Instruction: Step 5: And Yes, it won’t ever be complete without a little swing, right

Response:
Sound effects work like magic in bringing life to even the simplest of videos. However, you can’t just add any song or jingle that you downloaded off the internet and use it in your video. Royalty-free music comes with no copyright protection and is a safe and viable way to go about. Some websites where you can get royalty-free music are Incompetech and Audionautix.
Step 6: Edit it and Make it Final!
Got everything sorted? Great! Now is the time to put it all together in a video and let it create magic! Video editing software aren’t too tricky to use — you can actually just drop the images, sounds, and music on a timeline, add transits, and some fine-tuning, and voila! Your video will be ready! Some commonly used video-editing software includes names like Adobe Aftereffects, PowerPoint, and Camtasia. If you are not aware of the sources for doing the above processes, not having much time to search them, or even limitations with the budget, that’s perfectly fine. You can use a simple online-animated video making tool (Which doesn’t require much training or external guidance) like Animaker, which adds professional touch when you do.
Step 7: The message in the End–Say it out Loud!
A perfect closing and effective call to action in your video can prove to be a positive booster for your business in the long run.
Google prefers videos over content! According to research, videos have a 50% greater chance to rank on the first page of search results as compared to plain content.Videos are a better choice for increasing SEO rankings as there is lesser competition for video content instead of the growing number of web pages full of content that are added online every minute.Videos are a more relatable, fun, and catchy medium and can go viral in mere hours because they are exciting to watch and can be shared socially with just a click!You can analyze your performance and use video analytics and statistics to improve your current and future marketing campaigns.
So, are you all set to make your mark in full animation and take the word of marketing by storm? Get started with an animated video today — it’s simple, it’s fun and it has zillions of other perks that one looks for in a successful marketing campaign.
- Step 1: It All Starts with the concept - Step 2: Word-fy your thoughts with a script! - Step 3: Tell your story your own way–Introduction to Storyboarding - Step 4: Breathe Life into Animation with the Voice of your Brand- Step 5: And Yes, it won’t ever be complete without a little swing, right?- Step 6: Edit it and Make it Final!- Step 7: The message in the End–Say it out Loud!


Instruction: When is a dictation considered poor quality

Context: Learning resources on media production, voice acting and audio-visual translation, dubbing, subtitling and transcriprion


Instruction: In the transcription work, you will encounter some bad quality dictation. And what can you do when you receive a poor-quality audio file to transcribe

Response:
Poor-quality dictation includes background noise, muffled dictation, overlapping conversations, and speakers that are recorded at different volumes.
Any background noises on audio can make it more difficult for the transcriptionist to hear what is being said and transcribe accurately. A bad audio recording may contain too many inaudibles to get a useful transcript.
Ideally, all recordings that will need to be transcribed, including interviews, and focus groups, should be conducted in a quiet setting, without noises from traffic, ringing telephones, air conditioners, and heaters. However, recordings are often done in less than perfect conditions. When an interview has background noise or the microphone is not placed near the interviewees, the interviewer’s questions might be clear but the interviewees’ answers may not be. This is a common challenge when transcribing group discussions and other recordings involving multiple people.


Instruction: So, what should you do when you get a bad-quality recording

Response:
Where encountering poor-quality audio, review the quality of the recording and try some of the following methods to see if you can understand what’s said better.
4 tips to make it easier to transcribe bad quality audio.
Listen with a good-quality headset or earphones. A good quality headset will definitely help. Headphones give you better sound, will help you hear better what’s being said, and will make it easier to transcribe as accurately as possible. The Spectra USB transcription headset and the Spectra transcription earbuds are popular headsets for transcription.Slow down and speed up the recording may help to distinguish the words better. Slowing the audio down often helps with clarity issues.Enhance the audio with a sound editor. You’ll only need to use a sound editor in rare situations where hard-to-hear dictation must be recovered. Audio and sound editors can remove background noise and enhance the audio so you can hear the voices better and make it easier to transcribe bad quality audio.  Audacity, a free sound editor, can remove noise and clean up the sound.The free transcription software, Express Scribe has an audio clean-up tool that can eliminate background noises but sound editors can do an even better job.
How to indicate inaudible words
How should a transcriptionist handle inaudibles?
If a section of the audio is hard-to-hear or if you don’t understand one or more words or sentences, pay attention to the context to help understand what is said, but don’t guess!
Instead, mention [inaudible] or [unintelligible] or [several inaudible words]. It’s even better to add the timestamp to the [inaudible], e.g. “[inaudible at 00:13:42]” so that the reader can quickly find and listen to the inaudible part.It is better to indicate that words are inaudible than to transcribe incorrect words. “Inaudible” means that you can’t hear it, while “unintelligible” means that you hear sounds but can’t make them out but most people just use the term inaudible for both situations.Some transcriptionists use [] while others use ().  Some companies or clients may instruct you to indicate inaudible differently. For example, one company is instructing their transcriptionists to use (“word indistinct”), (“3 words indistinct”) (“passage of about 20 words indistinct”). Another company uses [indiscernible].Words can also be unclear if a person interrupts (put –) or tails off (put …).
Communicate with your client
When you still can’t understand a recording when using a good headset and you’ve tried to slow down the recording, then you definitely have a poor recording.
After assessing audio that will be hard to transcribe, inform your client of the problem. Tell them if you think the audio is viable for transcription. Let them know that you can attempt to enhance the sound (at the client’s expense) and try to transcribe the audio but make them aware that it will take more time, cost more and the transcript will have a lot of gaps. Then ask if they want to proceed with the transcript and pay the extra money.
Some clients understand bad quality audio, and the difficulty this brings during transcription, while others are not. Some clients may want you to transcribe the poor-quality dictation and try to capture as much as you can–even if you’re only going to transcribe part of the recording. Others may decide that it’s not worth the cost.
When you have to rewind and re-listen repeatedly, it can take a long time and be frustrating to transcribe. Your typical poor audio will just be a little more challenging to transcribe than good quality audio, take longer, and have more in audibles. But a few poor quality audios you’ll receive are going to be bad enough to turn them down.
Transcriptionists have to calculate the extra time and effort it will take when pricing a bad recording.
To avoid getting bad quality audio for transcription, give your clients tips on how to create good quality recordings and inform them that the quality of the audio file will affect the quality of the transcript, the difficulty to transcribe audio, and the transcription cost.
Challenges Of Transcribing Audio To Files
Challenge 1: Resource Selection and Retention
Depending on the language for transcription and the deadlines, it can be a challenge to find local resources for transcription and quality assurance who can remain dedicated for the duration of the project. For most transcription projects, dedicated resources are needed to meet the client's deadlines.
Teams are needed per language:
Resource Manager to identify, select and interview suitable resources for the projectTranscribers to transcribe the audioLead QA and linguist to run the Quality Assurance checksSenior project manager to ensure the overall smooth running of the project
Producing professional-quality transcription can take a considerable amount of patience and effort. Depending on the transcriptions needed, the work can be tedious and even frustrating for resources, and for this reason, among others, some resources may drop out during the project, meaning the interview and training process can be ongoing throughout the life cycle of a project.
Challenge Two: Quality of the Audio
Below are some factors which can influence how difficult audio content is to transcribe:
The quality of the audioWhether the dialogue is scripted (usually marketing content) or unscripted (call centre conversations for example)The nature of the content of the audioThe Quality of the speaker’s voiceDifferent dialects and accentsBackground noise
Because, mostly, the audio contains natural conversations, these are some issues:
Overlapping speechMispronounced wordsJargonUnintelligible words
Challenge Three: Training
Examples of content in transcription training include:
Segmenting of conversation breakpoints/natural boundaries (maximum lengths set by clients’ engineers)Marking different voices within conversationsHandling regional variant vocabulary and jargonTagging unintelligible content or heavily accented speechExplaining the rules for acronyms and abbreviationsTagging interjections, hesitations, and conversational pauses, etc.Learning keyboard shortcuts, spellchecker, and dictionary functionsIdentifying known bugs
As the different transcriber tools required might not be one that even dedicated transcribers may be familiar with, a considerable amount of time is spent ensuring that the teams are familiar with their operations and limitations.
Challenge Four: Security
Because of the sensitive nature of the conversations which can contain customers’ information, it is important to meet high-security level requirements for our clients.
Audio and transcribed content must be kept within a secure network, and strict NDA agreements set up with all resources involved in the projects.
Captions and subtitles are crucial to a social media video strategy


