| This guide takes you through the process of adding characters from your show to the Character Library. Character Library is a tool offered on Content Hub’s Tool Library page. Adding characters to the Character Library makes them available for Character Search as well as powers character attribution when using the Automated Transcriptions tool in the Tool Library. |
Navigate this article:
- Finding the Character Library Tool
- Assigning Headshots to Characters (only for shows using Netflix Footage Ingest)
- Navigating Character Library
Finding the Character Library Tool
Note: this tool is still in beta and, therefore, may not be available in your Content Hub project. If you don’t see the tool available to you, please reach out to your Netflix contact.
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Accessing Content Hub:
- Navigate to the Content Hub platform (https://contenthub.netflixstudios.com/)
- Locate and select your project from the available list.
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Navigating to the Tool Library page:
- Within your project, go to the Tool Library page in the lefthand navigation side panel.
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Find the Character Library tool:
- Locate the Character Library tool and then select anywhere on the card to open the tool. This will open the tool within the library.
Note: this is the initial, empty state of the Character Library - before any characters have been assigned or created.
Assigning Headshots to Characters (only for shows using Netflix Footage Ingest)
| Note: to utilize the Assign Headshots feature, your production must be using Netflix Footage Ingest to be creating Shots. Without this in place, there will be no data present to facilitate this feature. In this example, media from Netflix’s Perfect Match: Season 3 is shown to provide the most realistic demonstration. |
Getting Started & Reviewing Candidate Headshots:
Locate the blue Assign Headshots button near the top-right corner of the page. Select Assign Headshots. (In this example project, there are already several characters that have been assigned and created.)
This will open a side panel on the right-hand side of the page that is presenting candidate headshots. These headshots have been extracted from the Shots generated when original camera files were ingested through Netflix Footage Ingest.
Each headshot represents what the Netflix system thinks is a potential character that has yet to be assigned.
Looking closer at each headshot, there is a count in the type right corner. This count represents the number of times this character appears in the footage. As you can see, the headshots are automatically sorted by the potential characters that appear the most at the top.
If the top left corner of the headshot, you will see a small play button. Select this play button to preview a sample of this character from actual footage -- including an audio example of them speaking. Select this play button to preview media for a video and audio sample.
Note: there can be up to two samples that the Netflix system automatically assigns to the character. You may choose to manually add additional audio samples to the character as well. When multiple samples are present, use the next and previous buttons beside the centered play button to move between samples.
Assigning a Headshot to a Character
Once you feel confident that the system has correctly identified the right person after reviewing the candidate headshots and the preview media, you can move forward with assigning the headshot to a character.
When you hover the cursor over a headshot, you will notice that the cursor changes to a hand icon. This hand icon indicates that you can drag and drop.
To assign a character, hover your cursor over the headshot of the character you want to assign and then click and drag that headshot to the black area on the left. Then drop the headshot.
After dragging and dropping the headshot, the Create Character prompt will appear.
From this prompt you can:
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Add a Character Name (required)
- Note: Adding a character name here directly informs how the character’s name will appear in the Character Search in the Media Library as well as helps with character attribution when using the Automated Transcription tool.
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Add Talent Name
- Note: This field is optional and best suited for scripted content
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You can also add an additional audio sample to inform Netflix’s system of what this person’s voice sounds like.
- Note: if this character had media to preview that was correct upon your review, there is no need to add an additional audio sample. That said, the more guidance you provide the system with additional samples, the more accurate the results will ultimately be.
Once you have filled out the Create Character prompt, hit the blue Create button.
You will see a confirmation and completion banners at the topic of the screen as well as your recently assigned character’s main headshot will be added to the Character Library.
Assigning an Additional Headshot
Once you have a character created, you may notice that more candidate headshots appear of that same character. Oftentimes, it could be the character’s face from a different angle. You can also assign these additional headshots to the character, which will provide the system even better and more accurate data.
To assign an additional headshot to an existing character, hover your cursor over the headshot of the character you want to assign and then click and drag that headshot over the existing character's headshot on the left. Then drop the headshot.
You will now see both headshot samples added for that character.
Creating Character by Manually Uploading Headshots & Audio Samples
| Note: this is the method to create characters if your production is not utilizing Netflix Footage Ingest. |
Locate the +Create button near the top-right corner of the page. Select +Create, which will open the Create Character prompt.
From this prompt you can:
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Add a Character Name (required)
- Note: Adding a character name here directly informs how the character’s name will appear in the Character Search in the Media Library as well as helps with character attribution when using the Automated Transcription tool.
