Audio Description Style and Film Experience

Description, Interpretation, Narration16-18 September 2015, Sydney, Australia aaa Floriane Bardini

UVIC-UCC

Contents Functional approach to AD creation: Functionalism, film analysis and audio description

Description, interpretation, narration: Same source film, different audio descriptions

Feeling, grasping, enjoying: Audio description style and film experience

Functional approach to AD creationPROJECT:

Three AD of the same film created in different styles to test their effect on the film experience of AD users.

The translation of filmic language in the AD is the only variable to be studied. This is ensured by

having the same professional describer creating all three descriptions to be tested,a functional framework (based on ADLAB guidelines) anda multilayered narratological and cinematic analysis of the film (also based on ADLAB guidelines) prior to AD creation

AD should allow VIPs to perceive the message as a harmonious work which is as similar as possible to that which is perceived by the sighted. (AENOR 2005, translation by Utray et al.) Stray away from guidelines to include the aesthetics and meaning of film language in the AD.Describe what is shown and include how it is shown when considered necessaryInterpret the films message and re-narrate it for the audienceFollow current guidelines (AENOR UNE 153020 norm)Describe objectively what is shown on screen ImplementationFunctional approach

OPERATIONAL LEVEL Multi-layered ST analysisMicro level functional strategiesControlValidation for next stepnarratologic analysis

cinematic analysis

AD oriented analysiscontent selection

audio description techniques

semantic and textual strategiesDoes the AD of the fragment fit

the AD brief?

the ST analysis?

the whole AD?

time limits?Fragment-level check / global check before closing the script-writing phase.Functional approach

Defining AD stylesThe audio description style is the global approach chosen by an audio describer to describe a film or any other source.

The creation of an AD in a certain style can be achieved through

the use of different audio description techniques to conceive the translation of the audiovisual message into the verbal system (Bardini 2013) and

the use of different semantic and textual strategies to convert this concept into words.

The strategic choices made at a micro level have to be consistent with the macro level approach of the AD style.

Defining AD stylesDenotative AD styleConventional audio description that follows current guidelines by describing what is shown on screen at a denotative level.

Cinematic AD styleAudio description that offers a balance between translation of film language and denotative description.

Narrative AD styleAudio description that concentrates on interpreting the films message and translating it into a coherent narration.*

Narrative analysis: Opening sceneSpatio-temporal frame

Cinematic analysis: Black and white / film noir styleEery musicWide angle; camera movement

Functions: Setting of a frameSetting of a mood

Example 1: the beginning

Example 1: the beginning

Denotative styleCinematic styleNarrative style++00021200+00021413 En lletra lligada i al biaix: Nuit Blanche.Sloped and in handwriting: Nuit Blanche++00021914+00022423 En blanc i negre. De nit. Es lluna plena. Les teulades de zinc d'una gran ciutat, amb xemeneies fumejant.In black and white. At night. It's full moon. The zinc roofs of a city with smoking chimneys.++00021200+00021413 Nuit Blanche apareix en pantalla a l'estil film noir. .Nuit Blanche appears onscreen in film noir style.++00021914+00022423 La ciutat s'estn, en blanc i negre, una nit de lluna plena. Les xemeneies fumen a les teulades de zinc.The city spreads out in black an white on a full moon night. Chimneys smoke on the zinc roofs.++00021200+00021413 Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche

++00021914+00022423 La ciutat s'estn, en blanc i negre, una nit de lluna plena. Les xemeneies fumen a les teulades de zinc.The city spreads out in black an white on a full moon night. Chimneys smoke on the zinc roofs.

Example 1: the beginning

Denotative styleCinematic styleNarrative style++00022800+00023700 Un edifici de tres plantes, amb grans finestrals, amb llum a l'interior. Sobre la porta principal, de vidre, un nom dempresa. . .A three-floor building, with large windows and light inside. Above the main glass door, a company name.++00022800+00023700 L'enquadrament baixa per la faana d'un edifici d'oficines de tres plantes, amb grans finestrals, encara amb llum. Sobre la porta principal, de vidre, el nom de l'empresa.The frame goes down along a three-floor corporate building, with large windows and light inside. Above the main glass door, the name of the company.++00022800+00023707 Homes i dones passegen pel carrer, abrigats, per davant d'un edifici d'oficines de tres plantes, encara amb llum , ambgrans finestrals i una porta de vidre.Men and women wraped up in coats walk along in the street, passing by a three floors corporate building with light inside, with large windows and a glass door.

