Putting the Accessible Filmmaking Model into Practice: An Exploration of Media Accessibility and Translation as a Collaborative Process

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Accessible and translated versions of films for sensory-impaired and foreign viewers are typically producedduring the distribution stage of film production, with minimal input from filmmakers (Zdenek, 2015). Thismodel can have negative effects on the quality of these versions, as their production remains outsidefilmmakers' control (Romero-Fresco, 2013), leading to mis-interpretations by accessibility professionals (Udo& Fels, 2009) and to the alteration of films in translation against filmmakers' wishes (de Higes-Andino,2014).My research concerns an alternative model called accessible filmmaking which brings together filmmakers,media accessibility professionals and translators to collaboratively produce accessible and translatedversions of films with the aim of improving their accessibility (Romero-Fresco, 2013). To explore thiscollaborative process and the integration of accessibility and translation into the different productionstages, the research applies accessible filmmaking to the forthcoming feature film Chaplin (Middleton &Spinney), funded by the BFI. It will also extend the model by including end users in this process as sensory-impaired consultants.Working as the film's director of accessibility and translation, I will conduct ethnographic fieldwork throughparticipant observation. I will coordinate the production of the accessible versions (subtitles for the hearing-impaired; audio description for the visually-impaired) and create a guide for foreign-language subtitlers.The fieldwork will take place on set and in meetings between filmmakers and accessibility professionals,and I will collect data via audio recordings, fieldnotes and interviews.The written thesis will report on the extent to which accessibility and translation were successfullyintegrated into the film's production. It will analyse the impact of this collaborative process on theaccessible and translated versions and on the original film, and it will also present new professional figures(sensory-impaired consultants and the director of accessibility and