Hi @TeresaDemel,
Thanks for posting this! The ability to set In/Out ranges as transcript selections is an incredibly exciting feature that I think will make logging and storycrafting easier to do than ever before. Genuinely: awesome stuff! That said, I do think there are some hold-ups that, in its current beta state, prevent it from being helpful in practical use. The two main issues I see:
ISSUE #1.) Transcriptions are currently limited to sequences only, source clips aren't supported.
As you full well point out in your post, transcript selections can help the start of our projects, to assemble rough cuts/skeletons/radio cuts... whatever you want to call it. The issue is, I assume most editors will be looking to pull bites from their source clips, not sequences. One might argue a workaround would be to "put the interview into a sequence!" - but unless you're using multicam, I would argue that adds unnecessary steps, but bigger yet, issue #2 remains a factor, which is:
ISSUE #2.) "Set In/Out Points" for transcript selections only mark In/Outs in the Sequence/Program panel context.
Considering transcripts currently only work with sequences, it makes sense why it functions this way currently - however I feel this leaves us with an odd way to go about making rough cuts. Let's say I go ahead and put my interview in a sequence and transcribe it, marking in/outs in my sequence will only let me perform Lift or Extract edits to take away from the timeline. I can't insert/overwrite to my edit sequence.
To sum those up, the best way I can put it is: it inverts the three point editing approach so many editors are used to, with no way to 'build' a rough cut from transcription selections. As I mentioned though, there's so much potential for this feature to be a powerhouse story-crafting tool and I'd love to see it get there. Some suggestions I'd like to offer in aim of that goal:
1.) Add the ability to transcribe source clips
I think this is the core thing that needs to happen, because it sets the foundation for logging an interview by letting us associate a transcript to a source clip. I noticed the sequence name is currently placed in the top-right corner of the Text panel, that seems like a great place for a drop-down to navigate between all transcripts in your project!
2.) Have source clip transcripts set Source In/Outs, and give sequence transcripts a way to toggle between setting Source or Program In/Outs.
As mentioned, transcript in/outs only mark their Program panel equivalents. At the end of the day, I personally see more value in being able to highlight a transcription range, set Source panel in/outs, and add my selection to a sequence. Still, some folks might find the current functionality useful with sequence transcriptions, hence the toggle suggestion.
3.) Allow for Insert/Overwrite edit functions to be performed into a target sequence, directly from the Text panel.
To drive it all home, we just need a way to get our marked In/Out ranges on transcripts into a target sequence. I saw the Lift/Extract keyboard shortcuts worked in the Text panel, so Insert/Overwrite very well may indeed - but if source clip transcripts are handled differently, that might change. Ultimately, the raw power of this function is being able to bring a selection into a sequence without ever having to leave the Text panel.
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A final, very nit-picky suggestion: I'd love to see Mark In/Out shortcut keys specifically bindable as Text Panel shortcuts too. @Kerstin Ebert actually touched on this a bit in her post. Clicking and dragging or using the Select to Next/Previous word shortcuts works great. No complaints there. That said, my instinct as an editor (and I'm sure many others) is to use I/O to set ins and outs. Ironically enough these keys do technically still work for me, as they are app-wide shortcuts. When I click on a word, the playhead automatically moves to the start of the word, meaning pressing 'I' works perfectly, but pressing 'O' will mark my out before the word is spoken (which in my mind - I expected it would include that word in full). I think it'd be awesome to be able to tweak some Text-Panel specific behaviors and allow for traditional I/O keyboard behavior in the Text panel - simply because it's so engrained to muscle memory. Maybe not as high of a priority, but would still be great!
Sorry for the long post, but I wasn't kidding before - this truly can be a game changer that rivals dedicated transcription services and software. The dream scenario I see is:
- Being able to transcribe an interview as text
- Press I on the first word I want
- Press O on the last word I want
- Press Insert/Overwrite and that selection drops into a sequence.
- Rinse and repeat to build a rough cut.
Really awesome stuff, with a lot of great potential to fundamentally change how people approach logging and forming their stories. Thanks!
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