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EASIT - Easy access for social inclusion training

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Welcome to Unit 4 - The profession

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Element 1 - Personal skills

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Interviews with professionals:
Audio description - part 2

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The video was produced by the University of Trieste

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in cooperation with Zavod Risa.

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This is the second part of the video

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featuring interviews with esteemed experts

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in the field of audio description:

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Bernd Benecke

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Louise Fryer

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Joel Snyder

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and Christopher Taylor.

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The interviews were conducted

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by the University of Trieste.

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The experts explain how they see 
the future of their profession  

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and whether they think
that implementing easy to understand

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strategies in audio description

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would become a part of their profession.

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Audio description is going to increase.

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We see this already with

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all the streaming services coming up.

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In this time of pandemic of course

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everything gets streamed.

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Conferences are streamed

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and lectures at the universities

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are streamed.

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All this is material that should be

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audio described.

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So, I think audio description is really going up.

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How do I see the future?

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The need for trained audio describers

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is currently increasing,

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especially as more and more content

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is streamed.

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I expect this to continue.

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There are moves to introduce

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automatic visual recognition.

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Progress is slow because AI

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can identify static images quite well

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but it can't yet link

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continuing characters or locations.

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It might say there's a woman on a beach

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but it won't be able to identify

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the same woman on the same beach in the next shot.

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Humans are very good at picking up

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contextual clues to make a coherent whole.

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I expect workflows will be designed

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where AI can do some of the work

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and a human describes us the rest

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but it's still a long way off.

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I often talk about two aspects

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that are on the horizon for audio description

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that I think will be very important.

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First is the technical aspect.

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Soon enough the use of smartphones,

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if it isn't already,

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will be ubiquitous.

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Everyone will have a smartphone.

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It will be like a home telephone

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or having a home address.

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I think apps now,
and there are half a dozen of them

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around the world,

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apps that you download

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and then that app allows you to

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pair a downloaded 
audio description script

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with whatever is on your television right then...

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Or in the movie theater,
it listens

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and it automatically syncs the description.

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I think this is this significant.

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Some of those apps have the capability

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of including captions,

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including sign interpretation,

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enhancing sound for people
who are hard of hearing...

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not just turning up the volume

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but also download of an alternate language track

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so that grandma,
who only speaks Spanish

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can go with the family to see a film

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in an American movie theater.

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The film is playing in English
but she's using that app

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and hearing the dub in Spanish.

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Or perhaps reading subtitles.

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So that's the technical aspect 
that has already begun to take hold

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but it's still in its infancy.

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I think it will become huge

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within the next 10 years.

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That's my prediction.

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The other aspect

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is more of a programmatic aspect.

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I think that sooner or later,
to a certain extent...

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...not totally by any means...

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audio describers are gonna go out of business.

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What I mean by that is that

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more filmmakers, 
more videographers,

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more people dealing with the arts
that are described

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will become aware of description
and start using it

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as an aesthetic innovation,

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building it in from the get-go.

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Maybe there's a narrator character

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who speaks descriptively,

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actually describes as the program continues

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in a way that is not jarring.

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It seems as though 
it's part of the program.

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It is built in from the beginning

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so that it's no longer description...

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is no longer considered some sort of
post-production activity

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that we don't need to worry
about that we're making a film

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and the localization folks will deal with that.

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No, it can be used as 
an aesthetic innovation.

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It can be used in ways that

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will make for more significant 
aesthetics in the film production,

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production of an idiom.

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Firstly, technological.

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The personalization revolution

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will continue to break new ground

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and depending on market demand
and awareness of the involved stakeholders

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it will bring so far unknown possibilities

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for the blind and sight-impaired community.

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Secondly, the question of accessibility...

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and this movement towards universal design...

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This will see a change in attitudes

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about how audio description is considered

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among the public at large

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and among persons with sight loss.

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As regards screen AD

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the introduction of audio description
and the assistance of end-users

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at the beginning of the filmmaking process

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will turn AD from being

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an addition to a film product to

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being an integral part.

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The same logic applies to the museum 

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where layout and directionality

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will form part of the museum design process.

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So as museums change their role in society...

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which they have been doing for some time now...

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through hands-on exhibits...

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attractive layouts, technological enhancement...

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the provision of AD will be considered

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just a normal part of the plan.

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Thirdly, there are some ethical considerations.

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A recent publication on diversity

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points out how even the most well-meaning describers

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fall foul of political incorrectness misuse.

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So this manifests itself for example

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in the description of characters

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in terms of race, gender, age, disability...

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This publication refers specifically

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to theater AD,

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though its recommendations can equally apply

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to all kinds of screen products as well.

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For example, it was noted that

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white as a scheme skin color

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was never highlighted

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whereas black was.

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Women's appearance came

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into much more description than men's...

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So, we can thus expect

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that describers in the future

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will be coached on how to handle description

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in a non-discriminatory way.

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Easy to understand strategies

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could be useful for 
some types of audience

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and some types of content.

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I'm not ruling it out

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but some blind or partially blind people

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revel in word pictures

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and I wouldn't want to

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deprive them of that.

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Finally, do you think that implementing

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easy to understand strategies in description

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will become a part of the profession?

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I think so.

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You know, listenability...

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easy to understand...

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that's going to be a plus

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for really anybody

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listening to description.

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And again...

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it can be a sighted person

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who is experiencing an audio movie.

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They love that film they saw last week

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and they're going on a long car trip...

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they want to experience the film again...

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They're not going to have a television playing

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or a screen, hopefully,

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while they're driving

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but if they hear

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the original audio track with description

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and it's done in a way that is easy to listen to...

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I think that makes all the difference in the world

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and allows them to vividly

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experience the movie once again.

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It increases the reach of audio description

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and that's going to be good for all of us.

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Well, they should...

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because the aim is always to provide

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the best possible description

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to be understandable by most people

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and the highest number of people.

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If concision and clarity

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are the name of the game...

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and what you're doing with EASIT...

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should definitely become

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a part of the logic

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behind any other description.

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Well i don't know.

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What I do not think is that we get

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an easy to understand description

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additionally to the normal audio description

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because that would mean you would need more money

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and there is no money in the field.

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But if  this project can offer us some

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some strategies on how to make

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audio description easier to understand...

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I would be grateful to use this.