transcribing from video

Tue Jan 2 05:58:21 UTC 2007

Well, I know that when I tried to practice some video transcribing, it 
was very difficult until I found the ELAN program. That is easier to do 
the video work because it can help me organize the text and my work 
with the text. I really didn't do much with transcribing before ELAN.

Thanks,

Stuart

On Jan 1, 2007, at 23:05, Valerie Sutton wrote:

> SignWriting List
> January 1, 2006
>
>> On Jan 1, 2007, at 7:23 PM, Stuart Thiessen wrote:
>>> Actually, once ELAN is learned, then the issues that Kim complained 
>>> about can be easily resolved as far as the forwarding and rewinding 
>>> issues are concerned. ELAN allows the user to go through the video 
>>> and essentially "bracket" the sections that he/she wants to focus 
>>> on. So you can go through the video and isolate each sentence or 
>>> each phrase. Then you can play each sentence or phrase one by one in 
>>> a loop if you want until you have got a transcription that you like. 
>>> Quicktime or a VHS player cannot do that as easily. ELAN can be used 
>>> in a general or detailed fashion depending on your needs.
>>>
>>> For VHS to video, I tend to copy the VHS tape to my video camera and 
>>> then load the video from the video camera into my Mac to convert it 
>>> to Quicktime-compatible file. That's a Mac way. I'm sure something 
>>> similar can be done on the PC.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Stuart
>
>
>
> Gosh...I had no idea that Kim was asking about technology...I thought 
> you asked me, Kim, how I transcribed video when I didn't even know how 
> to sign years ago? and asked if it was my dance training that had 
> helped?...so that issue had nothing to do with what technology I 
> used...so the purpose of the Video Transcription course will be to 
> teach SignWriting and Movement Writing related to movement analysis 
> rather than the technology issues...
>
> Here is what Kim asked in her original message...
>
>>>>> Kimberley Shaw wrote:
>
>>>>>>>> I am wondering how on earth you were able
>>>>>>>> > to transcribe from video when you were not yet a signer.
>>>>>>>> >  Was it the dance training?
>>>>>>>> >  Have all of you other signwriters got some special wisdom to 
>>>>>>>> share with
>>>>>>>> me?
>>>>>>>> >  Or just useful tips?
>
>
> And yes I have some useful tips...but not relating to technology ... 
> relating to movement analysis... (see below)
>
>
>
> Since technology was brought up however....
>
> Let me share with you some of the ways I have used technology when 
> transcribing...
>
> In 1984 I transcribed a video of Bernard Bragg discussing SignWriting 
> in ASL. That article was the feature story of our last SignWriter 
> Newspaper Issue in 1984...before we stopped production of the 
> Newspaper...I wrote the entire article by hand with ink pens, and I 
> stopped a videotape machine frame by frame, with buttons on and off 
> and pause, to do the painfully slow job...but it got done...I remember 
> I was up all night...48 hours without sleep...to do the video 
> transcription...that was before I had a personal computer... someday I 
> would like to re-write that article in modern SignWriting for 
> publication because Bernard said some interesting things in ASL about 
> writing ASL...
>
> That technology, Kim, is too slow and not accurate enough, because it 
> is hard to pause the video properly...so if you are still doing that 
> then I hope you can get a video player, and hook it up to a computer, 
> and make a Quicktime or other kind of computer video file from it...
>
> I did that for the video transcription that I did of Darline's ASL 
> Goldilocks in 1998...
>
> We taped Darline in High-8 tapes...but whether it is High-8 or video 
> doesn't matter...I got a player for the tape...in my case a High-8 
> player machine...I rented it briefly...and hooked it to my Mac and 
> copied the video into the computer and then returned the High-8 
> playing machine to the place where I rented it from...then from there, 
> I had video files that could be stopped and started right on your 
> computer screen...now I own a High 8 player because I have so much 
> High 8 ASL tapes...
>
> -------
>
> What is my technique of movement analysis?...In the case of 
> Goldilocks, I created a screen capture of the beginning and ending 
> position of each sign (a photo from the video). I placed all the 
> photos in sequence in vertical columns and wrote each beginning and 
> ending position based on the photos, and placed the movement between 
> the positions...then I went through the whole document and eliminated 
> some positions, replacing the movement symbols with movement symbols 
> that would give you information about the position you eliminated, 
> until I had the vertical document I wanted...
>
> The result looked like this web page:
> http://www.signwriting.org/lessons/readasl/learn006.html
>
> but 64 pages of it!
>
> Now I don't need to capture photos of the beginning and ending 
> positions any longer, because I am so skilled and I see what is needed 
> without going through that step, but it is a great way to 
> begin...taking still photos of the beginning and ending positions also 
> helps teach others about how to write the signs...so the photos are 
> useful later for other purposes...
>
> Val ;-)
>