IW 143: Spotlight Bruce Cameron Part 1: BBC Brucie and the Techy Room

SPOTLIGHT! LOOK THERE!

This Spotlight episode highlights the special work that Scottish sign language interpreter, Bruce Cameron has recently experienced. In 2024 he started serving the communities through a new medium, the BBC media.

He shares his stories and experience in this specific setting. He details the daily commute, the operations that the interpreters must learn, the teaming skills, the new interpreting skills, and much more. Enjoy this 3-part Spotlight on Bruce and his experience.

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Transcript

IW 143: Spotlight Bruce Cameron: BBC Brucie and the Techy Room

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[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS]

00:00:02 Tim

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Wherever you are, this is the Interpreter's Workshop podcast. I'm Tim Curry, your host. Here we talk everything sign language interpreting the ins, the outs, the ups, the downs, the sideways of interpreting. If you're a student, a new interpreter, experienced interpreter, this is the place for you. If you want to know more, go to interpretersworkshop.com.

00:00:28 Tim

Let's start talking... interpreting.

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

00:00:34 Tim

And now the quote of the day by Hungarian American escapologist, illusionist, and magician, Harry Houdini.

00:00:46 Tim

“The secret of showmanship consists not of what you really do, but what the mystery loving public thinks you do.”

00:00:56 Tim

Today is the first Spotlight episode.

00:01:00 Tim

Here we spotlight an interpreter that we may know or not, and something they do special. Some new challenge that they've taken on, some project, an interesting story that we can all learn from.

00:01:15 Tim

So, sit back, relax, grab your cup of coffee.

00:01:19 Tim

Let's listen to Bruce Cameron, who we've talked with before as he introduces this topic with a little story.

00:01:26 Tim

And then we get into the conversation.

00:01:30 Tim

So, let's shine the spotlight now.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:01:37 Bruce

On Monday night, there, down in London. I was working.

00:01:39 Bruce

So, I did the news, Monday, Tuesday. And I'd been up, there was a palaver on Sunday, where the trains from Glasgow were cancelled [Tim: hmm] and they're on strike.

00:01:49 Bruce

So, I had to figure out how to get to London, today.

00:01:52 Bruce

And I’m like, OK…

00:01:54 Bruce

Normally, normally, it's just wander down to the train station and you've got an hour, [Tim: yeah] on the hour, or on the half hour, every, every hour. On strike, right?

00:02:03 Bruce

So, what did I do? Flight prices - £587 return. [Tim: ooh]

00:02:07 Bruce

Oh, so that's, that's not happening.

00:02:10 Bruce

And then the train… realised I had to get to Edinburgh like now. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:02:17 Bruce

Because otherwise I'm not going to get there before midnight.

00:02:20 Bruce

This was 12:00 in the day. [Tim laughing: yeah]

00:02:24 Bruce

So, it’s gets a taxi into Glasgow.

00:02:26 Bruce

It's a train to Edinburgh, gets a train from Edinburgh to London and gets to my hotel at half past midnight…

00:02:32 Bruce

…eventually. So…

00:02:33 Bruce

And then my alarm was set for 5:00 AM to get up for the news.

00:02:38 Bruce

So, when I got asked if I was, I was free to meet up because there was somebody doing a lecture at the Magic Circle in London, said, “Yeah, yeah. I’ll go!”

00:02:46 Bruce

Met at half past six and then it was, was fantastic, really good show, learning…

00:02:53 Bruce

And met people that I knew but never physically met. [Tim: uh-huh] And they said, “Do you want to come for a Curry?” I went, “Eh, yeah, yeah!”

00:02:59 Bruce

And I suppose I can relate this a little bit to early days of interpreting when you're sitting with people who you…

00:03:07 Bruce

You're at your level and these people are seasoned, seasoned professionals and you’re think-, I'm thinking, “I shouldn't be here. [Tim: yeah] I'm not, I'm not part of this group, this…”, but they made me feel part of that group.

00:03:22 Bruce

And I wasn't an outsider, which was really, really nice. And you’re kind of, I suppose it was kind of similar to me interpreting, was when I first went down to the BBC. And you've got all these people who are on, on air. And I'm, I don't have that experience. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:03:37 Bruce

But yet I'm now in that, but now magic completely different because I'm not lecturing to 2,000 people.

00:03:45 Bruce

I've not appeared in X-Files as a magician.

