Jeremy, one of the video editors for "Travel the Road" who I had the pleasure of working with to coordinate the program's closed captioning, is on an amazing journey that is worth mentioning here on our blog. In the closed captioning world, you have the privilege of working with a myriad of clients who are all on different missions in life--whether it be to build a hospital in Senegal or spread the gospel by providing drinking water and education to the children of Mozambique, so many of them have a story.
Today I wanted to direct you to Jeremy's mission--to create the first Christian television broadcast in Papua New Guinea. Jeremy posts on his blog tidbits of all he is experiencing, and to say that he is facing many struggles would be an understatement. Right now, he is specifically focused on filming the crusades that are being put on throughout the country and in remote villages for the church there. He is teaching and training them how to edit and produce the first-ever Christian television broadcast in the country. Over 6 million people will get a chance to hear the Gospel preached on the only channel on the television in Papua New Guinea because of the work that he is doing.
Learn more about Jeremy's mission at: http://www.thelifeoffaith.blogspot.com
TV Stations/Networks
TV stations and networks that produce their own programming are responsible for contracting closed captioning services if they do not have their own closed captioning team on site. Most TV stations and networks either purchase content or producers buy airtime. When they get new content, they typically require that the program arrives with captions.
Program Producers
Individual program producers make are the majority of people who contract closed-captioning services because the airing stations require programs to be delivered with closed captions, as it is part of their contract. Program producers create the program—they shoot and edit the video. They will typically send the closed captioning company a final master tape and in return will get a closed-captioned master or a file to create a closed-captioned master. Because editing systems have become inexpensive and easy to use, there are many churches and novice videographers who now do the entire process. For the captioning company, this can create problems because amateurs may not fully understand the nuts and bolts of broadcast video, therefore a good captioning company will end up catching many problems. Sometimes they use a post-production house to do the editing and creation of the final tape.
Post-Production House (A.K.A. Post House)
Post houses are facilities that do everything from shooting video to editing, dubbing, DVD authoring, and much more. Typically, but not always, these facilities have people who are better educated in the video business. One post house may contract with a captioning company to do all of the captioning for the various programming they work on.
Government
Most US county, state, and federal government agencies are required by law to caption all videos they produce. This may include city council meetings, transportation agencies, US Army recruiting and training DVDs, et cetera. Most government agencies choose to contract with a closed-captioning company. All meetings require live-style captioning, while most DVD training videos require post-production captioning.
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!
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.
