Juhi Mehta: Midterm Portfolio – #4 Audio Description

Project Description:

This scene is from the Netflix show, Bridgerton. The context of the scene is that the bride, Edwina, and the groom, Anthony are getting married. However, Anthony is in love with Edwina’s sister, Kate, the maid of honor. Edwina does not know about their affair until the end of this scene. I chose this scene because of how much unspoken communication there was. I believe this is the perfect scene to add audio descriptions.

Documentation:

My process included adding audio description in the quiet moments that had lots of body language/nonverbal communication. I thought it was important to add audio descriptions for this because BLV people would not be able to see it, so they would have to focus on hearing it.

Transcript:

ANTHONY: Miss Edwina, you look lovely.

EDWINA: Thank you, my lord. I am happy you are pleased.

ARCHBISHOP: Please be seated. Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this congregation, to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony. And therefore, it is not by any to be enterprised, nor taken in hand, unadvisedly, lightly, and wantonly, to satisfy men’s carnal lusts and appetites, like brute beasts that have no understanding… Archbishop fading: …but reverently, discreetly, advisedly…

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Edwina smiles at her groom, Anthony. He returns a reassuring smile. His stare drifts off. He stops smiling. He looks behind his bride and sees the Maid of Honor, Kate. She meets his gaze. He quickly feels guilty and looks back at Edwina. Edwina smiles at him, smitten. She looks at the Pope. From Anthony’s point of view, he looks at Kate again. His heart races.

( somber classical music plays )

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Suddenly, he imagines that he is marrying Kate. Kate is wearing a beautiful white wedding dress and staring at him. He looks into the audience and sees empty seats. The Kate in his imagination smiles at him. She is happy.

ARCHBISHOP, faintly: My lord. My lord.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The Pope’s voice snaps him back into reality. He looks out into the audience full of people waiting for him to speak. His gaze drifts to Kate, realizing she is the maid of honor, not the bride. She stares at him, nervously rotating her bangle. Edwina turns to see who he’s looking at. They both stare at Kate. Kate stares at Anthony. Edwina recollects herself and looks at Anthony. She is embarrassed.

EDWINA: The archbishop would like you to repeat, my lord, after him.

ANTHONY: Yes, of course. I, Lord Anthony Bridgerton…

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Kate’s bangle falls to the ground. She looks at Anthony. He immediately moves to grab the bangle. Kate moves at the same time. He puts the bangle in her hand. They share intense eye contact. 

ANTHONY: Allow me.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Edwina confusedly looks at her sister and her fiance. Anthony’s mother looks uncomfortable.

ARCHBISHOP: Might I continue?

ANTHONY: My apologies.

KATE: My apologies.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: The dots start connecting for Edwina. She begins breathing heavily.

ARCHBISHOP: Viscount, repeat after me.

EDWINA: I… ( gasping softly )

ANTHONY: Miss Edwina, are you…

EDWINA: ( shouts ) I need a moment! ( Edwina gasping )

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Edwina panics and runs out of the church. Her mom follows her. Kate is shocked and stares at Anthony. He looks back at her. They know that Edwina knows. Kate runs after her sister. The queen stands angrily.

QUEEN: What has happened to my wedding?

QUEEN’S GUARD: The bride seems to have run away, ma’am.

Reflection questions: 

What is the theme of the work? What is it you aim to express?

The theme of this work was to create an expressive audio description that made viewers understand what they were watching outside of the dialogue. My goal was to express the unspoken communication among the characters. 

How is that theme particularly expressed through the modality of the week?

The theme is expressed in a comprehensive way. The dialogue itself does not explain what is actually happening here, which is why the audio descriptions are necessary for viewers to understand the scene fully.

Which elements of the work are beautifully/wonderfully/perfectly expressed through the modality?

I believe the emotions and the eye contact play a huge role in the unspoken communication of this scene. I wanted to emphasize that type of communication in my audio descriptions.

Which elements are lost or inexpressible through the modality of the week?

The flow of the audio descriptions are hard to match with the pace of the scene. I wanted to maintain as much of the original sound as possible, because it plays a vital role in conveying emotion in this scene. Sometimes the beautiful background music was not able to be heard due to my voiceover. I am also not sure if I kept the mystery of this scene or if I told too much.

Who does this project exclude? Who would not be able to interact with this work? Who is this modality not accessible for?

This modality is not accessible for people with hearing disabilities. This is due to the fact that there are no captions added and that the important descriptions of the unspoken communication is told only through audio. This audience would not be able to interact with this scene with the way it currently is.

Now that you’ve identified who is excluded, what is one way you could remix this piece to include another population? (You don’t have to make this part, but think about it and write about it)

In order to be more inclusive of people with hearing disabilities, I would definitely include captions. I would match them up with the dialogue in order for the viewers with a hearing disability to be able to fully discern this scene.

Additional Modality: 

 

I chose to add the modality of captions to my audio descriptions assignment. Originally, I only added audio descriptions without captions. If a person who was heard of hearing was watching the original video, they would not have been able to understand without captions.

I wanted to keep the captions as simple as possible, which I felt matches the entire scene. By keeping this in mind, I added captions with white text and a black transparent background. However, I added slight animation when it was applicable. For example, I added this flowing text animation to match the Pope’s voice drifting off.:

In this next example, I added another text animation to make the text bounce when entering and exiting the scene. It felt like it fit, since it raises viewer attention just like the Pope’s voice raises Anthony’s attention:

Lastly, I added other animations to Edwina’s texts. Once when she is panicking and breathing heavy, and another when she shouts at Anthony:

I believe, overall, that these captions added a simple but necessary accessibility enhancement to the video.