In Touch - Audio described cinema

by BBC In Touch.

In our desire these days to pigeonhole people, we tend to assume that the helpers and the helped are two distinctive species of people. Tonight we'll be finding out about the website which tells visually-impaired people where they can enjoy accessible films, but founded and run primarily by deaf people.

Organisations often work best when they do have a very precise and quite narrow focus. Groups like yourlocalcinema dot com, which originally arose out of the frustration of one deaf boy at discovering how few subtitled films were available at his local cinema. So a pressure group was founded, and an organisation grew out of it and a website which has taken on the role to tell visually impaired people now about the availability of audio described films.

In an email interview I asked the editor to tell me:

What is the purpose of yourlocalcinema dot com?

We are a listing service for accessible cinema, subtitled and audio described shows. Over 250 cinemas in the UK have facilities to screen the most popular films with subtitles and description. They inform us of their schedules and we collect the information and present it directly to people who are interested in visiting the cinema but need subtitles or audio description to enjoy it.

So in particular, where does the audio description come in because of course on In Touch that's the side of your service we're particularly interested in?

The cinema broadcasts audio description through infrared headphones which are picked up at the box office on arrival. The film soundtrack plays in the normal way through the cinema's surround sound speakers and the audio description soundtrack comes in at gaps in the dialogue, describing the on-screen action, just like the audio description on DVD, of which there are over 200 titles to date, videos from the RNIB, and TV (which should take off soon, now that all the main broadcasters are onboard).

Which will be great. So how would, say, one of our listeners, hearing this tonight, go about accessing information, say, for example, if they lived in Manchester?

Well the listings are on-line, on our very accessible, plain text website. So that's one way to find out what's on, where and when. Another way would be for that person to contact us by phone or e-mail and ask what's currently showing in the Manchester area. We would reply that there are four cinemas in Manchester providing this service and give them details of cinema locations if required. We'd then inform them of the films showing with audio description and give details of dates and times. A film usually plays with audio description all week, four or five times a day.

People that can access the internet will find that our website is VERY accessible. It's simple, plain tesxt, and speech enabled - it talks - without the need for expensive screen reader software - so it can be accessed in libraries and internet cafes and so on.

So just one more thing. We understand that the scheme began as a response to a young deaf boy annoyed at the lack of subtitles on films showing in his local cinema. Now the work of people like yourself, because as I said you describe yourself as a bit deaf, there's an irony in here somewhere isn't there.

Well the cinema industry, along with the RNIB, RNID and others, HAD been investigating ways to enable people with sensory impairments to enjoy the cinema, but a combination of new digital cinema technology and passionate advocates for this cause helped speed things up. The deaf boy in question encouraged thousands of sensory impaired people to write to the UK Film Council a few years ago to alert them to the seriousness of the cinema access problem and urge them to do something about it. He also set up the information service to inform those people of every accessible show. The service is still run by the boy with help from family & friends and sponsored by the film and cinema industry, technology companies and the RNIB.

Visit the BBC In Touch website here.

Visit the excellent BBC Ouch guide to audio description here.

Audio described cinema and DVD info here.