We provide a wide variety of transcription services for documentary and reality television filmmakers. (Links in the list below provide additional information.) - Production Interviews: One-on-One interviews, 'talking heads'
- On-the-fly interviews: interviews conducted in the field on the spur of the moment.
- Unstructured footage with B-Roll: 'cinema verite', 'fly-on-the-wall'
- Delivery Scripts: transcripts of the finished edited show (a.k.a 'as-broadcast', 'continuity transcripts')
When transcribing interview footage, the interviewee's responses are typed verbatim and the questions are paraphrased. All of the 'uhms and uhs', 'st-stutters' and 'False-- starts' are transcribed in the interviewee's responses. Note: If you want the questions in a One-on-One interview transcribed Verbatim in addition to the answers, Type-2 pricing applies. Timecode Transcription Time coding is available as an option if your materials are submitted on DVD or digital video files with a visible timecode window burn (BITC). We can also accept audio files with audible TC on one of the channels as well as digital files with metadata timcode. Time code references are inserted at the beginning of your interviewee's response to a question and every thirty seconds thereafter. Type 1 materials are typically produced by film or television crews using professional recording techniques and have the following characteristics. - professionally recorded and duplicated.
- quiet environment. No background noise of any kind.
- native-English speaking interviewees (Standard American Dialect.)
- > 22khz sample rate for digital files.
For example, a Talking-Head style interview conducted by Barbara Walters or the like. ALL interviews conducted on the move are not Type-1. The interviewee's responses are transcribed verbatim. The interviewer's questions are paraphrased for clarity. If you need the questions or extranious crew talk transcribed verbatim as well, Type-2 pricing applies. For other types of material see pricing below (On-the-Fly interviews, Reality Footage, etc.) | Type-2 pricing applies to On-the-Fly interviews as well as all other One-on-One interviews that have any of these characteristics: - Accents (British, foreign, heavy regional, or otherwise).
- Background Noise.
- Poor sound quality (tape or environment).
- Interview conducted on the move.
- Recordings on micro cassette.
- Phone interviews (see Phone Calls)
- Most interviews conducted outdoors
- There is not a formal interview format.
- Two people being interviewed simultaneously.
(more than 2 people see Multi-Person Interview)
In general, if we have to fix your audio in any way due to sound quality, then Type-2 pricing will apply. | Reality pricing applies to any unstructured footage that requires transcription which is not interview format. This kind of footage can only be transcribed from a digital video file or DVD dub. Examples: - Following a chef around a kitchen while she interacts with the staff.
- Forensic Examiner investigating a crime scene.
- Non-interview reality TV footage (Survivor, Big Brother, The Real World).
| See Reality TV - cinema verite for more details. | Continuity Transcripts are for edited shows. This classification applies to final cuts, rough cuts, and assembles. Our experience has been that most documentary and television producers choose 'Lite Continuity' or 'Lite Continuity w/TimeCode' for their finished programs. We also offer Full Continuities, but these are often over-kill for most broadcast productions. They are highly detailed, cut-by-cut transcripts with music cues and extensive scene descriptions. See TV 'as-broadcast' (Lite) or Film Continuity (Full) for more details and pricing. |
- All one-on-one interviews submitted on micro cassette are billed at the Type 2 rate.
- For Audio Cassettes, each side of the cassette is billed as a separate transcript. Thus, if you have a 60 minute interview and 45 minutes of it are on Side A and 15 minutes are on Side B, you will be billed for two transcripts, one 45 minutes, the other 15 minutes. See our advice on Audio Cassette Recording for more details.
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