[access-uk] Fw: Audio description article in the Guardian
- From: "Catherine Turner" <catherineturner2000@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Access-UK" <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 12:58:34 +0100
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mailbox, Campaign" <Campaign@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 11:51 AM
Subject: Audio description article in the Guardian
Dear Campaign Supporter
There's been lots of coverage about the switch-off of analogue TV in the
press lately and at last the mainstream press have realised audio
description exists. In today's Guardian there is an article pointing out
how useful it is and includes our request to increase the targets. Below is
a link to the story on the Guardian's website and I've copied the text
beneath that. At the bottom of the article it asks "If you'd like to
comment on any aspect of Technology Guardian, send your emails to
tech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" So if you do have any comments about audio
description or digital switchover please do email the Guardian!
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1747341,00.html
Regards
Julianne
020 7391 2123
-----------------------------------------
Picture the scene
Audio description allows blind people to enjoy film and television. And the
system has possibilities for the sighted, too
Ian Cook
Thursday April 6, 2006
The Guardian
When the BBC sent a blind TV director out on a shoot, it was hailed as a
piece of political correctness gone mad. How could blind people make TV
programmes, they don't even watch TV. Or do they?
The BBC's blind director might have been a one-off, but every day, large
numbers of Britain's two million blind and partially sighted people sit in
front of the TV - often with sighted family and friends - trying to make
sense of programmes with varying degrees of success. Television can be a
challenging experience if you're blind. It can also be distracting for
sighted family and friends asked to provide commentary or explanation. On
trips to the cinema it's even worse: imagine a trip to the pictures to see a
film such as Casanova. The activities of the Italian stallion mean little if
you can't actually see what is going on in the boudoirs of Venice.
Visual information
Fortunately, Casanova is now among a growing number of films and TV
programmes that are "audio described". This means a separate narration track
is supplied, giving a brief outline of the action, scenery and other
essential visual information in quiet moments between speech or sound
effects.
Audio description is delivered via headphones in cinemas and a growing
number of theatres, offered as a separate track on DVD and also available on
a small but growing number of TV programmes via digital set-top boxes.
Not surprisingly, it has been enthusiastically received by many people in
the UK who have sight problems. Typical of those using audio description is
17-year-old Harry Luckhurst, who lives with his parents and his brother
Jamey. Harry is blind but, like most youngsters, enjoys TV - in particular
soaps and action films.
Before the advent of audio description, members of the Luckhurst family had
to describe things for Harry, with varying degrees of success. As dad Trevor
recalls: "Imagine you have worked all day and just want to sit and relax in
the evening in front of the TV. You are just dozing off, when Harry asks,
'What's happening, Dad?'.
"Audio description is a godsend. Harry can come home from school and 'watch'
something on his own. It removes the need to describe everything that is
happening in any programme, giving us more time to do other things that need
doing in everyday life. Audio description is one of the best things to come
into Harry's life. It has also made a big difference to us as parents. "
Another big fan is Mike Townsend, a trustee of the Royal National Institute
of the Blind (RNIB), who has been blind since childhood. Townsend was one of
the first users of the Netgem I-Player AD, a Freeview box that can receive
audio description. He says it has made an enormous difference to his life,
and that where audio description works - as in programmes like Waking The
Dead - it can make a real difference. In fact, he's such a fan that his main
gripe is that so few programmes - just 8% on TV - are audio described. "I
like to relax on a Sunday evening and put on Heartbeat, which is audio
described. I would like Casualty but they don't do that, although strangely
enough they often do Holby City. I sometimes wonder why this is," says
Townsend.
It's a good question. RNIB would like to see far more programmes broadcast
with audio description, but progress in rolling out the service seems slow.
The TV target for audio description is set at 10% of programmes by the fifth
year of the digital transmission start date of a channel, and although audio
description is available on Sky and on Freeview, audio description on cable
is only just beginning.
The situation in broadcasting is in sharp contrast to that in the film
world, where 170 cinemas around the UK have an accessible screen delivering
audio description through headphones, and around 80% of all major film
releases are now audio described. Not surprisingly, there is a feeling that
broadcasters are dragging their heels and lack enthusiasm. Leen Petré, head
of broadcasting and talking images at RNIB, says that the charity wants to
see 20% of TV programmes audio described by the 10th year of digital
licences - not 10% as the system presently demands.
Dr Margaret Rogers is director of the Centre for Translation Studies at the
University of Surrey and programme director of the first MA programme in
subtitling and audio description. A great enthusiast of audio description,
she agrees that the number of audio-described TV programmes is small but
warns that there is a need to ensure that audio description standards are
maintained despite pressure for output to be produced "on the cheap" to meet
targets. Programmes that are easy to audio describe, such as University
Challenge, have been criticised by some blind people as not really adding
much value for them.
New possibilities
Townsend's sighted wife, Edith, sees new possibilities for audio
description. She thinks that it might catch on among sighted people once
they realise how useful it is. So much so that she says she would consider
using the audio description track when her husband isn't around. "Sewing or
doing the ironing - something like that is perfect for audio description. It
makes it like radio."
Dr Rogers goes further. "Sighted people who have watched a video or DVD with
audio description have frequently said it told them things they would not
have noticed with their own eyes."
Members of the Surrey team also think that audio description could have the
potential to turn an audio-visual experience like watching a film into an
audio product like a talking book or a radio drama - suitable for listening
to in the car or on a portable stereo or maybe even a mobile phone.
Last year, RNIB held a special event at Vue West End cinema to mark 10 years
of audio description. Although it was a celebration, the charity stressed
that more still needs to be done.
Given the little-known fact that blind licence fee payers are expected to
pay for a TV licence - 50% of the price paid by sighted viewers - it could
be argued that audio description is, to use that hackneyed phrase, what they
pay their licence fee for.
· If you'd like to comment on any aspect of Technology Guardian, send your
emails to tech@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Regards
Julianne
Julianne Marriott
RNIB Campaigns
020 7391 2184
--
DISCLAIMER:
NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments is
confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended
recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of the
content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify the
sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to delete it
and any attachments from your system.
RNIB endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated by
its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However, it
cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are transmitted.
We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.
Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email and
any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily represent
those of RNIB.
RNIB Registered Charity Number: 226227
Website: http://www.rnib.org.uk
** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:-
** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe]
** If this link doesn't work then send a message to:
** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
** and in the Subject line type
** unsubscribe
** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the
** immediately-following link:-
** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq]
** or send a message, to
** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq
Other related posts:
- » [access-uk] Fw: Audio description article in the Guardian
