Automatically generate captions as Final Cut Pro subtitles
Something like 95% of all video consumed on endless scrolling social media platforms is watched without sound.
Subtitles are a neccessity on these platforms, like facebook and instagram.
If you make videos in Final Cut Pro like I do, you’re probably also exasperated that there’s no auto transcription tool. For a while I was using Simon Says, but it sucks.
I found a better way.
How I automatically generate subtitles/captions to videos in Final Cut Pro
First, export the video you want to add captions to.
Then, we’ll use youtube to generate a transcription. Upload the video on youtube, and set the visibility to “Private” if you don’t want anyone to be able to see it.
Once uploaded, go to manage videos, and click “Edit” on the video you want.
On the video editing page, click the “Subtitles” menu on the left hand side. You’ll be taken to the video subtitle screen.
You may have to wait a bit for youtube to transcribe (be patient if you dont see it yet, it can take up to 24 hours.) Once it’s done, you’ll get an “Automatic” subtitle. Click “Duplicate and edit”.
Make any necessary corrections to the transcript here in the editor. Once finished, hit “Publish”.
Back at the subtitle screen, hit the three dots next to your transcription. Choose “Download”, and download the .srt version.
Now, back in Final Cut, while viewing the same project go File -> Import -> Captions.
Choose the .srt file you just downloaded. You’ll end up with ugly captions on the video. If this is good enough and you want to export these burnt in, go to the roles tab in the export menu and enable the captions.
If you want to turn the captions in to Final Cut Pro titles, there’s a free app to do it called X-Title Extractor for FCPX. Install it.
Once you have it running, drag a project with captions on to the XTE window, and it will copy the project back in to Final Cut, as Titles!
NOTE: If you have problems using X-Title Extractor, make sure you enable permissions in System Preferences -> Security and Privacy -> Files and Folders -> Enable Disk Access for XTE.
Finally, you should be able to drag your captioned project in to X-Title Extractor, and get it back with Titles.
Hope that helps! If so, I always appreciate a subscribe to my youtube channel or medium pubs. Thanks for reading.
