Our project at CML
 Audio description: definition and purpose
 AD & communication
 Guidelines: A common framework?
 Guidelines: A common framework?
Imagism and the ekphrastic tradition
Clips
Conclusio

Almeida, Paula Ramalho

Bigotte Chorão, Graça

Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto

«INFORMATIVE OR EXPRESSIVE?»THE SIGNIFICANCE OF VERBAL AND VISUAL FUNCTIONS IN ADGraça Chorão - Paula AlmeidaCML/ISCAPMedia for All 2009: Quality Made to MeasureSummary Our project at CML Audio description: definition and purpose AD & communication Guidelines: A common framework?2 Imagism and the ekphrastic tradition Clips ConclusionOur project Master’s degree in Specialized Translation andInterpreting Media for All 2007 Need to push forward accessibility in Portugal3 Interest shown by teachers and students alike Other research projects in visual communication andsemioticsDefining AD«To a great extent, audio description can beconsidered a kind of literary art form in itself, a type of poetry – a haiku. It provides a verbal 4version of the visual whereby the visual is madeverbal, aural and oral.»Joel Snyder, «Audio Description: The Visual Made Verbal», International Congress Series 1282 (2005) 935– 939, pp. 936-937.Purpose«to give people […] a more complete picture of whatis being shown, enabling them to appreciate and toshare in the presentation as fully as a sighted5person».ADI/Guidelines for Audiodescription, 2009Purpose (cont.) Georgina Kleege, talking about an audio book(Berger’sWays of Seeing): «And she seems to enjoy describing the images. Sherevels in it. Her voice becomes excited, even agitated.6[...] I’m a bit startled at first. Her enthusiasm is such aswitch from the usual “nothing but the text, ma’am”neutrality I’m used to. But then I start to enjoy it. Whyshould she repress her pleasure? It’s infectious.» (p.185-186)AD & Communicationscriptwriterscriptfilmmakerfilm audience 1audio describeraudio description scriptaudience 2delivery7film +audio description deliveryNEW TEXTAD & Communication«On some level all movies are about seeing, which iswhy I can see better at the movies than in real life. The filmmaker shows me what to see and teachesme how to understand it.» (Georgina Kleege, p. 58)8BBC Promo clipJakobson’s communicative languagefunctions9Guidelines: A common framework? somehow inconsistent and vague not offering the necessary set of rules that could provide homogeneity and quality standards. What, when, How and how much should be described?10 Describe what you observe; actions or details that would confuse or mislead the audience if omitted- triage: specific visual information; Agreement on vividness, imagination and objectivity of the language Informative function Poetic function Standard techniques in AD    Joe Clark  What is essential to know;  Describe as consistently as possible.  Describe any obvious emotional states Guidelines on the provision of television access services BBC  Adverbs should not be subjective  Vocabulary: accurate, easily understood and succinct  Variety of verbs  Adverbs useful to describe emotions;  Add emotion, excitement, lightness of touch to suit the mood. AD Guidelines Draft -(2003) Audio Description International (ADI)   Simply, clearly, concisely ;  Descriptive, accurate and appropriate language;  No interpretation or personal comment.  Work on expanding vocabulary, especially verbs;  Be sensitive to the mood of the scene. Audio description standards(2009)  American Council of the Blind  Resist conveying an emotional state:  Objectively recount the visual aspects of an image  Be clear, concise, conversational   AD: art form, type of poetry- a haiku;  Vary verb choices;  Words that are succinct, vivid and imaginative;  Metaphors/similes that are familiar to the audience.  ITC Guidance on Standards for Audio description (2000)  Unobtrusive and neutral but not lifeless or monotonous;  Clarity – avoid ambiguity in the use of nouns or pronouns;  Should not voice a personal opinion or interpret events.  Few-well chosen words can enhance a scene;  Comments on physical attractiveness when is relevant to the issue;  Use of adverbs to support the description of an action. Standards for Audio Description  (2008) Audio Description Coalition  Describe what you see; not what you think you see;  Describe objectively;  Avoid metaphors , similes ;  Use common comparisons;  Factual, clear, straightforward commonly used terms;  Dramatizing the delivery is distracting;  use vivid verbs   use the most descriptive words   describe colors: to share the emotional “meaning” of the color.  