Transcription vs Captioning – Working for Rev.com

Rev.com is a transcription and captioning company that hires freelancers to type out audio and video files.

What is the difference between captioning and transcription?

The key distinction is the type of material you’re working with.

You’re largely working with audio files when transcribing, so there’s no visual component and you’re simply typing up everything you hear.

Captioning, on the other hand, frequently involves a video, so there are images involved.

Closed captions are the words that appear at the bottom of the screen whether you’re viewing a Netflix video or a YouTube video.

In a Rev captioning project, you use Rev’s closed captioning tool to transcribe whatever you hear in the video, which can include sound effects, song lyrics, and pretty much anything else.

Finally, you need to drag these captions to match or sync with the video.

By the way, if you want to work with Rev as a transcriber and a captioner, you must submit separate applications for transcription and captioning.

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Just because you have a Rev transcriber account does not mean you have a Rev captioner account.

They are two independent programs.

There’s a third role that you may apply for, which is subtitling.

If you know other languages, you can translate from English to another language.

This one appears to pay far more than the other two, which makes it logical given the additional skill set.

Which one pays more?

Transcription or captioning?

Technically, captioning pays somewhat more than transcribing, with projects starting at around $0.54 per minute for captioning and $0.45 per minute for transcribing.

However, each project has its own pricing.

There may be transcription assignments that pay far more than the amount indicated.

So we wouldn’t say one pays significantly more than the other.

It all depends on the projects you choose to work on.

That’s a quick summary of how it works.

We’d like to quickly show you how to apply for Rev captioning.

As previously stated, you must apply for both Rev captioner and Rev transcriber roles separately.

The method for applying for Rev captioning is nearly the same to that for applying for Rev transcription.

The main difference is that in the final section, you must complete a captioning sample rather than a transcribing sample, which makes sense.

So the first part is self-explanatory.

You simply fill out some basic personal details.

The following step consists of you answering a series of easy grammar-related questions to ensure that you are proficient in the English language.

You also go through the style guide, which explains all you need to know about using their captioning tool to produce captions properly.

Finally, you use their program to finish a sample captioning project.

And this is where you should really follow the style guide.

The test is not too long, and they do give you a few hours to complete it.

You can have access to the style guide while working on the sample test, so you won’t need to memorize anything.

Once you’re done, all you have to do is submit it and wait for a response by email.

Now they do mention on their website that they have a waitlist to get accepted, which means it might take a while before you hear back from them.

Benefits & Drawbacks

Now let’s talk about the benefits and drawbacks of working with Rev as a captioner.

Let’s start with the benefits.

1. As we have previously stated, captioning pays more than transcribing, but only by a little margin.

It is always dependent on the individual projects that you work on.

A captioning project pays $0.54 per minute while a transcription project pays $0.45 per minute.

2. There are more transcriptionists than there are captioners.

This means you may have an edge because you’re competing with fewer individuals for the same tasks.

However, it is strongly advised that you apply for both.

That way, if one of the services runs out of tasks, you can easily move to the other.

3. Working with videos is more fun than working with audio files.

So you might be able to caption certain films, documentaries, live events, and even animations, which will definitely make the task more enjoyable.

4. Captioning projects usually offer better audio quality than transcription projects.

This definitely makes the job much easier to do.

What are the drawbacks of captioning?

1. Captioning jobs can be a little more difficult to complete than transcribing ones.

Therefore, it has a greater learning curve.

In captioning, every project is practically verbatim, so you’re not only capturing voice, but also music, lyrics, and everything that you hear.

Furthermore, captioning comes with a number of special rules.

So there are all of these minor things to be mindful of.

Then there’s the extra component of having to sync all of the captions to the relevant sections of the video once you’ve finished captioning a video.

With that said, there is a style guide for a reason.

And while there may be a steep learning curve at first, if you keep returning to the style guide, you’ll be able to get all of the answers you need.

2. The other disadvantage of working for Rev, in general, is that you are not compensated for the time you spent on the project.

Completing a job may take several hours, but you are only compensated for however long the video is.

This means you’re paid not per hour or per minute but per video hour or per video minute.

3. Another concern that a lot of transcribers have about Rev is the grading process.

Depending on who is evaluating your projects, the grade might be highly variable, which makes the position incredibly insecure.

Because if you are given a poor grade, you risk losing your account forever.