Derek FeatherstoneEverything is a work in progress

Timing is everything

Derek Featherstone / Published:

I came across this tweet from Mike Mella not long ago and wanted to share. Check out the video:

Let me describe a bit more about the video and what’s going on there.

This video clip shows judges announcing the results on the television show “Beat Bobby Flay” — Bobby Flay is a very well-known chef, and on this show he takes on other less-experienced chefs in a chef’s competition.

In this particular episode, judge Sasha Pieterse announces the winner. She says “So the judges have voted. The winner is… ” and then pauses (like any good judge on a reality tv show would!), and holds silent for 4 seconds as the camera cuts between Bobby Flay, his competition, the audience, then both chefs, before cutting back to Sasha — who then completes the sentence with “… Chef Bobby Flay.”

A LOT can happen in 4 seconds. There’s drama. There’s tension. They have you on the edge of your seat as you wait to hear the name of the winner. That final build up can be… intense!

Unless you’re relying on the captions for the dialogue.

In this case, the caption “The winner is Chef Bobby Flay” appears all at once in a complete sentence when judge Sasha starts to say that line. There’s no pause for someone reading the captions. There’s no drama. There’s no reveal. There’s no edge of the seat. Because the caption appeared without the same timing as the spoken word.

Yes, I know. A Deaf or Hard-of-hearing person still got the same information. But they definitely didn’t get the same experience. There’s a difference.

Timing is everything.