Instruction: You’ve probably heard this before–about 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. That means that captioning and subtitling these videos is crucial to their success on this social media platform, and on just about any other. And social media content has its own set of unique video localization challenges. What to do

Response:
The above statistic comes from Digiday, an online portal for digital media, marketing, and advertising professionals, and it has been widely quoted within the online marketing industry. It makes sense intuitively since many people check their social media feeds on public transportation, in restaurants, at work, or in other situations where the audio would be intrusive. However,
According to Facebook Business, in 2016, 41% of videos on their platform don’t make sense without the sound, which is why it's not surprising that videos with captions are watched 12% longer. And more and more video content is migrating to social media–both legacy content that’s getting repurposed, and new content created just for this growing audience. All these videos need captions and subtitles, and here’s what you need to know to get started on them.
1. Always caption your source videos
Captioning makes videos accessible to members of your audience who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. It increases SEO on some platforms. And again, it’s crucial to video engagement in about half of the viewing scenarios.
In fact, most video hosting sites (including YouTube and Facebook) have speech-to-text auto-captioning features that users can trigger–and which sometimes don’t have great results, especially with brand and proprietary names. Thus, it’s crucial to source captions from a professional vendor like JBI Studios, to integrate with your video upload.
2. Plan for text-heavy videos–even ones without voice-over
Social media videos are so prevalent, and the need for them to work without sound is so predominant, that a specific text-heavy video has become common in the last three years. You’ve probably seen them from publishers like UNILAD, LADbible, NowThis, Mic, Popsugar, or even more traditional publishers like the New York Times, CNN, or The Atlantic, who are all aggressively targeting social media users.
These kinds of videos are hard to subtitle for two reasons. First, many of them don’t have any voice-over, so there’s really nothing to caption or subtitle–localizing relies on on-screen titles replacement. This may even be less cost-effective if the titles are design-heavy. Second, videos with titles that heavily mirror the VO may end up with too much text on-screen, making them hard-to-watch.
So, what do you do? Be aware that these videos have different needs and create a comprehensive multimedia localization plan for them. Have a video with titles that mirror the voice-over? Decide early on whether you’ll replace them with full design elements, or provide a simplified text track. Or, you could create videos with simpler titles for the localized versions to be more cost-effective. Whatever you do, make sure you respond to the video's specific localization needs.
3. Keep translations succinct
This is a good tip for any subtitle’s translation, but especially for social media videos. Remember that the videos are seen on phones and tablets, with much smaller fonts. Stick to the character limits assiduously and go shorter if possible. This is difficult for Romance languages especially –
You’ll run into this issue with French and Spanish subtitling projects, for example. But readability will be crucial to video engagement.
4. Burn subs in for hard-to-read character sets
Non-Latin languages may be even more difficult to read–think of Arabic or Japanese subtitles, or any other right-to-left or double-byte character set. For these languages, consider open subs (burning the text to video), so you have more control over font size and placement. This will require a stand-alone video for each language audience, so work closely with your international marketing team on this decision.
5. Consider subtitles for the deaf-and-hearing impaired
This is a relatively recent usability standard, but subtitles for the deaf-and-hearing impaired is a great deliverable for social media videos. Why? Because SDH makes videos accessible in a way that doesn’t require any of the audio to play–perfect for a “no-audio” foreign-language environment. Look at this option when localizing for social media.
6. Plan localization workflows during the initial production
Ultimately, remember that your captions and subs have to do three things–provide accessibility to the deaf-and-hearing impaired, provide translations to foreign-language audiences, and make the videos accessible in no-audio environments. And remember that videos may have already been created with the no-audio environment in mind, so that the caption or subtitle process will have to be amended to avoid over-translation, or even just too much text on the screen. For this reason, it’s imperative to discuss the localization workflow while the source videos are developed by your marketing team. This is a best practice but with social media, planning is crucial to keeping projects on budget and timeline and maximizing the videos’ reach across multiple platforms.
Common Challenges Faced When Captioning/Subtitling
One area in which translators are most visible within the localization industry is captioning / subtitling. This is in part driven by the global nature of films. Also, there is a desire of people around the world to enjoy both films and television series in languages spoken in countries other than their native ones. As there are constantly new productions being produced around the world, many of which are translated into a variety of different languages, it is probable that most translators will translate subtitles at some point. However, translating subtitles has unique challenges, despite the language usually not being as technically difficult as what many translators might be used to.
Tone/register: In films and television shows, the dialog tends to be informal, rather than formal, technical language. While this may make translating subtitles seem easier, it isn’t necessarily so.
Cultural adaptation/localization: As mentioned above, the dialog also usually contains a lot of region-specific slang, idioms, and cultural references, which can make it a real headache to localize. However, if the translator has specific knowledge regarding the regionalisms and culture and of the country or region where the film was produced, they will have a competitive edge. For example, a Spanish to English translator with a very strong knowledge of Mexican culture and informal language, but who has very little knowledge of these aspects regarding other Spanish-speaking countries, will be able to translate a Mexican film much better than he or she could do with one from another country, such as Spain or Argentina.
Length: Another challenge to translating subtitles is keeping each subtitle short enough to comfortably fit on the screen so that it may be read easily and quickly by viewers. In order to do this, translators should be aware of limitations regarding the number of characters appropriate for each line of subtitles and do their best to adhere to them. This often means opting for shorter words or simpler language in order to keep the character count down.
Style: Also, when translating subtitles, an extra effort should be made to not include any literal translations. A literal style of translation will confuse the audience and will stand out as poor writing, which can greatly impair the viewing experience. This also includes making the appropriate conversions of things like weight, length, and time based on the region and language of the intended audience. Language in subtitles should have a natural flow and be easy to read so that the viewer does not have to divert focus from the movie or TV show they are watching, just to try to understand the subtitles. A literal translation of subtitles, or one which does not flow naturally, can turn a fantastic movie into an experience that is much less enjoyable.
One of the areas in which translators are most active within the localization industry is subtitling. Used in a medium such as films, TV, and training videos, to healthcare and medical research, subtitling can be a complex service to get right. Here are some reasons why:
This factor can be particularly challenging for subtitles, regardless of whether you’re translating them or not. Even relatively basic conversations can be hard to keep up with when there are several speakers at once. Not only do you need to think about screen space and pacing, but you also have to make sure the corresponding text is visible as people are speaking and that readers can finish reading each subtitle before the next appears. Things get even more tricky when you have to deal with fast-paced conversations, arguments, or debates between half a dozen people.
Voice acting is a career that can earn one a living if well used. A voice is a precious weapon someone can use wisely or in the wrong way and ruin his/her life. It is therefore necessary to take care of that precious talent and make a living. Getting an agent depends on certain factors.
While many beginning voice actors have heard of voice talent agents, one of the most common questions is “What will getting a voice talent agent ultimately do for my career?”
An agent should act a part marketer, part manager. Their primary role is to promote their talent to prospective clients and help them find promising auditions and jobs.
Getting agency representation doesn’t guarantee that you’ll land more work, but agents are generally closely connected to studios and ad agencies, who forward them exclusive audition opportunities.
When to Seek Agency Representation
Setting out on the hunt for a voice talent agent shouldn’t be the very first move that you make in your career.
Before you dial the numbers of every voice talent agent you can find, consider a handful of critical questions regarding your career and your goals. These may include:


Instruction: What stage are you in your career (e.g. Are you still hunting for your first voice over job, or are you inundated by so much work that it’s hard to determine what the right opportunities are?)What type of agency is suited to your needs (e.g. boutique or full-service)?What can you expect when meeting with agents and signing a contract?How do you want your career to evolve once an agent gets involved

Response:
Most agents would prefer to know that you have already done paid voiceover work. That said, it is possible to sign with an agent before you’ve booked anything. Something you will need for sure, though, is a produced voiceover demo: a short audio clip, composed of a variety of ‘spots,’ that best showcases your voice acting capabilities.
If you’ve got an impressive demo and you are the right voice at the right time, a voice talent agent is far more likely to take a chance on you than were you to suddenly emerge with nothing to show for yourself.
How to Get a Voice Talent Agent
Once you look into a series of voice talent agencies, you’re bound to notice that there are two primary types: full-service agencies and boutique agencies.
Full-service agencies represent a wide range of talent working in several fields throughout the entertainment business, including theatre, film, TV, modeling, and voice over. Boutique agencies will typically zero in on a particular domain, and they’re largely based in city centers (also known as ‘major markets’) that have an extensive pool of talent to draw upon. Some agencies only sign talent who live within a certain radius and can attend in-studio recording sessions, while others are on the lookout to sign talent regardless of their home base.
Before you contact a talent agency, it is imperative that you conduct some research and single out the agency (full-service or boutique, based nearby or faraway, etc.) that will best represent you and your career objectives. Note: you should be clear on your career objectives before meeting with any agents. Setting your goals is your responsibility, not an agent’s. Put out some feelers and try to meet with over one prospective agent.
When you’re drafting messages and reaching out to agencies, read each of their submission guidelines thoroughly. You’ll realize that certain agencies only request that you submit an MP3 file of your demo, while others may look for a link to your personal website or a written statement.


Instruction: Practice putting yourself in the agency’s shoes: Why should they want to sign you? What can you offer by joining their roster of talent

