Using a Transcription Company for the Entertainment Industry

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Media Distribution Possibilities Are Endless with Transcription Services

As we continue to advance through the digital age, the media landscape has evolved to provide us with multiple kinds of media for our entertainment and consumption. In the entertainment industry, in particular, we can see a variety of new content, genres, formats and languages becoming more widely accessible to the masses. This is possible thanks to transcription services that allow us to convert and adapt different types of media into text formats. If you’d like to understand how a transcription company like the IL Consultancy – also known as IL Consultancy – has contributed to the sheer variety of entertainment media that we engage with every day, then this article is for you.

Various Uses For A Transcription Company in the Entertainment Industry

The entertainment industry is incredibly fast-paced, and time is indeed money. So, it’s important to ensure that no time is wasted on manual administration such as the handwritten transcription of films, videos, trailers, adverts, radio shows or podcasts. Delaying the transcription of a piece of audiovisual content can prolong the post-production process and ultimately cost you both time and money. This is why people in the entertainment industry opt to hire a transcription company that can efficiently cater to their deadlines and manage quick turnarounds.

From the top to the bottom of the production chain, everyone in the entertainment industry will at some point need to have a documented record of their audiovisual work and the dialogues involved, particularly for the purpose of simplifying the post-production process. Production executives, writers, editors and technicians need to work with transcripts that relay the dialogue and other important factors such as the music, actionable moments and special effects. Having a precise, detailed and accurate record of the film dialogue in the format of a converted transcription makes it easier for production companies to plan their editing strategies and also create closed captions, marketing adverts and more.

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Situations When Transcriptions Are Valuable

People in the entertainment industry often hire a transcription company to transcribe written materials, audio recordings and videos. Video transcription entails converting a video, film, documentary or interview into text for blogs or articles. Written materials, such as handwritten notes and manuscripts are transcribed into more legible formats that can be more widely distributed and read. The same goes for audio recordings such as podcasts.

When it comes to podcasts, for example, it is very useful to be in contact with a transcription company that can adequately record your speakers’ dialogue. Hiring a transcription company is also particularly useful when you’re dealing with speakers who have thick accents or quirky manners of speaking. Moreover, podcasts become miles more popular, inclusive and accessible when you offer people transcripts of the podcast. For example, on a language learning platform, it is particularly helpful to have transcriptions of the content being verbalised so that you can follow along, highlight new words, make notes or discern new words.

Furthermore, having a text file transcript of your audiovisual content – be it a movie, a podcast or a short film – available on your website will improve the discoverability of our content on search engines. Having this text available also makes it easier for you to carry out marketing campaigns. For example, if you’d like your social media marketer to find and share impactful moments from the film or podcast and distribute them on various channels, then it would be useful to have the text files on hand. Other, the social media marketer will have to use valuable time manually locating and transcribing the content herself.

Furthermore, transcripts offer more inclusivity. For those in the deaf community, the media industry can be incredibly exclusionary as it is often catered toward those who are able to hear and experience sound and music. In order to allow your entertainment media to reach a larger audience that is inclusive of those with disabilities, you can provide transcripts so that even those who cannot listen can still enjoy your content.

In South Africa, there are approximately 4 million people who suffer from auditory disabilities and hearing impairments such as conductive hearing impairment, sensorineural hearing impairment and mixed hearing loss. By providing transcripts of your audiovisual content, you can enable people within the deaf community an opportunity to enjoy popular entertainment media. Being able to follow a film radio show or podcast with verbatim recording can be incredibly beneficial for people with hearing problems, as it allows them to participate and process the information at their own pace.

Providing transcripts for the deaf community helps to overcome the wrongful marginalisation of deaf people’s rights. Deaf people should be able to enjoy their rights to deaf culture and linguistic identity, bilingual education, accessibility, and equal participation amongst other things. For better communication with deaf and hearing-impaired people, people in the entertainment industry can make provisions that will allow them to engage in the media more easily.

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Common Types of Transcription

Verbatim Transcription

If you want to capture every single word that has been spoken, then you would opt for verbatim transcription. Verbatim transcription styles are often used when transcribing video and audio files. This type of transcription captures each and every stammer, laugh, grunt, gasp, ‘um’, ‘ah’ and ‘oh!’.