00:03:47 Bruce

Not a magic consultant for Hollywood.

00:03:49 Bruce

You know, that's who, that's who these people were. [Tim: yeah]

00:03:52 Bruce

But yeah, I know it was, it was, was good and then got home.

00:03:56 Bruce

Been up since 5:00 and then go back to my hotel at 00:30 again, [Tim chuckles] to get up at 5:00 again. So, this weekend was, this Monday, Tuesday was a little bit tiring. [Tim: Yeah, yeah.]

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:04:09 Tim

So goooood morning, Bruce! How are you?

00:04:14 Bruce

[slightly chuckles] Good morning, Tim, I'm very well, thank you, very well.

00:04:16 Bruce

Good to, actually it's good to see you.

00:04:17 Bruce

It's been a while.

00:04:18 Tim

Yeah. Well, if you were the first person I interviewed, my first experiment. Uh, I mean interviewee for the podcast.

00:04:25 Bruce

[chuckles] Feels like, it feels like an experiment.

00:04:28 Tim

About uh… What was it? Three, two years and 8-9 months or so?

00:04:34 Tim

Something like that.

00:04:35 Bruce

As long as that?!

00:04:36 Tim

Yeah.

00:04:37 Bruce

Yeah, as long as that. Wow, wow.

00:04:38 Tim

It doesn't feel like it, no.

00:04:40 Tim

Not at all.

00:04:40 Bruce

And I have tuned in.

00:04:42 Bruce

I do listen. I do listen to your podcast.

00:04:44 Tim

Oh, well, that's good. Yeah. [chuckles]

00:04:46 Tim

That's, that's encouraging that you actually listen now.

00:04:49 Bruce

I do.

00:04:50 Bruce

I do.

00:04:51 Tim

This time around, I'm coming back to you because I want to spotlight some of the things that are happening that are definitely new. A lot in our profession have been working with the news, the local news, the national news from the pandemic, and even before.

00:05:09 Tim

But recently you started working at the BBC.

00:05:12 Tim

And I'm curious.

00:05:13 Tim

Let's delve into that.

00:05:15 Tim

How this all happened?

00:05:16 Tim

What it looks like, what it feels like.

00:05:18 Tim

So first my question would be how did you get this gig?

00:05:22 Tim

How did that happen?

00:05:23 Bruce

Well, it's quite interesting actually, because…

00:05:24 Bruce

Back, so I've been there now a year and it was, I think it was October, November. A message had been posted on social media, this Twitter, X, whatever was at the time. [Tim: yeah]

00:05:40 Bruce

Asking for anybody who was interested in potentially doing on-screen work for Parliament.

00:05:48 Bruce

So, it's particularly specifically looking at Parliament work, for the UK Parliament. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:05:52 Bruce

And for me…

00:05:55 Bruce

I have had the experience of doing interpreting for the Scottish Parliament, especially during, during COVID in the pandemic where we were doing not in the venue but in a studio. So, it was a green screen studio taking a feed from a remote location to camera and then putting it out. Now that experience I had, let’s say, during probably for about a year of doing Parliament.

00:06:20 Bruce

And so, I've got, I, I have experience. And I thought, [Tim: yeah] actually the… to do that at Parliament, it would be a great experience (for the UK Parliament). It would be… for something that was, as I said, I never had an interest in politics until the pandemic, until working with Scottish Parliament, and then working with a local, the local council here. [Tim: Mm-hmm] and do a lot of work.

00:06:47 Bruce

I do a lot of work, and I’m a regular interpreter, let’s say for local councils.

00:06:52 Bruce

And I've gained a lot of experience and a lot of interest, but I don't put myself out there publicly of my, my leanings.

00:07:01 Bruce

It's not something you know like I, I feel it's quite, for me, it's quite a private thing. [Tim: Mm-hmm] However, I do have an interest in what's going on and I think that people should have their voices heard.

00:07:12 Bruce

I quite like that.

00:07:12 Bruce

Maybe it's my, my upbringing.

00:07:14 Bruce

I don't know, I’m a little bit private. I don't want to upset anybody or people to be upset of my, my leanings. I'm not saying they're bad. [Tim: yeah]

00:07:21 Bruce

You know, you know, however… [Tim chuckling: yeah]

00:07:24 Bruce

So, I just sent an e-mail to them saying.

00:07:26 Bruce

“I saw your advert, looking for interpreters. I’m quite interested in it.