Response:
Landing agency representation won’t come easy, so remember to remain patient, and don’t let rejection discourage you. Different agencies will have their own preferences and business goals.
Meeting with a Voice Talent Agent
So, you’ve scheduled a meeting with an agent. Ahead of your meeting, keep the following in mind so you appear a smart business person who knows their own worth:
Don’t go into the meeting desperate to sign a contract, no matter what it reads
This may cause you selling yourself short, leaping into a contract that doesn’t align with your expectations or value, or agreeing to conditions that you aren’t fully comfortable with.
Remember, you’re interviewing your prospective agent as much as they are interviewing you
Ask to see testimonials or reviews from others who have worked with them, query about the talent they represent, and where they see you fitting into their agency’s roster and overarching vision.
Go with the agent who you feel most comfortable around
We advise settling on the agent who is genuinely excited to get to work with you, and who proposes the offer that makes the most sense to you.
Tip: Agents should never ask for upfront fees. Be wary of anyone who tries to pressure you into getting headshots or acting lessons at your own expense. The agent will probably inflate the amount and take the ‘finder’s fee’ for themselves. Don’t buy into this trap.
Signing a Contract
When you sign with a voice talent agent, you’ll most likely be presented with the option to choose between the two standard contract lengths: 1 year or 3 years.
If you’re an industry newcomer, it’s also possible that an agent will request you undergo a 3-6-month trial period before signing on for a full-length contract.
It’s critical that you comb through the entire contract and comprehend all that’s expected of you before signing with an agent. Otherwise, you may fail to realize that you have ‘signed away’ some liberties enjoyed by the freelance voice talent. Don’t be afraid to ask questions as you parse through the ‘legalese.’
Before your agency representation is a done deal, an agent may request complete exclusivity. If this is the case, then you won’t be permitted to take work from any other source unless your agent was the one to arrange it for you. Your contract’s terms may be presented in absolutes even though they are negotiable. Take your time before signing anything that you feel apprehensive about.
What Your Agent Will Do for You
A friendly agent will serve as the liaison between you and your clients. Agents are strong negotiators who seek work opportunities and book auditions. They’ll submit your demo for roles they believe you’re suited for. If you’re interested in the opportunity, they’ll forward you the script, the time, date, and location of the audition.
Once you’ve completed a job set up by your agent, the payment will probably pass through the agency. Agents charge a 10-15% commission. This may be a total sum of services and/or on each job you land. If they charge more than that, be sure to ask why their commission structure is higher than the norm and how their services differ from others to validate it. The agent’s commission will be deducted from your earnings and the remaining amount will be sent to you. Unless the agent secures valuable work, then they won’t make a profit.
Agencies stay on top of the latest trends and continuously seek fresh voices that represent industry changes. They’re always keeping an ear out for fresh voices that complement their existing line-up of talent since it’s the only way the agency can remain competitive and viable.
All that being said, your agent will probably have several voice actors who they are constantly working to maintain a strong rapport with. Stay relevant by keeping in frequent contact with your agent.
Make sure to let your agent know if you’re going on vacation, and contact them upon your return to let them know you’ll be available to audition and take on new jobs again.
When your agent helps you land a role you’re proud of, take a moment to send them a Thank-You card. When a holiday comes up, send them a greeting card. Do what you can to stay at the forefront of their mind without pestering them.
If you show your agent that you’re invested in your career, they will be too.
Language services come in two major components, translation and interpreting. Each one has several sub-branches, specific services to cater to different topics. One sub-branch under translation is transcription, which is one of the fastest-growing jobs in the United States.
Transcription converts audio files into text. Audio files can be in MP3 or WAV formats while video file formats vary, from AVI, MP4, FLV, MOV or WMV. Transcriptions serve many purposes, from medical to legal or business. It can be used as evidence in a case trial or as a reference for voice recordings and translation.
In transcription work, the ideal scenario is to have recordings where the audio is clear and audible and in the same language, even if there are multiple people in the recording. But that is not always the case. There will always be instances when the recordings are complicated.
The actual transcription process is already difficult, but the level of difficulty rises higher when several languages are heard in one recording and people are speaking in a hurried and tense manner.
Complications in transcription
A good transcriptionist is trained to expect complexities in transcription work. In transcription, timestamps are required to show the exact time when something is spoken. Not only the words spoken by the main speakers are transcribed. Almost everything within the recording is transcribed, including background noise, coughing, laughter, and other things that are heard or spoken in the background.
Transcription covers every element that is captured in the recording, including the elements that make transcription difficult.
Background noise includes strong wind, other people screaming or talking, sirens, or various traffic sounds. These are some elements that can compete with the voices of the main speakers that can make it harder for the transcription work to proceed faster. In most cases, the transcriptionist marks the audio parts with audible or inaudible if it is no longer possible to understand what is being said.
Speakers using other languages also make transcription difficult. In a report or interview, for example, one language can be used by one person while another could be speaking in a different language and a translator is needed. If this is the case, different persons may be needed to transcribe the recording.
Slang or strong accent is another element that complicates the transcribing process. Even if only one language is used, the accent of the speaker or the slang of the speaker can pose a challenge to the transcriptionist. It would be ideal if the speaker or speakers have a neutral vocabulary and accent.
The volume and speed of the conversation also affect the process of transcription. Since the transcriptionist has to type the transcription, the faster the speaker speaks, the slower the transcription becomes since the transcriptionist has to rewind the recording several times to pick up all the audio. Even if the transcriber is a quick typist, it will take time to understand what’s being said and translate it into text. The volume of the speaker’s voice is also important. If it is very low and quiet, it could be hard to understand or pick up what is being said.
Role of the transcriber
In the early days of transcription service, the transcriber had to use shorthand to write everything that is heard in the recording, before cleaning it up and type it. Today, transcribers use computers, foot pedals, and professional transcribing applications.
The audio or video file can be sent online through email or other file sharing applications. These make it easier for transcriptionists to download the file, load it into the professional software, and start typing the transcription.
The transcriber will add the proper punctuation marks, new paragraphs, and full stops.
A professional transcriber who uses touch-typing normally types about 75 words in one minute. Taking this as the basis, the industry standard to transcribe a 60-minute recorded video or audio is about 4 to 5 hours (minimum) of transcription work. Several factors may affect the speed of the transcription such as the speed of the conversation, the number of persons speaking in the recording, and its clarity, including the clarity of the speaking voice of the speakers.
All the mentioned variables add time to the transcribing work. The client must understand that a professional transcriptionist cannot type at the normal typing speed because of the need to capture all the audible sounds in the audio or video file. On average, a speaker will speak at a speed that is four to five times faster than the typing speed of a transcriber.
How to deal with transcriptions
Transcription is one of the most demanding and labor-intensive among all translation services. It requires high-skills from the transcriptionist, from listening to the audio or video file, researching the subject, understanding the context of the recording, and typing the audio into readable text.
For a professional transcriptionist, it is important to know what the clients want. Some of these include:
Typing the audio exactly as spoken, including the audible pauses such as ‘ers’ and ‘ums’ or remove them but keep the rest of the audio. Clients may want the transcription to be grammatically correct or make the non-native speakers of English sound like one.Remove or include the full questions when working on an interview. If the interviewee says something ”off the record,” the transcriber has to find out if the client wants to remove it or include the response and add an ”off the record mark.”Capture and mark the pauses. It is also important to know how to treat the pauses made by the speaker/s.Putting a mark on the words or sections that are not clear.Timestamps on the document.Identifying the speakers.K. or U.S. spelling.Line spacing and special font.
Style standards
A style guide is followed by a translation company that offers transcription services. The example below illustrates how it is done.
Brackets are often used to show sounds that interrupt the main dialogue. They are used to enclose a short description of the sound, which is usually descriptive, such as [applause], [laughter], or [phone ringing]. If there is a notable stop in the speaker’s sentence, a bracket is used to show it, such as [cut off] or three succeeding ellipses. The transcriptionist can also enclose the description of the tone of voice of the speaker in brackets, such as [angry], [happy], or [joking].The transcriber can also use brackets followed by a timestamp to show uncertainty with the spoken word, for example, [crosstalk][00:00]. The speaker’s sentence should be completed before putting the other speaker’s words in another paragraph. The term ”inaudible” should be enclosed in brackets followed by a timestamp if it is not possible to understand what’s being said. This method is also applied to instances when the transcriber is unsure of the name, title or spelling by enclosing ”phonetic” in brackets and spelling the word phonetically to the best of the transcriber’s ability.Some transcriptions are required to have time stamps. Timestamps are also enclosed in brackets. They should be added every 30 seconds. It should come after the name of the speaker and before the transcribed words. Timestamps should also be added when there is a change of speaker.A colon should be used after the name of the speaker. The speaker’s name should be bold to distinguish it from the rest of the text. If a timestamp is needed, it should be added after the colon that is placed after the speaker’s name.Timestamps should only be indicated in minutes and seconds, so an hour and fifteen minutes is written as [75:00].Only the name, title, or gender are used as speaker labels, such as [Atty. Landon], [Manager], or [woman] in this order of hierarchy. It is important to use descriptive speaker labels to make them distinct. If there is a large group and many are talking, it is all right to label them as [audience] and refer to a person from the audience speaking as [audience member] instead of [man].If the persistent background sound does not affect the quality of the dialogue, add a note of it in the transcription at least once, at the time that it first occurred. It is all right to remove filler words or statements. Remove conjunctions such as ‘but’ or ‘and’ that start a speaker’s sentence.
Some clients need word-for-word transcriptions, where the verbal and nonverbal nuances are captured. When the request is for verbatim transcriptions, the transcriber must include all audible sounds and how the words are pronounced, such as ‘cos’, ‘coz’, or ‘cuz’ instead of because, slangs, phrasings that are repeated, fillers and false starts.
Accuracy is important in verbatim transcription so punctuations must be used as is, but grammatical changes are not permitted. Sounds that do not interrupt the conversation should be included in brackets every instance they occur. A hyphen is used mid-word when a speaker stutters or repeats certain words.
The transcriptionist should have a copy of the client’s special terminology so the transcription would be accurate.
So many rules and conventions must be followed when doing audio transcription, which is why it is difficult. It demands more from the translator; thus, it is a specialized field. Be sure to work only with a professional transcription services provider with years of experience to ensure that your audio or video file is transcribed accurately and according to your specific needs.
One of the common questions perhaps your peers outside the voice acting sphere would ask you, “What do you do when your voice gets hoarse?” or “Is your voice the same when you have a sore throat?” But answering them is just one thing, the real challenge is how you overcome VO burnout/fatigue.
In the voice-over career, investments are not just about the recording equipment and studio. The real name of the game here is taking care of your ultimate investment asset — your voice.


Instruction: What is vo fatigue

Response:
VO fatigue or vocal fatigue is a voice-over term that describes strain, tiredness, or weakness in your voice resulting from the endless pursuit of voice over success.
Symptoms of vocal fatigue
Before it hits you, you already see the fatigue approaching you from afar. And subconsciously, you plan to escape from it in many ways which will be discussed later. Here’s a list of symptoms:
Sore or itchy throatHoarse voiceReduced volumeReduced vocal rangeWarm or cold feeling in the throatDryness and viscous salivaDehydration especially in the morning when you wake upMuscular tension in the neck and throat


Instruction: What causes voice actors’ vocal fatigue

Response:
Because most voice actors are independent workers and given the highly competitive VO market, you would likely to do anything to take on as many voiceover jobs as you can.
There’s nothing so wrong about being a go-getter; It’s what it takes for every individual to be successful. But this is not applicable to a career where the product you sell is sourced from a specific part of your body. Pushing yourselves to the limits of what your voice can do abuses your vocal strength, thus, giving you vocal burnouts that jeopardize more opportunities than you fear losing because of your impulsiveness.
While it’s normal that you are after the unwavering quality of each voice-over job you take, protecting your voice is just as valuable as keeping the consistency in your recordings. If your voice suffers, even if you want to do just as good as your other projects, the quality will inevitably be crippled.


