Codes & Guidance Notes

Guidance on Standards for Audio Description

4  PROGRAMME CATEGORIES

Preparing the audio description of a film is always a lengthy process but it can vary significantly from film to film. ‘Close Encountersof the Third Kind’ and ‘Basic Instinct’ each contained three hundred descriptions but Spielberg’s film took almost two weeks to prepare because of the long sections of science fiction visual images which had to be accurately described. The thriller took one working week.

Biographical details about the stars, directors and writers can be obtained from press releases. The describer should know whether the film is being premiered on television or whether it is a re-run. One of the most important rules of feature film description is to be true to the film in mood and style. If available, a screenplay or shooting script may be used as a guide, but not relied on as the accurate basis of the audio description. With classic films like ‘The African Queen’ or ‘The Maltese Falcon’ it may be unobtainable, so the describer must rely on what is on the screen and on any background notes available from film reference books.

The main challenge for the describer is where to place the description. Many film songs came from stage shows and are well known and viewers want to listen to them without the describer talking over them. The describer must either try to pre-empt a song with a brief description of a dance or costumes, or, must judge carefully when to intervene and when to stay silent during a song, to cause least offence. The third option is to let the music play and say nothing at all. (See 4.9 Children’s programmes)

When describing a dance sequence, it is more important to convey the look and general movement of the dance rather than a step by step description. It is better to do nothing than to do it badly.

In “Singing in the Rain” Donald O’Connor sings a comic song, ‘Make ‘em Laugh’ and between the verses performs a remarkable comic dance routine which does need to be described, keeping pace with the music and making room for the sound effects:

‘Cosmo sits down on the end of a green sofa… at the other end a white headless dummy.  He acts coy, flipping his hat back and forth along the back of the sofa.  He edges closer to the dummy, propels himself over it and lands in its lap.  He picks the dummy up and whirls it round and round.

Now they’re sitting on the back of the sofa.  The dummy’s hand touches Cosmo’s knee, he pushes it away... again and again.  He kisses the headless torso, they fall backwards behind the sofa… they appear to be struggling, first the dummy flies up into the air... then Cosmo.  The dummy shoots out over the sofa with Cosmo in pursuit.  He slips across the floor, tries to pull the dummy up by its arms… it won’t budge and seems to pull him down on top of it.  Cosmo kicks the dummy out of the way, falls down and somersaults to pull himself up again.  Falls again... gets up again... his feet are stuck together…  so he can’t get up... it’s up and back down, scrabbling to his feet... falling flat on his face and head... again and again... Propelling his body around the floor he whirls round like a spinning top.

He runs up a piece of scenery wall, does a backward somersault... lands back on his feet.  He runs up another wall and flips over...  gaining speed he runs towards a third wall and crashes through it.  It’s made of paper... he crawls back through the hole in the wall, and falls exhausted to the floor.’

The choreographer’s copy of a musical film script would be an invaluable aid, though not necessarily very easy to come by.  With such a complex routine pronouns and prepositions can be dropped where appropriate, to help maintain the pace and rhythm of the song.

Most soap opera does not allow for lengthy description, since dialogues follows rapidly and there are very few purely visual sequences.  However, when they do occur, viewers find descriptions helpful. From ‘Coronation Street’:

‘Outside in drizzle a small Mini is being driven very slowly.  Reg is at the wheel.  He passes a house with a yellow garage door.  He peers through the car window, stops the car, winds down the nearside window, looks into his notebook, looks back at the house and smiles gleefully.’

Over the opening credits which are always the same, a brief summary of the previous episode is an option.

‘Last time Norman decided to put in an offer on Rita’s house.  Rita and Ted are going to Florida for two weeks leaving Mavis and Derek to look after the shop and Reg with serious misgivings about Ted.  This morning the postman delivers some mail at the Wiltons.  Mavis and Derek are at breakfast.’

‘Last time Reg was making enquiries into the death of Ted Sullivan’s first wife.  Rita had an insulting offer on her house from Norman and Mavis and Derek can’t wait to be in charge of Rita’s shop.’

Most regular visually impaired viewers of soaps soon become familiar with the characters’ voices but when a new character is introduced, audio description can help to speed up the familiarisation:

‘In today’s episode Molly Brown comes to the Street.  She is small, dark-haired, in her late twenties and looks permanently tired.  When she’s nervous she tends to pull at her left ear lobe.’

