Posted: 20/07/2016
…and you probably don’t even know it!
There are lots of good reasons to transcribe your video content – transcripts are great for SEO, can be used to create subtitles and translations and are useful for planning your edit. Most broadcasters now also request final programme transcripts – also known as post-production scripts in the UK or as broadcast scripts in the US – as part of their delivery requirements. For many, transcription is seen as yet another task that, already stretched, teams are expected to complete within limited time and budgets. But transcribing your videos can be quick, easy and actually save you money – if you do it right.
If you think transcription is nothing but a drain, you’re probably making one of these mistakes…
1. You think you’ll save time and money by transcribing in-house
But staff have other priorities, often can’t cope with the volume of work and lack the necessary skills and equipment to produce accurate transcripts. Professional transcription companies have the workforce to transcribe hundreds of hours of material in days, and quality control processes in place to ensure their work is word-perfect.
2. You think it’ll be more cost-effective to use voice recognition software to create automated transcripts
But the software isn’t able to deal with multiple characters and background noise, accuracy is hit-and-miss and then you have to figure out how to link your transcripts back to the source video. Surely anyone can see how this plan is going to cost more time and money than it saves.
3. You’re using different software for editing and transcription
You’ve designed a whole workflow to get your video material to the transcriber and another one for getting your transcripts linked back to your video. It doesn’t have to be this complicated. Forscene and Take 1 have integrated their solutions so that editing and transcription become part of one seamless process. Producers select the content they want transcribed in Forscene and then simply click a button to send proxy versions of this content to Take 1. Take 1 receives the order, creates the transcripts and sends them back into Forscene as an XML file – where they automatically link back to the master video.
4. You’re using a local transcription agency to make sharing content easier
Thanks to the cloud, it is now often quicker to share content with people halfway across the world than it is to make a delivery across town. International transcription agencies with distributed workforces generally have more resources and often even have the ability to turn jobs around while you sleep! Using an integrated solution like the Forscene / Take 1 service makes sharing content as easy as the click of a button.
5. You’ve got a whole different process for subtitling
You’re duplicating work if you have different workflows for transcription and subtitling. Transcripts are the perfect basis for your subtitles. In Forscene you can drag your transcription text and drop it on the subtitle track and then edit both the content and duration to fit your sequence. You can even create an automated process so that subtitles are created from the transcripts. The edit, including subtitles, can be exported to Avid for finishing.
6. You only transcribe your finished video after post-production
You’re missing so many opportunities to speed up your edit and save money! Transcripts of your raw shoot footage can be used to create paper-based edit plans so that you don’t waste time familiarising yourself with your footage during the edit. Or you can search your transcripts in Forscene’s cloud-based editing software to identify clips containing keywords and use those clips to create a sync-pull or rough cut before your official edit even starts. Either way, you’ll be better prepared and save hours in the edit suite – which should more than cover the costs of transcribing your raw material.
Cut out these mistakes and discover how creating transcripts becomes a painless and useful step in your post-production workflow!
For a demonstration of how Forscene and Take 1’s integration can start making your transcripts pay for themselves, click here.
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Jon Hanford - Group CTO, Deltatre