Caption everything useful
There’s often a bit of extra content during natural speech, such as thinking noises, interjections and false starts, background chatter or private conversations. To make your captions clear and easy to understand, make an informed choice to leave out speech or sounds that don’t add meaning to the content.
- Small interruptions and false starts to sentences can be left out.
- Background chatter or private conversations should be captioned with a descriptive caption, such as (BACKGROUND CHATTER) or (INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION).
Caption everything accurately
We know what it’s like when you’re caught up transcribing and you write what you think you heard, but it’s not exactly right. That’s why it’s important to proofread everything you do, even if you go back and review chunks as you’re timing. Pay close attention to the content and make sure that what you’ve written makes sense. If you come across a word you’re absolutely stumped by, represent it with the (INAUDIBLE) label.
Please note: While we encourage you to use (INAUDIBLE) labels where necessary, try to avoid using them too frequently. Make sure you’re giving the audio two or three close listens – sometimes that’s all it takes to figure out that tricky word!
More questions? See our Recorded Captioning Style Guide.