Streaming Accessibility Features: A Time of Group Flow
Confluence
We have finally reached a crucial point of confluence in the world of streaming media. With societal focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion along with technological development, conversations are flowing among filmmakers, film distributors, educators, and librarians about accessibility features such as captioning and audio description. We are changing the course of streaming media history. This momentum is inspiring, creative, and challenging.
The purpose of this article is to reflect on recent conversations at the Video Trust annual conference in Fall 2022 and an audio event on LinkedIn titled “Talking #Access with Filmmakers” this spring. I will also report on current efforts to add or improve accessibility features for streaming media audiences from a Google survey that I created and sent to all film distributors represented at the Video Trust conference. Finally, I will share as a researcher and educator how I think we all stand to experience streaming media in new and exciting ways through the proactive, intentional, and artistic design of such features.
Collaboration
I love a good metaphor for understanding human behavior, and I think examining the ways that we collaborate can be particularly illustrative for the timing of important projects in society. Working remotely from Minneapolis for an international film distribution company, Pragda LLC, without any prior experience in the streaming media industry, I experienced two forms of interaction among filmmakers, film distributors, educators, and librarians. I observed that sometimes these key stakeholders communicate like the Chain of Lakes where my neighborhood is nestled. Each person or group provides for the broader streaming media ecosystem, but connections are limited to the small waterways that form their transactional networks. The filmmakers create an audiovisual story or reflection. The professor experiences it or hears about it and approaches the librarian to request that it be purchased. The librarian buys it from the distributor. And the film is incorporated into the institutional system for educational streaming. During some seasons, these waters can be somewhat stagnant. The fiscal forecast sometimes even threatens to freeze them over. But every once in a while, even amid a restrictive climate, this group flows like the mighty Mississippi! Now is a time of group flow.
"The image is a map of the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway in Minneapolis, Minnesota, featuring the Chain of Lakes. There are approximately ten lakes of various sizes on the left-hand side from top to bottom, and the Mississippi River runs parallel to them on the right. Together, these bodies of water form a U-shaped border around the most central parts of the city."
Conferences
The first signs of group flow on the topic of accessibility features that I experienced happened at the Video Trust virtual conference this past fall. I participated in all panels and hosted one-on-one chats with librarians as a representative for Pragda LLC, a major distributor of Spanish, Latin American, and Latinx film. A key takeaway surfaced repeatedly during these conversations. Librarians are advocating for good closed captioning for all audiovisual materials on the streaming media market. Some even reported that this feature is a requirement in order for their libraries to acquire new materials. I will address what is meant by “good” and why it is important shortly.
In early March, Ellen Brodsky of New Day Films informed me that there would be an audio event on LinkedIn titled “Talking #Access with Filmmakers.” Ellen knew of my interest in the subject from a survey I had sent to all of the film distributors listed on the Video Trust conference attendance list, the results of which I will share in the next section of this article. The LinkedIn event turned out to be the most valuable experience in my quest to learn more about audio description (AD) because it was led by blind audio description narrators Nefertiti Matos Olivares, who helped audio describe this year’s Oscars red carpet show and ceremony, and Thomas Reid, Host and Producer of the podcast Reid My Mind Radio, where the event is archived. Together with sighted audio describer and member of the New Day Films documentary film distribution cooperative Cheryl Green, the trio, along with filmmakers and consumers across the visual ability spectrum, provided essential information and shared moving stories about the power of good AD.
While closed captioning’s intended audience is deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers of media, AD is typically used by those who are blind or have low vision. The Social Audio Description Collective, to which Matos Olivares, Reid, and Green all belong, provides a concise explanation of AD on its website:
Audio Description (AD) is an optional auxiliary voice track for a film or show, which describes the visuals and plays during breaks in the dialogue and between other crucial sounds. While devised for audience members who are blind or low-vision, ever more people are taking advantage of AD to watch videos while cooking, exercising or doing anything that keeps their eyes from the screen at least some of the time.
You will have noticed my use again of the word “good” in qualifying AD, just as I attached it to captioning before. Given that these accessibility features are not new, the discussion at both conferences quickly turned towards the debate between compliance and creativity. Captioning and AD that are compliant provide basic information to fill in audio and visual gaps for consumers. In many cases, they are computer-generated. For example, a particular scene in a movie might include music. Instead of telling the viewer the title and composer of the music, the captioning simply says “music playing.” In the case of AD, perhaps there are people dancing to the music, and the AD only says that and nothing more about the way they are dressed, the space or lighting they are in, etc.
