Audio Description for Voiced‑over Films: the Case Study of Big Fish
Audio Description for Voiced‑over Films: the Case Study of Big Fish

Summary/Abstract: Although the development of audio description (AD) in Poland has been on the rise since its beginnings in 2006, until recently foreign films were rarely made accessible for visually impaired viewers. The reason for this was that it was assumed that voice‑over (VO) – a major audiovisual translation technique used in Polish television broadcasting – was impossible to combine with audio description, since blind and partially sighted audiences would not manage to ingest multiple soundtracks (original soundtrack, voice‑over and audio description). The lack of AD to foreign films was also against the needs and wishes of the visually impaired community. In this article we present the findings of a focus group discussion and a survey on AD to foreign films conducted among blind and partially sighted viewers after a screening of voiced‑over and audio described film Big Fish (2003, dir. by Tim Burton). The results of the study confirm that visually impaired audiences not only want to, but also are able to watch voiced‑over films with audio description. There are however some important issues that should be taken into consideration when producing this type of AD, such as voicing, synchronisation and character identification.

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