Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1014407
40 CINEMONTAGE / Q3 2018 in 2011, and also worked on the first season of The Four. Sivertsen also worked on Season 1 of The Four and now is a logger and transcriber for Big Brother. Tabrizi describes loggers as being first responders for the story department. "We're the first contact for them, for a more detailed point of view," he explains. "As a logger, I am there to summarize every two to three minutes of footage and tag them appropriately so [the editors] can easily find the footage and piece it together coherently." He reports that up to 60 to 70 percent of the tags are used by the editor. Big Brother, a multi-camera show during which contestants are up all times of day and night, results in a huge amount of footage, he notes. "We're needed to organize it," he says, adding that the biggest worry of a logger is to miss a crucial or defining moment. "You have to keep your eyes on the screen and watch every moment unfold," Tabrizi elaborates. "A lot of Big Brother fans are into strategy, so you can't miss that." The logger also sometimes has a relationship with the editor, who interfaces with the story department. "Every show is different," notes Tabrizi. "On a bigger show, the story department is between the editor and me; on others, we don't interface with the story department much. On still other shows, I don't meet the editors or story department people — but that's very rare." Big Brother and The Four both require logging and transcribing, according to Sivertsen. "For the classification within the unit, we're usually labeled as loggers, but it depends on what they need from us, and I'm used to doing both," he explains. "Most people have a preference. In the past, mine was transcription, which is how I started. It's a bit more tedious, but you get to listen to the interviews. Logging is a bit more open to interpretation. Now I like to switch between them." On Big Brother, he live-transcribes interviews. "They prefer as much word-for-word as they can get, which is a feat," he says. "It's a very fast turnaround. The faster at typing you are, the better you'll be." Weathington, who received a certificate from the Television Academy recognizing her transcription work on an Emmy Award- winning episode of Shark Tank (2009-present), generally prefers logging, but also enjoys the live transcribing, especially for Big Brother. "We all type fast, and I can't even tell you how many words per minute I type," she says. "They don't expect you to be able to get every word correct because it is really intense, and it depends on the speaker. If the speaker is a really fast talker, it's harder to get all the words." Because live transcription is so stressful, the transcribers rotate out every few hours so everyone gets a break and can come back refreshed. She also notes the challenge of transcribing in scenes where contestants whisper, have conversations in the dark under blankets, or communicate by making eye contact with each other. "That's when you really need to be focused," she stresses. "It could be very important to the game." HOW TO BECOME A LOGGER/TRANSCRIBER These loggers and transcribers each took a different path to their current careers. When Weathington was in college, she helped out her TV professors on their side projects, often documentaries where she learned to log and transcribe. In her senior year, she told her professor she was looking for a job. "He reached out to a former student in the industry," she recalls. "She hired me on my first show, The Paul Sivertsen. Telon Weathington. Big Brother. CBS