Audio description services are used to enhance and ensure video accessibility. They promote inclusivity and equal access to information. When undertaking an audio description project, it’s important to understand how the script writing and recording process works. Sensitive and accurate audio descriptions ensure that visually impaired audiences have full access to understand and engage with visual content more effectively.
Audio description consists of a voice recording which can be overlayed onto a video to describe visual content. One of the first mistakes many producers make in starting out with audio description writing is including sound effects or elements that relate to audio, as opposed to images onscreen. Some tips are outlined below:
AUDIO DESCRIBING SOUND EFFECTS
While identifying speakers by name occasionally can be useful, the dialogue should not be included within descriptions. For example, ‘Sadie shouts’ before a line where she is shouting, should be adapted to either ‘Sadie…’, or described to include how she may look while shouting, prior to her dialogue. E.g. ‘Sadie points.’
Where there are sound effects, audio descriptions can be used to designate which object or person is causing that sound effect. For example. If a microwave explodes, writing ‘Explosive bang’ does not help add context for visually impaired viewers. Alternatively, ‘Microwave shakes and omits a bright light’, added prior to the explosive sound will help viewers to understand what fully what is happening and why.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION AND EQUALITY (STEREOTYPES)
A major issue around audio description can actually be in relation to the use of stereotypes in descriptions. Stereotypes and cliches are understandably, something that we avoid using in everyday life in order to avoid causing offence. However, in reality, what we see, we automatically affix to certain stereotypes as a part of our understanding what that object is. These stereotypes are often unspoken, which is where the difficult part comes in. In order to make content accessible to a visually impaired viewer, these stereotypes sometimes need to be spoken in order for them to understand and experience equally what everyone else sees.
Let’s take an example. If a character in a movie is a female but dressed in a black pant suit with a bow tie and has their hair slicked back, they may be described as being ‘Dressed like a 1920’s gentleman.’ Equally, they may even be described as dressing like a ‘Dandy’, if they look to be overtly well groomed. This isn’t necessarily the way they may want to be described, but the relevance to the audio description lies in the context. If the clothes add nothing to context, we may be more flattering and state, ‘Dressed smartly in a black pant suit,’ and there is no issue with that.
But… what if their dress precedes a political/gender joke about men in the 1920s? A standard viewer would understand the joke as they can see the stereotypical way this person is dressed. If the description has encompassed the original stereotype of a ‘1920s gentleman’, or ‘Dandy,’ the visually impaired viewer would also understand the joke. If the alternative, more neutral description had been used, however, the visually impaired viewer would be left confused or like they have missed something.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION AND PRONOUNS
The choice of pronouns can be a prominent issue with script writing and descriptions in modern media. Whilst choosing to use ‘they’ or ‘them’ as pronouns for gender neutral content is increasingly common, it’s use isn’t always advised in audio description for the blind and visually impaired because of the confusion it may cause. For instance, the use of the pronoun, ‘They’, is traditionally used in writing as a plural term, or sometimes singular for the past tense. When using ‘They’ in audio description, it can be confusing to a listening audience whether this refers to one person, or indeed, a group. Whilst it’s understandable that the intention is to be inclusive and not cause offence to the person in the video, the use of ‘They’ can have an impact on the clarity of the description which means the audio description is effectively not ‘inclusive’ in terms of making the video accessible to the blind viewer for whom it is intended.
It’s important to be respectful and make considered choices in describing visual content in a film or video, and a professional audio description writer will know how to strike the write balance between what a filmmaker prefers and what the audio description requires. Decisions like these are part of what makes audio description such a collaborative process.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION AND ACCESSIBILITY
I hope this blog was helpful in pinpointing some of the key issues around writing scripts for audio description. If you have any questions around using audio description services or would like to contact us for a quote, do get in touch and we’ll be happy to assist you in your accessibility service needs.
