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  Transcript based editing or not?

  Posted by Dave Boampong on October 22, 2012 at 1:21 pm

  After the shoot the inevitable dreaded long process of logging the material into transcripts and then creating a paper structure happens after which I can put material on the timeline.

  I have been trying to blend logging and putting material on the timeline. I find that I cannot easily shortcut this process without getting into a jam. Pre-scripting a corporate video does not help me much as I find it helps interviewees when they don’t have to memorize lines.

  I have also tried keeping interviews very short so as not to create a lot of material to work through. This has helped only once in a few years.

  Is there a better way to shoot interviews in order not to get lost in the amount of material one gets? Or is there a way to easily log the material? I do structure my interview questions such that they follow a logical sequence but have to abandon that structure or come back to a question that was not answered satisfactorily.

  Regards
  Dave

  Dave Boampong replied 13 years, 6 months ago 2 Members · 2 Replies
• 2 Replies

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  Bob Cole

  October 22, 2012 at 2:52 pm

  If you can, you want the interview to be a conversation, so it will inevitably meander.

  Transcripts can help. You can either do it yourself or hire it done. There are quite a few COW members who do it. Also, Production Transcripts is good at about $2.50/minute with timecode. One way to DIY is to listen to each line, repeat it into software like Naturally Speaking, and hope for the best. It’s still tedious.

  Best, of course, is to start the process of noting the timecode of the good soundbites during the interview. There are expensive solutions for this, but you can also just use time-of-day timecode and note the time. If you have an assistant he/she can help with this.

  I was hoping that MovieSlate would help me with this, but I haven’t been able to find a way to use it effectively. I wanted the interviewer to be able to tap to record the timecode at every good soundbite, but it turns out you have to tap, enter something, then tap again. An assistant who is getting a verbal or physical cue from the interviewer might be able to handle that, but it’s too distracting for an interviewer who is trying to maintain human contact.
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  Dave Boampong

  October 22, 2012 at 7:59 pm

  Thanks.

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