SW Video Captions Receptive Expressive

[Stuart Thiessen]

There is one other possible use of SW captioning on a sign language 
video, and that is to caption it in another sign language! :) For 
example, a ASL video could be subtitled in German Sign Language. :)

Also, Philip and I are working on a video project where we used 
ChromaKey, and we played around with a moving background that served as 
background information that visually reinforced the setting of the 
signing on the video. What was very, very interesting to us was that 
the hearing who viewed our test video said that the moving background 
was too distracting, but the Deaf who viewed the video loved having the 
background as it helped them visualize the information better. :)  Very 
interesting.

Thanks,

Stuart

On Apr 15, 2007, at 10:05, Valerie Sutton wrote:

> SignWriting List
> April 15, 2007
>
> Kelly Jo wrote:
>> I have one question about captioning signed videos... As a hearing 
>> person, I know I like captioning on my favourite TV shows because I 
>> can read the captioning if I miss what the actors said... but I can 
>> look at the captioning and listen to the dialogue at the same time 
>> because I'm using two different senses.  With signed videos, you have 
>> to choose whether you're reading the captioning or watching the 
>> signing.  Is it really that useful?
>
> Smile! I am only guessing, but I bet this may be the difference 
> between people who use signed language as their daily language, versus 
> people who use it as a second language...it may be a matter of skill 
> within the language, and also a developed peripheral vision that 
> perhaps Deaf people have more than I do...I have noticed I am not as 
> good at it myself but Adam said it was no problem for him...so all 
> that is interesting...
>
> But it has some of the same utility that you and I use English 
> captions to back up what was said if we didn't hear the English...
>
> ASL captions on ASL videos will be more rare in time is my 
> guess...they are more for demonstration of the writing system and 
> showing how the symbols look in relationship to the real-life 
> signing...at least that is one use for them...
>
> I actually like Expressive writing on ASL videos too...I have no 
> problem with it and in many ways it can help people to have Expressive 
> writing...it doesn't have to match the video one hundred percent to 
> still be useful...so we can choose different formats...
>
>
>>
>> I like the SW captioning, don't get me wrong... I just think it would 
>> be more useful on spoken videos than signed videos.  Just a 
>> thought...
>
> I agree that it will be very useful on spoken-language videos! And 
> those need to be Expressive because that is what we read fast...
>
>>
>> As for receptive vs. expressive captioning (on the assumption that 
>> nobody else agrees with what I said above - smile!), I personally 
>> like expressive because that's what I'm used to reading... even 
>> though it doesn't match what I see the signer doing, it looks more 
>> natural to me.  Of course, for people who are used to reading 
>> receptive SW like Val, Charles and some of the others... for you, it 
>> might look more natural to see receptive captioning.
>
> Actually, believe it or not, not for me...In this case, I found it 
> confusing because I wanted to analyze how Adam had written the 
> Receptive writing, and the video was so fast I could not concentrate 
> on the details of the writing...
>
> So thank you, Adam, for sending the Receptive writing of the signs to 
> us separately and I will get to that shortly...
>
>
>>
>> What would be a reason for switching from expressive to receptive 
>> within a document?  I know there was a suggestion that in a 
>> conversation one "speaker" might be written expressively and the 
>> other receptively, but having the three lanes to mimic body posture 
>> would handle that more naturally than even quotation marks.  Are 
>> there any other reasons?
>
> I notice that Antonio Carlos da Rocha Costa from Brazil, and also 
> others working with animation and videos, have chosen the Receptive 
> view for animation and video and that is how this conversation 
> started...so obviously there are people who like it..
>
> It just might be a preference...and that is fine. But I doubt it will 
> become the norm...so don't worry. Expressive is our publication tool 
> and you can continue to read it and use it...the writing system is 
> flexible.
>
> Val ;-)
>