Interviews
Long sit-downs with one or two speakers. Accuracy of names, dates and terms matters most.
Documentary / interviews / archive
Every quote traced back to its source.
Documentary transcription turns interviews, vérité scenes and archival footage into a searchable record for the paper edit. BestTranscript delivers human-verified transcripts with consistent speaker labels and source timecodes, so a producer can select a quote and the editor can find the same frame in the source clip.
Source types
Three kinds of footage, three kinds of problem.
Vérité
Uncontrolled audio, several speakers and movement. Speaker identity and overlap are scoped first.
Archive
Old or degraded recordings. Unclear words are marked with timecode for review.
Paper edit
Every line keeps its source clip and timecode so selects go straight to the timeline.
Documentary answers
Scope the footage before the quote.
What should a documentary interview transcript include?
Verbatim or clean-verbatim dialogue as agreed, consistent speaker labels, source timecodes at an agreed interval and marked uncertain words. Names and terms come from a glossary that the production supplies.
Can you transcribe vérité and archival footage?
Yes. Vérité and archival audio is often noisy or degraded, so it is scoped from a representative sample. Unclear passages are marked with timecode, not guessed.
How do transcripts help a paper edit?
Each line carries its source clip and timecode. Producers can select quotes in a document and the editor can find the same moment in the source media.
Production pilot
Pilot with a real interview.
Send one representative interview or vérité scene and evaluate the transcript in your paper edit.
Scope a pilot