LiveDescribe Weeks 11&12

Week 11: July 13th - 17th, 2009. Week 12: July 20th - 24th, 2009.

EXCITING NEWS IN LIVEDESCRIBE:

Ryan has worked the program to be able to combine the original audio and descriptions together as one single combined audio file! This way, the video with the description can be played in other programs other than just the Livedescribe player, and it can be created into a DVD. Last week, I was asked to describe 10 slideshow videos for the Disabilities Centre at Ryerson. I worked through those videos, and then needed to put them on a CD for them so that they could play it at the event they needed them for. Now with the new abilities of the program, we were able to do that!

We ran into a couple of uploading the single audio file onto the website but now it works!! You can now upload just the audio files! This is really exciting because it makes the descriptions so much easier to access, and play-able on a variety of media players. There is an issue with the combining of the two audio tracks in that sometimes the description is much higher in volume than the original description and there’s no way to adjust it once the audio has been combined. However, the improved accessibility of the descriptions is a huge advancement!!

I am now starting work on The Office!!! I am very excited about working on this series because of its format. The format gives me some really cool creative options in terms of how to go about describing the TV show. Since the camera is actually set up to depict a documentary format, and the characters direct a lot of their attention and dialogue to the camera, it really creates a character on its own, so I’m excited to record as the “camera person”!

Goal is to complete the complete first season of the Office in the next couple of weeks! I’ve finished writing almost the entire first season, and I’m hoping on having the full season recorded and posted by the end of next week!!

Upon request, in this blog I am including some more of the information we handed out to the individuals that attended our LiveDescribe Workshop last month. I have already posted my handout on audio description in an earlier blog. The following is taken directly out of the rest of the handout created specifically for the workshop. There was also a handout on the steps to using LiveDescribe. I will use that to create an Instructables Tutorial, and I will post the link once that is completed.

Excerpts from Workshop Handout:

Notes on Audio Description:

— Used in film, TV & live theatre

— Insert descriptive words between dialogue

— Do not describe over dialogue

— Describe important and meaningful visual information & stimuli

— E.g., facial expressions, actions, set, costumes, etc.

— Not sound (e.g., sound effects)

— Conventional AD

— Use monotone, non-emotional voice in 3^rd person

— “describe information”

Our Approach:

— Watching a show is about entertainment

— not only information

— AD is a creative process; it’s about being concise, precise and entertaining

— AD should fit with the style and ambiance of the show

— Use an approach that fits

— 1^st person, new character, emotion

— Amateur AD has been happening for much longer than professional AD

— Our studies show amateur AD can work

— Tiring and intense process

— Software tools can help

ALSO THIS WEEK:

***Newly Posted Episode:

- Degrassi High - Season 1 Episode 4 - Dream On by katerinag