August 19th, 2018

Time is money, but more than that for me, a filmmaker with a wife and three lovely children- time is precious. As such, personal projects and freebies are something that are often hard to entertain. Sometimes though, a project grabs you and you find yourself compelled to pull out the stops.

Last week, I heard that my friend and fellow filmmaker Philip Bloom was releasing a documentary to aid a charity dedicated to helping cats in Skiathos.
Well, if you know Philip, you’ll know that cats are a massive part of his life and that he has spent a lot of time and effort shining a light on their welfare and this good cause.
Feeling I might be able to help somewhat, I reached out to Philip and offered to subtitle the first part of his charity fundraising documentary.


To make the film more accessible I thought it would benefit from English subtitles. In an article,
https://www.3playmedia.com/2015/04/03/3-reasons-why-closed-captions-increase-youtube-views/


Videos with subtitles saw a 13.48% increase in views over their first 14 days and 7.32% more views over their lifetime.


Subtitles also improve SEO and open up the possibility to watch the film in places where you need the sound off, such as on public transport or library.


Having an English subtitled version can also be used to help create other language versions too. As English is both a common language for translators and with the timestamps in place, it’s easy to simply replace the text and upload the .srt subtitle file to YouTube or Vimeo.


The first instalment of the documentary was emotional, beautifully shot, with a great voice over by Philip. I hope the subtitles help raise awareness and increase the call to action-
​The Skiathos Cat Welfare Association needs donations to buy land to build a cat sanctuary.




Philips documentary is being released in several parts. Part one is here
https://youtu.be/WVzv74KQGV0



Please watch and consider donating.