There is no need to provide extra biographical information because the script will do that over the subsequent weeks but the physical aspects of a new character are important. 

There is considerable scope for audio description in the realm of nature documentaries.  Audetel’s trial showed that these programmes are very popular, particularly with middle-aged and elderly audiences.  They tend to be slower in pace and very visual.  They usually have their own commentary, but filmmakers generally let the wildlife take centre stage.  Presenter-led documentaries like the wild life programmes of David Attenborough leave little space for audio description, but where there are long pauses with only the natural sounds being heard, the describer has an ideal opportunity to insert descriptions.  From ‘The Queen of the Beasts’, a Survival Special:

‘The shaggy red-maned head of a male lion peers across a field of dry grass.  The camera closes in on the lion’s motionless gaze.  Two lionesses running side by side pounce onto the back of a wildebeest, knocking it off its feet, pulling it down and biting into its sinewy dark neck.’

Some visually impaired people may have never seen a lion or a wildebeest but they do have an idea of the kind of animals they are.  There will be very few viewers who have never come across a domestic cat. Not having a mental image of something does not mean that a person has no understanding of it.

Current affairs programmes offer less scope for description because they tend to be wordy, but each programme should be assessed individually.  On-screen subtitles, for example, are particularly frustrating for visually impaired people and when they appear in short bursts, audio description can help.

The description of sport and other live programmes, in the presence of an existing commentator, is impractical since it is impossible to know when the commentator will speak or what he or she will say.  A few sports such as horse racing do have such comprehensive commentaries that description is virtually unnecessary.  Unfortunately, however, commentators of team sports assume that the viewer is able to see the action and, apart from identifying the player with the ball, they setout to augment the entertainment with a series of background facts and supplementary details.  The broadcasting of a separate commentary specifically for visually impaired viewers implies the complete fading-out of the main programme audio (in order to remove the voice of the commentator), and this necessarily removes the sound of the crowd which adds atmosphere to the whole event.  The resulting description therefore owes nothing to the original television transmission.

Although it might be tempting to suggest that such a description belongs on the radio, where there is excellent descriptive coverage of sports like cricket and tennis, this may not address the social issue that audio description aims to achieve – a simultaneous shared experience for sighted and visually impaired people alike.  Of course, increased awareness by television commentators of the requirements of visually impaired people could improve their enjoyment of live sport without the need for audio description (by reducing reliance on on-screen text and tabular data, for example).

Pre-recorded sport does offer some opportunity for describing around the commentator, but in practice such a lot of description is required for an action sport that any intervention by the television commentator can make for an incongruous overall presentation.  Of course, there will often be insufficient time to prepare a description for pre-recorded sporting events since they are usually broadcast only after a short delay.

Live ceremonial events such as the state opening of Parliament or the inauguration of the Olympic Games are normally narrated with an understanding that there will be visually impaired viewers watching.  Usually no more description is necessary; the background sounds of the ceremony should be allowed to be heard as much as possible, since they lend atmosphere and a sense of occasion to the event.

The same simple procedure applies to drama where the foreign language is used sparingly.  In Central Television’s ‘Sharpe’s Rifles’ two Spanish guerrillas, Teresa and Diego, are sitting on a rocky escarpment watching the activities of an English officer.  They are speaking Spanish:

‘On the other rocky face Teresa watches Sharpe.  She says to Diego, "I need this man"… Diego looks at her quizzically... "As an ally", she replies.  “Just as far as Torrecastro”.’

If the foreign dialogue has not been subtitled, the describer should resist the temptation to show off personal knowledge.  Translating the spoken lines might be interpreted as spoon-feeding and not what the programme producers intended.

Britain, in common with other European countries, imports a considerable percentage of its programming from the United States and Australia.  The audio description for those programmes is in English and should present no real problems.

In the Netherlands and Scandinavia, viewers are used to watching English-language imports in their original version, since dubbing is expensive and English is the de facto second language in these countries.  Most such programmes are given sub-titles in the local language of the country concerned and this also helps people with hearing difficulties.  For a visually impaired audience with little knowledge of English, these programmes will remain inaccessible.  Equipment is available which can read teletext-delivered subtitles aloud, but the expressionless quality of a synthesised voice is not suitable for an entire drama or a film, and it is not feasible to recognise a variety of different speakers within the programme.