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Add Talent Name
- Note: This field is optional and best suited for scripted content
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You can add an image file as a Headshot to inform Netflix’s system of what this person looks like.
- File size limit: 10 MB (Full specs here.)
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You can add an audio or video file as an Audio Sample to inform Netflix’s system of what this person’s voice sounds like.
- File size limit: 100 MB (Full specs here.)
- Note: Regardless of file size, an audio clip of 5-10 seconds is a more than adequate sample.
Upload Specs
When uploading a Headshot or Audio Sample, only use one of the supported file types.
Headshot
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Image File Types Supported:
- jpg
- jpeg
- png
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Size Limit
- 10 MB
Audio Sample
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Audio File Types Supported:
- mp3
- wav
- aac
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Size Limit
- 100 MB
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Video File Types Supported:
- mp4
- mov
- avi
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Size Limit
- 100 MB
Once you have filled out the Create Character prompt, hit the blue Create button.
You will see a green confirmation banner at the topic of the screen as well as your recently assigned character’s main headshot will be added to the Character Library.
Navigating Character Library
Note: if no Character assignments have been made yet, your Character Library will be empty. In this example used for the article, we already have several characters set up. This is what the Character Library looks like when empty:
Using Search
Near the top-right corner you will see a search bar. Start typing in the search bar and the characters will immediately filter down to only the results that match your search query.
Enter a character’s page
Once a character has been set up, you can click the thumbnail representing that character to open that character’s page.
From this page, you perform the following actions:
- Set the Main Headshot
- Review audio samples
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Edit a Character
- Edit a Character or Talent Name
- Add an additional headshot
- Add an additional audio sample
- Delete a Character
- Assign (More) Headshots to the Character
- Un-assign an Incorrect Headshots from the Character
Set the Main Headshot
The Main Headshot not only determines the headshot that appears in the Character Library, it also determines what headshot appears in the dropdown for Character Search as well.
To set the Main Headshot on the character’s page, locate the headshots that have been assigned to this character. When hovering your cursor over these headshots, you will see a circled star icon appear.
Select that circled star to set that headshot as the Main Headshot. Once selected, you will see your selection reflected above as well as a green confirmation banner.
Review Audio Samples
If you would like to review the audio samples assigned to a character, look for the Media Player with audio.
To move between each sample, use the next and previous buttons beside the centered play button.
Edit a Character
Once a character has been assigned and created, the character can still be edited and you can provide the Netflix system with more data for recognizing this character - by adding additional headshot images and additional audio samples.
Edit a Character or Talent Name
To edit a character, select the Edit button towards the upper right corner. This will open the Edit Character prompt.
From this prompt, simply edit the Character Name or Talent Name, and then hit the blue Save to enact the changes.
Add an additional headshot via upload
If, for example, the headshot that the Netflix system provided is not flattering or unclear, you can also upload and assign a headshot that you provide. You may also just want to provide more image data to help improve the accuracy of the Netflix system when associating Shots to the character.
To add an additional headshot, you can either drag and drop an image file from your local file browser or select Or use file picker to select an image from your file browser.
Once selected and uploaded, you will see the file name appear in the dotted line box. When ready, select Save to add the headshot to the character.
Any additional headshot uploaded for a character (and not from the candidate headshots pulled from the show’s footage) will automatically be made the Main Headshot.
Add an additional audio sample
Similar to a headshot, you may want to provide more audio sample data to help improve the accuracy of the Netflix system when associating Automated Transcriptions to the character.
To add an additional audio sample, you can either drag and drop an audio file from your local file browser or select Or use file picker to select an image from your file browser.
Once selected and uploaded, you will see the file name appear in the dotted line box. When ready, select Save to add the audio sample to the character.
Remove or Un-Assign a Headshot from a Character
Once a character has been assigned or created, you can also un-assign additional headshots from the character if it is not a correct headshot.
To un-assign a headshot, locate the blue Assign Headshots button near the top right corner. Select Assign Headshots. This will open up the side panel with candidate headshots.
To remove a headshot, select Assign Headshots to open up the side panel, then drag and drop the headshot into the side panel.
Delete a Character
Once a character has been assigned or created, you can also delete them. To delete a character, select the down arrow next to the Edit Character button towards the upper right corner. This will open a dropdown menu where you can then select Delete.
Once deleted, the character will be removed from the Character Search drop-down menu and will no longer be available for character attribution during Automated Transcription. Also, any headshots that were assigned to the now deleted character will go back to the unassigned headshots panel and can be further assigned to the new or different character.