Body language and other unspoken elements are only included by request, in Strict Verbatim styles.

In Strict Verbatim, if the interviewee makes a gesture that’s important for context, we describe their body language in brackets.

For instance:

INTERVIEWER: Was the babysitter home during the invasion?

INTERVIEWEE: Sure. [Waves hand dismissively.]

This is only possible, obviously, for video transcription where we can see the parties.

In audio recordings, your interviewer might instead consider describing the gesture for the record. In those cases, the transcript might read something like this:

INTERVIEWER: Was the babysitter home during the invasion?

INTERVIEWEE: Sure.

INTERVIEWER: I see that you’re waving your hand, somewhat dismissively. Is there something else you’d like to say about that?