00:07:32 Bruce

And they replied back saying can we meet up for a chat and that was it. [Tim: hmm]

00:07:37 Bruce

So, so they did.

00:07:38 Bruce

So, we, we did it over Zoom actually. Basically, the manager of the Communications Department or the Media Department there got in touch and we, we an hour’s conversation. Just, it was, it was so informal.

00:07:51 Bruce

It was ridiculous. [Tim: hmm]

00:07:52 Bruce

It was really, really nice.

00:07:54 Bruce

It was just a, a conversation about my interests and I think it was just to see skill level, possibly, just conversational skill level, I, I don't know.

00:08:03 Bruce

I really don't know, [Tim: Mm-hmm] but it was...

00:08:04 Bruce

It was lovely. And they asked for me to come down.

00:08:07 Bruce

Now the thing with this, it means that I have to then travel to, to London from Glasgow. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:08:13 Bruce

I did ask if Glasgow had a studio which is only half an hour away.

00:08:18 Bruce

But they didn’t.

00:08:18 Bruce

So, it is a case of going down to London for it.

00:08:22 Bruce

So yeah, I think from the initial interview, which was, I say an interview, it was a “catch up”, from November, we agreed to what I wanted to do was shadow [Tim: Mm-hmm] rather than actually just getting dropped in in the deep end. “Is it possible to come shadow. See how it goes. See the studio. See what it's like.” So, I was quite happy to take a day out just to visit [Tim: Mm-hmm] and get an experience of what goes on.

00:08:45 Bruce

And they were more than happy with that.

00:08:46 Bruce

So, we, we did that in January.

00:08:50 Bruce

It was like just after New Year [Tim: yeah] and I went down.

00:08:53 Tim

So, for this interview, were you using BSL or was it in English or?

00:08:58 Bruce

Fully BSL.

00:08:59 Bruce

Fully BSL the three of us, the two people that interviewed me, are both deaf. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:09:05 Bruce

And from what I know is that, I didn't know this at time, but the department is Deaf-led. Is Deaf-run.

00:09:11 Tim

OK.

00:09:12 Bruce

So, there's no hearing staff at all in the operational side. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:09:18 Bruce

In the tech-side, there are hearing staff and it's very much a BSL, sign Language working environment which is, it's absolutely lovely and beautiful to see.

00:09:31 Tim

Yeah, yeah. Once you had that initial shadowing, what were your first reactions, your first feelings?

00:09:37 Bruce

How professional it was.

00:09:39 Tim

Yeah.

00:09:40 Bruce

Really, the professionalism, from what I was used to, and this is no...

00:09:43 Bruce

I'm not making, hopefully not making disparaging remarks about anybody else, the quality, because we're talking broadcast quality. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:09:50 Bruce

This is for the BBC.

00:09:51 Bruce

It's a, it's a media company that are contracted to the BBC, for sign language, for subtitling, for, or captioning, or for audio description.

00:10:00 Bruce

And this is the sign language part of it. The tech desk, the, ugh, that's probably not even the word for it, but…

00:10:07 Bruce

..the Media suite... I don’t know what it’s called.

00:10:08 Bruce

Where all the computers and flashing lights… [Tim: yeah]

00:10:10 Bruce

It looks like, it actually looks like, like, remember Star Trek in the 60s, got these flashing lights, [Tim: Oh, yeah] monitors and stuff, that's what, that's what it looks like, yeah. [Tim chuckling]

00:10:18 Bruce

So, you walked in and I was like, right, OK this is, this is it.

00:10:21 Bruce

And the green screen…

00:10:23 Bruce

The green screen room... My experience of green screens are, you know, you get a shadowy bit here and there's a light there and you know, this is all, just set up.

00:10:33 Bruce

And, and for the, the initial part, which was UK Parliament work, that was working with two other interpreters.

00:10:40 Bruce

So, there was three of us [Tim: Mm-hmm] for the first ever shift, proper shift on, on air.

00:10:45 Bruce

The shadow was great to see, and it was just… The first thing that hit me was, you’ve got deaf staff. You got hearing staff, and everybody signs. [Tim: hmm]

00:10:55 Bruce

The tech OPS we're hearing. They signed.

00:10:59 Bruce

Even though they're new and maybe, may have been a couple years, they signed. And they're still learning to sign, but the effort that you see with everybody working together is fantastic. [Tim: hmm]

00:11:12 Bruce

It really is.

