Interview Transcriptions

One more question: I will be transcribing [myself!] many hours of interview material, most shot/recorded on a PD150. How is this best done?

Thank you,
Tony

With a pen and a notepad.

What I'd probably do is create a Text Only document in MS Word. (Strangely, TextEdit can't save as Text Only). A Text Only document can be opened by FCP just like an EDL. Now you can have that document open and play FCP clips at the same time, and type your transcripts. (You can't play the clip and then switch to MS Word or TextEdit, because switching applications will halt playback of the clip. But if you've opened a Text Only file with FCP and type inside it, clips and Sequences will continue playing. I've just tested this.)

Watch out, though -- I don't think FCP can save to the Text document, so periodically, copy what you've typed in the text window in FCP and paste it to a Word or TextEdit document so you can save it.

thats' sweet, will do. I was just trying the application switching and not getting anywhere. Then I tried exporting the audio and just listening while I typed away in MS Word, but your system will work much better.

Thanks,
Tony

<<(Strangely, TextEdit can't save as Text Only)>>

Ah, but it can. Arcanely, this ability is set in Preferences - New Document Attributes: Rich text or Plain text. If it is set to rich text, it's true you can't save it as plain text, but when set to Plain text you're in business. Easier to use than Word in this application.

Scott

Nice tip Derek!



- Justin Barham -

Here's something even easier than typing inside FCP

1. Capture all your material
2. Close FCP
3. Open your capture folder and double click to open in QUCKTIME VIEWER
4. In Quicktime Viewer - you must use Quicktime Player 6.5.2 - doesn't seem to read timecode in Quicktime 7
Go to the - pulldown MOVIE menu - then "get movie properties - or APPLE-J.
5. Select pull down "VIDEO TRACK" on left side of dialogue box
6. Select Timecode on right side of pull down dialogue box

Set both on one side of screen - while your MS Word is on the other side of screen
Hit play on Quicktime player - it will keep playing when you switch back to word and you can read the timecode simultaniously

Very handy.

Not sure why reading the timecode was left out of Quicktime 7 - or if it wasn't - why it's buried so it's not easy to find.


Best - Andy

It does work, but make sure you set "Play Sound when application is in background" in Player Preferences. I think it'd be simpler to use the Timecode Overlays in FCP, especially since you can create markers as well as use In points to loop playback. Either way, two computer monitors would be heavenly in this scenario.

Anyone know of a good voice recognition program that could transcribe for me?

Any ideas?

<<<Ah, but it can. Arcanely, this [text only] ability is set in Preferences >>>

Beat me to it. I only run Text Edit in plain text mode because I have a number of difference platforms and it must be common to all of them.

Koz

CatDV (Professional version) has a "Logger" tool that plays a selected clip next to a type-in text window. Transcribing is a breeze. One feature lets you tap the ";" key, and current timecode is entered into your abstract.
Very nice for documentary, and worth buying if you're plate is full of that kind of work.
Kuhnen



InterMountain Digital

Regarding TextEdit cmd-shift-T toggles between plain text and RTF, regardless on how the preferences are set.

Regarding tapeless logging and transcribing, my upcoming version of XML2Text for FCP can handle that quite easy. Open a movie (with timecode) and add markers with special notes. Then export all your entries to a text file, export as subclips or just as a FCP XML.

Feel free to contact me, if you want to try the beta.

Regards
Andreas

<<Regarding TextEdit cmd-shift-T toggles between plain text and RTF, regardless on how the preferences are set>>

Sure enough! Where on earth did you find that piece of arcana? Preferences always seemed like a screwy place to set that, and then remain committed to it once you started a document.

Scott

Sometimes I just go thru the menus of a software and sometimes I find some useful things

Andreas