Introducing Caption with Intention, a revolutionary caption design system that will better convey the magic of cinema for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.

Around the world, 466 million people live with hearing disabilities and rely on captions for the verbal and sonic cues that are so much a part of the film viewing experience. Yet, in the 50 years since its introduction, this system hasn’t evolved. Caption with Intention aims to remedy this.

CLOSED CAPTIONS HISTORY

Closed captioning was developed in 1971, providing the Deaf and Hard of Hearing the ability to watch and appreciate television programs for the first time. In 1982, the Academy Awards® made history as the first ever live broadcast with captions, opening up the film industry’s biggest night to a whole new audience. 43 years later, Caption with Intention starts a new chapter in accessibility with a revolutionary new captioning system.

Vangelis in tuxedo holding an academy award, caption reads "AND I'M VERY PROUD TO BE THE FIRST WINNER".

captions, opening up the film industry’s biggest night to a whole new audience. 43 years later, Caption with Intention starts a new chapter in accessibility with a revolutionary new captioning system.

John Travolta at the academy awards in a tuxedo, caption reads "SHE IS REALITY, SHE IS PROFESSIONAL AND WHEN SHE WALKS AROUND THE STREET".
Eileen Heckart in red dress holding an academy award, caption reads "AND SO TONIGHT MY GOLDEN BOY YOU GOT YOUR WISH".
Jack Valenti and Walter Mirisch at the academy awards in tuxedos, caption reads "NOW THAT ARE ALL KINDS OF DIRECTORS".

INTRODUCING CAPTION WITH INTENTION

Caption with Intention is a dynamic captioning system that adds unprecedented emotion, context, and clarity to enhance the viewing experience for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities.

The new system fills gaps in understanding from legacy captions in three crucial ways:

With current captions, it’s easy to confuse who is speaking, and the misunderstanding of even a single word’s attribution can hugely impact the understanding and enjoyment of a film.

Caption with Intention, however, uses different colors for different characters, allowing the audience to quickly understand who is speaking the words on screen. This enables a new level of clarity and enjoyment in scenes that involve multiple people or conversations where the dialogue bounces back and forth quickly between characters.

ATTRIBUTION | Identifying who the active speaker is.

Color wheel showing the primary colors, associated with different Toy Story characters.
Still from the movie Toy Story. Buzz Lightyear, with the caption
This is for illustrative purposes only to show the intended use of Caption With Intention and was done void of partnership with the direct production studios and their partners.

SYNCHRONIZATION | Keeping time with when a word or phrase is spoken.

Traditional captions do not sync precisely to an actor’s spoken words, throwing off the timing of specific points, emotions, and humor. Imagine an entire family laughing at a joke before a deaf individual even has a chance to understand the moment.

To solve this, Caption With Intention uses dynamic animation, allowing captioned words to change from white to their character-specific color as they’re spoken. This will lead to a better understanding of not only the words spoken, but the intent behind them.

A yellow and grey bar chart on a black background.
Closed caption text changing color from yellow to white.
Still from Back to the Future. Doc Brown hugs Marty McFly, with the caption “Thank you.”
This is for illustrative purposes only to show the intended use of Caption With Intention and was done void of partnership with the direct production studios and their partners.

INTONATION | Visualizing how dialogue is delivered.

One of the most-significant shortcomings of today’s captions is the lack of intonation, or emotion. With little exception today’s captions lack even basic information like volume or tone. This undercuts much of the meaning the film’s creators intend to convey - significantly reducing the deaf community’s ability to feel the full-impact of a performance.

To remedy this, Caption With Intention uses a variable typeface. This allows the words on screen to communicate more than just what words are being spoken: they will also convey the emotions behind those words. For the first time, cues for volume and pitch will give a new understanding to not only what was said, but how it was said.

At the top a bar graph representing closed caption font size increasing as volume increases. At the bottom a chart indicating the use of smaller letters for low volume and larger letters for high volume.
At the top a frequency chart representing the use of bold text to indicate low pitch voices in closed captions. At the bottom a frequency chart representing the use of thin text to indicate high pitch voices in closed captions.
Close-up of Samuel L. Jackson, as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction, looking intensely at the camera.
This is for illustrative purposes only to show the intended use of Caption With Intention and was done void of partnership with the direct production studios and their partners.

THE DESIGN SYSTEM
AND THE FUTURE

The design system is the centerpiece of Caption with Intention, defining the rules and acting as a guide for creating captions that solve for the previously identified shortcomings. Caption with Intention is not an automated captioning program—rather it is a design system that should be applied manually to enhance the viewing experience. In the future, our aim is to develop automation for the system, allowing more and more people to enjoy movies and TV like never before.

A still of Kate Winslet as Rose in the movie Titanic, looking at Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack.

We invite the film-production community to download the design system and apply it to their original content. With it, the work, passion, and creativity that is put into their craft can be better enjoyed by millions around the world.

STUDIOS AND
CREATORS

Still from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Ferris looks at the camera with a smirk on his face, Sloane is in the background looking at him.

The input of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community has been essential in the development of Caption with Intention.

Working with the Chicago Hearing Society, an organization that has provided access and support services for the Deaf, DeafBlind,

COMMUNITY-APPROVED

and Hard of Hearing community since 1916, various forms of captions were applied to acclaimed films. Together, we have arrived at the captioning-experience you see here.

Jason Weiland, of the Chicago Hearing Society, smiles while signing with someone.
Rosemary Parker, of the Chicago Hearing Society, signing.
A woman wearing glasses, smiling while using a laptop.

AN EVER-CHANGING DESIGN SYSTEM

Caption With Intention is designed to evolve over time as new usage data and automation technology becomes available. While the system is intuitive and easy to implement, we’re excited to see how production studios, editors, captioners, and creators use it to bring inclusive storytelling to life.

Join us by downloading the design system, so that your storytelling can be better enjoyed by all.