In a blog post on New Day Films’ website, Green declares: “When done well, an audio description is an art unto itself.” Creative captioning and AD contribute to the reception of the media in the ways they express feelings and moods, thus creating a more immersive experience for the consumer. As one of the low-vision filmmakers at the LinkedIn event shared, exceptional AD moves her in ways that make her feel as if she is actually seeing what is on the screen even though she cannot physically see the details described.
Green also shares Reid’s perspective as both a blind consumer and creator of media in the same blog post, noting that he “considers the audio describer to be a second director: the describer chooses which visuals to describe by homing in on the film director’s original vision for the film. The script has to be lush and descriptive, while also being focused and expansive.”
Advocates of high-quality accessibility features for streaming media join the Social Audio Description Collective in underscoring the importance for filmmakers to include their creation in budgets and to build in time in the script for their incorporation. In other words, accessibility done well is never an afterthought, but rather, an intentional part of every step of the process of production.
Brenda Ávila-Hanna, one of the filmmaker members in the New Day Films cooperative, echoes these best practices for AD:
We'd like to encourage filmmakers and funders to integrate accessibility into their practice at all stages of their projects. As an independent distribution co-op operated by filmmakers, we understand how hard it can be to get a project funded. Most filmmakers, disabled or not, probably want to integrate accessibility into our editing or budgeting process but don't necessarily know how to or can fairly compensate an expert team to help us with that. It's crucial to raise awareness and funding to support this cultural shift so that accessibility is not something only left to streamers or distributors but a practice embedded into the entire process."
Continuing Conversations
As mentioned above, following the Video Trust Conference, I sent out a survey I had created to all of the film distribution company representatives on the Video Trust 2022 Conference participant list. Out of twenty organizations contacted, four completed the survey. In other words, there was a 20% response rate, which is generally considered good for this type of survey. That said, the data collected paints an overwhelmingly positive picture of current accessibility practices, which begs the question of whether those who chose not to participate did so because their current practices would reflect negatively on their companies. However, a quick search on a few of these companies’ websites revealed that films with captions and/or AD are typically easy to find, either by clicking on a tab to locate a list or by using FAQs and Help pages to learn how to turn on captions, subtitles, and transcripts if available.
Green Planet Films, Inc.
With 250 streaming films in its catalog, Green Planet proudly reports that 99% include captions. Upon signing a film, they use Rev, a speech-to-text service that combines AI and freelancers around the world to produce 99% accurate captions, according to Rev’s website. However, additional research about Rev counters this claim. In her 2021 article “Saying ‘Thank You’ for Quality Closed Captions: A Promising Shift in Inviting Access,” Cheryl Green criticizes Rev’s captions for being full of errors and culturally harmful content.
For films in a language other than English, Green Planet uses burned-in English subtitles. They also have a few films with AD on DVD. The content of their films focuses on the environment, and so far they do not have any films in their catalog related to the topic of accessibility.
New Day Films
90% of the 398 streaming films in the New Day catalog include captions. A few years ago, the co-op’s membership approved an initiative to ensure that not only all new titles coming into the collection would have captions, but that they would also be high-quality and culturally-responsive. Cheryl Green developed specifications for such captions based on those used by PBS and other streaming distributors that members can provide to their captioners.
Thanks to Pam Sporn and Brenda Ávila-Hanna, New Day Films is currently in a partnership with Dicapta, a worldwide leader in accessibility services, to provide audio description for their film library. Daryl Jones, Equity and Representation Lead, reported that Dicapta has completed 20 New Day titles and has offered to do another 20 in the coming year. Additionally, The co-op has at least 19 titles with AD that were produced using a variety of companies hired by individual filmmakers. They also have a small selection of 16 audio described trailers on YouTube.
Myles Matsuno, Acquisitions Lead, sums up the New Day approach to accessibility:
We are constantly thinking of ways to curate our catalog with content that is as accessible as possible. It’s at the forefront of our vision moving forward and it can be seen in action with our initiative and partnership with Dicapta, which is led by our E & R team. When doing outreach, we’re not just looking at how well a film is made and the issues behind it, but also looking at how accessible it is and/or could be. Breaking [down] walls through language, audio description, captioning, etc., is just another way we make sure our films reach a wider audience and can be the most effective.
Below are a few of New Day’s accessible titles with AD that also focus on accessibility and disability, four of which are made by directors with disabilities. They have other films on disability in their catalog with captions only.
