A case for AD — audio story analysis.
In 2020, theaters no longer have a monopoly on the most anticipated releases of the season. While especially relevant in recent times, moviegoers have gained an increasing ability to watch new films from the comfort of their couches over the past few years. However, even with the boom of streaming and various home entertainment systems, plenty of people still value evenings spent in front of the big screen with friends and family.
What you see or hear when you enter the theater might be different, though. The world of the movies is changing rapidly, and arguably for good. Wider access to foreign films has been broadly hailed as a positive move towards a more worldly and educated society. While American cinemas have historically centered American films, non-English voices are starting to make their ways onto the big screen more frequently in recent years. That mainstream access to international content might mean added enrichment for many, but certain audience members could still be left out.
In his audio story for NPR titled “There’s A Better Way To ‘Dub’ Movie Audio For Visually Impaired Fans,” Jason Strother highlights a lack of accessibility to foreign films for visually impaired audience members. Denise Decker is one such moviegoer. According to Decker, narration of subtitles only conveys dialogue and is insufficient in conveying what is actually taking place in a scene. Deeper audio descriptions have been widely adopted for English language films in theaters and on streaming services, but this has only been a requirement of theaters since 2017 due to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
While a written version of this story is available, the audio version is clearly a much better format for the story. In addition to being accessible by the population most impacted by the content, this format allows a listener to experience the exact problem being discussed. Strother tells the story through a mix of narration, soundbites from relevant speakers and actual examples of dubbing and deeper audio descriptions. When actually listening to these examples without visual aid, the difference is clear; dubbing alone does not tell the full story.
The audio in this story is crisp, the narration is clearly practiced and non-dialogue (such as music and sound effects) is used in a purposeful, professional manner. The audio format feels more personal and allows the speaker to connect emotionally in a balanced way. Just like dubbing alone does not tell the full story when it comes to foreign films, neither would a text-only version of this story.
