Verbatim Logger and subtitling

With the Verbatim Logger you can play a movie file and type in comments or clip names while the movie plays. Whenever you press the Mark button (or use a configurable keyboard shortcut) the current timecode is inserted, so everything you type is linked to where it occurs in the movie.

You can copy and paste this text into a word processor document if you want a verbatim log or transcript of a programme, or you can create subclips in the CatDV catalog representing each timecode marker.

If you need to log live action events that are occurring in real time you can use the Verbatim Logger without a movie playing but with a free running time of day timecode.

One interesting application, that neatly demonstrates how you can combine features of CatDV to create new workflows, is to combine the Verbatim Logger with the Movie Export command to create subtitles for a movie. Insert a timecode marker wherever you want a subtitle to appear and type in the subtitle text. When you close the Verbatim Logger, select all the subclips and export them as a movie:

Under the Extra Tracks options you can add a text track containing either a fixed message or the value of any of the clip fields, in this case the subtitle text you added. Plenty of options are available, including the size and position of the text. You can either "burn in" the text, or add it as a QuickTime text track (which can give you more flexibilty in subsequent processing). You can also choose whether the text should appear continuously (until the next clip starts) or for a fixed duration.