This is an ADLAB PRO video.
ADLAB PRO is a project funded by the European Union.
This video is made available to you
on a Creative Commons licence.
-Hello. I’m Aline Remael, from the University of Antwerp,
and in this ADLAB PRO video
I will explain which services can be used to complement AD.
This is Unit 4, "Additional Services",
in Module 1, "AD: General Introduction".
AD can go a long way towards
making audiovisual texts of any kind accessible
but some productions present additional challenges
that then require additional services.
Some additional services are used mostly with dynamic AD
for the screen or live events.
Some services are used with static AD
such as AD for museums and exhibitions.
The additional services that will be introduced here are:
Audio Introductions, Audio Subtitling,
Touch tours and Tactile Explorations.
An Audio Introduction or AI is a continuous piece of prose
that contains information that cannot be included in the AD.
It complements the AD when time limitations
restrict the information that can be added.
It is mostly used for live events, sometimes for screen AD.
An Audio Introduction is made available
before the production or event starts.
It can be offered live, or as a written text or a recording,
for instance, on a website but also on a DVD or USB
that can be sent to the patrons beforehand.
Audio introductions often contain a synopsis of the production
and describe specific visual details,
for instance, the setting or the characters.
They can also offer technical information about the production.
Audio introductions can also provide
artistic or historical background information.
In the case of live events, a description of the venue
and its general ambience can be included.
Films and other cultural products
are becoming increasingly multilingual today
and/or they travel to other countries.
Not all audiences everywhere are polyglots
and understand all languages.
Audio subtitling or AST can help AD
overcome such linguistic barriers.
Two common types of film translation are dubbing and subtitling.
In a dubbed production the original dialogues are replaced
by spoken dialogues in the target language,
which people with sight loss can hear.
So there is no problem.
Subtitling is a form of text on screen,
which people with sight loss cannot access.
That is a problem. So AST is used.
Audio subtitling is a spoken rendering
of the written subtitles already provided with a film.
AST ensures that people with sight loss
can listen to the subtitles, thereby giving access
to the foreign language dialogues.
Combined with AD, AST thus ensures full accessibility.
In the case of live performances such as opera and theatre,
surtitles projected above the stage
are often used for the translation of dialogues or arias.
Sometimes surtitling can also be rendered aurally as AST.
However, very often relevant information from the surtitles
will be paraphrased and integrated
in the audio introduction or in the AD itself.
Audio introductions and audio subtitling
provide information aurally.
Other additional services provide information through touch,
also in combination with AD.
At live events, Audio Introductions
can be combined with a touch tour.
Patrons can then explore the stage and the set,
handling selected props.
At the same time an audio describer describes
the objects that can be touched.
Tactile exploration refers to the manual exploration of objects
at a museum or exhibition.
Tactile exploration is also combined with AD,
which can be recorded or live.
Some of the objects are items that have been selected especially
for tactile exploration, some are models of larger pieces.
And here ends our brief survey.
More information can be found in Louise Fryer’s book,
"An Introduction to Audio Description".
and in "Pictures Painted in Words",
the ADLAB Audio Description Guidelines online.
-The preparation of this presentation
was supported by ADLAB PRO. Audio Description:
A Laboratory for the Development of a New Professional Profile
financed by the European Union
under the Erasmus+ Programme,
Key Action 2,
Strategic Partnerships.
Project number:
2016-1-IT02
KA203-024311.
The information and views set out in this presentation
are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
the official opinion of the European Union.
Neither the European Union institutions and bodies
nor any persona acting on their behalf
may be held responsible for the use
which may be made of the information contained therein.
This was an ADLAB PRO video.
ADLAB PRO partners are: University of Trieste,
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,
University of Antwerp, Adam Mickiewicz University,
RTV Slovenia, Utopian Voices,
Soundfocus and Royal National Institute of Blind People.
ADLAB PRO was funded by the European Union.
This video was made available to you
on a Creative Commons licence.