Keyboard Shortcuts for Film Editors

One of our customers, a professor at a film school, suggested this tip:

For those of you used to using industry standard editting software like Final Cut and Avid, you can map “j”, “k”, and “l” with modifier keys to back/pause/forward.  Since you need the j/k/l keys for actually inputting text during transcription, you’ll need to use modifier keys (Ctrl, Command, etc.).

On the Mac you would use the “Command” and “Option” keys to set up something like this:

• Command-j => Play Backwards at Custom Rate 1.x
• Command-Option-j => Play Backwards at Custom Rate 2.0x
• Command-k => Pause
• Command-l => Play at Custom Rate 1.x
• Command-Option-l => Play at Custom Rate 2.0x

In Windows you would use the “Ctrl” and “Shift” keys to set up something like this:

• Ctrl-j => Play Backwards at Custom Rate 1.x
• Ctrl-Shift-j => Play Backwards at Custom Rate 2.0x
• Ctrl-k => Pause
• Ctrl-l => Play at Custom Rate 1.x
• Ctrl-Shift-l => Play at Custom Rate 2.0x

You can obviously tweak these to suit your workflow.

Note that by setting Command-l/Ctrl-l to “Play at Custom Rate 1.x” you can toggle back and forth between the fast speed and the slow speed.  If you set it to “Play” instead, hitting Command-l/Ctrl-l would only continue playing at the current play rate.  So if you’re already at 2.x, the play rate won’t change.

An alternative approach would be to set Command-Option-l/Ctrl-Shift-l to “Change Play Rate” by 1.x.  Then every time you hit Command-Option-l/Ctrl-Shift-l the play rate would increase to 2.x, 3.x, etc..  And you can hit Command-l/Ctrl-l to get back to the 1.x rate.  This would more emulate the behavior of FCP.

For instructions on how to set up shortcuts: http://www.inqscribe.com/docs/keyboardshortcuts.html

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InqScribe & OSX Lion: It works!

We have done some testing of InqScribe in Apple’s newly released OS 10.7 “Lion,” and we’re continuing to do more. The good news is that everything seems to work fine in Lion, with one easy-to-address caveat. Here is our partial report:

InqScribe launches in Lion and will perform the basics — video playback, time code insertion, even foot pedal controls all work fine. Transcript windows scroll nicely with Lion’s new multitouch and scrollbar. InqScribe also works with Lion’s “saved state” feature, meaning that the windows you were working on during your last session will automatically open next time you launch it.

InqScribe does not yet work with Lion’s “versions” and “autosave” features; we’re working on that.

There is one important caveat: Lion (and Snow Leopard) users still need QuickTime 7.6.6.

Though it is not required, we recommend that all InqScribe users install QuickTime 7, since it supports many features that are not supported by the more recent QuickTime X (in Mac OS 10.6 and higher) and Windows Media Player (in Windows). QuickTime is available as a free download from Apple.

There are several versions of QuickTime 7 available, depending on your OS version.

• If you have Mac OSX 10.6 or 10.7 (Snow Leopard or Lion), download QuickTime 7.6.6
• If you have Mac OSX 10.5 (Leopard), download QuickTime 7.6.9
• If you use Windows, you can continue to download the latest Windows version of QuickTime

Notes:

• Depending on how you open your movie files, they may launch by default in QuickTime X. So if you’re doing things like subtitling, make sure to open your subtitled movies in QuickTime 7.6.6.
• In Lion, QuickTime 7 installs to your Applications > Utilities folder rather than the “Applications” folder.

A simple fix to a common error: Resolving the Windows “MediaProxy” bug

There was a known bug in InqScribe version 2.0.5 (and earlier) that caused problems with Windows Media Player. The crash report mentions things like “WMP_Provider” and “MediaProxy”.

This has been fixed in InqScribe version 2.1. Simply upgrade to the latest version of InqScribe and your problem will be solved. The upgrade is free; you can download it here: http://www.inqscribe.com/download.html

You can read more about this issue in our knowledge base.