11How?“we try to convey our descriptions with a kind of “inner vision” that results in a linguistically vivid evocation of 12the image being described”. AMERICAN COUNCIL OF THE BLIND’S AUDIO DESCRIPTION PROJECT, P. 10  Imagism: «limpidity as opposed to Rhetoric»The apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet, black bough.Ezra Pound, «In a Station of the Metro», Lustra/Selected Poems, 5313As cool as the pale wet leavesof lily-of-the-valleyShe lay beside me in the dawn.Ezra Pound, «Alba», Lustra/Selected Poems, 53Imagism and the ekphrastic tradition «Though indeed Simonides calls painting silentpoetry, and poetry speaking painting. For thoseactions which painters set forth as they were doing,those history relates when they were done. Andwhat the one sets forth in colors and figures, the14other relates in words and sentences; only theydiffer in the materials and manner of imitation.«Whether the Athenians were More Renowned fortheir Warlike Achievements or for their Learning»(De Gloria Atheniensium) Plutarch, 402Imagism and the ekphrastic tradition «a poem may be very productive in pictures, and stillnot be descriptive itself» Laocoon, p. 96 «In this moment of illusion, we should cease to beconscious of the instruments, by which this effect isobtained, – I mean words. But a poet should always15produce a picture» (Laocoon, p. 112) In poetry rather than prose: «[…] the same impressionshould be made upon our senses, which the sight of thematerial objects, that these conceptions represent,would produce.» (Laocoon, p. 112)Imagism=AD ? Direct treatment of the thing whether subjective orobjective. P. 36 (imaginative) To use absolutely no word that does not contributeto the presentation. P. 36 (objective)16 Use no superfluous word, no adjective which does not reveal something. P. 38 (succinct) Go in fear of abstractions. P. 38 (vivid)And now…  Audio described clips – Star Wars Personification – “the weapon leaps into his hands”; Hyperbole – “a tiny figure struggling through the snow”; Asyndeton – short blunt sentences;for the fun stuff!17 Analogy – to create a unique image a tiny figure struggling through the snowClips Blindness Revolutionary Road The Happening Body of Lies18 The Eye HancockThe Eye (Theatrevision) Perfect example of symbiosis of the original withAD-new text AD-Omniscient narrator Appropriate film terminology when neededTranslates character’s direct thought19 Gets involved in the situation, feeling what thecharacter feels Imagism at its best:«Showerhead, pouring down on Sydney. Her head leansagainst the tile, a blank expression on her face.»Hancock (ITFC) Unlike The Eye, there is little time for AD Narration not as conspicuous, expressive function isat the forefront, with a comic undertone «Hancock cops an eyeful of blond Mary and smirks.»20 «Hancock looks a bit awkward.» «They regard each other, some chemistry betweenthem.» «The white guy screams in agony at his new anal insertion.»ConclusionSo…The ‘audio describer’ is a translator. How do we translate without interpreting?21«The blind are a filmmaker’s worst nightmare. Theycan never be viewers, can never be enlightenedand dazzled by the filmmaker’s artistry.» (p. 58)Raina HaigDrive (UK 1997): «the first film ever to generate and record an Audio-Description (or Audio-Vision) track at production stage.»22«The describer must recreate the experience of thefilm, whilst also knowing the information priorities ofblind and partially sighted people.»«Visually impaired people do have family photos andhome movies.» (Interview in 2002) Cf. http://www.rainahaig.com23Thank you for your attention.palmeida@iscap.ipp.ptgchorao@iscap.ipp.pt

Informative or expressive?: the significance of  verbal and visual functions in AD

Scientific Repository of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto

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Informative or expressive?: the significance of verbal and visual functions in AD

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Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto

Scientific Repository of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto