Film language, film emotions and the experience of blind and partially sighted viewers: a reception study

Abstract

Film experience is a sensual, cognitive and emotional encounter between film and spectator. For viewers with blindness or visual impairment, access to film experience is made possible through audio description (AD). Conventionally, AD is an objective depiction of the images on screen, where audio describers refrain from interpreting what is shown or the way it is shown. This demand for objectivity has been challenged by some researchers and the study presented here is a contribution in this line. Forty five blind and partially sighted Catalan viewers experienced three AD styles: one conventional AD and two interpretative styles (cinematic AD and narrative AD). Results show that although conventional AD gives satisfactory access to the story, emotional aspects expressed through film language are rendered more effectively with an interpretative approach. In our sample, the cinematic and the narrative AD offer a film experience that is more satisfying than that offered by conventional AD.