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.
Have you ever wondered how live captioners caption Christian programming? Biblical and Christian terms used during a sermon or teaching do not come easy to the common captioner.
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:
- Select Outline tab > Tracks folder > Track1 > Select Other tab (in Inspection window) > Select Choose > locate .scc file > Select Okay.
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.
More on our Captioning Services...
“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.
Who benefits from captioning?
Everyone!
A study conducted by The National Institute on Deafness concludes that over 28 million American have a hearing impairment. Elderly people, who experience hearing loss later in life, compose a large percentage of the hearing impaired community. Consequently, only 10% of the hearing impaired community understands sign language. Therefore, the majority of the hearing impaired community relies on captioned television programs and movies for education and entertainment.
However, studies show that captions are increasingly being used to promote literacy and language development amongst children and those learning to speak English. Captions are also ideal for televisions that are being watched in noisy public areas such as gyms, restaurants, waiting rooms, and airports.
Expanding Your Message or your Market
Whether you want to better serve your congregation, reach a larger market, reach out to the hearing-impaired population, or provide opportunities for the ESL community, captioning is your answer. Captions will enhance the true meaning of your program by ensuring that all viewers have the ability to accurately comprehend your message.
Closed captioning offers essential television access not only for the deaf community but also benefits the elderly, hard-of-hearing individuals, early readers, and those learning English as a second language. For example, Aberdeen provides closed captioning for numerous Sunday church services weekly.
While large television ministries greatly benefit from closed captioning, smaller congregations might wonder if they should opt for this technology or stick with a sign language interpreter. While employing an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter is an excellent way to connect with deaf attendees, ASL has limited similarities to English and requires extensive learning. This can be a barrier as many hard-of-hearing individuals or those who become deaf later in life may not have learned ASL. In fact, only about 10% of the 24 million deaf and hard-of-hearing Americans are proficient in sign language, leaving the vast majority to depend on captioning.
Additionally, there is no universal sign language. ASL, for instance, is vastly different from British Sign Language (BSL) even though both are used in English-speaking countries. Some deaf individuals use Signed Exact English (SEE), which mirrors English grammar and vocabulary more closely, or cued speech, which uses hand shapes to help distinguish similar sounds and assist lip-reading.
Moreover, relying solely on an ASL interpreter can be challenging; viewers must continuously watch the interpreter to follow the conversation, which can be taxing and lead to missed information if attention wavers. In contrast, closed captions allow viewers to read at their own pace and easily re-engage if they become momentarily distracted, facilitating better comprehension and enabling them to observe both the speaker and the text.
Overall, closed captioning not only enhances accessibility for those who prefer ASL, SEE, speech reading, or cued speech but also broadens the reach of your message, making it more inclusive for diverse audiences.
Many captioning companies have their beginnings as a mom-and-pop shop or a husband-and-wife business. Uniquely, Aberdeen got its start as three siblings--Matthew Cook, Amy (Cook) McKay and Becky (Cook) Isaacs--and one vision: access for everyone. While sitting around a campfire in the summer of 2001, they came up with the idea, as Amy had been in the captioning business for several years when Matthew and Becky realized the far-reaching benefits of captioning, as well as the business opportunity. After much contemplation about working together and keeping a strong family bond, they decided to launch Aberdeen Captioning, Inc.
From their humble beginnings, to over 30 team members strong, Aberdeen has become a leader in the captioning industry. Aberdeen is built upon a strong work ethic, integrity, honesty, Christian faith and a friendly way of doing business they developed growing up in a small farming town in Michigan. When they say they will do something, they do it.
They believe captioning should be made available to all people. Closed-captioning users are vital members of our communities, the marketplace, and the world. They take pride in providing ACCESS to ALL viewers.
