Audio Description Project
Audio Description Project
Here you will learn everything about Audio Description, from what is it, to samples, to who does it, to how and where it is available in various media. You can also join our online discussion, follow us on Facebook or Twitter, and be notified of updates to this page by typing your email address in the box to the right and pressing the Submit button.
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This week's (June 19-24) national tour of “School of Rock” at ASU Gammage will offer a chance to try out a new app that provides accessibility services — closed captioning and audio description — as well as translations into foreign languages. The app was also used during the recent Tony Awards broadcast. Read more about GalaPro. (Posted Jun 19)
Guerilla Opera, a Boston-based experimental opera company now in its 11th season, is launching a new outreach program to support a deeper, richer, and interactive experience for patrons with visual disabilities. One performance from each production will include guided pre-concert tactile tours of the set as well as the company's usual talk-backs with the composers and creators; Large Print program books; and Audio Guides and program book narration available for download and to stream from any mobile devices. Read the Guerilla Opera Article and/or Listen to a Sample Program Book Narration. (Posted Jun 19)
Here are the major documents associated with subjects that will be presented at our ADP Conference in St Louis from July 1-3 (see below for enrollment):
A May 2018 FCC Order and Public Notice has changed the FCC mandate for which TV networks are required to provide audio description effective July 1. The Order drops the Disney Channel and TNT and replaces them with HGTV and the Discovery Channel. In addition, networks will now be required to provide a larger number of hours of described TV (87.5 per quarter), with limited "credit" for repeats. (Posted May 29)
The NC Museum of Art's exhibit "You Are Here: Light, Color, and Sound Experiences" (now through July 22) features immersive art installations by 15 contemporary artists, including large-scale light works, sound installations, video works, mixed-media room-size environments, and site-specific projects. To make the experience accessible to visitors with visual impairment, they hired two audio describers from Raleigh's Arts Access to describe the exhibits. Podcasts of these descriptions, averaging two minutes apiece, are available for all to enjoy. Visit the You Are Here Podcasts or read the press release (PDF). We hope other museums will follow the NCMA lead and hire local describers to create audio descriptions of their own exhibits! (Updated June 5)
A recent NY Times article featured Mana Hashimoto, a blind professional dancer and choreographer, who supplements audio description of dance with a hands-on experience in her "Dance Without Sight" workshop. As she says, "touch adds another layer to verbal descriptions." Read How to Convey Dance to Those Without Sight? All Hands On! (Posted May 22)
The agenda and registration for the 2018 ADP Conference in St Louis, MO, July 1-3, is now available, along with complete registration information. As usual, we have some great sessions, including a broadcast media description update, National Parks Service update, Describer Certification discussion, and your opportunity to evaluate excerpts of audio described films. Our luncheon speaker will be Marilee Talkington, a legally blind actress who starred in a recent episode of NCIS and will also have a role in the upcoming "In The Dark" from The CW. (Updated May 15)
We're ready for you: Registration is now open for the fourteenth Audio Description Institute. It is being held in St Louis, MO, from July 4-6, right after the ADP Convention, which is being held in conjunction with the ACB Convention. The need for audio describers is growing significantly: get trained (or refreshed) in this class! Read all about the 2018 AD Institute (PDF).
If this timing or location doesn't fit your schedule, check out Audio Description Training Retreats, which is teaching a class in western North Carolina July 12-16. (Posted May 8)
Movies For the Blind (MFTB) is a weekly audio podcast of public-domain movies and TV shows with audio description added so anyone can listen to a movie like it's an audiobook or an audio drama. It was started by Valerie Hunter of Canada in 2007. You can subscribe via your favorite podcast app (like iTunes) or access via the MFTB Website. Read Valerie's article about the MFTB service and how it was started. (Posted May 1)
On June 19 we added 3 new audio described DVDs: Pacific Rim Uprising; Paul, Apostle of Christ; Unsane.
