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Making Every Word Count- Theatre Captioning in the UK
Lissy Lovett – General Manager of STAGETEXT (UK)
• Who is STAGETEXT?
• Captioning basics
• Technology
• Software
• Captioning Process
• Captioner Training
• Operational Models
Running order
WHO IS STAGETEXT?
Making every word count
Background to STAGETEXT
• Founded in 2000
• 4 of our 6 Trustees and 1 of our 6 staff
are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing
• Funded by Arts Council England and
charges to theatres
• Work in theatres, museums and
galleries
What does STAGETEXT do?
• Delivers English captions/subtitles for
events which are spoken in English
• Helps theatres set up their own
captioning services
• Develops technology
• Develops audiences
STAGETEXT’s achievements
in theatre
• STAGETEXT delivers 220 captioned
performances each year
• Over 40 theatres now have access to
their own captioning equipment
across the UK
• Over 40 people are trained as theatre
captioners in the UK
• Wide range of types of events
CAPTIONING BASICS
Making every word count
Belgrade
Theatre, Coventry
What can you make out from
this piece of spoken text?
Sound file from the University
of Manchester
What can you make out
this time?
Video created by
www.makesensedesign.com
Who uses captions?
• Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing
people who wish to access plays in English
– 1 in 6 of population
– Wide range of types & severity of hearing loss
• People whose hearing is not as sharp as it
used to be
– 40% of people over the age of 50 and 70% of
those over 70 have age-related hearing loss
• Hearing audiences
The audience
Questions so far?
Actors’ warm-up prior to captioned
performance of Life is a Dream,
Donmar Warehouse, 18 November 2009.
Photographer: Matt Humphrey
TECHNOLOGY
Making every word count
Open
captioningClosed
captioning
Display options
Gaiety Theatre,
Isle of Man
Open captioning
Pros
• Audience doesn’t have
to declare
• No change of focus
between captions and
stage
• Sociable activity
Cons
• Unit positioning crucial
to experience
Closed captioning
Pros
• More likely to be
available every night
Cons
• Change of focus
between device and
stage is difficult
• Missing action on stage
when reading text
Open captioning –
LED displays
Gwion Wyn Jones in Oliver! With kind permission of Cameron Mackintosh Limited.
Photo: Simon Annand
Miss Saigon. With kind permission of Cameron Mackintosh Limited. Bristol Hippodrome
Photo: Freia Turland
LCD displays
The Captioning Studio, Australia
Going Dark, by Fuel
at the Young Vic Theatre, London
Projection
Reasons to be Cheerful,
Graeae Theatre Company
Tin Bath Theatre
Company
Positioning of open captions
• Positioning of the captioning displays
can make or break the performance
• Need to consider
– Configuration of the stage/seating
– Are there pieces of the set flying in or out?
– Where are the speakers being hung?
– Where are the lights shining?
– Where is the seating for caption users?
British Sign Language
Interpreter
standing
stage right
Credit: the See
a Voice project
www.see-a-voice.org
22
Captioned performance of
Little Women
Sadler’s Wells
23
Transcribed post-show
discussion following a
performance of
Yellowman
Hampstead Theatre
Captioning
Unit flown
low at back
of stage
Captioned performance of Miss Saigon at the Bristol Hippodrome
Captioned performance of Miss Saigon
at the Bristol Hippodrome
Photographer: Freia Turland
Captioning
Units either
side of stage
Getting It Wrong and Getting It Right
• ‘The poorly positioned boxes meant that the captions were so high up and too far to the left and right of the stage that it was impossible to follow the captions and the action.’
• ‘I found the captioning truly impressive - not at all intrusive. It was sited in the middle of the set, and felt a natural part of it. In fact, it works so well, it's almost as if it's always been there and I've only just noticed.’
Closed captioning
Handheld devices
Airscript Durateq
Figaro
The future?
Sony’s subtitling glasses
STAGETEXT use LED displays
STAGETEXT’s captioning equipment
Laptop
Interface
Caption unit
2nd caption unit
Microphone
cable
Bristol Old Vic
Photo: Mike Lusmore
Questions about technology?
SOFTWARE
Make every word count
Captioned performance of
Hansel and Gretel
Northern Stage
Photo: Linda Borthwick
Software
Requirements
• Import text
• Edit text
• Output text
• Skip sections
• Add ad-libs
Possibilities
In the UK we have used:
• Eclipse
• CaptionView
And now
• STAGETEXT bespoke
software
STAGETEXT’s software
Questions about software?
