Transcribing

The Captioning Process

Transcribing

    Breakup

    Scheduling

    Encoding

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The First Step

The first step for any kind of captioning is to transcribe what's said in the video.

You can skip this step if you already have a script in a word processor format.  Otherwise you'll need to make a transcript in one of four ways:

• You or your staff can type a transcript manually.  Naturally, you can transcribe directly into AutoCaption or use your favorite word processing package.

• You can use a transcription service such as Word Wizards or Transcript Associates.   One captioner we know has a deal with a typing class -- they get the practice and the captioner gets the transcript.

• You can use voice recognition packages such as Dragon Naturally Speaking^TM, ScanSoft's RealSpeak^TM, Sail Technologies Media Mining^TM, or IBM's ViaVoice® to generate a transcript.
  
  As a rule, these systems will do a pretty nice job on your voice if you speak clearly and consistently. Be aware, however, that most of these systems are designed to "learn" one speaker's speech patterns and aren't very good with multiple speakers, accents, or when there is background noise or music.



• Scan a printed script or transcript using one of the many character recognition packages normally supplied with computer scanners.
  
  Again, be careful. You'll have to go through the script carefully and watch for broken words or "misspellings" which sometimes occur in the OCR process.

Next:  Step2: Breaking the transcription into captions