Easit. Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training.
Unit 3B. Easy to understand and audio description.
Element 1. Processes.
Interview with professionals: Christopher Taylor.
In this interview,
we will listen to the answers of Chris Taylor regarding AD.
Taylor is an academic who has widely researched AD.
He has coordinated a European Union project,
ADLAB (Audio description: lifelong access for the blind).
It achieved "success story" status.
Taylor remained active in the follow-up ADLAB PRO,
and has recently retired.
I am Chris Taylor from the University of Trieste.
I've been interested in audiovisual translation for years,
and in audio description.
I have also coordinated a European project, ADLAB,
which was taken on by Elisa Perego and ADLAB PRO.
Both aimed at improving and enhancing
the state of the art
regarding audio description in Europe
and in the rest of the world.
We are now coordinating a handbook of AD,
which covers the entire globe
on the future prospects of AD.
Do you think that AD is accessible for all,
e.g. people with cognitive, intellectual, learning disabilities,
whose processing times might be slower?
Museum experience would suggest this is the case.
Sighted visitors like hearing AD.
Maybe because it is simpler than normal audio guides.
And then we have your EASIT.
As regards the cinema this has been less investigated.
I have watched films with AD
and I am not disturbed by it.
And with universal design,
I think some people may opt for it.
Those with cognitive or learning disabilities
might benefit from AD in all settings,
but it would have to be AD in EASIT form.
The speed, or the enunciation clarity are important,
and the developments in personalisation technology would prove useful.
So delivery speed, clarity, style, could be adjusted.
Do you think that simplifying AD
for people with cognitive, intellectual and\or learning disabilities
can be the right way to go to extend possible users?
Simplification is an aim of audio description.
In addition to the question to speed, clarity, etc.,
people with cognitive, intellectual and/or learning disabilities need simplified text.
The move towards plain language
has eliminated jargon and bureaucratese
for sighted people, in all areas.
So AD as a specialised genre
could benefit from the same intervention,
sight impaired public and those with special needs.
If psychologists, teachers and social workers
are made aware of the progress been made,
then I can see it being extended.
What types of simplification can you think of?
The usual things:
short sentences, less technical terms,
plain language, no bureaucratic language,
syntactically simple, paratactic sentences,
no subordination, clear deliberate pronunciation, etc.
But from the audio description point of view,
simplification can include describing the minimum
when dealing with sight-impaired people,
and concentrating on the image-text matching.
A dyslexic person requires attention to image-text,
making sure the words are associated with the visual.
Do you think that all types of AD,
like screen or art AD,
can be simplified and remain successful?
Yes. Sighted cinema audiences or museum visitors
like simple descriptions.
This is especially true at the end of films or museum visits.
The only exception is live AD.
Here the describer would have to be skillfull
and mindful of the listener’s needs.
The results of the focus group,
carried out in a previous stage of the project,
show that some users may need more informative than descriptive ADs.
This would imply replacing descriptions by explanations.
Which strategies would you apply to implement this?
And in which cases would this not be possible?
Bearing in mind the old adage “you say what you see”,
and the recommendation of guidelines to be objective,
not subjective or judgemental,
the informative approach would not work for film or TV AD.
Explaining a scene involves personal interpretation
and transgresses that line,
the blind and sight impaired call “condescension” or “pandering”.
It is true that not everything can be described,
only few elements in the frame can or should be described,
but most scenes can be explained, even briefly.
Thus, in my opinion,
the informative AD is much more acceptable, e.g., in museums.
The need to avoid spoon-feeding exists,
but sighted visitors also require explanations of exhibits.
This video was prepared by Elisa Perego and produced by
Angelika De Marchis, Laura Marini, Annalisa Navetta
from University of Trieste.
The narrator was Annalisa Navetta.