'Can I Hear That In Colour?'

The following represents the summary version of the full project report, which is also available as a downloadable file (37 pages) from this web site. See also further action research "Let's Get the Bigger Picture".

Background to the Research Project

The collection of the North West Film Archive (NWFA) is a public resource representing - and supported by - the people of the North West of England. The NWFA regards accessibility to this region's filmed heritage as a fundamental guiding principle alongside its commitment to custodial responsibilities.

Having been closely involved in the planning of its new purpose-designed accommodation in 1996, the NWFA had ensured that disability issues were incorporated into the building. The NWFA consulted with a range of organisations to compile a list of specialist audio-visual and computer equipment which would further improve the experience of disabled visitors, particularly those with visual and/or hearing impairments. These requirements were included within the Archive's successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (£260,821 awarded).

The NWFA recognised that in order to carry out the next step - user-led research - it did not possess the relevant in-house expertise and a practitioner partner would need to be brought on board. With a grant from North West Arts Board, the NWFA engaged Full Circle Arts, a disabled people's regional resource which provides consultancy services to organisations working on disability arts projects, to work on a unique joint research project to identify the criteria which people with sensory requirements regard as important when accessing moving images. This research project was devised by the NWFA to develop inclusive in-house and outreach access opportunities and to provide service choice for the region's people - a real world-first.

Methodology

A pilot group of twelve people from around the North West of England was assembled so that the project would be user-led and would gain first hand knowledge about their actual requirements. The pilot group met monthly over six months to participate in trial and refinement sessions where their responses to technical experimentation and specialist intervention would be measured and evaluated, both qualitatively and quantitatively. As a truly user-led project, real evidence was gathered from the outset about audience needs and preferences. A range of options for accessibility was established which was then refined, modified and augmented through secondary testing with new audiences with similar needs. Issues resulting from this fresh perspective were fed back to the pilot group so that they could see where their original views were shared, where there were differences in opinion and where new ideas had been added.

Findings

The findings range from attitudinal considerations and simple, practical steps which improve accessibility to moving images, working up to the introduction of specialist professionals and technical interventions which require more planning and resources. The following options for accessibility are based on disabled people's own views and should hold true for many screening scenarios.

Custodians of moving image collections may give attention to :

Attitudinal considerations

• avoid making assumptions relating to an individual's impairments and the extent to which s/he may derive benefits from moving images - for example, our research shows that visually impaired people gain pleasure from moving images both as an individual and as part of a shared audience experience and their enthusiasm for the material can be as strong as a sighted person's.
• be responsive to user needs so that opportunities for access and user choice can be fully exploited. This includes investigating audience communication needs in advance.
• recognise that, in common with all our audiences, usage will range from individual research and group (social) viewings
• bear in mind that visually impaired and blind people's capacity to visualise will depend on whether their vision became impaired after a period in their life when they were able to see fairly well

Practical steps

• provide the individual or group with advance information about the venue, its facilities and the screening prior to the event
• in preparing group viewings, select material carefully on the basis of user needs and preferences (see audience recommendations below)
• provide full contextual introductions to each film - spoken, captioned/signed as necessary
• allow for the same film to be shown more than once, so that appreciation can be built up. This will be achieved through different interpretative and technical interventions
• describe specialist interventions (e.g. audio description) to the audience as these may not be familiar techniques

Audience recommendations

User preferences from visually impaired audience members:

• black and white film is easier to access than colour film
• silent films benefit from audio description
• where a film contains spoken commentary, this should be shown in its original (un-modified) format before a version with interventions e.g. audio described
• audio description can facilitate access in place of the original soundtrack

For hearing impaired audiences a range of approaches can be adopted to meet particular communication needs.

User preferences from hearing-aid users:

• induction loop systems should be checked by hearing-aid users for proper calibration and to detect any interference
• in-vision captions should be a literal transcript of any spoken commentary and appear in a sans serif type, white on a dark background with spoken dialogue in a different colour or italicised

User preferences from sign language users:

• a signer may be video-recorded in advance and this image added in-vision, preferably in an oval or circular frame positioned about halfway up the side of the screen
• if a signer is not available, in-vision captions should be abridged rather than literal if the audience is primarily made up of sign language users

In all cases:

• signing and captioning should tell 'the same story'. These should be introduced in layered stages through multiple screenings - if used all at once this can cause information overload

Next steps

While some questions were answered by this research, many more were raised, and the NWFA has a responsibility and commitment to building on the success of this ground-breaking project. Future priorities will focus on resourcing and initiating action research to find and work with new audiences, and widen out applications for enjoying the collection. Disabled people will continue to be actively involved as part of the NWFA's public access development.

Can I Hear That In Colour? is just one example of a public film archive's experience working with disabled people to achieve greater accessibility to moving images. The NWFA looks forward to hearing about other projects which can broaden our understanding of disabled people's needs and influence the development of public access programmes.

n.w.filmarchive@mmu.ac.uk

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