What Does Verbatim Mean?
In Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary, it states that verbatim means: In the exact words: word for word
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.
And don't forget, the FCC will monitor your captioning for accuracy.
Not missing a word
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.
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.
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.
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