00:11:12 Bruce

So, I came, I came away from after shadowing for the first time thinking, you know something, this is a really, really, really nice environment to be in.

00:11:21 Bruce

Personally, that was my first impression and after a year it's still that impression and I really, I still enjoy going down. [Tim: hmm]

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:11:29 Tim

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00:11:32 Tim

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00:11:34 Tim

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00:11:41 Tim

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[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:11:52 Tim

So, you started out with the UK Parliament?

00:11:55 Bruce

Yes.

00:11:56 Tim

Has that changed since?

00:11:57 Bruce

Yes, what happened was originally the work had been based in another building, and we moved to this new custom built studio for, for Parliament. And we were working away with another team.

00:12:10 Bruce

There's two or three of us all together, as I said.

00:12:13 Bruce

And that was fine.

00:12:15 Bruce

And then, I was then asked, would I like to do stuff for the news?

00:12:21 Bruce

And I was thinking right, well, let's, let's give you 6 months of experience doing Parliament before going into live broadcast news. That six months became 4 weeks.

00:12:34 Bruce

And then they asked me to audition after the end of January.

00:12:37 Bruce

Which, which was, “OH right. OK then that's, that's fine.” [Tim chuckles]

00:12:40 Bruce

And then the audition happened at the end of January. So that's like four weeks into my [Tim: Mm-hmm] experience of working a bit. And the initial four weeks of being in Parliament was good.

00:12:52 Bruce

Nice, nice interpreters, I was working with the team… very supportive, very, very experienced as well. [Tim: yeah]

00:12:59 Bruce

And you know, couldn't be any more helpful.

00:13:03 Bruce

Couldn't be… [whispering to self]

00:13:03 Tim

Couldn't be anymore helpful...

00:13:04 Tim

Yeah, that's, that's right.

00:13:06 Bruce

Is that right? Alright…yeah, yeah… [pause]

00:13:07 Tim

Couldn't have been any more helpful.

00:13:09 Bruce

Yeah, they couldn’t have been anymore... 

00:13:11 Bruce

They were helpful.

00:13:12 Bruce

That's what I'm trying to say. [both laugh]

00:13:14 Tim

Good thing our native language is here.

00:13:17 Bruce

Yes, it's still early.

00:13:19 Tim

Yeah, it's early.

00:13:20 Tim

So, you had four weeks before they asked you to do the live news broadcast. But…

00:13:25 Bruce

To audition for the live news.

00:13:27 Tim

I see. [Bruce: yep]

00:13:30 Tim

Was there testing when you first started at the UK Parliament?

00:13:33 Bruce

I'm assuming that they saw my abilities from previous work from Scottish Parliament work. [Tim: OK] That's all been recorded, pre-recorded, so they've seen that.

00:13:42 Tim

Yeah.

00:13:43 Bruce

That works existing. So, it's, it's on Scottish Parliament website, so they've obviously seen that.

00:13:48 Tim

Yeah. Did they give you specific training?

00:13:50 Tim

Because obviously the regions vary as far as, uh, signs and so forth.

00:13:56 Bruce

Did they give me specific training?

00:13:56 Bruce

No they didn't, but what they did say was.

00:13:59 Bruce

Do not change your signs. Do not change your regionality.

00:14:04 Bruce

Be, be you. Be Bruce. [Tim: hmm] Be Scottish.

00:14:08 Bruce

And that's what we want, because the Parliament is representative of UK. [Tim: Yeah]

00:14:12 Bruce

So, we need people on screen to represent the different parts of the UK.

00:14:18 Bruce

And I'm Aberdonian. And I grew up most of my life, I'm just thinking, now, I'm, I'm, yeah, I'm at that age… [Tim chuckling]

00:14:27 Bruce

…and 36 years of it was in Aberdeen. And the last, I don't know how is it… 15, 16 years now in Glasgow. So,

00:14:36 Tim

Wow, it's been that long.

00:14:37 Bruce

Yeeeah. So, my, I'm assuming my language has changed… [Tim: hmm]

00:14:42 Bruce

Visually, from the Aberdonian homestyle to using some Glasgow signs.

00:14:50 Bruce

I suppose, like any interpreters, we can be like sponges and there's criticism that flies about for not signing the Scottish way. [Tim: hmm]

00:15:00 Bruce

By some I say some parts of the Internet, that will criticise that I'm not sticking to my Scottish roots, but like, like anything, our accents change.

