Filmmakers could improve cinema for deaf community with new guidance from University of Sheffield | News

Improved subtitling in the film industry could make watching movies and TV more accessible and attractive to the deaf community, according to new guidelines published by the University of Sheffield and Sheffield research and design studio Paper.

Improved subtitling in the film industry could make watching movies and TV more accessible and attractive to the deaf community, according to new guidelines published by the University of Sheffield and Sheffield research and design studio Paper.

Members of the Deaf community, who have been deaf all their lives and use British Sign Language (BSL) as their first language, took part in a research project that asked them about their experiences of watching films.

The team found that poor subtitling prevented deaf audiences from effectively experiencing filming techniques such as suspense in stories, leaving them feeling excluded from the cinematic experience.

The project resulted in a new film ‘Rethinking Subtitles’ and six new guidelines for the media industry, highlighting commercially viable opportunities to improve the accessibility of films and TV programs for deaf audiences.

Dr Ryan Bramley, an expert on the social impact of film at the University of Sheffield’s School of Education, said: “In order for Deaf viewers to experience storytelling techniques such as suspense as filmmakers intend, subtitles must effectively reproduce the effects of the sounds in the film, and currently they often do not.

“Our project found that improvements are needed for deaf audiences to help them connect more deeply with the characters and plot of films and enjoy an equivalent movie-watching experience as hearing audiences do. “

The project was a unique collaboration supported by the University’s Made Together Program and the Sheffield Innovation Programme, which brought Ryan and Dr Kirsty Liddard from the University of Sheffield’s School of Education to carry out the research with Beth Evans and Jon Rhodes from at Paper.

Beth, the founder of SUBTXT Creative and researcher who initiated and led the project, is passionate about designing more accessible and visually engaging subtitles for different audiences. She said: “Filmmakers will often use sound to evoke certain emotions in their audience, such as suspense. But certain subtitles that describe the sound, such as (ominous music), can be quite subjective and may not mean anything to someone who doesn’t experience the sound the same way the filmmaker does.

“Our participants explained that audio descriptions are really important when watching a movie because they see the audio through subtitles. They told us that their experience was more immersive when the subtitles had more detail about the sound and music.”

Together, the team worked with members of the deaf community to learn how they experienced watching well-known subtitled films such as Jaw, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and A quiet place.

Jaw, Steven Spielberg’s classic, will inspire instant recognition among listening audiences for the classic musical warning about the shark’s appearance. The technique announces not only the arrival of the shark, but that this is something to fear. Music is used as a specific trigger to create tension and the team wanted to know if subtitles could translate the same emotions from these films for deaf audiences.

Ryan said: “Our research found that certain sound descriptions were missing key information that was essential to the plot. For example, in Jaw, participants were aware that there was “famous” music in the clip, but told us that the subtitles did not convey that the music represented the approaching shark. This influenced how much suspense they felt during the film.

“Because the deaf community sees sound in subtitles, delayed, missing, poor quality or overly complex subtitles, it can make deaf visitors feel excluded and not treated equally with hearing people when watching movies.”

The project resulted in six new ‘Recommendations for Change’ for the media industry highlighting opportunities to improve accessibility of entertainment, which were also presented as evidence to the UK’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into British film and television peak. . The team believes that with the right attention, and the media industry actively working with Deaf media consultants, the recommendations could easily be applied in cinema and TV, and point to examples where this has already been done successfully.

Beth added: “Programs like Strange things went viral because their captions are so catchy and creative. The subtitlers worked during the making of the film and received advice from Hollywood orchestrators to help choose the best sound descriptions that would capture the genre and feel of the moment for deaf audiences.

“It shows how good the quality of subtitling could be if it was given the same level of investment, collaboration and creative freedom as any other part of the film during production, rather than being an afterthought.”

The team’s recommendations urge filmmakers to invest more in subtitling, involve experienced deaf consultants in the filmmaking process, and take a more creative approach to subtitling development. They include:

1. Subtitles should be designed collaboratively by subtitlers, filmmakers and deaf consultants. Designing subtitles should happen throughout the filmmaking process and not as an afterthought.
2. Creative subtitling should be explored to reduce the effort deaf viewers have to make to understand and feel immersed in the film. Filmmakers should rethink and redesign the way sound is presented visually for deaf audiences.
3. Subtitles should be tested with deaf audiences before a film is released to highlight any miscommunication in the subtitles and ensure that people are getting the intended experience of the film.
4. Caption customization should be explored to allow users to choose the style (eg, font, color, size, placement) of captions and the level of description or creativity used within captions to suit their preferences.
5. UK cinemas need to be made more accessible for deaf people. For example, cinemas should offer more frequent and convenient screening times for closed-caption viewings and improve the accessibility of venues and marketing materials.
6. More investment and budget allocation is needed to fund innovation in subtitling to create more accessible and engaging cinema experiences for deaf people.

Hamza Shaikh, trustee of the British Association for the Deaf, was a participant in the project. He said: “I am delighted to be part of the University’s wonderful research project which recognizes the imperative to lower barriers for deaf people like myself who have struggled to fully enjoy going out to the cinema. The lack of deaf awareness and subtitling in cinemas breaches the Equality Act 2010 and the BSL Act 2022 and poses significant challenges for deaf patrons.

“The British Association of the Deaf is the national representative organization of BSL and ISL in the UK and our vision is to ensure a world where deaf people can fully participate and contribute to society as equal and valued citizens. I hope this collaborative effort will catalyze the film industry to reevaluate its practices and prioritize accessibility for all customers.”