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  [ Audio Description ]
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Captioning & Audio Description at the ODEON Cheltenham
Seventy-eight cinemas across England,
approximately 1 in 7 cinemas, are to benefit from a new National Lottery scheme
to improve facilities for cinema-goers with captioning and audio description
equipment. The improvements are part of the UK Film Council’s £500,000 National
Lottery funded Cinema Access Programme.
The move will enable thousands more people
with hearing or sight loss to enjoy films at the cinema including the latest
blockbusters and specialised films. At present only 22 cinemas in England are
equipped with such equipment.
DTS Cinema Captioning Systems
will allow ODEON Cheltenham customers with sensory impairments to enjoy
film. Customers with hearing impairments can enjoy many more subtitled
performances and customers with visual impairments can enjoy the benefits of
Audio Description.
CAPTIONING -
NOT Subtitles
Subtitles translate the
dialogue, which makes them most appropriate for foreign language films and
hearing audiences.
Captions actually follow the
action and denote which characters are speaking by the position of the
caption on the screen. They are created specifically for movie-goers who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing. They also give clues to the rest of the soundtrack
- describing, for instance, a phone ringing, a gunshot, someone singing -
additional information which helps those who cannot hear better understand
the flow of the plot and the detail of the action.
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Chris Martin, Chief Technician at the Odeon Cheltenham pictured
with GCAB Manager, Ronnie Rowan. This was after a demonstration where
the film Peter Pan was shown with Audio Description.
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HOW DOES IT WORK?
A Video Projector projects the
captions on the screen.
AUDIO DESCRIPTION
This is a format to help blind and
partially sighted movie-goers enjoy the cinema experience. In gaps between the
dialogue, a narrator describes what is happening in the scene. It might be the
setting, what the characters look like, the body language, or the action. Audio
description writers have become very skilled at providing just the right
information without getting in the way of the dialogue.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Customers need to borrow special
headsets to hear audio description,
Audio description is delivered via
infra-red headphones. These have an “open ear” design that enables the user to
hear the same soundtrack as the rest of the audience.
The system can also be used as a
‘hearing aid’ the headphones can be switched to act as a pair of head phones
that just gives the soundtrack of the film.
At present only Odeon 1 is equipped
and this screen is not at ground level, however it is possible that Odeon 7
which is at ground level will be equipped at a later date.
How do YOU find out ‘What’s On’
If you phone the ODEON (01242)
514421 after 11-15am on a Tuesday we can usually let you know ‘what’s on’ from
next Friday
We can E-mail you the details
We could send the details by post
You could look at this website -
www.yourlocalcinema.com please note, the new listings are posted on a
Thursday by 12-00 noon, the day before they start showing the film.
If you have another method - let us
know
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