00:15:11 Bruce

I don't have the Aberdonian accent that I did when I moved down to Glasgow. [Tim: yeah]

00:15:16 Bruce

My accent's softened.

00:15:17 Bruce

It's changed slightly.

00:15:19 Bruce

I can flip back to it and I'm not going to do that because you lose 96% of your listeners [Tim laughing] if I, if I flip into my Aberdonian accent. But…

00:15:29 Bruce

And my mum, and my mum does say, “Why you signing Glaswegian?” [Tim: yeah]

00:15:34 Bruce

You know, it's just because I've been here and I'm using sign language in a different way every day. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:15:40 Bruce

So, when you go home and it's lovely to see and find, and I've seen this happen before, is I've gone home to see my parents and my dad has got a specific way he signs. And then I've noticed myself signing it. If the next day I'm on Parliament or the News.

00:15:55 Bruce

I kinda flip because I've, I've been with them, my parents the day before and I'm, I'm signing things differently and it's Right, OK. It gets picked up on, [Tim: yeah] but not in a bad way. As in I've had comments saying, “Bruce your, your Scottish signs are lovely.” [Tim chuckling]

00:16:11 Bruce

“Stick, stick with them.” So, there's, there's no, there's no rules.

00:16:13 Bruce

And in the sense don't change your, your dialect, which is nice.

00:16:17 Tim

Yeah, it is.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:16:20 Tim

[During transition music] Subscribe, subscribe, subscribe.

00:16:22 Tim

So, take us through what it looks like, the environment that you work in now.

00:16:28 Tim

You mentioned the green screen, the tech room with all the flashing lights, the beautiful sci-fi setup. [Bruce: Oh yeah]

00:16:35 Tim

But what does it look like for you as the interpreter?

00:16:38 Tim

Where are you coming into?

00:16:40 Tim

Do you have to change?

00:16:41 Tim

Do you have to wear a specific outfit?

00:16:43 Bruce

Yeah, so, the building itself is a shared building.

00:16:46 Bruce

It shares with other media companies, including the BBC ITV, umm, Channel 4 and…

00:16:52 Bruce

There are three studios, altogether. Two smaller studios they use for prerecorded programs and the live news.

00:16:59 Bruce

And there's a separate studio, which is next to all the big flashy buttons, and that's used for, predominantly used for, for Parliament. And I think there's other small bits and pieces.

00:17:10 Bruce

But that room is just a big square room.

00:17:13 Bruce

Dark. It's very dark apart from the lights for the green screen and yourself which it's, it's a nice environment.

00:17:22 Bruce

Now that room, which is a big room, has got partitions.

00:17:25 Bruce

It’s got a comfy sofa.

00:17:27 Bruce

It’s got a table.

00:17:28 Bruce

You know, so you can sit behind camera.

00:17:31 Bruce

Depending how you work an individual, there's different ways that it can be set up.

00:17:36 Bruce

So, for example, you might not want to have somebody else in the studio with you.

00:17:42 Bruce

You don't when you're doing the live, you are there on your own, working to camera. [Tim: hmm]

00:17:48 Bruce

In the studio with Parliament you can have somebody sitting behind or to the side. They can feed you if you want them to feed.

00:17:55 Bruce

If not, you don't have to.

00:17:57 Bruce

I don't mind if somebody's sitting there at the side or the back. [Tim: Mmm]

00:18:00 Bruce

It's fine.

00:18:01 Bruce

I don't have an issue with that.

00:18:03 Bruce

What we do have and this is something that's been new for me and it came out of, of working with the deaf interpreters, which I've got to say is one of the greatest experiences I've ever had is working with a deaf interpreter.

00:18:17 Bruce

Now that's not happened…

00:18:20 Bruce

Actually, let me say that's not happened until I started down there last year, [Tim: Mmm] the first time in career working with a deaf interpreter as a team, just me and Deaf interpreter, two of us.

00:18:31 Bruce

That was it. And it was a fantastic experience because I'm working from audio.

00:18:37 Bruce

They're working from the live autocue. [Tim: Mm-hmm] Now the live autocue itself is an interesting aspect because it's not 100%.[Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:18:48 Bruce

So, they're reading the autocue and having to decipher live subtitles, which could be waaay off point.

