At the Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC), the cinEXmedia partnership co-organized a workshop devoted to the world of described video – a technical process not yet regulated in Canada.
Sophie Leclair-Tremblay
Last October 18, the cinEXmedia partnership, in collaboration with Laboratoire CinéMédias, co-organized a workshop at the Festival du nouveau cinéma (FNC) devoted to the dissemination of described video, a process which makes it possible to illustrate how audiences can mentally picture what is happening on screen. The event was moderated by two trainers, Émilie Huberdeau, a specialist in media accessibility at the specialized AMI-télé network, and Emmanuelle Orange-Parent, Operations Supervisor of the Described Video Department at the MELS studios.
This panel discussion, free of charge and open to the public, highlighted exemplary practices with respect to video description and the means for implementing these practices in film production. The two trainers were accompanied by Martine Bédard, chair of the board of directors of the Regroupement des aveugles et amblyopes de Montréal métropolitain (RAAMM). For the past six years, Martine Bédard has also been a non-sighted person, and she is a great lover of culture with broad experience with described video.
The workshop gave a detailed demonstration of the various techniques, requirements and constraints involved in creating this tool for making culture accessible. It also made it possible to foreground its importance for social and cultural inclusiveness. In this respect, the discussion first identified an important issue: whereas the television industry has the benefit of regulations concerning the need for described video at specific times of the day when programs have large audiences, cinema is exempt from these regulations, thereby limiting access to films produced in Canada.
Martine Bédard’s remarks about her own experience also enabled those attending the workshop to better understand how a blind or partially sighted person may experience described video content. As this regular user of described video explained, it’s not just about comfort or the possibility of full immersion; for her, DV helps to access a visual culture that would otherwise be out of reach. This process allows her to share meaningful moments with friends and family, immersing herself in scenes where she can now follow the action and connect with the emotions.
Today Bédard is putting her passions to work, aiming to raise awareness amongst people running movie theatres and other cultural organizations so that these can be equipped with described video (or with audio description, in the case of certain media).
Complex Operations
For their part, Émilie Huberdeau and Emmanuelle Orange-Parent described in detail the complex operations leading to the creation of a described video. They examined various practices in the field, enabling them to demonstrate the numerous choices involved in this kind of creation.
Three major stages – writing, recording and mixing the oral description – organize the creation of a described video. The goal is to ensure that the experience of individuals who are blind or living with partial vision reveals the details of the plot in the same way as they are shown to sighted viewers. A great many challenges are therefore involved in creating this process.
As an example, we could note that there is a scale of priorities in the details that must be observed, depending on various constraints, such as the duration of a scene. The goal is to convey the rhythm of the work faithfully while preserving its clarity and fluidity. In addition, it is essential to avoid losing the audience in a soundtrack that is too dense or overloaded. One must also take other factors into account, such as the target audience, the content (and in particular silences) and the level of language used, in order to design a described video that is faithful to the tone of the work and to the filmmaker’s intentions. When creating a described video, one must thus regularly call on one’s critical sense if one is to remain faithful to the singularity of the work on which one is working.
“Everyone Can Play a Role”
While the FNC workshop made it possible for participants to immerse themselves in the various ways of approaching a described video by taking into account the authenticity of the cinematic experience, it also shone a light on the importance of raising audiences’ awareness around the accessibility of culture for unsighted or poorly sighted individuals.
The possibility of incorporating described video at the moment of writing the film script was a topic of particular interest at the workshop. Émilie Huberdeau explained that she is sometimes asked her approval for projects as they are being written, demonstrating that this process can be thought out beforehand.
Huberdeau concluded the event, moreover, by asserting that “everyone can play a role in providing access to culture,” whether by making move theatres sensitive to the need to inform their audiences about the need for described video or by encouraging audiences to show their interest in having described video for a greater number of films.
Emmanuelle Orange-Parent concurred. “Described video transforms my perception of cinema,” she explained. “Everyone wins when there is a possibility in society to consume culture differently. And the idea of living in a diverse community is extremely reassuring.”
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From January 30 to March 6 2025, thanks to the support of the cinEXmedia partnership, Émilie Huberdeau and Emmanuelle Orange-Parent will be offering training sessions in described video and audio description at the Université de Montréal. It is still possible to register for these sessions at the website of Praxis, the Centre de développement professionnel de l’Université de Montréal.
