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We can always count on psychotherapist Fern Lulham to save the day, and ironically, I think that's what she's here to talk with us about today. We all know cheese to be a source of calcium, but different cheeses can offer so much more. Nutritionist Julia Karantjas has the scoop. Plus, we take a description-rich tour of one of the great Maya cities, which remains half buried in the jungle, with Audio Describer and Traveler JJ Hunt. Find Kelly & Company on YouTube!About AMIAMI is a media company that entertains, informs and empowers Canadians with disabilities through three broadcast services — AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French — and streaming platform AMI+. Our vision is to establish AMI as a leader in the offering of accessible content, providing a voice for Canadians with disabilities through authentic storytelling, representation and positive portrayal. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca.Find more great AMI Original Content on AMI+Learn more at AMI.caConnect with Accessible Media Inc. online:X /Twitter @AccessibleMediaInstagram @AccessibleMediaInc / @AMI-audioFacebook at @AccessibleMediaIncTikTok @AccessibleMediaIncEmail feedback@ami.ca
As the national Theatre continues to make their productions accessible to everyone on Wednesday 5 February 2025 1,000 primary school children from within Greater London attended a schools performance of ‘Ballet Shoes' in the National Theatre's Olivier Theatre with audio description and a pre show touch tour for the young visually impaired children from the primary schools too. The live description for ‘Ballet Shoes' was delivered by Eleanor Stollery, a young visually impaired Actor, Voice Over Artist and Audio Describer who had previously delivered the live description for the national Theatre's schools performance of ‘The Witches' too. RNIB Connect Radios Toby Davey went along to the schools performance of ‘Ballet Shoes' with Eleanor's live audio description and firstly explored through touch some of the props from ‘Ballet Shoes' that were on display as part of the pre show touch tour for the young visually impaired children. As part of the touch tour there was also a ballet lesson for the young visually impaired children so that they could experience some of the ballet moves that feature in ‘Ballet Shoes'. Shortly after the ballet lesson Toby caught up with a group of visually impaired Primary School children to find out how they had found the touch tour and that ballet lesson. Toby also chatted with Ellara Wakely, Head of Schools Engagement at the National Theatre to find out more about why the National Theatre wanted to make the schools performance of ‘Ballet Shoes' accessible to young visually impaired children. Toby of course also caught up with Eleanor just after the end of the performance to find out how it had all gone for Eleanor delivering the live audio description for Ballet Shoes' at the national Theatre's Olivier Theatre. To find out more about the National Theatre's programme, opportunities and resources for primary, secondary, further education or at SEND/SEMH schools do email LetsPlay@nationaltheatre.org.uk or visit - https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/learn-explore/schools/ And for more about access at the National Theatre including details of audio described performances, do visit - https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/your-visit/access/ (Image shows one of the children on the touch tour being shown one of the props from the production, an animals skull mounted on a wooden plaque. Photograph credit Natalie Mitchell)
Northern Ballet are following on from the great success of their children's ballet production of the ‘Tortoise & the Hare', with an environmental themed reimagining of the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale ‘Hansel & Gretel' as they take a trip into the forest, unaware of the damage they leave behind. When they get lost, the siblings meet a host of spirited friends who teach them how we can all better look after the planet - and have some fun along the way. RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey was joined by Pippa Moore MBE, Northern Ballet's Artistic and Learning Assistant plus Audio Describer along with Northern Ballet dancer Harris Beattie, one of the Choreographers of ‘Hansel & Gretel' to give some background to the staging of their new children's ballet. ‘Hansel & Gretel' premieres at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre in Leeds from 15 - 22 February, before embarking on an extensive UK tour from 1 March - 7 June. You will find out more about the storey of ‘Hansel & Gretel' by visiting the following pages of the Northern Ballet website - https://northernballet.com/hansel-and-gretel/story And for more about audio described performances of Northern Ballet's productions including ‘Hansel & Gretel' do visit - https://northernballet.com/accessible-performances/audio-described-performances (Image shows an Illustration by Emily Nuttall showing both Hansel and Gretel stood laughing and smiling on a grassy hill with a rainbow over them and the skyline of a city with an orange sun behind in the background)
Christine Malec is a fiction writer, and recently she tried an experimental collaboration with an Audio Describer, who contributed the kind of physical descriptions that can be challenging for a Blind author to create.Lawrence Gunther joins us to talk about different types of assistive technology that can be of value in the outdoors, and which ones will leave you wanting more.Plus, Chef Mary Mammoliti, Ramya and I tried baking celebrity cookie recipes, and we will be taste testing our creations with you on the show.
