I would like to extend an extra special thank you to Ellie Snapp – the fastest typist South of Newfoundland.
After already having typed up the majority of All God’s Children interviews, she actually volunteered to transcribe the interviews for Five Sisters and eventually All’s Well and Fair (even though she had to deal with Rachel’s potty mouth).
And today is the day she typed up the last of the tapes!
In case you don’t know, transcribing interviews for documentary films is quite a tedious job (loathed by many) in which the typist has to listen to an audio recording of the interview and literally type in every word – including the uh’s and um’s and repetitions – so the filmmaker can judge what sentences are usable and which aren’t. Clearly a lot of play, type, pause, rewind, play, type,…
The point of transcribing in general of course is a matter of logistics; it’s a lot easier to scan through text or find specific comments in a written document than on a video tape. And having the document on a computer also makes it possible to search for certain items quickly. Last but not least it helps you put together a transcript of the finished films for legal clearance, insurance and Closed Captioning.
So it’s a big job, it’s an important job and…
… thank you again, Ellie, for all your hard work on three of our films!