Second language learning using films

A part of our occasional series highlighting interesting uses of InqScribe

In addition to transcriptionists and documentary filmmakers, researchers make up a large portion of InqScribe users.  Although, in this case, we hit two of our favorite topics simultaneously: research and education.

Alex Gilmore, a professor at the University of Tokyo, just published a book chapter on using InqScribe to produce film-based teaching resources based for second language learning.

Why film?  Think about it, wouldn’t you rather learn a language by watching a film than reading boring text or hokey audio tapes? Films are a naturally motivating platform for teaching language. They’re also useful because they have contextual and discourse features like colloquial language, politeness strategies, and vague language that make them valuable for developing listening skills. They represent a much more authentic use of language.

Why not just use the subtitles present in many DVDs? Subtitles are actually often condensed versions of what is actually said. In language learning, it’s important to have the full text. So you have to take the time to produce quality learning materials.

In the chapter, Professor Gilmore details a procedure in which he uses InqScribe to produce teaching materials for an episode of Fawlty Towers, a British comedy television series. This includes subtitles as well as classroom materials. He covers ripping from DVD all the way to producing subtitles, so it’s a pretty thorough tutorial.

He’s generously provided a PDF of the chapter. You can download the paper here.

—

Gilmore, A. (2009). Catching words: Exploiting film discourse in the foreign language classroom. In F. Mishan & A. Chambers (eds.), Perspectives on Language Learning Materials Development. Oxford: Peter Lang AG.

Tip: USB shortcut/footpedal crashing workarounds

If you’re using a corded Microsoft Digital Media keyboard or some multimedia keyboards from other manufacturers (we know of one case from Acer), you might be experiencing odd crashes when you try to run the “Set Up Foot Pedal” wizard or define shortcuts triggers.

(This tip is also helpful for others who might be experiencing crashes while setting up a foot pedal or defining shortcuts.)

We’re working on a fix for this, but in the meantime here’s what you can do:

1. Plug in only the minimal USB devices you need to set up the footpedal: e.g. a mouse and the foot pedal.
2. Unplug your digital media keyboard, and all unnecessary USB devices.
3. Start InqScribe.
4. Run the Set Up Foot Pedal wizard (or define your shortcut triggers).
5. Quit InqScribe.
6. Plug in your digital media keyboard (and other devices).
7. Start InqScribe again.

As always, we welcome your feedback and bug reports. We will do our best to work with you to resolve them.

Tip: Inserting a time code with “Enter” key

Problem: You want to insert time stamps in your transcript at regular intervals without having to explicitly insert a time code.

Solution 1: The easiest way to do this is to define a shortcut for your Enter key. Here’s how:

1. Open your transcript in InqScribe
2. Select the “Edit” menu->”Edit Snippets…”
3. Click the “Add” button to add a new snippet.
4. Click on “Define Trigger” button.
5. Hit “Enter” to define your “Enter” key as the trigger. And then click OK.
6. Edit the Snippet text:
6a. First, insert a carriage return by clicking to the left of the default snippet text “{$TIME} Speaker Name” and hitting “Enter”
6b. Delete “Speaker Name” from the text.

Now whenever you hit “Enter” InqScribe will insert a carriage return followed by a time code.

Solution 2: If you just need to insert time codes into your transcript at regular intervals, you can also use the Insert Time Series method. Please see this for more instructions: http://blogs.inquirium.net/inqscribe/2011/02/2-1-tip-lay-down-a-time-code-every-30-seconds/

2.1 Tip: How to lay down a time code every 30 seconds

New in version 2.1 of InqScribe: You can insert time code series, e.g. “lay down a time code every 30 seconds,” like this:

[00:00:00.00]
[00:00:30.00]
[00:01:00.00]
[00:01:30.00]
[00:02:00.00]
[00:02:30.00]

This is typically used by transcriptionists who need to sync text with the video every n seconds. So you start with an empty transcript, insert the time codes, then begin transcription.

