Have you ever worked for a closed captioning service?

[Rsando]

Maybe an off the wall request, but next week I'm testing for a closed captioning position, and wondered if anyone could offer some insight into the demands of this job? They've threatened me with "five preliminary tests: spelling, punctuation, typing, transcription and one other test which will reveal your knack for closed captioning."

Any stories/tips/hints would be greatly appreciated,yo.

[Meen Bellpeppers]

Yes, someone has, but I forget who.

[Battleship Pretension]

Spelling and punctuation are essential. Typing speed should be respectable but doesn't have to be off the charts. The real keys are timing and readability. Captioning is not just typing what the person is saying. You also decide when the caption appears and disappears. Tying a new caption to a shot change or any sort of movement that indicates that a person is about to speak is a good idea. The idea is that the caption itself should work with the rest of the visuals and not be too distracting. Don't let any captions be too short or too long either. Right around two seconds a piece is a good rule of thumb. As far as readability, be wary of where you break a sentence if a caption is more than one line long. Again, the idea here is that the captions should flow.

Don't worry about when to use italics or when to move a caption to the left or right of the screen. Individual places have their own style rules and they'll teach you.

[smartbunny]

From what I have seen of close captioning, you don't have to know how to spurl or tippe at awl.

[Keith Whitener]

Yes, someone has, but I forget who.

MARTIN

[Rsando]

Spelling and punctuation are essential. Typing speed should be respectable but doesn't have to be off the charts. The real keys are timing and readability. Captioning is not just typing what the person is saying. You also decide when the caption appears and disappears. Tying a new caption to a shot change or any sort of movement that indicates that a person is about to speak is a good idea. The idea is that the caption itself should work with the rest of the visuals and not be too distracting. Don't let any captions be too short or too long either. Right around two seconds a piece is a good rule of thumb. As far as readability, be wary of where you break a sentence if a caption is more than one line long. Again, the idea here is that the captions should flow.

Don't worry about when to use italics or when to move a caption to the left or right of the screen. Individual places have their own style rules and they'll teach you.

This is more good advice on the subject of closed captioning than I could have ever hoped to discover in a whole lifetime.

[pissedpissedofferson]

Make fun of me if this is a stupid question, but when do you do closed captioning? The way you two are talking about it makes me imagine you have to do it in crazy real time.

[ASR]

Yeah, it made the entire concept of Closed Captioning way more exciting to me... but only if it's in real-time. That way I'd at least forgive them for all those typos I have to endure when I'm trying to watch a TV in a restaraunt.

[DiscoInferiorityComplex]

My favorite closed-captioning moment--Santana was playing the pre-game at the Super Bowl, and the closed captioning guy kept writing "I'm sorry, I don't speak Spanish" over and over again.

Also, whoever cc'd "Murder She Wrote" was the laziest person ever. "Mark was the only person who had the motive to kill Nancy! And he was seen leaving the building after midnight!" would be transcribed as "I think Mark did it".