[Art_beyond_sight_theory_and_research] Movies for the blind

Wed Dec 9 19:14:25 UTC 2009

Hi all, 
Thanks for responding, Valerie, I see your point. You do say listening to an
audio described film is like listening to an ebook, which does make sense.
The act of listening is similar in any case. It just bites me when
generalizations are made that imply that blind people are participating in
such a different manner that we aren't even actually participating in the
same event. I would say that most blind people would say that they "watch"
TV or movies even though it is listening alone, but that not one blind
person would ever say that they 'watched' a book. I know it seems like
semantics but I feel it is important to make certain distinctions. 
Anyway, I'm glad the announcement was posted. I had not heard of the movies
for the blind website and the descriptions there are really well done. I did
enjoy "watching" some of the TV episodes and hope that category continues to
expand. I also look forward to seeing further  discussion. What do other
people think? Are we in our right to say we're "watching?" Maybe even when
the video portion is not present? I watch TV at home through the sound
system without turning my TV on half the time too. 
Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Valerie [mailto:descriptionto at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, December 09, 2009 10:32 AM
To: Mike Sivill
Cc: Art Beyond Sight Theory and Research; accessibleimage at freelists.org;
art_beyond_sight_educators at nfbnet.org; art_beyond_sight_advocacy at nfbnet.org;
art_beyond_sight_learning_tools at nfbnet.org;
artbeyondsightmuseums at nfbnet.org; valerie at moviesfortheblind.com
Subject: Re: [Art_beyond_sight_theory_and_research] Movies for the blind

Hello Mike and everyone.

I'm sorry to be crashing, but Mike cc'd me on this, so I feel obligated to
respond to everyone who read it. If there have been other responses I have
not had a chance to look at yet, having just received this, please forgive
me for any redundancy.

My two main points to respond to Mike are that I merely say people can
listen to Movies for the Blind *like* an audiobook, and that he gives my
abilities too much credit. :-)

The About page of Movies for the Blind is intended for people who have no
prior knowledge of description and the many terms we can apply to it ("audio
description", "described video", "descriptive video", etc.). While I refer
to DVS because it is one of the higher-profile describers in North America,
"descriptive video" is not exactly what Movies For the Blind has most of the
time. With a few exceptions, MFTB is audio-only, and the audience does not
experience it with video, which would have additional benefits for people
who aren't totally blind, people with vision-impairments consuming media
with friends or family with sight, and sighted people which include those
learning a language or developing literacy.

I think everybody knows what an audiobook is, so I use it as a point of
comparison. Under the definition I'm suggesting (though perhaps not strongly
enough), an audiobook is a book adapted into audio form so a person can
listen to it without looking at text - walking along the street, driving in
a car, doing household chores, or perhaps resting with eyes closed
somewhere. This was the only point of comparison I wished to make: that MFTB
is also an audio adaptation of another form of media (in this case, tv or
movies) which can be listened to without looking at a screen. It speaks to
the purpose of creating something that anyone with hearing can enjoy
regardless of sight, with no special adjustments necessary.

While different audiobooks have differing levels of production which assist
the listener's imagination (some are just someone reading, others have
readers cast for their expression consistent to the tone of the book, others
have readers adopting different character voices and set in front of music),
Mike is correct that Movies For the Blind does fill in more detail. However,
a perennial point of discussion among those who write and listen to
description is how much to describe and what to describe. There are
different schools of thought on that, but no matter how much we debate it,
the fact remains that each describer is limited by time (even when
description is expanded outside of the original's real time) and his/her own
perspective. No matter how hard we try, we will never, ever be able to
describe everything, we will never evoke every visual cue for which an image
is intended, and we will never look at a scene in exactly the same way. We
will never be a complete substitute for the sight someone does not have.

In my opinion, the describer's purpose is to help tell a story. Only tell -
not show. A story is nothing without the contribution of the audience, and
all the creators involved serve that audience.  The words I choose are
essentially lines for the listener to colour in between (or outside, if
he/she wants) to give the story its ultimate life. And while I like to think
I'm pretty good at what I do, the listener's imagination still has a lot of
work to do (hopefully enjoyable) to make it worth anything.

Thanks very much for getting through this. :-) Thanks to Lisa for mentioning
MFTB, and thanks to Mike for his opinion and for bringing this to my
attention.

Peace,
Valerie
-- 
Movies For the Blind
http://moviesfortheblind.com/

On Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 11:42 AM, Mike Sivill <mike.sivill at viewplus.com>
wrote:

	I really don't agree that descriptive video is like an audio book.
Listening
	to action and dialog going on is very different from reading a book
and
	using your own imagination to form the voices and images in your
head.
	Just my humble opinion, they are two entirely separate experiences.
	Mike

	-----Original Message-----
	From: art_beyond_sight_theory_and_research-bounces at nfbnet.org
	[mailto:art_beyond_sight_theory_and_research-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf
	Of Lisa Yayla
	Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 11:51 PM
	To: 'accessibleimage at freelists.org';
	'art_beyond_sight_educators at nfbnet.org';
	'art_beyond_sight_advocacy at nfbnet.org';
	'art_beyond_sight_learning_tools at nfbnet.org';
	'artbeyondsightmuseums at nfbnet.org';
	'art_beyond_sight_theory_and_research at nfbnet.org';
	'artbeyondsightmuseums at nfbnet.org'
	Subject: [Art_beyond_sight_theory_and_research] Movies for the blind

	Got this tip from another list

	http://moviesfortheblind.com/

	from site
	What is all this?
	Well, this is a podcast of public-domain films where I've added
something
	called "audio description," which is additional narration telling
people who
	are vision-impaired important visual elements of a show as they
happen,
	helping the film tell its story. This means everyone can listen to
it like
	an audiobook.

	To learn more about the history of description and where else it is
used
	(hint: quite a few places but not enough!), check out the wikipedia
articles
	on the Descriptive Video Service and audio description.

	Have any questions or suggestions? Email
	valerie at moviesfortheblind.com<mailto:valerie at moviesfortheblind.com>.

	Regards,

	Lisa

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