Stephanie Farmer: Midterm Portfolio – #5 Audio Descriptions of Captions

Project Description:

Typically, remixes complicate songs, adding tempo changes cut chopping, and layers to the song. I did something different. My feedback from the original captioning project led to me wanting to strip things down. So in this project, I took just a few lines from the original movie clip and wrote elaborate audio descriptions of my interpretation of the look of the scene. I hand-wrote the words I spoke as a caption tool/script. I wanted to see what would happen if the audio description not only came first but stood alone. I also wanted to maintain that human quality that my original captioning showed visually, and vocally.

Documentation:

 

descriptions:

SLIDE 2: A video of exactly what is said aloud. Here is a transcript:

Stephanie: -WHAT LIES BEFORE YOU IS A SMALL SPIRAL NOTEBOOK WITH WORDS SCRATCHED INTO IT THOSE WORDS HAPPEN TO BE EXACTLY WHAT I AM SAYING. THIS NOTEBOOK AND I ARE GOING TO HAND YOU A BIT OF A STORY OR A PIECE OF A STORY. WHILE THE CHARACTERS DO NOT STAND BEFORE YOU. THEY ARE HERE IN THEIR WORDS AND MY VOICE. 

 I TURN THE PAGE

AUDIO DESCRIPTION: THE SCENE OPENS WITH A WOMAN DEJECTED SITTING AT A TABLE BY A RIVER. THE NIGHT AIR MUST BE WARM ENOUGH AS SHE WEARS A SPAGHETTI-STRAPPED DRESS. THE CAMERA JOINS A MAN IN HIS STEPS TOWARDS HER. HE ASKS HER

-ARE YOU BY YOURSELF?

ARE YOU FOR SOMEONE?

AND SHE IS FRUSTRATED BY HIS MASQUERADE AS SOMEONE WHO DID NOT JUST HURT HER

-YEAH I’M BY MYSELF AND HAPPY TO BE

SHE JABS

I TURN THE PAGE

AND SHE DOES NOT STOP

-I’M AN ANGRY PERSON AND I HURT MY KIDS MY WORK AND EVERYONE I LOVE

HE IGNORES HER BITTER VOICE AND PULLS UP A CHAIR

-AGH YOUR JUST MY TYPE

HE SAYS SITTING DOWN NEXT TO HER. WE ALL WISH HE WOULD LEAVE AND HE DOESN’T. AND HE DOESN’T. HE PRETENDS UNTIL SHE FOLDS. BECAUSE WOMAN MUST BEND FOR MENT TO DOWN NEXT TO THEM. AND THERE HE IS SITTING NEXT TO HER IN A BAR BY THE WATER IN WARM WEATHER CONVINCING HER ITS ALRIGHT. HER FACE SCREAMS IT IS NOT ALRIGHT. WE ALL KNOW IT IS NOT ALRIGHT.

I TURN THE PAGE

MY HAND GROWS TIRED FROM TELLING THE STORY NOT HAVING MUCH TO SAY OR WRITE EXCEPT THAT I AM TIRED. I CLOSE THE NOTEBOOK AND LEAVE IT THAT IS THE END.

SLIDE 3: The original captioning I remixed. Check out my captions project for that description.

SLIDE 4: The clip from Before Midnight.

Reflection questions: 

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

This theme of access coming first is absolutely effective when you strip everything away. I think this modality emphasizes the way description can tell the story of a scene while also telling a story about the telling of the story. The simple style allows for that meta-layered storytelling. I think audio descriptions encourage time to meditate on the image. Out of a desire to not describe things in reference to other visual content, I wanted to describe emotions that are palpable in facial expressions. 

Which elements of the work are beautifully/wonderfully/perfectly expressed through the modality? Which elements are lost or inexpressible through the modality of the week?

I think the storytelling aspect is really powerful when it’s simplified into text. I think that when the time crunch of working against the speed of an inaccessible video is removed, there is more space for creative description. This makes me really appreciate the feedback I got about simplifying my first captioned project. However, I think the ultimate goal will be to reach a middle ground between this and my first project. While the minimalism shows the same tiredness, I think we miss the quality of the original scene. I also think this is also simply less visually pleasing than the original video given that the emphasis was on the language over the image.

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

I think this modality is not as stimulating for d/Deaf viewers who would simply read the text. Unless I truly want to focus on the language. I also think that neurodivergent people who seek stimulation for attention, this doesn’t exactly grasp that. While it is accessible to both the deaf and blind I feel like my voice adds a layer of intrigue for the hearing and there isn’t that intrigue for the deaf. In a later version, I would probably take time to make the description even longer so there is time to describe a more visually stimulating element. Maybe I would find a way to animate the handwritten element so that it still has that human quality without it just being a sheet of paper. 

Reading Response: a Brief Summary

Carmen Papalia writes an essay on reworking the museum in hopes of making it more accessible. First, she lists all of the barriers to entry, not just for the disabled but also simply for those who do not speak the high-brow language of cultural institutions. She argues for a new world of museums. Museums that prioritize the people rather than uphold the style museums have upheld for centuries. She writes from the perspective of someone who gained a form of blindness later in life, as she noticed the way, she “constantly felt limited by the systems that [she] had chosen to rely on because [she] hadn’t yet claimed agency and established a system for my own access.” She goes on to describe creative ways museums and galleries might include access setting an example through her installation of the Blind Field Shuttle Walking Tour.

Reading Response: Take Away

My main takeaway is summarized in this quote: “As a museum visitor I seldom feel like the museum cares about whether they can make a returning customer of me.” I think so many people complain about the pretentious nature of museums and they are absolutely right. The language, the price, the vagueness, all forces people to get lost or feel lost. This is even more true when it comes to access for disabled people. Museums are too afraid to change for the better, too concerned with upholding classic style, forcing access practices to be requested, temporary, or an afterthought. Museums should, from the beginning consider themselves a tool for their community, then they should prioritize being accessible to that exact community.

Reading Response: Connection

Carmen Papalia writes about how the use of tactile objects allows for an understanding of how things are created visually. When I got to do a touch tour with Georgina at The Guggenheim’s Late Shift event, I was able to experience the same thing. We were talking about a collection of photographs with pieces cut out of them and ceramic pieces that fit the mold of those cutouts. We were able to hold onto the cutout pieces of the photographs to feel the pieces that were missing from the displayed photos.  At the end of the visual descriptions, the audience members were given pieces of model magic clay to fulfill the same role as the ceramic pieces the artist created. We were told to make an impression of a body part in the same process that the artist did. It was so cool to do a tour where we got not only to feel tactile graphics but also create them.

Reading Response: Burning Questions

My question is if there are developing connections between the fields of access and art conversation. Papalia writes about running through museums, touching works, and playing. I wonder if there is work that can be done to make art stronger so that it can be more easily enjoyed. Are there sealants or casting methods that might allow for more touching while still protecting the original work?