Bi-lingual viewers in Scandinavia were asked if they would prefer an audio description in English or in their own local language, when it accompanied an English language import.  The English audio description would have the advantage of matching the programme language and might be available to purchase with the programme but it would not reflect the culture of the target audience.   A description in the local language could help to clarify any difficult English programme dialogue, and would avoid any miscomprehension of an English description which might arise. Opinion was unanimously in favour of a local language description. 

In Belgium, where programmes are broadcast in Flemish and French, English material carries both Flemish and French subtitles, although occasionally they are dubbed.  An audio description would have to be in an appropriate native language (or possibly both).

In France, Germany and Italy for example, most foreign language material is dubbed.  Audiences are accustomed to it and are not particularly concerned.  John Wayne has been speaking German for 50 years!  A French film being shown in Germany will be dubbed into German and would carry a German audio description.  The standard of dubbing in these countries is generally excellent whereas in Britain, where only a handful of programmes are dubbed, it is not always as good, so the describer needs to assess whether a programme or film will really benefit from being described.  The Eric Rohmer classic film ‘Ma Nuit Chez Maude’ for example, is a conversation piece, full of philosophical comment and very little action.  Dubbed into English, in order to accommodate an English audio description, the whole mood of the film changes.  If the essence of the film is lost through the dubbing, there is a strong argument for recommending that the film be left in its original language with subtitles and is therefore not suitable for audio description. 

Blindness in children is often accompanied by other physical and learning difficulties and for some of these children audio description may remain inaccessible. Visually impaired children are more likely to have delayed language than other children.  There is evidence that speech and music are processed by different centres of the brain and children with damaged speech centres may nevertheless be able to process verse and melody.

Describers should avoid speaking over songs where possible, but if vital information needs to be conveyed, it should be fitted in after the first verse or during repetitions in the song or during instrumental passages.

There are as many visually impaired children, who are ardent and intelligent television watchers and who are very sure of their likes and dislikes.  In Audetel focus group sessions, many older children asserted their independence by expressing a wish that descriptions should be kept to the absolute minimum.

The viewing habits of young people do not appear to differ greatly from those of an adult audience.  Soap opera is popular with many of them because the characters quickly become familiar, their voices recognisable and there are very few extended visual sequences.  The fact that the subject matter is not specifically aimed at children does not seem to be important.  For example, ‘Home and Away’ is enjoyed by children from the age of 6 onwards.

Where a description is being written specifically for children’s programmes the vocabulary and sentence construction should be suited to the age group for which the programme is intended.  The tone of the narration should also reflect the tone of the programme.  Where the voice is describing an exciting adventure sequence, the sense of adventure should be apparent in the voice but without undue exaggeration.  Feature-length cartoon films, particularly from Disney, require a great deal of thought and sensitivity.  The descriptions should reflect the ‘cute’ aspect of the animations where appropriate.

‘Goldfish with long curly eyelashes... a baby deer with big brown eyes...’

Interesting adjectives and expressive adverbs should be used where possible.

Here is an example from the film ‘Dumbo’

‘Inside the wagon Mrs Jumbo’s eyes widen and her face broadens into a big smile as she sees Dumbo’s little trunk appear through the bars on the window.  She lopes towards him but the chains on her feet stop her from reaching him.  Undeterred she stretches her long grey trunk out of the window and searches for him like a hand in the dark.  She finds Dumbo’s little trunk, strokes his face and rubs his cheek.  Dumbo smiles and wraps his trunk around hers.  Two plump teardrops fall from his eyes... he wipes them with his mother’s trunk.’

Comedy programmes possibly present the greatest difficulties for the describer, because it is not easy to produce a description, that is both amusing and does justice to what it is happening on the screen.

The most popular television comedy is the sit-com performed in front of a live audience or post-produced with canned laughter, the humour appearing both in the verbal script and through visual jokes which range from simple facial expressions to complicated ‘bits of business’.  Canned laughter can make a weak joke appear better than it is, helping to create a heightened expectation of something comical.  When the visually impaired viewer hears a burst of laughter, he or she will hope the description will support this.

Firstly, the describer has to decide very carefully where to place the description of a visual gag.  If a line of funny dialogue is followed by a visual joke over laughter, the only possible place for the description is over the audience reaction, which means the sound level of the laughter must be substantially reduced.  If the description is inserted in this way, some viewers may feel robbed of the natural audience response.  Instead of joining in with the general laughter following a joke, they have to concentrate on listening to the audio description of something that is happening or about to happen, which will lessen their enjoyment.