Today on Kelly and Company, Dr Danielle Jongkind and ask-a-veterinarian are back with us on every other Monday. While she often brings us useful information on important topics. We chat with Arnold Cheng of Spectrum Ability with his experience designing the Calgary Event Centre, also known as Scotia Place. And, JJ Hunt throws back to celebrating Halloween while traveling, bringing us stories of staying at Irish youth hostels and upscale Mexican condos while living out of a backpack. Show Highlights:Show Intro (00:34)Ask-a-veterinarian with Dr Danielle Jongkind (02:00)Arnold Cheng of Spectrum Ability (19:16)JJ Hunt, Audio Describer (42:30)
Here are the topics covered in this episode, and the time in the file for each. Welcome to 283 0:00 Comments on recent episodes 4:36 New hearing aids purchased 9:28 for users of the Rode Smartlav interview kit needing USB C connectivity 15:47 Wanting a podcast app for my Chromebook 17:59 Blind yoga? 19:33 Broadcasting systems for visually impaired accessibility 21:46 Downloading from YoUTube 27:18 Microsoft Copilot 28:39 Tax and identity verification 30:40 Microsoft Office on my new laptop 33:02 The security of scanning mail with my phone 34:07 New undesirable requirements from Instacart 38:36 The best case for my Mantis 42:57 Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses 47:51 Audible on the Victor Reader Stream 3 52:11 Home automation experiences 53:57 Blind audio describer Christine Malec discusses her craft, the Luminato Festival Toronto and more 1:07:06 Thoughts on Glide 1:54:36 Google Podcasts closing down 1:56:00 Closing and contact info 1:57:52
Audio describer JJ Hunt reminisces about his adventures in India with rich descriptions of Rajasthan State and a camel treks near the Thar desert.
Audio Describer, JJ Hunt, takes us to Ireland with rich description of the landscapes, coastlines, and the joy of an Irish fry up.
Producer Grant Hardy shares Headlines on health, lifestyle, technology and accessibility. We talk TV and Entertainment with Greg David, who shares some Canadian award nominated alternatives to popular US TV shows. Producer Beth Deer brings us The Buzz! Edmonton Community Reporter, Marc Workman, is on the road! He reports in today from Geneva with details from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Committee. Audio Describer, JJ Hunt, takes us to Ireland with rich description of the landscapes, coastlines, and the joy of an Irish fry up. Iryna Chepchyna is the president of the Ukrainian Society of the Deaf. She tells us how they're helping Deaf Ukrainians access critical emergency information and resources.
Remy Lloyd is Head of Outreach at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre and recently took part in a training course to become an Audio Describer through Mind's Eye Description Services under the tutorship of season Audio Describer Anne Hornsby. RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey recently caught up with Remy to find out what the training was like and how those first couple of described shows had gone too. To find out more about Mind's Eye description services and details of their up-coming audio described events do visit their website - http://www.mindseyedescription.co.uk And for more about access at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre including details of audio described performances do visit the access pages of their website - https://www.grandtheatre.co.uk/access/ (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)
A ballet masterpiece is resurrected as Northern Ballet's heart-stopping revival of Romeo & Juliet will tour around the country from March into the autumn with audio described performances at every venue for blind and partially sighted people. Romeo & Juliet promises to deliver ballet at its most dramatic and intense. With glorious dancing and Prokofiev's timeless music played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia, audiences will be invited to rediscover the iconic love story like it's the very first time. RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey was joined by Pippa Moore MBE, Northern Ballet's Artistic and Learning Assistant plus Audio Describer to give a flavour and feel to the resurrection of this much loved and award winning Northern Ballet production which premiered in 1991 and this tour will be the first return of the production to the theatre stage in 16 years after the set and costumes were painstakingly restored following a flood which damaged them. Northern Ballet's Romeo + Juliet will be audio described at the following venues - Leeds Grand Theatre - Saturday 16 March, 2.30pm, Touch Tour, 12.15pm Sheffield Lyceum Theatre - Saturday 6 April, 2pm, touch tour, 11.45am Nottingham Theatre Royal - Saturday 4 may, 2.30pm, touch tour, 12.15pm Norwich Theatre Royal - Saturday 18 May, 2.30pm, touch tour, 12.15pm Sadler's Wells, London - Saturday Saturday 1 June, 2.30pm, touch tour, 12noon Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon - Thursday 26 and Saturday 28 September, 1.15pm, touch tours TBC Southampton Mayflower Theatre - Saturday 5 October 2pm, touch tour TBC (Other venues may be added to the tour) For more details about the return of Northern Ballet's Romeo + Juliet and the audio described performances do visit the access pages of their website - https://northernballet.com/accessible-performances/audio-described-performances (Image shows a photo from Romeo & Juliet, a male and female figure each dressed in white dancing against a backdrop of blue and golden clouds with a ray of light coming from the upper left)
Welcome to The Tactile Traveler Program #47! Learn about the crucial role of audio describers and the preparation and creativity that goes into making these experiences more accessible and enjoyable for all.