Recent DVDs: Pacific Rim Uprising; Paul, Apostle of Christ; Unsane, Love, Simon; Loveless; Sherlock Gnomes; The Strangers: Prey at Night; Tomb Raider 2018; A Wrinkle in Time; Death Wish; Every Day 2018; Gringo; The Hurricane Heist; Thoroughbreds; Annihilation; A Fantastic Woman; Early Man; Game Night; Red Sparrow; The 15:17 to Paris; Black Panther; Samson; Fifty Shades Freed; 12 Strong; Peter Rabbit; Winchester; Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool; Hostiles; Maze Runner: The Death Cure; Paddington 2; The Commuter; The Post; All the Money in the World; Molly's Game; Phantom Thread; Proud Mary; The Greatest Showman; 13 Reasons Why: Season One; Father Figures; Insidious: The Last Key; Star Wars: The Last Jedi; Pitch Perfect 3; Downsizing; Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle; more...
See Also:
Join us on Facebook or Twitter (links below) to receive new described DVD notifications, or use the page-change notification form at the top of this page.
The
$100,000 Pyramid, Sundays at 9pm; and
To Tell
the Truth, Sundays at 10pm.
Big City Greens and
Big Hero 6 The Series show at various times.
Gordon Ramsay's 24 Hours to Hell and Back, Wednesdays at 9pm.
Swamp Mysteries with Troy Landry, Thursday at 9pm.
Shades of Blue,
Sundays at 10pm.
(Updated Jun 19)
Actiview Offers an
Eighth MovieActiview, a free app which supplies audio description tracks for a movie playing in a theater or on any other device, has released an eighth movie track: Incredibles 2. Previous tracks include Solo: A Star Wars Story, Megan Levy, Wonderstruck, Breathe, Coco, The Man Who Invented Christmas, and Dealt. (Updated Jun 19)
Aira provided audio description of the Royal Wedding on May 19. Note, however, that the recording begins with 23 seconds of silence, so please be patient! You may advance forwards or backwards through the description in 15-second increments by using the left or right arrow keys. (Posted May 22)
Last December, we reported on a focus group evaluating a UniDescription App at Yosemite National Park. Another group has just tested the App at Muir Woods. Sixteen ACB members from California chapters evaluated and gave overall positive reviews to the App. The project "aims to create digital audio spaces and more accessible places." The UniD app is available for both iOS and Android smart phones and contains audio description of more than 50 National Park Service brochures so far. (Posted May 15)
If you are looking for a movie or TV series with description, please consult our Master AD List. It includes all TV series on FCC-mandated networks, those in syndication with Netflix or Prime Video, plus Netflix-Original or Amazon-Original TV series. All commercial DVDs ever produced with description are also listed, plus every described movie on Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, or Netflix. There are currently over 2000 titles on our list, with nearly half of them duplicated in more than one service (which means a movie you are looking for might be on DVD, iTunes, Netflix, and/or Prime Video). It is truly the "Master List" of all AD titles available in the USA, and there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world! (Updated Jun 19)
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The Audio Description Project's website collects and provides information on audio description in all its forms: live theatre, television, movies, DVDs, and more. Started in 2002 by AD International, funding and direction for this website now come from the American Council of the Blind's Audio Description Project (started in March 2009). Read more about this site...
Audio Description (AD) is the descriptive narration of key visual elements of live theatre, television, movies, and other media to enhance their enjoyment by consumers who are blind or have low vision. AD is the insertion of audio explanations and descriptions of the settings, characters, and action taking place in such media, when such information about these visual elements is not offered in the regular audio presentation. Read more about audio description...
Based on his doctoral thesis and teaching audio description around the world, ADP Project Director Dr Joel Snyder's book, The Visual Made Verbal, is available in print (English and Russian), for Kindle, and on Bookshare. Read more details about Dr Snyder's book...
Dedicated organizations around the world facilitate the offering of audio description in select movie theaters, videos, live theatre, and television programming, and this website attempts to expose their fine work to as many interested viewers as possible. Thank you for visiting!