Secondly, the describer has to write a description that will make the audience want to listen: ‘The man slips on a banana skin and falls to the ground.’ is a literal and rather bland description of a comic situation and although humour is very individual, the describer can help the process by using words that sound funny in themselves.

‘The man’s foot catches a banana skin, he flips into the air and flops to the ground.’

It is not easy to describe a pratfall, but careful use of language can give more of an idea.

At the start of an episode of the comedy series ‘Men Behaving Badly’ one of the principal characters, Tony, is in bed with his girlfriend Pat.  The scene starts mysteriously building up to humour:

‘A room in half-light... clothes and magazines are strewn on the floor... an electric guitar stands propped up against the wall… an empty bowl of soup, a yellow plastic duck.  A toe overhanging the edge of a bed is attached to a hairy male leg... the leg belongs to Tony flat on his back asleep under a red duvet.’

Unexplained laughter is irritating.  When there is a non-verbal comic sequence with audience laughter, the description must be so timed that the visually impaired viewer will understand the joke at the same moment as the sighted audience.  The pauses become crucial.

‘Gary is pushing a supermarket trolley.  He stops to add two rolls of floor cloths to join the long-handled floor sponge already in the trolley.  He puts in some floor cleaner, polish and more floor cleaner... He spots an upright dustpan and brush... He drops his car key on the floor… looks around him then brushes the key deftly into the dustpan... He smiles at his great achievement.

He walks to the checkout banging a man on the head with the handle of the mop as he passes… He walks on unaware.

There should be a sense of humour in the delivery and not all describers will be particularly suited to comedy.  During the Audetel trials, the late comedian and broadcaster Willy Rushton was asked to describe the first few minutes of Jacques Tati’s classically whimsical film ‘Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday’, Rushton was given a script but asked to be quite free with his interpretation:

[Noise of a car backfiring]

‘Monsieur Hulot, as you may have gathered, has arrived.  He lopes in through the door conveniently marked "L’entrée de l’hotel”…’

‘Now a country road. A small veteran car chugs into view... attached to its right side... one of those butterfly nets, and a fishing rod standing upright like a sort of flag pole... The little car spews out smoke as it splutters along...’

The people who remembered seeing the film, laughed a lot and thought the description excellent. They enjoyed Rushton’s opinionated asides and characteristic comments. Others, who had never seen the film, enjoyed listening to Willie Rushton but not having experienced the visual jokes for themselves, and no film dialogue to vary the rhythm found their interest waning after a while. Rowan Atkinson’s ‘Back to School Mr Bean’ was audio described for the Audetel test transmissions and received a similarly mixed reaction.  Comedy that relies entirely on the visual does not seem to engage the visually impaired viewer.  ‘Mr Hulot’s Holiday’ belongs to the ‘classic film’ category and therefore there is a stronger case for describing it.  Mr Bean, and other totally visually humorous programmes, without a proven comedy writer on hand, may well be an example of a programme that will not be suitable for audio description.

Describing sexually explicit material has to be sensitively handled.  Just as in works of literary fiction some sex scenes work better than others, the same applies to the audio description of such scenes.  If handled insensitively they may be embarrassing, crude or just very dull.

Films on TV are generally shown in one of three slots.  If shown at 7.30 pm the film will be most heavily edited, if it contains scenes of sex or violence.  The second slot, after the 9.00 pm watershed, will have fewer edits.  The late night slot will allow the film to be shown with very few changes, but it is rare for an adult film to be transmitted without some minor alteration.  Films on video however, have no such restrictions and describers need to familiarise themselves with these different demands.

The broadcasters’ compliance committees very carefully monitor strong language and a high proportion of editing is concentrated on the removal of offensive language.  With audio description, the describer has to be even more sensitive.  Explicit language needs careful consideration. In the BBC’s dramatisation of ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’, shown in a prime time slot, none of D H Lawrence’s sexual language was ever included. 

The describer has to convey the atmosphere and the feeling without descending into crudeness, clinical coldness or undue sentimentality.  Describing the events leading up to a seduction or love scene is almost more important than the love scene itself.  The sound effects and background music help to create the mood and once a love scene is in progress it does not need an ongoing description unless something extraordinary happens such as the production of a hidden weapon, as in ‘Basic Instinct’.  Too much description would become comical which is not the desired intention.

