Chauncy Rucker

When I reviewed the wonderful PBS movie, Freedom Machines, I first heard of described video. 
http://www.connsensebulletin.com/freedommachines.html Jackie Brand's daughter, Shoshana, has started her own small business (Blue Rose Videos with a Voice) to rent described videos for those with a visual disability
http://w.bluerosevideos.com That sounded very interesting, but I really didn't understand the importance of described video.

At the CSUN (California State University - Northridge) Conference this year in Los Angeles I had the chance to learn much more about described video. I went to a session "Audio Description: The Visual made Verbal." The presenter was Joel Snyder, the director of described media at the National Captioning Institute in Vienna Virginia, Described Video provides access to televised and recorded video programming for people who have a visual disability. Joel Snyder would argue that described media is an art form that can improve literacy and lead to more sophisticated language skills. Described video can be a valuable extra for everyone.

Mr. Snyder is quite a performer and voices a lot of described media for use in museum tours, and video production. His company has done the described video for Sesame Street. To hear it try the SAP button on your television remote.

This all sounded good, but he gave a demonstration that made it more meaningful. He said he had three versions of a movie segment he would play for us. First he simply played the soundtrack that had no speech. There was no picture on the screen either. There were sounds of birds and water and someone exerting himself.

After what seemed like a five minute audio clip we guessed what was happening. I thought I heard the seashore with seagulls and someone rowing or working hard. One woman said someone had killed a man and was dragging him through the water. We were all wrong.

Next he played the same sound track, but this time a voice described what was going on. There was still no film, just the voice and the sound track. This time we got a pretty good idea of what was going on, but we still didn't know if the person involved in the clip was male or female, young or old. Some guessed it was a small boy carrying a baby bird up a cliff to put it back in its nest.

Finally he played the film with the images, the sound track and the description. Turns out it was a young boy who was blind who heard a baby bird on the ground under a tree. He picked up the bird, put it in his shirt pocket, climbed up the nearby tree (with quite a bit of effort) and returned the bird to its nest.

The first playing of the sound track gave us a good idea of what a person with a visual disability would experience in a movie, particularly when there was very little dialogue. Basically we were all clueless as to what was happening. Don't know how I got the idea of there being water and seagulls and rowing.

When the description was added we got a much better idea of what was going on though without vision there was still quite a bit we missed. The third playing added the video and we could get the full visual effect plus the sound and the voiced description. Mr. Snyder would say that everyone would benefit from this final version. I think I'd agree, but I can guarantee that a person with a visual disability would get nothing from this part of the movie without the voiced description.

We learned the FCC proposed that there be at least four hours per week of described video on television (and 4 hours certainly doesn't seem like nearly enough). Unfortunately the television networks fought this and it was dropped. Congressman Edward J. Markey, the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is trying to pass legislation that would reinstate the described video rule. To help you could ask your senator(s) to propose similar legislation in the senate.

You might also spread the word about the value of described video for individuals with a visual disability. You could recommend they try a described video from Blue Rose Videos with a Voice. I know I will. I'll also check the described version of Sesame Street because I'm pretty sure I'll recognize the distinctive voice of Joel Snyder.