1.1.3 Video and audio

This stage may have started prior to handover, as producing the video and audio assets can take some time.

If the project requires creation of new video and audio assets, the PM will get the Video and Audio (V&A) team involved. The V&A Producer will liaise with the Project Manager to confirm that all is running to schedule, as soon as possible in the production process. Once the assets have been created by the V&A team, they are ready to be uploaded onto the portal. The DPA shouldn’t be uploading V&A’s work onto the portal, as the V&A team will upload the assets they have created themselves. V&A upload their assets to the Commissions side of the portal, which will be a different space to where you upload your assets. You will still need to upload other third-party AV assets such as YouTube videos or other audio. Once V&A assets have been cleared and handed over, make sure to store them appropriately for the tagging stage.

Accessibility

As part of keeping the materials accessible, video and audio assets need transcripts, and videos also require closed captions (sometimes referred to as ‘subtitles’). These are produced by a company called 3Play Media and we can access their portal directly once the files have been created. You can read more about this in the section on 3Play Media. The transcript file needs checking, as sometimes there are words marked as 'inaudible' or an incorrect spelling is picked up. This will be done by an Editor, so make sure to tell them it’s ready. Some Editors have access to 3Play Media and will edit the files directly on the site. Others do not, and will need you to download the transcript first. Make sure to check this with your Editor.

Once the files have been checked by the DDE/AE and any changes have been made on the 3Play Media site, you will need to download the transcript and closed caption files and keep them in a folder, ready to go in the relevant places in the XML. This process is for only video and audio files that the client requires transcription for. For YouTube videos that we link and embed to, we do not traditionally go and get the transcription for this. If the client requires a transcription for a YouTube video, they will alert the DDE and the DPA will organise this.