The following two extracts come from the film ‘Pretty Woman’, a huge box office success.  The sex scenes are erotic but gentle and that aspect needs to be expressed in the audio description.

‘He holds her gently by the waist, letting his head drop and pressing it against her.  She cups his head in her hands and strokes his hair.  He starts to untie her robe...  runs his hands down the sides of her slinky black satin negligée.  He picks her up in his arms and sits her on top of the piano.  He touches her hair and pulls her towards him.  He tries to kiss her, but she moves her mouth away and kisses him on the neck.  Gently he prises her legs apart and stands between them.  She lies back on the piano and his hands caress her body through the black satin.  He lifts the edge of her slip, kisses her belly and presses her towards him.  The picture fades.’

This kind of description needs pauses so that the viewer/listener has time to let the images sink in and to imagine what is going on.

‘Upstairs, Vivien in a long white satin nightdress comes out of the bathroom fluffing up her hair.  Her face softens into a gentle smile when she sees Edward, sitting up in bed, head resting on a pillow... asleep.  She sits in front of him giving one of her dazzling smiles.  She presses a finger to her own lips and then to his.  Her fingers touch his chin.  She leans slowly towards him and kisses him on the cheek... hesitates, then kisses him on the mouth...

‘Basic Instinct’, unlike ‘Pretty Woman’, is an aggressively sexual film about people who are expressing more than love in their sexual experiences.  In the notorious “crossed legs” scene when the audience is left wondering exactly what they did see, Catherine, a murder suspect is being interviewed at a police station. The sighted viewer knows that she is naked under her dress from the previous scene. The describer needs to provide that essential information so that the visually impaired viewer knows what is going on: ‘She slips on a sleeveless dress , would not be sufficient information, without over her naked body’. She sits in front of a police interrogator and slowly uncrosses her legs.  The viewer sees nothing specific but merely the knowledge that she is naked creates the sexual tension of the scene and this has to be conveyed to the visually impaired viewer in an acceptable manner, yet leaving the viewer in no doubt of what is going on. 

‘Corelli looks over at Nick and then at Catherine.  His jowly face sweats as she uncrosses her legs in front of him. She crosses them again and brushes one against the other.’

At the end of the film Nick and Catherine are involved in a crucial love-making scene.  The first few minutes of the scene are devoted to the ‘seduction’.  Halfway through the scene Catherine seems to be mirroring the activities of the mystery blond murderess in the first scene of the film, so that aspect needs to be described in precise detail. The sighted audience is asking: ‘Is she going to stab him?’

‘Her nails dig into his back… she pulls him over so that she is on top again...’

It is important to describe sexual behaviour that is relevant to the plot but too much description of the act itself can make it seem banal. Sound effects can be very eloquent in this situation.

As a general guide, the describer should try to convey the kind of sexuality (loving, aggressive, tender, tentative, etc) without embarrassing the viewer.

Sensitive material certainly benefits from a second opinion.

Scenes of violence require the same level of sensitive consideration.  Many viewers, sighted and visually impaired, find violence more shocking than explicit sex scenes and whereas sighted people can look away if they cannot bear to look at what is being shown, the visually impaired viewer listening to the audio description cannot protect himself from a terrifying image.  The rule, if at all possible, is to find a form of words to conjure up the intention of the scene, without undue discomfort.

In ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ Hannibal Lecter carries out a gruesome crime and the most effective way to describe the details is to keep them simple and to the point.

‘Lieutenant Boyle hangs crucified on the cage bars, his stomach cut open, his insides removed.’

The images are gruesome enough without verbal embellishment.

There is no formal requirement for any of the above to be audio described. There is however an increasing tendency in television advertising to produce visually enigmatic commercials which omit the verbal identification of the product.  Similarly, programme trailers rely heavily on eye-catching visual content and often do not report verbally the name or broadcast time of programme being trailed.  These practices frustrate visually impaired viewers, who cannot see captions and have little idea what is being advertised, if there is nobody to tell them.  Among television viewers there is a large community of visually impaired consumers who are not being reached, and though some advertising may prove difficult to audio describe, it is nevertheless an area which is worth exploring. It will be up to advertisers and individual broadcasters to decide whether the audio-description of advertising or trailers should be attempted..

Product placement is on the increase in commercial television and broadcasters and service providers need to consider whether contractually the product placement needs to feature in an audio description. 

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