[FFmpeg-user] Converting text to video for dictation

[Edward Park]

Hi,

>> typography effects based video
> So that one is basically what I'm looking to do with ffmpeg - turn a
> subtitle file (of any type) into a transparent backgrounded (?) video for
> use in my video editor to combine the necessary contents together - or some
> other file/method that has/involves time stamps/tags or "keyframes".

Well I’ll be honest I thought that was pretty unlikely when I threw that in the mix. 

> Since I don't intend to use my voice in my videos, I "voice" them via text
> elements either in the center of the screen or some other places where it
> makes sense to do so. (I do this with my current video editor already, but
> it isn't very efficient, time and complexity wise, especially for videos
> that heavily rely on this... so hopefully ffmpeg can help with that?) Also
> if possible (not needed), font and color changing, and maybe some movement.

So just to be clear, you’re referring to kinetic typography, right?
For example stuff like Pulp Fiction: Intonation <https://youtu.be/h2m_Z8CWdXI>, derivative graphics work by Jarett Moody (slightly NSFW, language)
Apple has also been playing around with the style since 2016, mostly in promo campaigns for non-traditional channels. Don’t Blink <https://twitter.com/Apple/status/773604633008680964>

You say it’s not very efficient using your video editor (I assume something along the lines of Avid, PPro, FCPX/Motion), but I don’t think FFmpeg is the right tool for the job, unless you had some really complex ass subtitles already, using a bunch of v4+ features of the script and you just need to burn it into the video.

> Maybe subtitles in the future, but I sort of already know how to do those,
> however the first point would be good to know.

I think you want subtitles with heavy custom styling, maybe as opposed to captions like you would do in scenarist, try Aegisub <http://www.aegisub.org/> with newer ASS versions.

Regards,
Ted Park