produces subtitles nobody can finish reading. The fix is adapting for reading speed, which is editorial work, not a technical setting.

Casting matters more than people expect. A voice that carries authority for one community reads as condescending to another. Accent, age and gender all signal who the message is for, and getting it wrong undermines content that is otherwise correct.

At scale

For the Department of Education we localised a Family Assistance Law video series across 11 languages, with certified translation, professional voice-over and subtitling, so childcare providers and educators from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds could meet obligations they previously had to take on trust. See the project.

For the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission we adapted video across 21 languages, reaching a potential audience of 365,000. See the project.

Common questions

Speak to our team
Should we use subtitles or voice-over?

Voice-over where literacy in the target language may be limited, where the content is instructional, or where the viewer needs to watch something while listening. Subtitles where the original speaker's authority matters, where budget is tight, or where the video will autoplay silently on social. Many programs run both from the same translation, which costs less than commissioning them separately.

Can you subtitle video we already have?

Yes. We transcribe the source, translate and adapt for reading speed, time the subtitles and deliver as SRT or VTT files, or burned in if your distribution needs it. If the original has no script or transcript, transcription is the first step and it's usually the smallest line in the quote.

How long does multilingual video take?

Subtitling existing video runs about one to two weeks for a small language set, depending on duration. Voice-over adds casting, recording and mixing, typically two to three weeks. Original production is scoped to the brief. Languages run in parallel, so adding languages affects cost more than it affects the schedule.

Do you handle right-to-left and complex scripts?

Yes, including Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hebrew, Thai, Khmer, Burmese, Amharic and Tigrinya. These are where automated subtitling tools most often fail, producing text that renders incorrectly or breaks lines in places that change the meaning. Every file is checked visually by a native speaker before delivery, not just validated as a file.