Captioned performance of Aladdin, The Wok ‘n’ Roll PantoNew Wolsey, Ipswich.
Photo: Mike Kwasniak
CAPTIONING PROCESS
Making every word count
The captioning process
Electronic script
Initial formatting
Imported to STAGETEXT software
First script check
Work with DVD
Checks with company
Refinement of formatting
Second script check
Final formatting
Check queries with company
Performance!
Formatting
Final formatted captions
Captioning challenges
• 3,500 to 6,000 lines per script
• Up to 60 hours formatting time
• Spelling and punctuation
• Research
– Checking spellings
– Foreign languages
– Song lyrics
UK captioning conventions• Full text of play, nothing omitted
– Exception when lines overlap, or very fast
• Character names included
• Sound and musical effects included
– Present tense
– In the world of the play, so “shouts from garden”
not “shouting off stage”
• Minimal interpretation
• Accents sometimes included
• Emotions rarely included
• Nothing is translated
Who is using the captions?
New Wolsey Theatre• 359 people in audience
• 17 people booked for captioning with box office (4% of total audience)
• 103 people returned the card to say that they had found the captions useful (29% of total audience)
• CONCLUSION: 20 to 30% of your total audience will be using the captioning but will not have declared as caption users
CAPTIONER TRAINING
Making every word count
Who makes a good captioner?
• Excellent spelling, punctuation and
grammar – we need people who care
about apostrophes
• Confident around computers
• Confident when liaising with theatre
companies (but not too pushy!)
• Someone who would enjoy bringing
theatre to people who otherwise
would miss out
UK captioners
• Only one or two for whom captioning
is a full-time job
• Usually caption as a part-time job
on top of regular employment
• Mostly professional (i.e. paid)
• Come from theatre backgrounds,
deaf organisational backgrounds, or
completely unrelated backgrounds
What does captioner training need
to include?
1. Seeing a
captioned show
2. Process
3. Conventions
4. Software training
5. How to liaise
with theatre staff
6. Practice
Captioner training at the Wales
Millennium Centre, Cardiff
STAGETEXT captioner training
Pre-training tests
Work at home
3 or 4 days face-to-
face training
Supported show
Mentored show
Examined show
Questions about captioning
and captioners?
Captioned performance of Hansel and GretelNorthern Stage
Photo: Linda Borthwick
OPERATIONAL MODELS
Making every word count
UK captioning models
Equipment
• Hire in from STAGETEXT
• Own their own
• Share some locally
• Touring theatre
company own
equipment
Captioners
• Hire in from STAGETEXT
• Train in-house people
• Hire in freelancers
• Train touring company
members
All combinations of the above happen in the UK
Using an external provider
• They provide the equipment and the
captioner and do all the hard work
• You will need to take responsibility for
securing a script for the captioner to
use
• You still need to get the audience
there!
Captioned show process for
STAGETEXT
Find suitable date & time
Book captioner(and STTR if necessary)
Double check which equipment
will be used
Confirm DVD & script will be
availableArrange site visit
Send branding information
Check allocation of seats
Check booking details
Send order acknowledgment
Send captioner brief
Check all’s well with theatre &
captioner
Send post-show discussion details
Technical briefContact
Company Manager
Remind theatre to test loop
Prepare FOH posters &
feedback forms
On show day attend get in,
brief ushers, etc
Follow up with theatre
Collate feedback
Add new caption-user
names to database
Having an in-house service
• You need equipment and staff who
can set it up
• You need a locally-based captioner
who has been trained
• You will need to take responsibility for
securing a script for the captioner to
use
• You will need to get in the audience
Sharing resources locally• Are there any other theatres that
might be interested in sharing
equipment with you?
• Might they also be interested in sharing
the costs of training a captioner?
• Huge benefit is that you can work
together on developing audiences
and you can be sure that your
captioned performances will never
clash!
Working with your captioner
• Contract
• Fees and expenses
• Who owns the script?
• Will the captioner share the script
and whose decision is that?
Questions about our operating
models, or anything else?
Thank you!
Contact details
Lissy Lovett
General Manager
STAGETEXT
First Floor, 54 Commercial St,
London E1 6LT
www.stagetext.org
www.twitter.com/lissylovett
Tel: 020 7377 0540
Mobile: 07813 139408
www.twitter.com/STAGETEXT
www.facebook.com/STAGETEXT
www.youtube.com/STAGETEXT
