Abstract
Audio description (AD) is an accessibility service for people with vision loss. In films, it is an additional audio track which describes the visual cues necessary to understand and enjoy the film. It is a translation of images into words, also known as intersemiotic translation. There are two workflows to produce AD scripts: (1) writing - choosing the relevant visual elements and turning them into text that fits in the limited space between the dialogues and the important elements of the original soundtrack; (2) translation of existing AD scripts (e.g., English>Dutch). These workflows exist in professional practice, but research into AD processes is non-existent. The project has three aims: (1) to conceptualize the AD process model(s): (2) to conceptualize intersemiotic translation as a process; (3) to test the reactivity of think-aloud protocols (TAP) in AD process research. We conduct four experiments, two on AD-writing and two on AD-translation. We monitor the participants' work with keylogging, eye tracking, screen, voice and face recording, and interviews. Participants will be asked to think aloud in half of the tasks. This project is urgent to avoid a one-sided view of audiovisual translation and media accessibility practices as a product. It is also relevant since it elicits essential questions that product-oriented approaches cannot answer and complements existing methodological approaches in AD research.
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