00:18:56 Bruce

And they're doing that on the fly and it's very, very impressive. [Tim: yeah] The pressure that must be on.

00:19:02 Bruce

However, there's a couple of incidents where the audio had gone down, [Tim: hmm] and we were told that there might have been issue with the audio.

00:19:09 Bruce

“Would you be OK if we interpret from autocue” and I was, I don't know. I've never had to do before. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:19:18 Bruce

And one of the occasions I made a decision actually, let's just go for it.

00:19:23

Let's go for interpreting from the autocue rather than the audio. And to see how that went.

00:19:28 Bruce

And I'll be honest now, I'm almost at the stage where that's what I'm relying on the autocue more than the audio. [Tim: yeah]

00:19:36 Bruce

Not for any odd reason.

00:19:37 Bruce

The predominant reason is because the changeover from myself to the deaf interpreter is a lot smoother if I follow the autocue rather than the audio.

00:19:48 Bruce

So, the audio is on time and you're interpreting. So, if you've got a 7 to 10 second lag, if you're working to that, that's fine. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:19:58 Bruce

There's an additional 10 seconds, 7 to 10 seconds of delay on the autocue. [Tim: Mmmm]

00:20:05 Bruce

So, if I'm signing, I finish my part. I walk off. Interpreter walks on has to wait on screen until the subtitles catch up.

00:20:15 Tim

Yeah.

00:20:15 Bruce

So, what I've been doing is now I've been listening and then I delay, delay, delay, delay.

00:20:20 Bruce

So, I cope with that and then I end on the subtitles, and I switch off the interpreter comes on. They then just follow on seamlessly. [Tim: yeah]

00:20:31 Bruce

So, it looks, visually, it looks a lot better. I honestly think that interpreting from subtitles is a skill that I, I want to learn more, and even I think it's a fantastic CPD opportunity for, for people. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:20:45 Bruce

Because when audio goes and it can go technically, what do you do?

00:20:49 Bruce

You know, and I found actually reading subtitles… You read the subtitles, you are able to summarize. So, you can scan, quick read, and then you're able to put that concept out quickly and it's something very, very, uh, it's a fascinating thing.

00:21:04 Bruce

And that's why now, when I'm doing online work, I always have the subtitles on. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:21:08 Bruce

In fact, on the screen just now when I'm looking at you, I have the subtitles on underneath your face.

00:21:13 Bruce

You know I can refer to them or I can even just use the subtitles for interpretation purposes rather than the audio.

00:21:21 Tim

So, are these AI generated? Or?

00:21:23 Bruce

No, they are respoken.

00:21:24 Bruce

Yeah, they're respoken.

00:21:25 Tim

OK.

00:21:26 Bruce

So, the subtitles are they’re coming back in.

00:21:28 Bruce

So, it's just clarification because the transcript you can imagine in Parliament or… [Tim: Mmm] I don't use it for the live news. I don't use it for live news, but I do use it for Parliament.

00:21:38 Bruce

Because there's a lot of monetary figures, and place names that will go past very, very quickly. [Tim: Mm-hmm] And you're able to, to cope by missing those out then and then coming back to them because you know that in 5, 10 seconds the value, the figure will be appearing on screen. [Tim: hmm] 

00:21:55 Bruce

So, if something is 26.37 billion. Wa- was that billion or million?

00:22:01 Bruce

Because you're, you're concentrating. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:22:03 Bruce

So, you're able to then go back and then you'll see the word billion come up and then you're able to go.

00:22:07 Bruce

Yeah, I was right. It was billion. You know. [Tim: Mm-hmm] I should have said it then, but no. [Tim laughing]

00:22:11 Bruce

It's a back-up, but the experience of working with an autocue is, is interesting.

00:22:17 Bruce

What's also interesting is, is that autocue appears on the screen.

00:22:21 Bruce

Direct in front of the camera, [Tim: Mm-hmm] but you can change it.

00:22:26 Bruce

So, for example, in the news, there's no autocue. What you're looking at on the screen, sorry at the camera, is the live footage of the news. So that's in screen. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:22:37 Bruce

Rather than any text, so you don't have to look off to the right to see what's on the screen, because you can actually see it on screen.

00:22:44 Tim

I do notice when watching you…

00:22:46 Tim

Yes, I do. Watch you on the screen of BBC once in a while.

00:22:49 Tim

The green screen will put you on the side of the video.

