Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Audio Description (self.Blind)
submitted by poeticbrawler
Hi all! My fiance is visually impaired and over the last few years, I've become an audio describer. I provide the service live at our local university for their theatre productions, was hired by the university's Disability Services for Students department to provide it for certain required films and presentations, and I also do it in a more informal way when we watch movies/tv shows together.
If I were to record the description I provide for him when we watch things, would anyone be interested in the audio tracks? They wouldn't be the quality of the audio description on Netflix originals, since I don't have the time to pre-write/extensively edit (and I would just record what I normally do for him), but they could be downloaded and played along with the movie (a la RiffTrax). I'd want to provide them for free, of course.
He told me about someone on here who wanted to watch *Lord of the Rings* with their partner but there's no audio description available. It made me really bummed, so I'd love to provide what I do if folks were interested!
If I were to record the description I provide for him when we watch things, would anyone be interested in the audio tracks? They wouldn't be the quality of the audio description on Netflix originals, since I don't have the time to pre-write/extensively edit (and I would just record what I normally do for him), but they could be downloaded and played along with the movie (a la RiffTrax). I'd want to provide them for free, of course.
He told me about someone on here who wanted to watch *Lord of the Rings* with their partner but there's no audio description available. It made me really bummed, so I'd love to provide what I do if folks were interested!
theburningflame 2 points 3y ago
OP, thanks for making this thread! I also work in the audio description space and have been thinking about how I can more informally help out the community, so I would also like to offer up my assistance. My background is more in the scripted broadcast stuff, and I find live AD amazing :)
Prefect316 2 points 3y ago
Please do Breaking Bad! Lol
It would be really nice if something like the audio vault existed with just the AD tracks so I could watch more movies with my partner.
It would be really nice if something like the audio vault existed with just the AD tracks so I could watch more movies with my partner.
theburningflame 1 points 3y ago
I'll see what I can do! The Americans will keep me busy for a while haha. I imagine it's pretty hard to get the AD tracks alone, I guess they'd have to be isolated from the audio mix...
poeticbrawler [OP] 2 points 3y ago
To clarify: I do it live because that's what the university needs, but I've actually recorded audio description tracks for films and television before - just informally. I really wanted to show my fiance *Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon* for example, but horror movies are especially rough when it comes to the visual aspects, so I pre-wrote and recorded a descriptive track for us to play alongside the movie. Often, though, when we're watching shows/movies, I just do it live so that I'm not watching the same thing twice in quick succession.
theburningflame 1 points 3y ago
Ah, very cool. I certainly don't have much experience in voicing AD tracks - my focus has more been on the scripting side - so yours is an interesting perspective to me.
ErtaySh 2 points 3y ago
Have you ever thought about starting a Patreon and describe shows that do not have official descriptions? Four example,Buffy, Angel, Star Trek and many other older shows do not have audio descriptions.
poeticbrawler [OP] 1 points 3y ago
That's actually exactly what we were thinking of - we're watching Star Trek Enterprise right now (having finished TNG and DS9) and I've been doing audio description for every episode.
ErtaySh 1 points 3y ago
You could try doing descriptions for a couple episodes and share them here and see what people think. I haven't watched TNG myself, and the main reason is that it doesn't have audio descriptions. I kept postponing watching it while I could still see...
theburningflame 1 points 3y ago
I haven't, actually, mostly because I don't understand how the legalities of broadcast content work. I know about the existence of Audiovault, so perhaps a service like that? I'd love to do it though.
CloudyBeep 2 points 3y ago
How do audio description companies feel about services like the Audio Vault? Are they annoyed that their hard work is being distributed freely, surprised that blind people also pirate, or sympathetic because audio description is not always legally available?
theburningflame 2 points 3y ago
I can't speak for companies, but I'd like to hope they'd be glad to see their work reaching its intended audience - if they've been paid by a broadcaster for that piece already, it's usually out of their hands anyway. Personally I think pirating is just a fact of life - of course, in an ideal world, all media would be fully accessible all of the time. Captions are widely distributed and almost taken for granted, and while I suppose audio description is different in that there's an element of interpretation and artistic license, to me it's still fundamentally a question of access. I'm pretty biased, though, as a believer in early-internet optimism and a prior fansubber :)
ErtaySh 2 points 3y ago
You shouldn't have any problems as long as you don't use the original audio of the shows, and just make a companion track that would be played at the same time as the original video. Audio vault has the original tracks ripped from Netflix/DVDs etc, which is not legal.
theburningflame 1 points 3y ago
Gotcha. In which case, I can probably make this happen! I suppose Audiovault might be useful to see which shows are still lacking description?
CloudyBeep 1 points 3y ago
Have you described something I might have watched?
theburningflame 2 points 3y ago
There's some chance! Most of the work I've done has been for Canadian broadcasters, but I've worked on a couple of Stan and Netflix titles as well.
CloudyBeep 2 points 3y ago
I know Descriptive Video Works, a company based in Vancouver, produces audio description for a lot of content for Netflix, and I've watched a few of the shows they've described (American Vandal, Norsemen, Bird Box, First They Killed My Father, The End of the F***ing World, etc.). Have you done any of these shows?
theburningflame 2 points 3y ago
Unfortunately not the company I work for, but that's a pretty great selection of shows - I haven't really done any of the big-name stuff where I am. I'd love to describe a wider range of content, I just don't know how best to do it as an individual!
poeticbrawler [OP] 1 points 3y ago
That's awesome! We should gather any interested folks in that realm and see what we can throw together.
322lancer 1 points 3y ago
What if you submitted recorded movies to audio vault.net
oncenightvaler 1 points 3y ago
hey by the way check out audiovault.net with your fiancé whenever you feel too tired to describe they have an amazing selection of tv & movies.
bjayernaeiy 1 points 3y ago
Hello, I'd just like to say that I fully support your efford and would gladly listen to anything you end up describing. You can never have enough described works, i say.
autistictechgirl1990 1 points 3y ago
I’d b interested
AndAdapt 1 points 3y ago
This sounds like an awesome idea.
Perhaps you could setup a vote and see what film people would like ad on
Perhaps you could setup a vote and see what film people would like ad on
throwaway153463 1 points 3y ago
That would be grate
[deleted] 1 points 3y ago
[deleted]
matt121134 1 points 3y ago
The more AD stuff out there, the better!
CosmicBunny97 1 points 3y ago
That would be really handy!
pterofly 1 points 3y ago
I don't rely on AD completely as I have some functional vision but just wanted to comment to say that this is super awesome of you!
bradley22 0 points 3y ago
Audiovault.net has lord of the rings but the more ad the better.
poeticbrawler [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Oh cool! I wasn't sure. That was just the thing that sparked the thought.
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