Instruction: So how do I avoid fatigue from doing too much voice-over before it does the major damage

Response:
1. Stay Hydrated
This is the number 1 rule, with or without fatigue. Drink lukewarm water as often as you can to keep your vocal folds lubricated. Herbal tea with honey, lemon juice, and ginger tea are also be a powerful aid that can keep your chords in good shape. As much as you can control, mitigate the intake of alcohol, coffee, and soda as they strip your vocal cords of their natural moisture.
2. Take a break and rest
When we say rest, we meant not just a vocal rest, but a complete break from all strenuous physical and mental activity. This can range from a day to a week or two, it’s totally up to you. Many voice actors practice the good habit of going on a vacation, where they totally forget about their job and engage themselves in mindless activities where they can do nothing but relax.
3. Stay away from noisy places
When you are in a noise environment, you talk above the noise, causing a strain on your voice. Take the pressure off your sound and speak gently. Speak in a relaxed, and light tone and pace. Excessive chatting with your friends in the flesh or over the phone consumes your energy and abuses your throat. As much as you can, try to minimize the unnecessary talk especially if you feel like the fatigue is going to hit you soon.
4. Take vocal naps
A vocal nap is a short period of voice rest from (5 to 20 minutes). Throughout your day, try to vary your workload so you can find short periods of vocal rest and so you don’t do all your vocally intensive work in one short period. Likewise, try to effectively use break times by resting your voice.
5. Do warm-ups before putting your voice on
Like sports, voice acting needs a warm-up. You don’t just run a marathon straight up. Every professional voice user needs to know how to warm-up their voices effectively. A good voice coach can help you develop a warm-up tailored to your needs. Research has shown that voice actors who warm-up, report fewer instances of vocal fatigue, and recover more quickly from heavy voice use as warm-ups increase voice stamina and range.
6. Take a step back from taking throat-ripping projects
You should also assert which voice over genre is suitable for your voice type. Being able to voice a strong character in a video game once does not mean it suits you. Ask yourself if you can style that over and over without voice strain.
7. Save your voice for what really counts
This can be ironic because you are always given tips and advice that you should be consistent with all your auditions and projects. But it’s not wrong to be wise enough to know where to save your vocal strength. If you are just rehearsing on your own, remember you are allowed to use a gentle voice instead of blasting every take like it is the last take for your project or an audition in front of your client.
8. Consider consulting a doctor right away
If your vocal fatigue persists for several weeks, it’s a big red flag waving at you to consult a voice therapist or ENT doctor. Underestimating your chronic vocal burnouts can lead to a lot more serious voice problems. Specialist treatment can include medication (e.g. throat sprays, lozenges), surgery, voice therapy, or a combination of these.
9. Do some breathing exercises
Yes, breathing exercises can train your lungs to absorb and release air that reduces the stress in your vocal folds.
10. Maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle
This should be the basic routine for anyone who uses voice for their living. Avoid eating spicy food, sweets, and cold. Don’t smoke and avoid second-hand smoke as they irritate the vocal folds. Make it to a certain too that you have good mouth hygiene and avoid mouthwash that contains alcohol or irritating chemicals.
All these tips to avoid vocal fatigue should be kept in mind and it should be a no-brainer that protecting your voice should be on top of everything else in your responsibilities as a voice actor.
Advice from Experts: What to do when you lose your voice
If you’re a coach or a teacher, it’s no doubt that you’ve strained or lost your voice or at the very least suffered from a sore throat when you have to coach or teach. This isn’t a hopeless situation! There are some guidelines you can follow to ease the suffering–or at least get through those hours–when you need to use your voice.
If anyone would know what intense coaching and teaching can do to your voice, it’s Patti Komara*. She’s one of the industry’s most amazing and experienced in teaching gymnastics! But even she has worn her throat out, developing vocal nodes on her throat that required her to go to speech therapy.
Here is her list of 10 guidelines that she learned from her speech therapy experience:
When you have a sore throat or you need vocal rest, speak softly. Don’t raise your voice or whisper (we tend to strain as we whisper and that puts a strain on our vocal cords).Drink a lot of water. Keep the cords hydrated. Soda pop dries out the vocal cords and alcohol and cigarettes are the worst. Milk creates mucous.Keep the rooms that you spend time in, filled with humidity, especially your bedroom. It should be no less than 40% humidity. Get a thermostat and barometer meter to hang on your wall.Don’t hack your throat or cough. You should sniff and swallow.Don’t turn away from whom you’re speaking to – look at them and speak softly.If you can, use a microphone when the music is on in the gym or dance school.Breathe through your nose, not your mouth, especially when exercising.Say fewer words.When sore, gargle 1 tsp. of salt in a glass of warm water. It knocks off the mucous from the cords.When at work, instead of yelling into the next room, use the inter-office intercom if available.Check out these five items to see if you’ve tried to cure your throat problems with false hope.Myth #1: Drink tea with lemon and honey.Is this a real cure? No.There is nothing wrong with honey, but tea and lemon are both acidic, which poses a serious problem to anyone who wants their voice to return.The vocal folds are made of delicate, epithelial tissue. Though the food may not come in contact with them directly during food consumption (if it did, you would choke), acidic foods can trigger acid reflux, bathing the throat area in corrosive stomach acids. The vocal folds are already subject to chronic low levels of inflammation because of normal reflux events that occur up to 50 times during the day.Tomatoes, citrus fruits, and chocolate are some acidic foods to avoid that can help to prevent reflux that can further damage the vocal folds.Myth #2: Slippery elm is a natural remedy for a raspy voice.Is this a real cure? No.Tea or lozenges made from the bark of the slippery elm tree has long been used as a remedy for sore, scratchy throats because this bark contains a gooey substance meant to be soothing. Singers go for the remedy, but there is no scientific evidence showing slippery elm is effective at protecting the voice or healing vocal folds.Sometimes it’s tough to tell if something that seems to work is a placebo or real because people really want to take something and get better right away. But since doctors admit that remedies such as slippery elm don’t really do any harm, it’s probably safe to try it if it provides comfort to do so.Myth #3: Drink a lot of water.Is this a real cure? Yes.Staying hydrated is simple and effective and it’s one of the best things to do when struggling with throat and voice problems.Viral infections and colds, as well as some medications people take when they are sick, cause dehydration, and impair the body’s ability to produce lubrication naturally.Water can help bring back a lost voice by lubricating the vocal folds and the rest of the throat. The vocal folds vibrate about 100 times per second in men and about 200 times per second in women. Water is necessary to keep that amount of friction from wearing down the epithelial tissue.A professor and director of the Vocal Health Center at the University of Michigan Medical School notes that moisture is good for the voice. The vibration of those folds is the fundamental source or sound. So, if it doesn’t respond the way it normally does, hoarseness is the result.Water is also a major component of the jelly matrix that comprises the bulk of the vocal folds. Hydration keeps the folds at the correct fullness so that they vibrate well and are not too tense to close properly, which creates a ragged, croaky sound.Using humidifiers or breathing steam can serve the same purpose, offering just a little more hydration to the sinuses and throat to promote healing.Viral infections are tough to prevent, to shorten, or recover from, so it’s important to learn how to live with it and minimize the impact of infections on the throat.Myth # 4: Have a hot toddy.Is this a real cure? No.Warm and sweet with a splash of alcohol and perhaps a few spices – that’s a hot toddy. The warming drinks, fortified with brandy, rum, or whiskey, are considered by many to stave off viral infections and soothe a raspy voice. But experts advise staying away from hot toddies. No. Stay away from them!Even though it sort of feels like the liquid is going down the throat and cleaning things out, it isn’t. Actually, it will be worse later.If you’re sick with a viral infection and struggling to speak, or you’ve simply strained your voice into raspy hoarseness, your throat needs to heal, and to do that it needs moisture. Alcohol does the opposite – it dehydrates and compounds your symptoms. Hot toddies usually are made with tea and lemon or orange – which promote acid reflux.The alcohol and acid are causing more damage than good.Myth #5: Whisper if you want to be heard.Is this a real cure? No.Forcing sounds when the vocal folds are inflamed is not recommended for fast healing because it smacks the vocal folds together with more force than they normally use and stresses them even more than the normal mechanical stress that can inflame on its own.The extra stress on the folds, from whispering or even loud throat clearing, can push already inflamed and irritated tissues beyond their limits and increase the time required for the throat to heal.Resting the vocal folds and throat by keeping silent is one of the best ways to promote healing. This would include refraining from singing, minimizing time spent on the telephone, and avoiding whispering or talking over loud music or crowds.But a person’s natural tendency to want to be heard can interfere with this plan. And a coach or teacher’s need to provide guidance and direction to a room full of students usually forces you to use your already stressed throat. Extra inflammation or damage affects you more than someone who does not use their voice as often.When you keep using an ailing throat, you open yourself up to the greater potential for permanent injury or severe damage from polyps, cysts, scar tissue.When you boil it down, regaining a lost voice is simply a matter of time. It’s important to “listen” to your voice. You can tell when it sounds different. When it does, it’s just trying to tell you something.
Collaboration is essential to making a great explanatory video. Working together on something as involved, creative, and nuanced, as an animated video production for your business, takes weeks of emails, meetings, comments, notes, drafts, animatics, and renders. Successful explainer videos don’t happen in a vacuum.
To help manage that constant communication not only between client and explainer video studio but also within the animation team itself, we rely on a suite of digital collaboration tools and cloud software to get the job from pitch to perfection. Here’s a look at some online collaboration tools and productivity apps we can use to create the animated videos that take your business to the next level.
Handy Tools For Quality Animation


