Creative Sense Checking…
As creatives, advertisers and marketers we have a responsibility to ensure that the content we produce is both accessible and inclusive to those with sensory impairments - be it sight loss, visual impairment or even deafblindness, a condition that will affect over 600,000 people in the UK by 2030. Despite the innovations that are out there, accessible content is still an afterthought for many brands and as an industry there is still more to be done to ensure that this growing audience is not left behind.
Following our recent shoot with the charity Blind Veterans UK and to celebrate National Deafblindness awareness day - we wanted to share 6 Key Learnings on how best to optimise scripting, shooting and delivering social content that is not just inclusive but creatively stimulating to those with visual or audio disabilities.
Audio Description (AD)
When scripting your films for a visually impaired/ blind audience, audio narrative is key for comprehension. Audio description (AD) is additional commentary that explains what’s happening on screen. AD describes body language, expressions and movements, making the programme clear through sound. More often than not, AD is an afterthought when the film has already been created, resulting in a clash between the Audio Description and the commercials main dialogue. This retrospective overlap of voices can be very confusing, especially when films have already been cut and limited to a specific duration. The best use of Audio Description is when it works with not against the main Voice Over or character dialogue such as the Mastercard Spotlight commercial which turned the AD into the main protagonist.
2. Soundscaping
Sound Effects (SFX) are a wonderful way to let a visually impared audience follow a narrative and understand the context without having to over explain. Pantene’s new commercial with YouTube star Lucy Edwards is a wonderful example of how SFX can bring the story to life - by hearing the hair, both visually impaired and visually able audiences are able to comprehend what’s going on straight away.
3. Introductions
When it comes to social content that requires ‘real people’ to endorse the brand, lower thirds are an industry shorthand to introduce protagonists on screen. When creating ‘real person’ content for a visually impaired audience, why not have the talent introduce themselves on screen? This avoids the need for Audio Description and allows for a more conversational and natural way for your audience to understand who’s speaking to them and why.
4. Collaboration (pre-shoot)
When developing scripts with deaf or blind talent there is nothing more important than involving your talent as early as possible. Agencies and productions should run scripts through the talent to sense check both the film’s authenticity and to help production understand the parameters they are working from - this can range from crew sizes to the shoot schedule which will ultimately affect how much can be filmed in one given shoot day without compromising the creative and final budget.
5. Communication (on shoot)
When filming with blind or deaf talent, clear and obvious communication on set is an absolute priority. Whether this is understanding what props the talent feel most comfortable using, introducing the talent to all crew members so they know how big the set is, creating clear pathway to avoid trip hazards (especially if filming in an environment they are already familiar with) and of course having fun and making the set as enjoyable as possible - especially if this is the talent’s first time on camera.
6. Closed Captions (CC)
Subtitles provide a text alternative for the dialogue in video footage while closed captions also explain other sounds that are important to the story, like a phone ringing or an engine struggling to start. While it has become a social best practice to include Closed Captions (for audiences watching without sound) it’s an essential for the hard of hearing to offer a text alternative for every noise that’s important in understanding the context of a video.
With an ageing population, the number of deaf and blind people in the UK is increasing and it’s essential that brands and advertisers take note and stay on top of the trends in accessible marketing. And as the recent RNIB What’sIn Store production demonstrates… there’s still a lot of fun to be had in this creative and accessible new space.
Written by Jonah Werth, Producer, distillery
