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If you were tasked to read a Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham to a group of children who varied in age and abilities, how would you go about conveying the broadest explanation of a story that is just as visual as it is literal? You might start crafting a plan for your story execution, starting by reading a sentence and describing the illustration within the context of what was read. Next, you might plan on using a different voice for each of the characters or even exaggerate the onomatopoeia words. You might even plan to go so far as magnifying your facial expressions and using more body language to really emphasize the story. Executing your story according to this plan could be described as a universally designed approach to a story-telling.
Due to all the numerous ways you conveyed the story, a blind child could understand why green eggs and ham would be so atrocious and a deaf child could better understand the struggle between a friend who desperately wants to convince his buddy to try something new that he will inevitably like. All the while, the children without disabilities just think you are the greatest story teller in the world. In an effort to deliver the story in multiple ways for all to understand, you have actually made the entire experience richer for everyone!
Using audio description with video is achieving a very important goal of providing accessibility. However, like the story telling example, a broader goal would be to enhance the experience of the video for everyone. From the Knowledge Base article When Should You Provide Captions & Audio Descriptions to Videos?, audio description is explained in the context of when they were needed for video accessibility. This article will go deeper into explaining some audio description options for your videos.
Pre-Production Audio Description
The most seamless method of employing audio description is by planning them into the process ahead of recording your video.
Open Audio Description
Open audio description is narration included in the audio track of your video for everyone; there is no additional button or link to tap into audio description. The intro animation to Marvel Studio's Black Panther is a pretty good example:
The work for this becomes pretty involved on the front end, scripting when the audio description is needed to augment the core footage. This could be done prior to filming or as part of the editing process.
A basic work flow for creating an open audio description could look something like:
- Review your script or video in pre-production
Note opportunities for descriptive narration (i.e., pauses in narration or dialog into which descriptions can be inserted).
- Write the description script
Use a description-authoring tool, a word processor or any text editor to create the script that will be recorded by the narrator.
- Record the audio description...
- ...As part of the video recording
If you are able to capture the audio description while recording the video, then you can save some time during the video editing process.
Or,...
- ...During the video editing process
You can also pre-record the audio description using an audio-editing software, and add them in using your video editing software.
Post-Production Audio Description
What if you have a video that's already been produced, or need an audio description created for an online video that was published by someone else? At this point, an audio description can still be made, but it will not be as seamless. An audio description that can comfortably be inserted into the video's time line is referred to as a standard audio description. If there are minimal to no natural pauses in the source audio track and there is key visual information that must be described, you may want to consider the extended audio description.
Standard Audio Description
Here is an example of a standard audio description:
Expanded Audio Description
Here is an example of extended audio description:
Both standard and expanded audio descriptions can be created by 3PlayMedia (in text to speech format) by submitting an email request to accessibility@nic.edu. Your request will be reviewed and followed up by NIC's IT Accessibility Coordinator or staff from Disability Support Services staff.
Can I Create My Own Audio Description Instead of 3PlayMedia?
Yes you can if you so choose. By taking this approach, you are greatly helping yourself with the knowledge and understanding of audio described video best practices. The steps for this process may vary depending upon what video streaming service you are utilizing and the audio and video editor programs you use. However, please reach out to accessibility@nic.edu if you would like any consultation on how to best create audio descriptions for your videos.
Conclusion...and Good News
The day will come when audio descriptions need to be created/published by all video content creators at NIC. However, change is best implemented in small, easily achievable steps to foster understanding/familiarity first. NIC is fortunate to be able to capitalize on purchasing several hours of 3PlayMedia's services in captioning and audio description for the 2018-2019 academic year. So as long as your video fits the criteria for audio description, you can submit an email request to accessibility@nic.edu and have your video captioned and/or audio described at no cost to your department for approved NIC videos.
More Information on Audio Description