Variations on the Pear Tree Experiment : different variables, new results?

Inspired by the Pear Stories Project, the Pear Tree Project has investigated how different cultures and languages describe the same film in order to apply its findings to audio description (AD). Participants from different countries were asked to "write down what they saw" in a controlled setting. This article proposes an alternative experiment, also based on the original Pear Stories Project, which aims to shed light on two issues: how different describer profiles (translation students with AD training/without AD training) and different instructions concerning the target audience profiles (blind/non-blind) could alter the final production. The results are analysed in this paper, taking into account the elements covered in the original Pear Stories Project as well as some additional elements proposed by the authors

Audio Description Washes Brighter? A Study in Brand Names and Advertising

Dealing with objects in audio description, and particularly with those objects that have a clear designer imprint or branding, is a complex matter when a brand name is part of the scene in a film. Deciding whether to describe or not, and how, becomes more than a technical matter that depends on text–image synchronization: it is a complex decision-making process comparable to other forms of audiovisual translation that needs to be approached as a paradigmatic example of intersemiotic translation. Dávila-Montes and Orero address the audio description of branded objects in movies, and their intersemiotic translation from images to spoken words, a complex issue that may harbour additional insights into topics of a wider scope

Court Cases, Cultural Expertise and ´Female Genital Mutilation' in Europe

This chapter discusses adjudication, expertise, and cultural difference as it appears in criminal court cases concerning female genital cutting (FGM) in the EU, as reported in a 2015 comparative overview. It begins with the distinction between typical and atypical FGM cases; a distinction that connects court cases to the cultural realities of the practicing communities, suggesting that the lack of cultural knowledge can cause unnecessary suffering to families and/or individuals who wrongly undergo prosecution in alleged FGM cases. A contrario, the intervention of experts in FGM court cases could be a positive approach to assessing the legitimacy of public intervention in certain cases

Gender-based violence, stalking and fear of crime. Research project 2009-2011 - Research report publication

The application to conduct a research project entitled \u201cGender-based Violence, Stalking and Fear of Crime\u201d was made by a consortium of five European partner universities

How co-speech gestures are rendered in audio description : a case study

The description of co-speech gestures is an under-researched area of audio description. This chapter draws attention to the concept of audio description strategies. As well as looking at the ways in which co-speech gestures are described in audio description, Jankowska and Zabrocka explore the methodological implications of including gesture types into analysis of gesture description. This chapter concludes with the results of a case study in the form of qualitative and quantitative analysis of a corpus of six professionally audio described films

Cognitive approach to audio description

The article presents theoretical and methodological approaches relevant for the research on audio description (AD) and exemplifies the application of these approaches by studies on live audio description of films conducted at Lund University. A cognitive, reception-oriented perspective on AD and the framework of embodied cognition are in focus. It is claimed that previous research on scene perception, scene description and mental imagery can be preferably adopted in the study of AD. It is further argued that an interdisciplinary framework, integration of theoretical approaches and triangulation of methods is necessary in order to investigate such a complex phenomenon as AD