How to highlight only the numbers your speaker says in the captions
Tell Vizard Agent which phrases to emphasise rather than asking for emphasis in general. It reads the word timings to find exactly where those figures are spoken, groups the captions into three or four words a screen, recolours only the phrases you named, and checks each highlight on a rendered frame so the colour lands on the whole amount and not half of it.
What do you type into Vizard Agent?
Name the phrases and the style in one go, written as they are said. Vizard Agent matches against the spoken words, so the figure as spoken is what it needs. Asking for "emphasis on the important bits" hands the judgement back, and you get a preset that animates every word rather than the two that carry the argument.
Prompt
What does Vizard Agent actually do?
The phrases are found in the word timings before any colour is applied, so each highlight is attached to speech rather than to a guess. A figure is often several words, such as a currency, a number and sometimes a unit, so Vizard Agent colours the whole spoken phrase, not just the numeral. In the session behind this article it:
- Read the source word timings of a vertical short whose whole point was two spoken figures, and confirmed the spoken text around each one.
- Rebuilt a retimed transcript for the cut itself, because timings from the source don't apply to an edited version of it.
- Grouped the captions into three or four words a screen, generated the track in a plain style and recoloured only the two named phrases.
- Rendered the video and checked the first amount and the second amount separately, each on its own frame at full size.
- Checked the placement against the speaker's face, repositioned the captions where needed and re-checked the highlights afterwards.
When does this not work well?
Emphasis needs scarcity. Two highlights in a thirty-second video work; eight don't, and you're back to a preset that animates everything. Highlighting also can't help a figure the speaker garbles or the transcript mishears, or a number that's only on screen and never spoken. In fast speech the phrase may span a caption break, and a low-contrast colour hurts legibility.
Common questions
Can it highlight words other than numbers? Yes. Name any phrase and Vizard Agent will find it.
How many highlights are too many? More than a few and the emphasis is lost. Vizard Agent will say so.
What if I re-cut the video? Vizard Agent retimes the transcript and the highlights follow.