ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an analysis of the important features of current subtitles broadcast for children on British television. In general, children's subtitles have to be displayed for longer, entailing more editing of the dialogue in order to keep them within the original structure of a programme. Relevance between picture and caption is thought to be significant in improving comprehension. Synchronicity between subtitle and sound was based on the following measurements: duration of speech, duration of associated subtitle, 'lead-in' time of speech to subtitle, and 'lag' time. The synchronicity between subtitles and images was based on the number of shot changes per subtitle. The extent of editing was measured by the difference in the number of words between a section of speech and a corresponding subtitle. In both Blue Peter and Hartbeat there was a high proportion of voice over narration, meaning that subtitles were not tied to speaker's lips and facial movements.
