caption-burn

Captions timed to what is actually said in the finished video, not to the script's estimate.

Run

python transcribe.py --media reel.mp4 --out reel.words.json          # paid, cents
python captions.py --video reel.mp4 --beats cutlist.aligned.json \
    --words reel.words.json --out final.mp4 [--style plate|outline] [--highlight Brand]

--beats supplies the lines (vo), their timing and, for split layouts, seam, size and each beat's state. Any file with beats: [{start, end, vo}] works.

Placement and style

• --anchor seam (the default when the beats have a seam): on split beats the plate is pinned to the seam, positioned by the plate, not the text: 25% of the plate above the line, 75% below. Full-frame beats use --full-y.

• --anchor fixed --y 0.62: every caption's plate centred at that fraction of the height.

• plate (default): white bold on a dark grey rounded plate, 1–2 words, cap ~0.019 H.

• outline: white bold with a dark outline, no plate, 1–3 words, cap ~0.034 H.

• --highlight WORD colours that word yellow (the CTA keyword). Repeatable.

• serif-word: ONE word at a time, heavy serif (Georgia Bold), white with a black outline, on a fixed baseline at 0.77 H (the screen-insert look). The highlight word is quoted.

• --card "LINE ONE|LINE TWO" --card-until 4.7: a white rounded hook card with two lines of heavy red capitals near the top, for the opening seconds. ~14 characters a line.

Captions for a format with no voice (plates.py)

python plates.py --video walk.mp4 --beats cutlist.json --out captioned.mp4 [--logo logo.png]

Each beat's caption (a string or list of lines) shows for the whole beat on ONE black block (square rectangles unioned, then rounded as a single silhouette: rounding each line leaves seams), lines left-aligned, the block centred on its widest line. It goes in the emptiest band of that beat's frame unless the beat pins cap_y. logo: true on a beat hangs the logo tile under the block. Write lines a person would type: the same short "fragment. fragment." shape three times reads as AI-written. No emoji twice.

Rules

1. Transcribe the FINISHED audio. Joining takes and aligning lines shifts timing; only the final video's audio gives correct cues.
2. The last caption holds to the last frame. It is the call to action.
3. A word Whisper writes differently ("200" for "two hundred") is interpolated between its neighbours rather than dropped or stretched over the whole line.
4. Without --words timing is estimated from syllables. Use that to judge placement, never to ship.
5. Fonts: a bold sans is found on macOS, Linux or Windows; if none is present, Roboto Bold is fetched once into ~/.cache/gooseworks/fonts. --font or GW_CAPTION_FONT overrides.