EASIT. Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training.
Unit 3B. Easy to understand and audio description.
Element 1. Processes.
Interview with professionals: Louise Fryer.
In this interview, the AD professional Louise Fryer
will talk about AD accessibility.
She will share her ideas on what can make AD difficult
and unveil her stance on describing in an easy way.
Hello, I am Louise Fryer.
I am an audio describer and an academic.
I am in my 50s with short brown hair graying.
I am wearing a purple jumper and a black vest.
I am sitting at my desk in a cottage in the UK.
I will answer some questions by the EASIT project.
Do I think AD as I produce it is really accessible for all?
No. AD makes some content accessible
for some people by providing access to the image
to those who cannot perceive it. But the problem is that
even though the blind and partially blind audience is diverse,
there is only one AD track.
In an ideal world, people could choose
between descriptions targeted differently,
i.e. depending on sight experience.
Has the person always been blind,
or did they lose their sight later in life?
Some may choose the director's AD, focusing on camera work.
Some might prefer a man's voice, others a woman's.
As of now, AD of live events
is only accessible to those who wear a headset.
This means it is closed.
What about those with other levels of education,
or lack of cognitive skills?
AD aims to use language suited to the content.
For the AD of a play with complex words,
the AD will be complex too,
which might not be accessible to everyone.
What elements of AD
do I consider to cause a higher cognitive load?
Cognitive load has not been well researched in AD.
It relates to Working Memory Capacity:
holding information in short term memory and manipulating it.
I.e., remembering the description of a character from the introduction
until that character gets on stage,
and updating your mental image if they put on a disguise.
Working Memory Capacity is thought to be limited.
It is affected by the amount of information,
or the complexity of the content,
but also the word count, the speed
and the linguistic structure of the AD itself.
The AD may reduce its load by adding context
to enable users to interpret the dialogue easily.
Load can also be eased by users
not having to filter out unneeded information.
This describer is not describing everything:
by giving information in different methods,
inflection, tone and soundtrack
can convey emotional detail without complex words.
Do I think I describe in an easy way?
I don't think so, but I do try to describe
in a logical order, prioritizing which information I give first.
Do I think I could describe in an easy way?
I do not like to be limited as to the vocabulary I use
beyond adapting it to suite the content.
While I would use easier words for a children's show,
I would not like to use easy words
to describe content made for educated adults.
Have I ever been given feedback
on how easy it is to follow my AD?
I was once told that I used too many words.
Since then, I try to use words more effectively.
"Less but better" as Dieter Raams put it.
As an AD professional, I have never been asked
to write an "easy" AD, but I have been asked
to describe for a relaxed performance
for a neuro-diverse audience.
So I kept the descriptions very short but helpful.
It became more of a guide than an audio description.
I said things like "the girl is happy",
"she is clapping, she is encouraging us to clap, too".
I have also been describing for film AD
to be delivered by synthetic speech.
The writing has to be more explanatory
because you cannot use inflection and pace
to build excitement or tension.
Replacing some descriptions by explanations is common in AD:
to use a technical word with its explanation.
I like to do both when I have time and whoever I am describing for.
This video was prepared by Elisa Perego,
produced by Angelika De Marchis, Laura Marini, Annalisa Navetta,
from the University of Trieste. Narrator: Annalisa Navetta.