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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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This video brings you interviews with professionals:

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Audio description, part 1

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It was produced by the University of Trieste

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in cooperation with Zavod RISA.

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This video includes excerpts from the interviews

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with esteemed experts 
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 by University of Trieste.

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In the first part of this video,

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the experts were asked the following questions:

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1. What are the main challenges in your profession?

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2. What skills are most needed in the profession?

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Here are their answers.

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Well, of course, doing audio description means

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 that you have to put all the information

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that is for example

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in a scene of a film

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into the small gaps in between the dialogues

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and therefore you have to observe

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and you have to edit

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and you have to think where to put your description

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and how do you write this.

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So this is a question of which words to use

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and how to adapt the language maybe

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that is used in the film.

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These are, I would say,

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the main challenges in our profession.

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The main challenge in my profession

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is the tension between quality

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and quantity

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meaning the speed at which an AD is created

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may not allow sufficient time for the best

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AD to be created.

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The other challenge is having to produce

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a one-size-fits-all description

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when we know that the audience is very diverse.

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I think the number one challenge right now

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with respect to audio description

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is visibility.

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You should excuse the expression.

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We've been around 40 years

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but we haven't really made enough

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of a mark...

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we haven't really penetrated 

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- let alone the general public -

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even the audience of people

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that can benefit from audio description,

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for whom audio description 
was intended to begin with...

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people who are blind.

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We need to do a better job of creating PSAs,

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of becoming more visible...

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captioning, of course, is dealing with a population of people

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who are deaf that are-

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twice the size of people who are blind

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but captioning, you see...

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the general public sees the captions on television.

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You can easily turn them on and off.

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You see them in a bar on the television screen in a gym...

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Description - no.

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You have to know how to turn it on

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and oftentimes that's a process

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which only recently has become

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more shaped to be more accessible

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to a person who's blind

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as opposed to being on a visual menu.

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The program has description

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but how do you turn it on?

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I think we're getting better at that

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but that visibility in general

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I think will result in increased understanding of description

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and advancements for the field.

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The main challenge is probably

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training enough people,

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given the growth in the industry.

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The ADLAB-pro project led the way...

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in some ways...

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in suggesting how this can be achieved.

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With media giants like Netflix and Sky

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churning out thousands of video products 24 hours a day

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and the growing awareness within these companies

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of the need for accessibility,

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Netflix in particular,

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it'll be necessary to find professionals able to deal

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with the immense demand

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for screen AD.

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In terms of museum and art gallery AD

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again, you should see a greater increase

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in institutions recognizing the need for audio description

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and to be delivered in some form.

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So, you have trained museum staff,

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freelance describers,

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service providers, such as VocalEyes in London,

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who specialize in museum AD, online ADs...

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but again, this can only happen

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if reliable describers can be trained and employed.

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Of course - good observing.

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you have to really have the ability to see things

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and to describe things,  

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find the right words.

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You need good writing abilities

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to put what you see into words.

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You have to work on the time pressure sometimes,

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you should be able to do this.

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And it helps, when you work for films,

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that you have some knowledge of films,

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if you work for theater that you have some knowledge in theater

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so that you can understand what happens there

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and put this into words.

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What skills are most needed in this profession?

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Depends on the context.

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You need a huge general knowledge

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or the ability to know when you don't know enough

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and need to do research.

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Use of language is key,

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as is understanding how images, words and sound

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work together to convey meaning.

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I think the other important thing 
is passion for doing it well. 

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When I think of the profession of audio description

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I first think of the writers.

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They are the describers.

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Many people listen to audio description and then

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they hear a voice and

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they're: Oh yeah, that guy,

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That guy is the describer.

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Well, probably not. 

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9 times out of 10 in media

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certainly, the person voicing the description

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had nothing to do with the writing of it.

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Although there is a symbiotic relationship or should be

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between the written description

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and the voicing of the description.

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The voicer can... this goes back to a previous question...

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the voicer can do things that

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will relate to what happens later in the script,

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making meaning with the voice, you know...

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So, those kinds of skills on the voicing end,

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but on the describing end, the writing end...

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it's important to have a solid grasp of the language being used,

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a solid vocabulary,

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awareness of how similes, vivid verbs,

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synonyms can be used to make the description

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more listenable and more effective,

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more able to create that vivid image in the mind's eye.

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I think that's all a part of it

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and is much needed in the profession.

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Then of course the audio editing is the third realm of things

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and there are real key elements there

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related to listening

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and to the facility with the technical aspects of audio recording

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that are absolutely critical.

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I hasten to add, too, that people who are blind,

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the people for whom

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description is principally intended,

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can be excellent description consultants.

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Perhaps they don't create the description from scratch

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which involves obviously looking at an image

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but they can be experts in language and can consult

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on how the description is structured.

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They certainly can be voice talents,

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reading from braille, perhaps, or of refreshable braille display

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or some other kind of display that allows them

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to view the text

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and some of the best audio editors I know

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are people who are totally blind.

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So,  I think that's important.

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- Nothing about us without us.-

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I  think that's important to remember.

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Well, the usual skills of concision,

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knowing exactly what to describe, what not to describe

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and if you're the voice talent,

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how to say it in the most pleasing and acceptable way.

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And working together with other people,

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the question of teamwork,

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especially in terms of direct inclusion.