Subtitulació en entorns immersiusun estudi centrat en l'usuari

Resumo

Immersive media such as virtual reality or 360° content is increasingly present in our society. Virtual reality has attracted the attention of industry and researchers. Its applications for entertainment and audiovisual content creation are endless. Filmmakers are experimenting with different techniques to create immersive stories. This type of content is typically accessed via a head-mounted visual display, within which the viewer is located at the center of the action, with the freedom to look around and explore the scene as desired. However, 360° videos cannot yet be classified as accessible because subtitles are not always available, and solutions are required. This dissertation analyzed the presentation of subtitles in 360° videos from a user-centered perspective. In particular, it evaluated different subtitling strategies in 360° content. Three main goals were established in this dissertation: 1) To identify challenges and subtitling strategies for immersive content; 2) To identify professional subtitlers’ needs for immersive content; and 3) To evaluate different subtitling strategies (related to position and directions) in immersive content (360° videos) among subtitle users (both hearing and with hearing loss), comparing levels of presence and user preferences. To fulfill these goals, one descriptive study and three experimental studies were carried out. The descriptive study included a corpus analysis that illustrated the current subtitle practices in 360° videos by The New York Times and the BBC. Moreover, a focus group was carried out with subtitling users and professional subtitlers to gather feedback about their expectations in regard to subtitling in this new medium. Two main reception studies were also carried out: the first study was developed with 27 professional subtitlers who tested a subtitle editor specifically designed for 360° content, and the second study was carried out with subtitling users (20 hearing and 20 with hearing loss) who stated their preferences and level of immersion in regards to different subtitling presentation modes in 360° videos. This dissertation helps pave the way for future studies regarding subtitling in immersive environments, sheds some light on the possibilities of subtitling 360° content, and provides preliminary guidelines to create subtitles for this type of content.