Instruction: Have a great idea for a moving image but don’t know how to turn it into a video

Response:
What tools should animators use? There are a plethora of tools out there that you can use for your animation work. As we delve deeper into this article, let us first look at some of the best tools that will come in handy for your animation work, whether if you are an armature or a professional animator.
1. Desygner
Animated videos are fun, but making them can be a tedious task. With Desygner, you can animate your designs in seconds. Whether you want a simple GIF or a production-ready animation, you can create an animated masterpiece easier than ever before.
https://youtu.be/dmw3MaPAYL4
Desygner is an intuitive animation creator that instantly turns your designs into animated masterpieces. Their exclusive animation creator lets you add motion to any image you want. Your imagination is the only limit.
The workflow of animation production
What if you want a professional animation company to handle your animation work or if you wish to start your own animation business? The video below illustrates the workflow you would expect.


Instruction: How do you start a small animation business

Response:
Start by identifying the work you want to do. Ask yourself what kind of service you want to offer. ...Build your team. You may well not have all the skills needed to make short films. ...Create a working name. ...Choose your team wisely. ...Create a business plan.
An animation studio is a company producing animated media. The broadest such companies conceive of products to produce, own the physical equipment for production, use operators for that equipment, and hold a major stake in the sales or rentals of the media produced.
Depends on the animation type. The reason most films are going to computer animation is because it is significantly cheaper to make than drawn cartoons. ... A single second of animated footage usually has about 24 pictures in. For a drawn cartoon then this requires 24 pictures.
The main reason that a low-level animator's salary is so low is because they don't receive an hourly salary. Most studios payout per frame so that the pay is dependent on how much the animator can get done and also on how complicated the frame might be.
It's fairly hard to break into animation, but once you are in, as long as you can play nice with others, you are 'in'. Most jobs animators get are because of referrals from other animators. ... For instance, an animation studio posted a job for an animator for a TV series. They received 1500 resumes.
Japanese animation, also known as anime (pronounced "ani-may""), is a popular form of animation in Japan which is quickly spreading in the U.S. The major difference between anime and American cartoons is that unlike American cartoons, which are only watched by children, anime is popular among the Japanese adults and is
So, you’d like to order your first animated video? Great, here’s what you should do.
Imagine that you’re ordering a tailor-made suit. You need to give the tailor a lot of information - your measurements, the fabric you’d like to use, the design of your suit, and many other things.
The same goes for ordering an animated video.
To kick-start your animation project, you will need to write a good brief. Don’t assume that people on the other side will know what you have in mind.
Explain your product or service, write the essentials of your brand and company, and present your target audience. That’s how the animation studio will know how to develop a video that matches your business objectives.
Here is a detailed guide to help you write a good brief for an animation studio.
1. Define your goal
Your brief needs to clearly state the video's purpose. Let the animation studio know how you intend to use this video and what is your target audience. Your brief should also make it clear how you define the video campaign as successful.
Tell the animation studio what you are planning to achieve with the video and what you hope will happen once the video is finished and live.It is smart to also establish a metric that will measure the success of the video once it is released. That could be the number of views to your website or the video's click-through rate.
2. Tell something more about your target audience
The animation studio needs to have a full understanding of the audience on a receiving end of your project.
Focus on one primary segment of your audience per video. You can define a secondary or tertiary audience.
Animation producers could also use an example of your customer. Create your audience member’s profile that perfectly captures the essential characteristic of your target audience or its segments. Tell the studio where most of your customers come from, what is their age, gender, occupation, and others. But don’t limit yourself to demographic data - providing the studio with a description of their lifestyle might be even more valuable and effective.
3. make your selling point clear
The core message of your animation project needs to clearly communicate its benefits for viewers. “What's in it for me?” - that is the question your target will be asking. And the answer should land in your brief.
Describe these benefits and you can be sure that your message is not only understood, but also that the viewers of your video act upon it.
Define one key message per audience. If you present more than one message, your brief will be confusing. Your animation project might feature too much information and that could be a sign that you need to produce more than one video.
Present the key benefits of your product and why customers should buy it. Marketers call these arguments Reason-to-Believe or Reason-Why. It’s a good idea to show the animation studio the emotional or rational arguments that stand behind your offer.


Instruction: 4. What is your budget

Response:
At this stage, have a budget allocated for your animation project. That gives the animation studio an idea about your video. Consult with a production partner that you trust to develop a realistic budget for your project.
The good thing about animation studios is that they can be flexible and tell a single message in many ways that suit different budgets. If your budget is flexible, you can count on studios to provide you with a selection of different options.
5. Video narration and style
Your brief should also point to the preferred narration and style of your video. This information will help the animation studio develop an accurate quote for your video. For instance, professional voice over costs can vary depending on your target format (TV or Web).
To ensure that the animation studio knows how to define the style of your video, find visual references to styles you like. Be as specific as you can.If you have any specific delivery requirements, mention them at this point. Consider the languages, resolutions, or file formats that relate to your delivery needs.
6. Provide examples of animations you like and dislike
Let the animation producers know about your competitors and their video marketing campaigns. Provide the studio with examples of videos you like or dislike.
That is how the animation studio can learn what their video will be up against and how to create something that helps your brand to stand out from the crowd. You will be giving producers a clear idea of the kind of video quality you're looking for.


Instruction: 7. How will the video be distributed

Response:
Your brief should also include information about the location of the video (website, email campaign, trade show, etc.). The animation’s placement will determine its format. Different platforms have different length limits. Aspect ratios can vary as well.
Good marketing animations should be platform-specific and contextual. That is why you need to produce your video with the platform already in mind.


Instruction: Your call-to-action should be contextual. What is the point of asking your target to visit your website if the video is already hosted on your website

Response:
8. Define the deadline
Finally, let the animation studio know what is the deadline for your project. That way, the team can develop a realistic project timeline that ensures the delivery of the product on time.
Remember that the more people are involved in the production, the more time it will take to ensure that all the key stakeholders are around to provide immediate feedback
Key takeaway
A good brief can make or break your animation project. Follow these steps and you will be on your way to writing a brief that helps the animation studio realize your vision. But remember that your brief is only the beginning of your animation project. The animation studio will go over your brief and possibly change some of its aspects to make sure that you get the best-animated video for your brand.
To most voice actors, pop filters are one of the most essential tools in their studio collection that they would nearly never work without one. It speaks about why most photographs of a voice-over talent at a microphone in a studio session have that big black circle that stands between the mic and the talent.


