Create Captioning Briefs the Natural Way

To prepare for my transition to captioning, I have been writing the news since February of 2013. Towards the latter part of the year, I really got serious about becoming a captioner, and since October of 2013 I have practiced nearly everyday writing CNN.

At first, I felt completely inept. Remember your first day in speed class? Yeah, that was me in the beginning.

Slowly but surely I have improved to the point of feeling almost capable. I mean, captioning feels like an attainable goal now.

I've heard through court reporting and captioning forums that you should, "never brief. If you can't write it out, you're not good enough."

Well, I'm sorry. I'm just not a superhuman. The only way I have made any progress has been through briefing words and phrases that are repeated over and over.  And over.

When I first began incorporating briefs into my practice, I would think of off-the-wall combinations. Some of them really didn't make sense, and it took me a long time to make them automatic.

Remember school? If it doesn't come automatically, don't use them. (Now there's some good advice!)

I shared with you in my last post how I emailed captioning legend Dee Boeneau. One of the tips she gave me was to take your misstrokes and stacks and actually make them briefs for what you're attempting to write.



Why didn't I think of that?
 

Oh, my gosh. It's like a light bulb has gone off.

When you're writing, have you ever noticed your fingers just want to go someplace they shouldn't for some words? Don't fight it, make it your brief!

These are some of the briefs I've come up with this week. You may already have briefs for these. If you do, hey, sorry, I'm a slow learner.

state of the union = stao*upb
year old = kwro*eld
dramatic = dra*plt
consequence = kwe*pbs
press conference = pro*pbs
Edward Snowdon = stpho*ed

So whether you're a working reporter or a wannabe captioner, turning your stroking mistakes into briefs is a great way to shorten your writing and increase speed.

Man, I wish I'd known this sooner. Like, in school?

Do you have any captioning briefs you'd like to share?