Rebekah Lee: Midterm Portfolio – #4 Audio Description
The Project
Video described on YouDescribe
Project Description
I had two choices for this project: describe my found footage creative captions project or film a 5 minute video to describe near the NYU vending machines. We had to use inline and extended descriptions to be creative and concise with our descriptions.
Documentation
I decided to caption my creative caption video where Cindy goes to a birthday party and meets a fairy godmother. There is a lot of talking in the video, so I chose to do extended descriptions most of the time. Very rarely I did inline descriptions, but only when there is no speaking in the background.
For example, here I did inline descriptions because there is only children screaming in the background. I spoke over them and described what the video was showing. I think this is much better than doing extended descriptions and waiting longer for the screaming noises to pass.
Going through my captioned video, I debated whether to describe the captions. I ended up only saying very briefly some caption descriptions but other times I didn’t. Here, I did an extended description saying that the font of the captions changed.
I initially described here that the tsk-ing was displayed in graphic text from top to bottom but that would make the descriptions inconsistent as I didn’t describe any other captions anywhere else. I ended up taking it out.
At the end, I interrupted Cindy’s talking, so I had to change up some descriptions and timing. Now, there are only extended descriptions in this scene during brief pauses and not in the middle of any sentences.
The descriptions were easy to come up with, but YouDescribe can be a pain to work with. It did make it easy based on what kind of description I wanted to do and exactly where. The UI is easy to use and the timeline is okay. I enjoyed experimenting with what to say with what speeds, when to say them, and how to make it sound easy to understand and yet engaging.
Reflection Questions
- What is the theme of the work?
The theme of the work is that two forms of audio can make for a really interesting piece of work that’s both creative and accessible. I also learned that audio description requires a lot of calculation and precision. It requires the right timing, speed of speech, the right words and amount of words, the right methods, medium, and program. The work would definitely be smoother if there were only inline descriptions, but there is just no way to fit everything you need to describe between dialogue.
- How is that theme particularly expressed through the modality of the week?
The theme is expressed through audio description which is a modality that cannot interfere with the main medium of the work. Captions can be added onto playing video, but audio description cannot overlap with other speech. Therefore, every sentence is carefully placed in a specific place as to not interfere with what else is necessary, which makes this work valuable and accessible.
- Which elements of the work are beautifully/wonderfully/perfectly expressed through the modality?
The subtle details in the video are well expressed through audio description, in case anyone misses them. Captions don’t catch most visual detail, especially not mine, but the descriptions are for explaining visual detail. It is translated into speech somehow into the video, which makes it another form of art that can be made however by the artist.
- Which elements are lost or inexpressible through the modality of the week?
The complete fluidity of the video is lost as it’s interrupted by the extended audio descriptions, but I would say the purpose of audio descriptions is to stop the viewer and to take the time to describe the scene happening. Because of this, maybe even some visual scenes are lost from the interruptions.
- Who does this project exclude? Who would not be able to interact with this work? Who is this modality not accessible for?
Audio descriptions by themselves are not accessible for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. All it does is pause the video at random times, maybe even interfering with any captions or visual elements of the video. Audio descriptions might also be too fast or too complex for those with intellectual and learning disabilities.
- 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).
To include those with intellectual or learning disabilities, maybe you could describe videos much more in depth, slower, and simpler. Instead of speeding through with inline descriptions or rushed speech, audio description could also be stopping to extensively explain visual art, elements, concepts, and interactions.
Additional Modality (if applicable)
What modality did you apply?
How did you decide on this modality?
What does the beholder gain from this additional modality? Why?
Does the beholder lose anything from this modality? What?
Show documentation of this modality, and describe it if it’s not accessible on a screen (ie, if it’s tactile if it’s a scent)