How can I import subtitles/captions into a letterboxed video like this?

Question

How can I easily create captions that look like this?

(Click to see a video that shows a good example.)

I have a video that is 1280 x 720 pixels but converted to a square of 1280 x 1280 pixels so that there is empty space above and below.

Using Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017, I've then added a "Default Still" Title to the top.

Given an .srt or other file of captions, how could I import them to be shown in the bottom band of the video at the appropriate time?

I want them "burned in" so that they are always visible regardless of the device used to play the video.

(So maybe they're called "open captions" instead of "closed captions".)

I want to be able to choose the font style and size.

I want to avoid creating a "Default Still Title" for each sentence of text manually—that would be a lot of hassle for a long video.

I have Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2017 but could buy other software if necessary or could use ffmpeg if that is capable.

Answer 1

You can use ffmpeg. Make your subtitles with Aegisub or manually with a text editor. ASS subtitles are fancier, but SRT are simpler if you want to manually make them.

Alignment & Margin

The default settings will likely work, but you can control the general location, or alignment, using the "keypad" coordinates. For example, 2 is bottom center. For more granular control you use the vertical margin. In Aegisub these options are available in Subtitles > Style Manager > Edit.

You can also choose the font and font size in this screen.

ffmpeg examples

Now run ffmpeg with the subtitles filter to make your hardsubs:

ffmpeg -i input -filter_complex "subtitles=subs.ass" output

Or if you want to avoid using Aegisub you can use the force_style option:

ffmpeg -i input -filter_complex "subtitles=subs.ass:force_style='Fontname=Arial,Fontsize=20,Alignment=2,MarginV=10'" output

Resulting in:

If you do want to use ffmpeg make sure to output from Premiere using a lossless format, such as UT video, because ffmpeg will re-encode it which is required when filtering.