You can insert time series by:

1. Start InqScribe
2. Create a new transcript
3. Select “Edit” menu->”Insert Time Series…”
4. Enter the number of seconds you want between each time code, start and end times, and optionally a line break or text after each time code.
5. Click “Insert”

…and transcribe away!

Download version 2.1 here: http://www.inqscribe.com/download.html

Tip: How do I remove frames from timecodes?

I don’t want the frame number to appear in my time code. I want [hh:mm:ss], not [hh:mm:ss:ff]. Can I turn it off?

For example, I don’t want my time code to look like this: [00:01:23.29]
Instead, I want to remove the last two numbers so it looks like this: [00:01:23]

—

To remove the frames from your currently open transcript:

1. Open the existing transcript in InqScribe.

2. Select “Transcript->Transcript Settings…” from the menu bar.

3. Under the “Inserted Time Code Format:” section, check the “Omit Frames” checkbox.

4. Click “OK” to close the window.

This will tell InqScribe not to use frames in the future for this particular transcript (Frames will still be used by default for any new transcripts that you create.  See the next section to turn off frames for all future transcripts). Next we need to remove the frames from your existing time codes.

5. Select “Transcript->Adjust Time Codes…” from the menu bar.

6. Leave the “Adjustment:” field at “00:00:00″, and click “Adjust.”  This will reformat all of your time codes to remove the frame number.

—

To change ALL of your future transcripts to omit frames by default…

(You can always enable frames on a per transcript basis. This will just disable them by default for any new transcript you create.)

…On a Mac:

1. Select “InqScribe->Preferences…” from the menu bar.

2. Click on the “New Document” tab at the top of the “InqScribe Preferences” window.

3. Under the “Inserted Time Code Format:” section, check the “Omit Frames” checkbox.

…On Windows:

1. Select “Edit->Options…” from the menu bar.

2. Click on the “New Document” tab at the top of the “InqScribe Preferences” window.

3. Under the “Inserted Time Code Format:” section, check the “Omit Frames” checkbox.

Tip: Inserting the current time of day or Transcribing while videotaping

You can insert the current time of day into your transcript. This is useful for instance, if you want to take notes while you are recording during a meeting or video shoot. Later when you import the media, you can sync the start time to your video.

For example, let’s say you’re shooting an interview, and it begins at 1:00pm. During the interview, you can take notes in InqScribe, noting when a particularly interesting conversation happens by inserting the current time. For instance, if the interviewee says something interesting 12 minutes and 3 seconds into the interview, you can insert a time stamp next to your note about that with one keystroke, e.g.:

“[01:12:03.00] T didn’t know it at the time.”

Alternatively, instead of using time of day, you can also use a stopwatch synced to the start of the video recording.

How do you do this? Just set the Media Source to an Offline Media type and select “Use time of day” or “Use stopwatch timer”.

Here are detailed instructions:

1. Create a new transcript “FIle->New Document…”
2. Click on the “Select Media Source…” button
3. In the “Source Type” popup menu, select “Offline Media”
4. Under “Time Code:” select the “Use time of day” radio button.

(Or you can select “Use stopwatch timer” and select a start time and end time.)

Then just type away as you normally would, using Command-; or (Ctrl-; in Windows) to insert the current time. Instead of using the media time, InqScribe will now insert the current time of day, or the stopwatch time.

Power User Tip: Snippet Autocomplete

If you have text that you are repeatedly typing in your transcript (e.g. analysis codes, or long words), you can create snippets to insert them quickly.  Here are some tips:

• You don’t have to assign a trigger/keyboard shortcut to snippet
• You can activate the trigger window with <cmd-1> (Mac) or <ctrl-1> (Windows)
• When the trigger window is activated, you can select snippets by typing the first few letters, or using the arrow keys to select the snippet
• Hit <return> or <enter> to insert the snippet