Unlike edited transcriptions, where the exacts of the dialogue will be cut down to create clear and cohesive statements, verbatim transcription includes all of the words that were initially spoken. This style includes phrases regardless of their grammatical correctness, meaning or significance. For example, this type of transcription includes repetitive phrases, slang words, colloquial expressions, figures of speech, background noises, incomplete sentences, and verbal pauses in the final version of the transcript.

Edited Transcription

In the final version of an edited transcript, you will not find any redundant phrases, slang words, filler words or incoherent statements. Instead, you will find a complete script free of grammatical errors and urban diction. The purpose of an edited transcript is to create an easily readable document that is simple to understand and follow. Edited transcripts have a more formal tone, as they remove colloquialisms and jargon in order to make the dialogue more accessible for a larger range of audiences.

Spelling and punctuation are particularly important for edited transcripts, as they are generally used for more official purposes. In this sense, the content is concise. However, it also implies that not every detail of the original dialogue can be captured completely accurately. Instead, the focus is on conveying the larger meaning and intention of the discourse instead of the words themselves.

Intelligent verbatim transcription

Intelligent verbatim transcription falls somewhere in between edited and verbatim transcription. It aims to create a concise transcript that is easy to understand, without betraying the speaker’s tone of voice or altering the underlying meaning and manner of their speech. Professionals who conduct this kind of transcription are skilled at using their discretion to determine how much they need to adjust the speech.

Generally, these kinds of transcripts will remove stuttered repetitions, run-on sentences, and filler words. This prevents the speaker’s verbal manner of expression from distracting from the true meaning and point of the speech. Similarly, these transcripts won’t include background noises that are irrelevant to the point of discussion. For example, pauses, coughs and laughing will not be included in the final transcript.

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Pick Your Transcription Style According to Your Industry’s Needs

Each of the transcription styles listed above is relevant and useful in different situations. Depending on your unique needs, you should pick a transcription style that serves your requirements best. Each industry has its own preferences and standards when it comes to transcription, but with a translation and transcription company like the IL Consultancy, you can guarantee that your transcript will be created and edited according to your brief.

There is no particular standardisation of transcription methodologies, but generally, it can be said that each industry is inclined to pick a certain style based on its desired outcomes. If the industry relies on a transcription company to provide each and every word spoken in an accurate record, then verbatim transcription is the way to go. If the industry only needs a comprehensive overview of the general points made by the speaker, then an edited transcript would be better.

For example, in the legal industry, an attorney seeking to document a witness testimony would likely request that the transcription company uses a verbatim transcription style. This is better because it means that they can have their exact responses on record. Contrastingly, when a transcription company is used to document board members’ meeting minutes, it would be preferable to have an intelligent verbatim transcript that is free of redundant repetitions, errors or stammers.

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Picking A Transcription Type

Depending on your intended use and audience, you have to consider which kind of transcription will best help you to meet your goals. While making this decision, you must consider your target audience, goals and media formats. Follow the steps below to help you make the right choice.

Determine the media format.

Will you be transcribing a piece of audio or a video? Each medium takes a different amount of time, and it can affect your turnaround time. You must also consider the quality of your audio and the comprehensibility of your speakers, as this might make it more difficult to transcribe.

Determine your desired product.

Consider who your target audience is, and let this inform what kind of transcription you need. Do a detailed analysis of your market and consider how they would like to interact with the transcripts. Ultimately you need to ask yourself what you want to accomplish with your transcript.

Consult a professional transcription company.

Transcription is an incredibly difficult task that requires some specialisation as well as an adept ear. Not everybody is cut out for this type of work, which is why it is always valuable to consider hiring a transcription company such as the IL Consultancy. By working with a transcription company, you can rest assured that your brief will be fulfilled.

The Value of Hiring a Transcription Company

Many people think that they can save themselves money by simply doing their own transcriptions instead of hiring a transcription company. However, if you’re untrained, then you’ll quickly realise that this entails listening to their episodes multiple times, pausing and rewinding to quickly type out every word. While this may save you a quick buck, it will cost you time and energy in the long run. What’s more, it’s incredibly inefficient and you’ll find that your patience will wear thin, your fingers will be sore, and you’ll make plenty of discrepancies and errors.

Other people often opt for AI solutions, where you can generate quick transcriptions at low prices. While these AI transcription machines are speedy, they are often inaccurate and tend to lose the essence of the speaker’s tone or manner. With the IL Consultancy, you can guarantee that your audiovisual content will be transcribed more effectively and accurately according to your specific needs. The staff at the IL Consultancy are trained professionals with vast experience with all of the various types of transcription.