Your captioning provider must make sure they caption exactly what the speaker says to convey the most accurate message to the closed-captioning viewer. The deaf and hard of hearing do not have any special privileges—they do not get to read perfected grammar while the hearing listens to poor grammar. Consider a movie. One of the characters is an immigrant from a foreign country who speaks broken English. If they correct their grammar, the deaf person is getting conveyed a completely different message, which can entirely change the storyline.
The closed captioning provider should make sure that every word the speaker actually says is captioned. There is an exception: If the speaker jumps around quickly and doesn’t make much sense, the transcriber and/or caption editor might edit out a few nonessential words—this is a judgment call they will make whether or not you add the words or keep them excluded.
Errors in the transcript
Although transcribers typically strive to do their best, they are only human and are apt to make mistakes—errors and typos are inevitable. The caption editor must be sure to keep their eye out for easy errors, typical typos, and messy mistakes.
Editing stutters
Even though captions should be verbatim, captioning providers should not caption any stuttering. Stuttering is annoying to hear and even more annoying to read. It can make a program very difficult to follow if it is included in the captions.
All in all, the whole point of closed-captioning is to convey the message in a way that is easy for the closed-captioning viewer to follow. It is much easier to ignore stuttering as a listener, but much harder to overlook it while reading.
Here are descriptions of the different types of captioning:
Live Captioning
Just like it sounds, live captioning is written by a live captioner in real-time. The live captioner is trained as a court reporter and uses a stenograph machine to caption live. They do not type using a keyboard. The live captioner writes at the same time the show is being broadcasted. The live captioner dials in directly into a T.V. station.
Live-to-tape Captioning
This type of captioning is written by a live captioner in real-time. Instead of dialing into a station, they dial into an encoder and an audio line and write in the same “live” style. The show is recorded in real-time, but is mailed out to the station and broadcasts on a later date. This type of captioning is used mainly for extremely tight turnarounds and to reduce cost to the client. The accuracy rate is much lower than post-production captioning.
Post-Production Captioning
Post-production captions typically get transcribed by a transcriber using a video and audio file that has been digitized. Many transcribers work remotely (from home) or on location. Typically, a caption editor close captions this type of captioning. Within post-production captioning, most companies will offer different levels of quality to meet the needs of their clients.
If you are not content with the communication you have with your closed-captioning company, it is time to take a look at your part in the communication. A good captioning company will ensure that your deadlines are met, that you receive quality service, a quality product, and that all your requests are taken care of. There is typically a catch--they can’t work miracles (although, they would love to), so they need your help.
You can do one thing to help the successful completion of each and every one of your programs--COMMUNICATE with your captioning company! Try setting a day that the project will arrive to the captioning company on a consistent basis and a consistent day that the captioning company will deliver the closed captioning final product (tapeless or tape, et cetera). If coming up with a set schedule is difficult (I know it is not always easy in the world of post production), let them know in advance when you will be shipping your program and when you need them to deliver the CC master to its location--especially if there is a tight turnaround—-so they can schedule the best team of captioners for your particular program. When you ship your tape always include the operations manager's e-mail in the shipment notification section of FedEx, UPS, or DHL. The sooner they know it is coming, the faster they can get working. All in all, a serviceable company, will make practically any request happen. So, make it easy on yourself and your captioning company, and communicate!
A very important part of the captioning process is the initial transcription of the programming. If the captioning company uses first-rate transcribers, the quality of the captioning is inevitably superior to companies that use subpar transcribers.
There are many ways the transcription can get completed. Some companies choose to have the same person who transcribes the program also perform the editing, syncing, and placement of the captions. Although this may be the most economical way to caption, it doesn't allow for a second or third quality control of the captioning. The more people involved in the closed captioning process, the better the overall quality of the captioning will be. It’s recommended that when you contract with a captioning company, you ask them who does their transcription.
If you really want to forecast the quality of work you may expect from a captioning company, ask them what transcription guidelines they follow. Where did they come up with the guidelines? Are the guidelines tested by the viewing public? Did they make up the guidelines themselves without any research? If they don't have any guidelines or they made them up with no research to back them, you know you are not using the right company. Ask them about their certification process. Unfortunately, all captioning companies use different standards and guidelines (if any at all), but here are some general closed captioning guidelines (many of these guidelines follow DCMP) transcribers should be following:Read
So, you've contracted with a closed-captioning company (or closed-captioner service provider) and now you must put your full confidence in them to caption your program accurately. With the plethora of closed captioning companies out there, this is not always an easy thing to do. Keep in mind that a large percentage of viewers will watch your program with captions, therefore turning the captions into a representation of your programming.
To confide in your captioning company, you first need to understand how captioning works. Captioning has its own standard just like journalism or publishing does. Be sure you understand exactly what service you will be getting. If your program will be captioned in roll-up style, many of the captioning "rules" do not apply as it is a simplified version of pop-on captioning. If the captioning company has a standard, be sure to ask what it is.
When you watch captions, you might wonder why certain punctuation is being used that is normally not used in other writing.
Here are some examples:
Double dashes are used for breaks in speech.
Ellipses are used for directing viewers to the screen and for long pauses in speech to add to the effect.
