caption-and-emphasis

name	caption-and-emphasis
description	Design captions, keywords, labels, and emphasis text for the video pipeline. Use when deciding what transcript words should appear on screen, where captions should sit, how they avoid presenter/content collisions, and when to prefer no caption.

Caption And Emphasis

Overview

Treat captions as editorial emphasis, not transcript dumping. The visual should feel guided, not subtitled by default.

Rules

• Show text only when it improves comprehension, memory, or orientation.
• Treat burned-in subtitles as signaling, not accessibility captions. Keep full accessibility captions in a separate caption track when needed.
• Budget emphasis captions before writing them: default to zero, then add at most one caption per idea beat or roughly every 8-12 seconds. Back-to-back captions are allowed only for an explicit contrast beat.
• Every caption must pass a reason test: memory hook, section turn, contrast label, or disambiguation of a visual object. Delete captions that only repeat narration.
• Do not duplicate a widget, object label, title, or callout. If the same words already appear near the relevant object, remove the bottom subtitle.
• Prefer short keywords, labels, and callouts.
• Do not cover the presenter face, important hand motion, or the content focal area.
• Do not place captions inside a reserved presenter dock rectangle.
• Avoid changing type style across shots.
• Remove captions during dense generated clips unless one memory phrase is essential.
• For direct presenter sections, prefer side widgets for orientation and use captions only for a thesis or turn that needs to be remembered.
• For content sections, prefer labels attached to objects over bottom subtitles.
• When a shot uses a creator effect, state the caption budget explicitly as none, keyword, object label, callout, or lower third; include the duplication check and safe zones in the shot brief.

Research Basis

• Mayer and Fiorella's multimedia-learning work supports signaling cues but warns against redundant on-screen text over narration and graphics.
• WCAG captions are a separate accessibility requirement: they should fully represent speech and meaningful audio, while this skill controls editorial text burned into the video.

Output

Return:

• displayed text
• timing
• placement
• relationship to object or presenter
• animation style
• collision notes

Read references/caption-patterns.md for pattern choices.