Instruction: But what is a pop filter, and why does it demand to be used


Instruction: What is a pop filter

Response:
A pop filter, also known as a pop shield or pop screen, is a circle of nylon mesh or a thin metal that you attach to your microphone stand, positioned between the microphone and the sound source. The pop filter was invented for the existence of “plosives” — explosive consonants heard from words that start with “p” or “b” which is normally part of our natural speech.
They are also sometimes mistakenly referred to as a microphone windscreen or windshield–a similar device that’s primarily used by location sound recordists, for reducing noise from the wind when recording outside.
But a windscreen is far from being an alternative to a pop filter. Why? Because it’s made specifically to deflect breezes when being used outside at concerts, interviews, or film shoots, and not for a full-on plosive absorption. Furthermore, the thickness of foam invariably absorbs some high frequencies, causing the sound to become noticeably duller than it should be.


Instruction: Why and how do popping sounds occur


Instruction: Dead sure, you have tried distinguishing the sound of your speech when spoken normally and on a microphone. Noticed that the microphone speech is ruined by loud popping and banging noises

Response:
These pops and thumps are called ‘plosive’ sounds. Words that start with these letters “p” or “b” produce a burst of air which your microphone’s diaphragm will pick up, causing your input level to spike.
Similar to when you try to utter words starting with “p” or “b” in front of a lighted candle, you would see the flame flicker. That is because we let out more air when making these sounds. Oppositely, if you vocalize a long ‘ahh’ sound, the candle will barely flicker at all, because you’re mainly just producing sound vibrations with your vocal cords and expelling very little air.
The problem worsens if the mouth is very close to the microphone. The plosive air blast is obviously strongest close to the mouth, and when it slams into the microphone diaphragm, it produces a very large asymmetrical output signal. This may be so large that it can saturate the microphone’s output transformer (if present) or overload the mic preamp, making the sound even worse. Engaging the low-cut filter on the mic (ideally) or preamp may ease the overloading problem, but the basic cause of the popping will remain.
Uses and advantages of pop filters
There’s nothing magic about pop filters; in fact, you can improvise your own pop filter using ordinary stocking nylon if your creativity strikes and if your time permits you. Here’s a tutorial video on DIY pop filters:
However, despite its simplicity, the humble pop filter provides benefits that make it an extremely useful recording tool. Whether you’re a voice actor, singer, musician, or studio engineer, a pop filter is equally useful to just about anyone who records speech or vocals.
Here are the main uses of pop filters:
1. Eliminates plosive sounds
Pop filters are invented to get rid of plosive sounds like Ps and Bs that ruin our recording quality and can minimize the sibilance, the hissing noise from S sounds.
As the burst of air moves towards the microphone, the fabric fine mesh acts as a shield that breaks it up, having the air molecules dispersed. As a result, the burst of air loses its impact on the microphone’s diaphragm.
For extra, many pop filters are designed with two layers of fabric placed a small distance from one another. This provides a second layer of protection–anything that breaches the first layer is caught by the second. It’s important to note that you need to leave a few inches of space between the pop shield and your microphone, as there needs to be a mass of air in between to be fully effective.
If you refuse to use a pop filter when doing your recordings, your voice over outputs are likely to have something that makes you want to retake your script.
2. Microphone protection
When you talk to a microphone, some combination of moisture, saliva, and dust being forced into the microphone capsule is inevitable. The components inside a microphone are very delicate, and if you’ve spent good money on a high-quality microphone, the last thing you want is damage from moisture settling in the capsule. Over time, this can even lead to mold growth–unpleasant, unhygienic, and damaging to your cherished mic.
With pop filters, your microphone is instantly protected from all this dirt. Don’t worry about your filters, as they are easy to clean and there are pop shields which filters are replaceable.
Voice Actor’s guide in choosing a pop filter
We have covered the reasons pop filters are necessary for doing your voice overs. Is a continuation focusing on the types and what to look for in a pop filter to tailor what’s best for your voice and your microphone.
Types of pop filter
There are various types of pop filters available on the market: ones made of nylon mesh and those of thin metal.
Nylon Mesh pop filters
The nylon mesh pop filters are the original version of the tool. They’ve been used for decades as the standard plosive shield in the music and voice over industry. This pop filter is not bad for beginners as they are inexpensive but works just fine, your plosives are reduced.
However, some engineers claim that high frequencies of the voice are often removed too. Another downside is that nylon is delicate and can be easily damaged.
Metallic Mesh / Metal pop Filters
To address the cons of nylon mesh, metal pop filters are invented around a few decades ago. They are more durable than nylon mesh. Designed with wider holes, they have less effect on taking away the high frequencies and are easier to clean.
The only downside is that the metal sheet is thin, so it can be easily bent if clumsy and over time, metal filters can rust and develop a slight whistling sound.
Things to note when choosing a pop filter
size
The size of your pop filter should align with the size of your microphone. You want a diameter that suits both your microphone and your style of recording. If you move around a lot when you are recording, a pop filter with a larger diameter may be best suited for you.
Shape
There are different shapes of pop filters available on the market. Flat filets are more cost-effective, but require you to speak more directly into the center. Curved filters provide you more range and allow you to move whenever while you are recording since they work from any angle.
Mounts
The mount of the filter is another important factor to consider. Most pop filters come with a gooseneck mount that screws into the filter frame and the clamp.  You want to make sure that the gooseneck neck is long enough so that you can attach the filter in front of the microphone correctly.
Compatibility with your voice and microphone
Just like the compatibility of a microphone to your voice type, a pop filter works best depending on your voice and microphone too. The most expensive one does not mean to work like a magic to bring out the best of your voice over.
When deciding to purchase a pop filter, just test out as many as possible to ensure that it fits your voice and your microphone, giving you the best result.
Durability
Studio engineers often complain about the durability of a pop filter. The arm itself on a pop filter can sag over time, and the filter refuses to stay in place for a long time. Not only is that a minor but frustrating problem, it’s also using up valuable studio time having to repetitively fix it.
Like all things studio related, it’s worth spending that bit extra on a quality pop shield–one that’s built to last, is suitable for multiple occasions, and performs exactly as you need it to.
It also helps if the clamp is strong, and a squeezable clamp is preferable to a screw-based fixing, as those take more time to set up, will often leave marks (or even damage) to your mic stands, can be fiddly, and will often weaken. Put short, look for a quality product that suits your needs, and won’t need replacing.
Simplicity
You know a pop filter is also the one if you can set up quickly and painlessly, so that once it’s in place, you can just forget about it, and get on with recording that perfect vocal take. Too, a pop filter is a simple tool that is supposed to polish your recording quality, and not cause you extra complexity.
Knowing how to choose a good pop filter is easy. You just need to make sure that the focus of your recordings will be the excellent sound quality and that any unwanted noises will be filtered out and not picked up by your microphone.
The wise artist doesn’t begin their masterpiece from scratch. An artist will often develop preliminary sketches and studies, and an author will develop outlines of the action they want their novel to follow. In the world of animated movies, the storyboard fulfills a similar purpose. The storyboard lays out the entire flow of the animated movie with a series of pencil sketches that serve as a definitive guide to the composition, action, and artistic elements in each scene.
Once this storyboard is created, you can devote in-house and outsource animation resources towards creating your animated movie’s final form. But to begin animating before you know exactly what you want will be a fool’s errand that will inevitably fail, because you waste money and time with your animators and any outsource animation studios you’ve contracted with.
Animation can be as detailed as Toy Story or as simple as an explainer video. Animation can provide clients a voice in the crowded market.
Planning and scripting your story
Even before you put together your storyboard, it’s important to decide on the direction of your story. Just as you should never devote your internal or outsource animation resources towards creating a storyboard without having a fully developed storyboard, you shouldn’t begin assembling your storyboard unless you’ve worked out the entire script in a preliminary “read-through” fashion. This can, at its simplest, comprise an outline of the story, with descriptions of the action that will take place in each scene. You’ll probably find that you must refine this stage of the process several times before the story clicks.
Once the preliminary script takes place, you’ll want to develop the script in its entirety, with detailed scene descriptions and dialogue. Doing this all before you begin the actual storyboard will make the storyboarding process easier and much less time-consuming. You’ll waste much less time following dead ends and devoting outsource animation and storyboard resources towards the sketches that will make up the storyboard itself.
Animation works in the opposite way of live-action. Typically, in live-action, you start with a script, then pre-production, production, then post-production. In animation, you begin with the edit. Your story needs to be complete because once the basic outline is set, the cost and time involved to change anything are very high.
The storyboard takes shape
With your completed script in hand, the actual work of the storyboard begins. In your script, you’ve made general notations for the action, such as “close-up,” “medium shot,” “tracking shot,”. Now you’ll work with your artists and animators to develop these general ideas into specific shots. While storyboard sketches won’t have the full level of detail found in the final animation, they’ll be specific enough to serve as a guide to creating the preliminary animation, which you’ll then refine as the animation process continues. At this stage, you’ll have a good idea what portions of the animation you must do in-house, and what you can farm out to an outsource animation studio.
If your animated video is a simple explainer video, there are a lot of inexpensive software you can use to create them. Software such as Animaker and Bitable are free and the learning curve is small. Having a storyboard, even simple stick figures will still help the process go smoothly.
Refining your script with the storyboard
Remember how we said that the script must exist to guide the storyboard? Sometimes the storyboard can help refine and guide the script. In creating the storyboard, you may find that new shots and angles present themselves and that these may cause improvements and refinements to the script. While this isn’t the time to make wholesale changes, don’t be afraid to work with your animators and outsource animation studios when you see the possibility of improvements.
Make sure that the script and storyboard are near-final before you start any animation. Even though the first stages of animation allow for simple changes, it can still be expensive to make major changes. Therefore, most animated films don’t feature many deleted or extra scenes. The filmmakers have the finished product in mind before the animation begins. The same applies to VFX in films. After the simple animation is completed and the director approves, the texture, lighting, and details are added. Any changes that would be made can be very hard.
Resource allocation begins with the storyboard
One of the most valuable roles a storyboard can perform is offering you a window into the resources and time you must complete your animated movie. By charting out the different elements of the movie and assigning resources for creating each, you’ll quickly get a handle on the creation process and can devote your resources accordingly. Remember, even the best idea is only an idea if you don’t know how to execute a plan to make it happen. Your storyboard helps you do just that.
Whether you are a filmmaker, animator, or a business looking to hire someone for an animated or even a live-action video, storyboards are a powerful way to help visualize your project. This allows the director or animator to know exactly what the project's look needs to be. Storyboards should be used on all projects, no matter the budget. Sites like Fiverr have artists for relatively inexpensive who can help visualize your project in more detail.
Remember that animation can be a powerful marketing tool for your business or something you can offer a client if you are a filmmaker.