Narrative analysis: Climax Denouement

Cinematic analysis: End of slow motionTransition: dissolve; music cut; sound effects

Functions: Surprise the spectatorCome to a conclusionGive meaning to the short

Example 2: the end

Example 2: the end

Denotative styleCinematic styleNarrative style++00045901+00051303 Envoltats pels trossets de vidre que reflecteixen la llum, avancen cap a l'encontre. Ella amb els braos lleugerament endavant, ell sense barret ni malet. Sn a un pam l'un de l'altre. Tanquen els ulls i accosten els llavis. .Surrounded by pieces of glass that reflect light, they walk towards each other. She slightly reaches out her arms, he has no hat and briefcase. // They're half a foot from each other. They shut their eyes and their lips come closer.++00045901+00051303 Rodejats pels trossets de vidre, que reflecteixen la llum com espurnes, avancen cap a l'encontre, ella amb els braos lleugerament endavant. Quan sn a un pam l'un de l'altre, es miren els llavis i tanquen els ulls, a punt per rebre el pet.Surrounded by pieces of glass that shine like sparks, they walk towards each other. She slightly reaches out her arms. // As theyre getting closer, they look at each other's lips and close their eyes as they are about to kiss.++00045901+00051303 Rodejats dels vidres, que reflecteixen la llum com espurnes, avancen resoluts cap a l'encontre, com dues figures de cera alienes a la realitat. Davant per davant, es miren els llavis i tanquen els ulls, a punt per rebre el pet. .Surrounded by pieces of glass that shine like sparks, they walk towards each other decidedly, like two wax dolls apart from the real world. // Getting closer, they look at each other's lips and close their eyes as they are about to kiss.

Example 2: the end

Denotative styleCinematic styleNarrative style++00053001+00054120 A velocitat normal. La dona seu al Caf de Flore, i somriu mirant cap a l'home, que resta dret a l'altra vorera, amb barret i el malet a la m, mirant-se-la. . . At normal speed. The woman sits at the Caf de Flore and smiles, looking at the man. He stands on the other side of the street with his hat on his head and his briefcase in the hand, looking at her.++00053001+00054120 L'enquadrament se centra en els llavis, quasi a tocar. Els depassa, i torna a la realitat, a velocitat normal: la dona seu al Caf de Flore amb un somriure i l'home resta dret a l'altra vorera. Es miren l'un a l'altre.The frame focuses on their lips, which nearly touch. It passes beyond them and returns to reality, at normal speed. The woman sits at the Caf, smiling, and the man stands on the other side of the street. They look at each other.++00053001+00054120 De cop, tot torna a la realitat: el vent bufa, i la dona seu al Caf amb un somriure. L'home resta dret a l'altra vorera, i es miren l'un a l'altre. . . .Suddenly, everything goes back to reality. The wind blows and the woman sits back at the Caf, smiling. The man stands on the other side of the street and they look at each other.

Feeling, grasping, enjoyingWhat is film experience?

It is a sensory, emotional and cognitive experience that happens as a result of the encounter between spectator and film (Bardini 2014).

Emotions are the most essential element of film experience including film comprehension (Carroll 2008; Plantiga 2010)

Feeling, grasping, enjoyingHow can film experience arise?

The spectator must have [the] ability of combining the multilayered verbal, visual and musical impulses to form a semantic, sensual, and emotional impression in which a maximum of symbols, icons and indexes of the multimedia-based cinematographic text is foregrounded.

(Schmid 2014)

Feeling, grasping, enjoyingWhat to expect?

More intense emotions with the more interpretative AD versions

Better and quicker understanding with the more interpretative AD versions

Experience more similar to that of sighted viewers with the more interpretative AD versions

Possibly mixed opinions of participants about denotative / cinematic / narrative AD styles

ConclusionsFunctionalist approach and film analysis allow...

... for AD to stray away from guidelines without landing off-track

... to create several valid audio descriptions of the same source material

... for an informed interpretation of filmic content to offer an enhanced film experience to AD users

And what next?

Evaluate the quality of film experience with each AD style with end users and collect information on preferences

Use research results for training and professional purposes

Thank you for your attention!Floriane Bardini

University of Vic / Central University of Catalonia

floriane.bardini@uvic.cat

Floriane Bardini

University of Vic Central University of Catalonia

floriane.bardini@uvic.catWorks cited:

AENOR. 2005. Audiodescripcin para personas con discapacidad visual: requisitos para la audiodescripcin y elaboracin de audioguas. UNE 153020. Madrid: AENOR, p. 1-9.Carroll, Nol. 2008. The Philosophy of Motion Pictures. Madison (WI): Blackwell Publishing.*Kruger, Jan Louis. 2010. Audio narration: Re-narrativising film. In: Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 18 (3): 231249.Nuit Blanche. 2009. Arev Manoukian. Online at https://vimeo.com/9078364 [retrieved 2014/8/22]. Toronto: Spy Films.Plantiga, Carl. 2010. 8: Emotion and Affect. In: Carl Plantiga and Paisley Livingstone (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Philosophy and Film. London; New York: Routledge, p.86-96.Remael, Aline, Gert Vercauteren and Nina Reviers (eds.). 2014. Pictures painted in words. The ADLAB audio description guidelines. Online at http://goo.gl/JbOf4H [retrieved 2015/2/26].Schmid, Wolf. 2014. The Selection and Concretization of Elements in Verbal and Filmic Narration. In: Jan Alber and Per Krogh Hansen (eds.). Beyond Classical Narration: Unnatural and Transmedial Challenges. Berlin; New York: Walter De Gruyter.6th Media for All International Conference 16-18 September 2015, Sydney, Australia