#TADAChallenge An Essay

Editor’s Note:

During last year’s Audio Description Awareness Day (ADAD) we also kicked off a two-week hashtag challenge. #TADAChallenge aka The Audio Description Awareness Challenge was designed to create buzz about audio description (AD).

There were two steps: 1) Invite a friend to watch a movie or television show with audio description 2) By the end of the month share your experience on social media using the hashtag #TADAChallenge.

The following essay written by one of our friends from Australia details her experience. Enjoy!

#TADA

By Bethany Cody // Instagram: @grinspoongirl

(Republished with permission from www.wishbonewords.com)

Bethany Cody is a visually impaired writer of short stories and poetry.

Earlier this year, I participated in the #TADA challenge, or audio description awareness challenge. It was run by Bold Blind Beauty, a community for people who are blind and visually impaired to connect, empower and share, which ran from April 16th to April 30th, aiming to bring awareness to the importance of accessibility. Audio description, if you haven’t heard of the term before, is a form of narration that provides information on visual elements within a video, movie, or TV show.

For this challenge, I watched the first episode of the crime drama The Serpent. This series follows the life of conman and murderer Charles Sobhraj, played by Tahar Rahim, and his girlfriend Marie Andree Leclerc, played by Jenna Coleman. This episode was audio described by Descriptive Video Works, who claim to be the leading provider of audio description services in North America.

Upon beginning, I was lured into the dark and seedy fictional world by a woman’s demure voice that was both soft and informative, if ever so slightly robotic or clinical. A decent portion of the title screen montage wasn’t described, consisting of a series of images flashing across the screen. It stood out to me how the foreshadowing in this sequence was lost to viewers who could not see it. Details like the set dressing and costume design were also left unmentioned in the audio description, which I understand most likely happens because of time constraints–it would be clunky and awkward for the narrator to talk over dialogue between characters, becoming muddled and confusing. This is unfortunate because costumes and settings can really enhance the quality of a scene and draw the audience into the time period it is set in.

A lot of the description was focused on characters physical movements and far less on their social cues–smiles and smirks, a frown, flicking their hair playfully–things which may be gleaned by sight that suggest a characters motivation or what they’re feeling in the moment. As the episode went on, the soundtrack became more noticeable and impactful when visual clues weren’t the main focus. It was a potent reminder of the power that music has on our mood and paints a picture of how a character is feeling or what kind of perilous or peaceful situation they find themselves in. A few of the adjectives the narrator used were also wonderfully evocative and I often found myself really enjoying their choice of words.

As a visually impaired person, this experience was quite interesting. I don’t yet utilize audio description, braille, or use a white cane, although I am attempting to learn braille by sight while I’m able to. The one accessibility feature I utilize on a daily basis is alternate contrast, so I experience

less eye strain. I am intrigued to learn how I may begin to introduce audio description and audiobooks into my day-to-day life, as my sight continues to deteriorate. At the same time, I’m also left to wonder what more could be done to improve audio description to achieve a greater balance between painting a vivid picture of a scene without interrupting the dialogue, that will ultimately provide audiences with greater emersion in a story and overall entertainment. The #TADA challenge was an important and valuable reminder that accessibility and inclusion is a human right, and it is something we are still striving for, across multiple platforms, to this day.

Connecting With Bethany Cody:

Instagram: @GrinSpoonGirl

Connecting With Wishbone Words:

Website: www.wishbonewords.com
Instagram: @WishboneWords
Twitter: @WishboneWords
Facebook: @WishboneWords

Image Description:

A line drawing made with a headset and the cord to look like a profile of a person’s head. Surrounding the image is the text “Audio Description Awareness Day”