Instruction: What is a storyboard

Response:
A storyboard is a visual representation of your script. It's a document that shows the narrative flow of the animation.
A storyboard is like a map. And who would embark on a road trip without a map? The process of storyboarding forces production teams to consider the best routes to take before they even start the journey.
Don’t expect, however, any colors, background details, or character design on a storyboard. These elements are part of project illustrations that are created later on, once the storyboard is confirmed.
Why Crafting A Storyboard Is A Critical Step For Developing A Great Animated Video
Now that you know what a storyboard is, here are 5 good reasons crafting a storyboard is a critical step for developing a great animated video.
1. It’s the easiest way to share your vision
Since a storyboard is visual, it makes it easier to explain your idea for the video to other people in the production team. Not everyone involved in the process has the skills and experience required to visualize the script quickly.
But everyone should be on the same page in developing the video.
That's why explaining to others what you have in mind is key in the initial stages of the production process. You need a method that helps to convey what the animation looks like in your head and creating a storyboard is the best strategy.
With a storyboard at hand, you can show everyone how your animation will be mapped out and what it will look like, helping others to understand your idea and the narrative flow of the video.
2. That’s how you learn whether your idea works
Storyboarding is an essential part of producing an animated video because nothing reveals better whether a concept works or not than a storyboard.
While the main idea behind the video can be paraphrased in a few paragraphs, a storyboard will require more time and effort. Taking a closer look at the idea might reveal internal inconsistencies or other problems.
Storyboards also help to check whether the narrative in the script makes sense once it's translated into a series of visual shots. Storyboards are critical for validating the central concept behind the video, but also for determining the direction the production team should take.
3. Storyboards help to make the most of your budget
Time is money. And it takes time to put a storyboard together. But that investment will bring you plenty of returns later on. You'll not only save time on explaining your vision to the stakeholders but also develop a comprehensive production plan that will make the entire video creation process smoother.
It doesn't matter what kind of video you're producing – teams always want to make the most of their resources. Creating a storyboard allows animation studios to prepare a clear outline for developing the video, including information about the critical requirements.
Storyboards are essential because they help studios define the parameters of the story within the required resources and time. And that's the best way to guarantee a smooth production process.
If the animated video is complicated, it will take a lot of time and a larger budget to produce. That's why it's smart to have the client approve the storyboard before beginning the production phase. This way, the customer will have a clear idea of what the final product will look like. He or she can apply changes and add input that won't affect the production budget as much as it would later on.
4. You’ll be able to identify problems at an early stage
Another benefit of using a storyboard is that you will get the opportunity of detecting problems at the very first stages of production. Experienced video production teams know that it's exactly during the storyboarding phase that many critical errors come out.
They might be related to the main idea, the narration style, or story details. You can only imagine how much time and effort it would take to correct these mistakes once the animation is in full swing.
By identifying such mistakes early on, teams can reduce the cost of revisions and ensure that the production process proceeds according to plan.
5. It makes the production process smoother
All in all, a storyboard is a plan for the entire production. Storyboarding forces teams to consider the video project from many perspectives and allows them to accurately predict the production time and costs required for getting the results the client wants.
That's why storyboards make the entire production process smoother. They provide a plan for the animation studio during video production, ensuring that no shots are forgotten.
But storyboards also come in handy when editing the video. The editor will know how to piece the shots together to match the vision conveyed in the storyboard. Thanks to a storyboard, the editor won't need to apply many revisions to the product, saving the studio plenty of time and money.
Smart animation studios know that a storyboard is the best starting point for a video production project.
Thanks to a storyboard, teams can communicate their vision and instantly verify it with the client. It allows creating an outline for the production around which the studio can organize the entire process. Thanks to a storyboard, the video will be put together according to the vision that has been checked and confirmed by the client. The animation studio can be sure that the end product matches the customer's needs and has a solid narrative structure with a cohesive and coherent sequence of shots.
A storyboard is a visual representation of your script. It's a document that shows the narrative flow of the animation. A storyboard is like a map. And who would embark on a road trip without a map? The process of storyboarding forces production teams to consider the best routes to take before they even start the journey.
- It’s the easiest way to share your vision- That’s how you learn whether your idea works- Storyboards help to make the most of your budget- You’ll be able to identify problems at an early stage- It makes the production process smoother