00:22:54 Bruce

Yes.

00:22:54 Tim

You might say, standing. [Bruce: Yeah] And occasionally you're kind of like the weather person looking at the map and pointing to it.

00:23:01 Tim

What does that feel like?

00:23:02 Tim

What does that look like in the studio?

00:23:04 Tim

Are you looking at the green screen, just kind of looking in that direction or what are you looking at?

00:23:08 Bruce

Yes, you're actually looking at a screen.

00:23:10 Bruce

So.

00:23:11 Bruce

You’re looking at a camera. In the camera, there is an autocue.

00:23:14 Bruce

So, it's a, it's a screen too.

00:23:15 Bruce

So, you're basically looking at television screen which sits in front of a camera and that's the live output of…

00:23:21 Bruce

Oh, sorry of, that's the live feed from the news or Parliament. [Tim: Mm-hmm] To the right, what's on that screen is the composite so it’s what the audience sees. So that you see yourself at the side with the smaller inset picture [Tim: Mm-hmm] of the news.

00:23:37 Bruce

So, you get to see where you are.

00:23:39 Bruce

So, when I'm starting and the counting is happening in the BBC music’s playing, I'm looking, and it's a full screen image of what's being output.

00:23:49 Bruce

And then they usually come up and say, “Welcome, this is BBC News at one from London”. And then as that happens, their screen goes smaller, I appear.

00:23:59 Bruce

And at that point when I appear, I know I can then turn to camera. [Tim: OK.]

00:24:03 Bruce

I will look at that for…

00:24:06 Bruce

I usually turn to, I think, to intimate it’s a new topic, a new speaker.

00:24:13 Bruce

And that's just a visual break, I think. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:24:16 Bruce

That's just I think it's just come naturally rather than just being constantly looking at the camera. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:24:20 Bruce

You look and then you then carry on.

00:24:22 Bruce

Yes, you use roll shift etcetera. But, but it’s as an example if it's going to a new, new topic, you will then turn and it's that kind of gives you kind of a full stop, new paragraph. [Tim: yeah]

00:24:34 Bruce

So, on the side there are two screens. The one screen is the, the life feed and the next screen which is not on for me, is the live text. [Tim: yeah] So, they have got…

00:24:44 Bruce

In this camer…

00:24:45 Bruce

There's 1, 2, 3, 4, five screens all together. To your right there’s two. [Tim: Mm-hmm] There's the camera which is three, and just off to the camera there's two monitors, one's live and one can be subtitles. [Tim: Mm-hmm] So, there's, depending on where you want to look, the information that you need is always, is always there.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:25:07 Tim

Bruce is right. All the information you need is there. That's right.

00:25:12 Tim

Subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest updates for everything Interpreters Workshop. So, this spotlight today so far has given us many things to think about.

00:25:23 Tim

Many of them connect with our everyday interpretations and our professionalism.

00:25:29 Tim

For example, Bruce’s idea of keeping politics, his views, to himself helps with that privacy, not just within ourselves, but for gaining trust and confidentiality. He pointed out working with high quality professionals eager to work with one another creates a friendly, wonderful atmosphere that's just good to be in, including a language barrier free environment.

00:25:57 Tim

Being able to be yourself as an interpreter, being able to express yourself in the signs that you know the ones that you have evolved into over time. Just like language evolves, so does our own personal language as an interpreter evolves.

00:26:15 Tim

We gather signs, mannerisms, the structure of the language, how it's used for many of our friends, clients, colleagues and the places we live.

00:26:26 Tim

The story about Bruce asking for another six months of experience before he jumped into the live news and then being given a much shorter time period to start that...

00:26:40 Tim

It reminds me that we sometimes put up our own limits, our own barriers.

00:26:45 Tim

We don't realize that we can take that leap.

00:26:48 Tim

We can challenge ourselves. When others believe in us, it should help us believe even more, something another interviewee said to us Dr Carol Patrie. A lot of the steps that she took in her career were because someone else believed in her.

00:27:07 Tim

So many very interesting things that we can apply in other scenarios, so I hope you enjoyed this first part of a spotlight on Bruce Cameron.

00:27:17 Tim

Next week, we'll continue this conversation and see where it leads in the BBC. Until then…

00:27:24 Tim

Keep calm.

00:27:25 Tim

Keep interpreting the magic.

00:27:28 Tim

I'll see you next week. Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:28:06]