Concerning Barriers: Three Films on Disability and Society by Reid Davenport
Sins Invalid by Patty Berne and Nomy Lamm
Vision Portraits by Rodney Evans
Who Am I To Stop It by Cheryl Green
As the co-op works towards aspirational goals, two New Day filmmakers have been developing a “How-To” guide on hosting accessible events with a focus on much more cross-disability access than just captioning and AD. Some examples, to paraphrase Green, are:
Following best practices already established by festivals such as Superfest;
Using plain language to support English-language learners and people with language or cognitive disabilities;
Adding excellent image descriptions and alt text for graphics and marketing materials when only photos, drawings, or PDFs are used;
Including self descriptions at events so that panelists and moderators can provide information about their identities when they present;
Providing sign language interpretation for films and events;
Considering cost and financial access when talking about d/Deaf and disability access;
Making transcripts available for use during or after a screening;
Using open captions for films, clips, or trailers when shown at Zoom events or on social media;
Following the lead of d/Deaf and disabled people, as well as others who rely on this accessibility, to know what is desirous, informative, creative, and exciting for them.
Pragda LLC
With a catalog of around 250 streaming films in languages other than English, 95% of Pragda’s titles have captions or subtitles. The company plans to launch a streaming platform with approximately 1000 titles later in 2023, including a curated section of films related to accessibility.
In the meantime, they have a “Subject/Style” category in their catalog’s drop-down menu dedicated to “Disabilities” with eight titles, three of which are new:
Enlightened (Iluminados) by Jorge Curioca
My Name is Daniel (Meu nome é Daniel) by Daniel De Castro Gonçalves
The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet (El perro que no calla) by Ana Katz
Like New Day, Pragda has partnered with Dicapta making ten titles in their catalog available with AD and more to come in the near future. They provide more details about this project in their May 2023 newsletter, and they encourage those who have already purchased any of the ten titles to reach out to them to obtain the AD files. At the same time, they are actively requesting video transcription for all new acquisitions and plan to do the same for previous acquisitions.
ProQuest
Academic Video Online (AVON) streams some 80,000 videos and continues to grow. Approximately 90% of these videos have captions, including all files with English dialogue. Those that do not have captions are films without dialogue such as silent films and musical performances. They currently have 85 videos with AD, and they offer an on-demand service to add AD at no charge for AVON subscribers, should a student need such an accommodation for a video in the database. The typical time-frame for this type of request is approximately two to three weeks. With hundreds of videos classified as Disability Studies, AVON seeks and curates video on this topic. A few favorites include:
Sound and Fury by Josh Aronson
My Beautiful Stutter by Ryan Gielen
Both AVON and New Day noted on their surveys additional accessibility features on their websites. For AVON, this means that their platform is compatible with assistive technology and accessibility tools, such as screen readers, and that they keep their accessibility statement and rating updated. Similarly, in the case of New Day, their responsive website is WCAG 2.0 AA compliant, a conformance level used in most accessibility rules and regulations around the world, including the ADA.
Conclusions
These days, the words “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “DEI” are such a packaged buzzword that they might just be losing their significance. What if we thought about DEI initiatives and tools for equity, such as accessibility features for streaming media, through the lens of universal design? American architect Ronald Mace coined the term in the 1970s to describe the design of buildings, products, or environments to make them accessible to all people regardless of age, ability, or other factors. In other words, what if we thought about these projects not as add-ons created in order to check a box, but as creative best practices that support those who would not otherwise have access without them AND are truly good for all of society? Of course, cost is always a crucial consideration, but one important suggestion made at the LinkedIn event I attended was for filmmakers to include a line in their budgets for the creation of accessibility features when applying for funding.
As an educator, I can think of a handful of ways to use accessibility features in my classes to benefit students with different abilities and learning styles from diverse cultural backgrounds. Indeed, at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, my Spanish-language teaching cohort regularly used features such as captions in the classroom in our multiliteracies approach to pedagogy, and now that I know more about AD, I am eager to explore the possibilities for using it to support learning in the future.
To return to the water metaphor and, indeed, the very concept of the stream to explain how streaming media works, if I were to creatively audio describe the scene we are currently in with respect to accessibility features, I would say: “Babbling brook. We all benefit.”
Works Cited
Brodsky, Ellen. “Re: New Day Films' Accessibility Practices and Goals.” Received by Anna Cox, 10 Feb. 2023.
Green, Cheryl. “Audio Description as a Tool for Equity.” New Day Films. 15 Jan. 2019, https://www.newday.com/news/2019-01-14-audio-description-as-a-tool-for-equity. Accessed 15 Mar. 2023.
———. “Saying ‘Thank You’ for Quality Closed Captions: A Promising Shift in Inviting Access.” Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, vol. 10, no. 2, 2021, pp. 247-260, https://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/article/view/801/1037. Accessed 5 May 2023.
Reid, Thomas, host. “Blind Centered Audio Description Chat: AD 101 for Content Creators.” Reid My Mind Radio, 5 Apr. 2023. https://reidmymind.com/blind-centered-audio-description-chat-ad-101-for-content-creators/
Social Audio Description Collective. https://socialaudiodescription.com/. Accessed 15 Mar. 2023.
