Subtitles

[beccaelizabeth]

So a while back I wrote to the BBC about subtitling. I was probably unclear, but I asked "do you get a script to work from, or do you just listen, or run it through a machine or something?" and I was asking about Torchwood. The reply I got was:

Subtitles are produced differently for live and for pre-recorded programmes. For live programmes, like the news, the BBC uses a team of subtitlers and stenographers. Any material which we can obtain in advance, such as written news links or news reports on VHS tape, is used to prepare subtitles. These are then sent out live as the programme goes out on air.

Genuinely live programmes/reports, or those which are completed very close to transmission and for which no material is available beforehand, are mainly produced by a technique known as broadcast stenography or stenocaptioning. Stenography is a type of machine-written shorthand based on phonetics, as used in courtrooms. BBC stenocaptioners employ the same technique, with the difference that the shorthand outline is translated by computer and transmitted instantly onto air. We still subtitle most of our live output using stenographers, but as stenographers are in short supply, in the last few years we have begun to use speech recognition technology to expand the areas we can cover with live subtitling. We now use speech recognition to live subtitle most sporting events. A speech subtitler listens to the commentary and "respeaks" it into software which recognises the speech and translates it into subtitles.

Pre-recorded programmes can be subtitled days or weeks in advance, depending on when the programme is delivered. For pre-recorded
programmes, the subtitles are stored on a computer file which is sent to the transmission area and played out with the programme.


Which is interesting, but... er, where did they answer the question? I mean, it says they're on a computer file to be sent out, but it doesn't says if they're working from a script to put them in. They say they get all the news stuff they can in advance, so it seems likely, but there's the if they can bit, which were part of what I was asking.


BBC subtitles remain superior to other channels. Channel 4 is still giving me garbage and missed lines, and FilmFour+1 is always out of synch rather badly. Is all very well their site saying it is a reception problem but it do remain a problem.


The existence of subtitles remains cool.

Comments

[ryttu3k.livejournal.com]

Ha! Right, there's a channel here called the ABC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It's basically the Australian BBC. They also have their first digital channel, ABC 2 (I was seriously hoping for ABCD). I've tried - on the same show - the close captions on both the ABC and ABCD, and the latter's ones were PERFECT. Perfectly on time, perfectly placed and perfectly spelled.

Then I tried the actual ABC ones.

Oh my god are they crap. They're about ten seconds behind, entire sentances get cut out and everything is hilariously misspelt - it seriously looks like they're being SMSed in with bad predictive text!

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

The answer you got seems to cover all three options. Basically they're saying, they use various methods, depending on the material.
Having worked in subtitle translation for many years, I can give you some general info, although not specifically about the BBC.

Subtitles are indeed made either from a ready script or based on transcripted audio, depending on show.
For scripted material (such as movies, TV dramas and comedies) you usually have a script. However, the script comes from the production/distributor of the probram, so there might not be any, or the script you get might not be the script of the final edit, but some precurser - shooting script or some early draft, so the correlation between what you get on the screen and your script can be very iffy.
Anything not-pre-scripted (from talk shows to standup) is either transcribed or translated directly from the audio file. So what you get depends on the quality of sound, which, again, can be very iffy.
Does that help in any way?

[beccaelizabeth]

more data always helpful


what is happening is a couple of discussions about canonicity of subtitles vs what people think they heard.
People hear a bunch of different things, especially when it gets confusing. Some of them seem to make more sense than the subtitled version.
But the subtitles are from the BBC, who make the show, so surely have some weight as canon.
Yet I've seen the BBC get a subtitle wrong when the correct version was flashing in big letters on a computer screen in the actual episode, so *shrugs*


... at least with written texts you only have to argue typos.

[ceruleancat.livejournal.com]

Well, like I said, you can get the wrong generation of script even when you do get a script, and subtitlers don't always check unfortunately. Subtitles tend to be riddled with mistakes, so I wouldn't necessarily take that version as more reliable. Only if you get to see the final shooting script can you tell.