I finally took a leap into learning about Audio Description.
I had heard about Audio Description here and there, and then attended a few webinars featuring Roy Samuelson and Colleen Conner where I was introduced to the concept of Audio Description.
I learned that it was intended to serve a similar purpose as what closed captioning does for people who are hard of hearing. It assists a person who is blind, has low vision or another visual impairment, to better be able to experience, understand and enjoy a presentation. While it would not, obviously, be the exact same experience, it is an enhancement.
It provides a description of aspects such as movement, nuances in looks, asides, or even a tilt of the head, for someone with low or no vision, to better understand things such as a joke. It allows for description of color used In a scene, or someone entering a space quietly, or a description of a visual to establish place or time.
This can be for any medium that contains a visual component, such as television, movies or the stage.
Inclusive Media Training
My first experience with training in Audio Description was with Colleen Connor's Audio Description Training Retreats, where I was introduced to a wide range of related aspects, such as the history of Audio Description, current trends, common and accepted practices, what to watch out for and be aware of. Much of the focus was on voicing for Audio Description, although we did write for a very short clip from a movie. Six months later, I took Joel Snyder's week-long course. There I learned even more and was able to work as a group in writing description for a 30 second commercial. Even with five or so other people, it was difficult. But very fun and rewarding!
Six months after that, I signed up for Colleen's advanced class on screen writing. Oh, what fun that was, but very hard! We were able to write description for a couple of short clips, and then a couple of additional clips from a movie and I got to write description for a clip from a cartoon. It took SO long! But I am very proud of what I accomplished. I posted it on YouTube, which I just checked and saw that I have had 150 views of my clip! Which considering I just posted it for fun, is very surprising and rewarding for me to know that someone may have received some benefit from me having posted it.
You can check it out on YouTube here:
Opportunities for Voice Actors
I am very proud of the fact that I now know so much more about Audio Description than I did almost two years ago. While I have contacted a couple of companies who specialize in Audio Description for both voicing and writing, as of right now, there have not been any available openings for an AD-newbie. However... one aspect of Audio Description is also live describing for live stage productions. With my theater background, I think that could be right up my alley!
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