You may often wonder why poor grammar is being captioned. Usually, captioning companies do not correct grammar in speech. The hard of hearing and deaf community should read the exact same thing as the hearing people hear. In other words, they get relayed the same message. For example, in a movie where the main character speaks with broken English, should not be changed as it is part of the actor's character. Correcting grammar can change the meaning to the closed-caption viewer.
If you are still uneasy about giving over your captions to a captioning company, know that you can always have the option of proofing the closed caption transcript before the final recording. Your closed-captioning company should give the captions three quality checks, but even so, a book for publishing gets many more reviews for publishing and still winds up with errors. Be careful when proofing the transcript that you do not make preference changes, as the captioning company may end up charging you for extra time spent.
Your closed-captioning company should be experts in their field, so remember that you are working with them to make captioning judgment calls and decisions for your programs.
Captioners writing for Christian programming are required to specialize in this area of captioning. Not just any experienced live captioner can accurately write a church sermon. Captioners must add each and every word that is spoken to their dictionary prior to writing the show. To build a large Christian dictionary may take years and endless hours of practice. It doesn't just take time and practice, it also takes a captioner who understands the Bible and Christian terminology. If not, [speaking in tongues] could get captioned as [speaking in a foreign language]. So, if you are a Christian broadcaster that is getting your show captioned, ask about the captioner who writes it. Do they have a comprehensive Christian dictionary? Watch the captions and see if the words that matter most to you are captioned properly.Read
Oftentimes, when I give my clients caption files for their DVD Authoring Systems they encounter problems and call me with questions on how to insert the caption file. In today's blog, I am going to specifically talk about .scc files being used in Apple's DVD Studio Pro.
Steps for importing an .scc file into DVD Studio Pro:
Either field 1 or field 2 will be populated, but most likely not both.
DVD Studio Pro > Preferences > Encoding > MPEG-2 SD > Select desired timecode in the start TC field > Check or uncheck the Drop frame box accordingly.
You must let your captioning company know if your project is in Drop, Non-Drop, FILM, PAL, et cetera. Most captioning companies' default time code is Drop frame.
Highlight the actual video content/track on the timeline > Right-click the timecode directly to the right of the yellow play head and purple chapter marker > Select Zero-Based Timecode or Asset-Based Timecode.
I strongly recommended that all timecode options (there are many) be changed to zero-based so that the captioning company can create a file that corresponds to these settings. The captioning company will probably need to have the exact timecode of the first word spoken on the video so they can match their caption file to your project.
To view captions from your computer using a DVD player:
Open DVD Player > Preferences > Features > Closed Captions > On
I recommend that you burn a closed-captioned DVD and play it out of a DVD player, viewing it on a TV. Viewing the captions from your computer will sometimes not display captions accurately, if at all.
Roll-up captions
Roll-up is a style where the text rolls onto the screen from the bottom or top one line at a time, rolling up to make room for a new line. Normally, a maximum of 3 lines are shown on the screen before the first line is taken off of the screen. This is the least time-consuming post-production process but still allows for good viewing. Roll-up captions are always used in live captioning and are typically used for one speaker programs such as teaching or preaching.
Pop-on captions
The text actually pops on the screen in blocks of 1 to 3 lines and is placed on the screen to not cover up any on-screen text or vital video. The time codes from your master are used to place these captions perfectly in sync with each frame. Pop-up captions are the preferred viewing style of the hearing impaired and are typically used for programs with multiples speakers or characters that are on the screen at any given time.
“That person doesn’t even know how to spell.” “They can’t type correctly.” “How come in today’s age of technology can’t they get the captions right?” If you don’t know how captioning works, you’ve probably thought or said this yourself. The captioner’s ability to spell and type is not usually the reason a viewer sees garbled captions. So you ask yourself, “Why?”
The following are reasons why captions appear garbled:
• The most common is the combination of the quality of the video signal and the quality of the decoder chip in the television itself. If the quality of either is poor, it will display words with missing letters, separate letters incorrectly or a miss a word entirely.
• The technology of encoders and decoders working together to reveal the captions properly
• When watching a live program, the captioner may mistroke resulting in a typo
• When watching a live program you may see a word spelled phonetically. This happens when the captioner doesn’t have that particular word in their dictionary. The more experience the writer has, the more words in their dictionary and typically better captioning results.
So the next time you view captioning, pass on the word as to “Why captions look garbled?”
Subtitles differ from closed captions by the way they are presented on the screen. Words appear in upper and lower case letters and can appear in various colors and fonts. Subtitles may be in English or any other language. On tape, subtitles are burned into the video and appear at all times. On a DVD, subtitles are able to be turned on or off through the DVD menu.
Translated subtitles require a skilled blend of translation and editing supported by state-of-the-art technology.
To ensure accurate translations, subtitling providers should employ native speakers who either live in or regularly return to their country of origin to maintain fluency in the respective languages. Be sure to ask the company you are contracting with if they always use native speakers.
It takes far longer to read than to listen, therefore each translation should be carefully edited, providing a comfortable reading speed for the viewer while maintaining the meaning and impact of the programming. There are many different subtitling guidelines out there, but at a bare minimum proper names, technical jargon and industry terms should be researched by the translator to ensure proper spelling and connotation. If you need something subtitled, be sure to provide the subtitling company with a list of technical jargon, terms, scripts, lexicon, et cetera, to ensure that the translator has the needed information to create an errorless translation conveying your program's meaning to its target audience.