Time for a round-up of some wonderful and enchanting ballet productions coming up over the next few months and into 2024 from Northern Ballet with audio description for blind and partially sighted people as our Toby Davey is joined by Pippa Moore, Northern Ballet's Artistic and Learning Assistant plus Audio Describer. Toby and Pippa talked about the following Northern Ballet productions - Beauty and the Beast - Audio described performances, Newcastle Theatre Royal on Saturday 11 November at 2.30pm, touch tour 12.15pm and at Norwich Theatre Royal on Saturday 25 November at 2.30pm, touch tour 12.15pm. When a terrifying creature threatens her father, Beauty selflessly leaves her family to live with the Beast in his castle. As time goes by, she grows strangely fond of her host, who hides an extraordinary secret... a curse that can only be broken by true love. Choreographed by David Nixon CBE and set to a hand-picked score of classic music from the likes of Bizet and Debussy, played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia. The Nutcracker - Audio described performance at Leeds grand Theatre on Saturday 2 December at 2pm, touch tour 11.45pm. Christmas isn't complete until you've experienced the magic of Northern Ballet's The Nutcracker. Share in Clara's adventures as she is swept away by her Nutcracker Prince into an enchanting winter wonderland. Don't miss dazzling dancing snowflakes, the famous Sugar Plum Fairy and the notorious Mouse King in the ultimate festive entertainment. Performed to Tchaikovsky's enduring score, played live by Northern Ballet Sinfonia, David Nixon CBE's The Nutcracker awakens childlike imagination in us all. Northern Ballets first ever audio described children's ballet with Tortoise & the Hare - Audio described performances at Leeds Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre on Friday 16 and Saturday 17 February 2024 at 2pm, touch tour TBC. The Tortoise and the Hare is a re-imagining of Aesop's much-loved fable of a Tortoise who, tired of being teased for his slowness, challenges a speedy Hare to a race. Running for approximately 40 minutes, the colourful production has been created especially for children aged three and above and their families. It is designed as a way for them to experience live dance, music and theatre together at an affordable price. Then a quick mention of Northern ballet's electrifying production of Romeo and Juliet which will return to theatres in 2024. You will find more details about these and other audio described Northern Ballet productions by either calling their Box Office on 0133 220 8000 or by visiting the audio described pages of their website - https://www.northernballet.com/accessible-performances/audio-described-performances (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)
Robyn has a wealth of knowledge as she has spent of her life in museums and studying Jewish history while living in Jerusalem. She is an Audio Describer focusing on Ballet and National Parks. If you would like more information about some of her work, you can visit the app mentioned in the podcast, linked below. https://unidescription.org/ www.aincolorado.org/podcast-guest/
From old episodes of Perry Mason on AMI to the 2011 Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate on CBC to Love On the Spectrum on Netflix. Our latest guest has described it all. This week on Outlook we speak with Ruth Barrett, who attended the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art, who started out as a performer, in the theatre, as a voiceover artist, but she eventually found her way into the world of doing closed captioning work first and then audio description. She loves English and history and her curiosity, all helpful interests and qualities for a describer to have. We speak with Ruth about how her previous skill set was applied to becoming an audio describer and writer, for Accessible Media Inc. and other networks, which led to her doing this work for live performances at the Stratford Festival which began offering selected audio described shows around 2012. Ruth loves to speak with users of her live theatre audio description and shares how she likes meeting with them after the show and receiving their feedback. With terms like forced naming, Barrett tells us what she's learned about best practices over her years doing this work and how she's loved getting to do more work collaboratively on a team along with the others over at Descriptive Video Works based in BC, but virtual has allowed people, like Ruth who live all the way back over in Stratford, Ontario to be on that team. Our guest this week explains how she works diligently to provide the best possible audio description experience for the users of the service that she can.
Today is World Sight Day! Stella speaks to Dan Buckingham, CEO and Tamara Gussy, Audio Describer from Able, a media accessibility trust, about how they're celebrating.
Today is World Sight Day! Stella speaks to Dan Buckingham, CEO and Tamara Gussy, Audio Describer from Able, a media accessibility trust, about how they're celebrating.
Leeds based ballet company Northern Ballet's autumn season continues around the country with audio described performances of their productions of both The Little Mermaid and The Nutcracker. RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey caught up with Pippa Moore, Northern Ballet's Artistic and Learning Assistant and Audio Describer, along with John Longstaff, Orchestrator for Northern Ballet's productions of The Little Mermaid and The Nutcracker, to find out a bit more about both productions. Pippa began by giving a bit of background to the story of The Little Mermaid and how Northern Ballet have turned Hans Christian Andersen's original fairytale into this immersive and beautiful ballet production. John then talked about working on The Little Mermaid as an Orchestrator and how he added in various musical notation to Sally Beamish's original score. Then to the magical and festive treat for all the family that is The Nutcracker with Pippa giving an outline to the story of The Nutcracker without giving the ending away and John explaining how he worked on Tchaikovsky's score for The Nutcracker and making the music fit for just a 27 piece orchestra but making it sound like what you would hear on the radio and on CD. Northern Ballet's productions of The Little Mermaid and The Nutcracker continue on tour around the country this autumn with audio described performances and more details can be found about these and other described productions by visiting the audio described pages of the Northern Ballet website- https://northernballet.com/accessible-performances/audio-described-performances (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)
Following on from performances at the Edinburgh Festival, Exodus, a new play for the National Theatre of Scotland Written by Uma Nada-Rajah and directed by Debbie Hannan will be touring with audio described performances until 21 September 2022. Exodus is a dark, surreal comedy, ready to shamelessly ridicule the systems of power. RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey caught up with Emma Jane McHenry the National Theatre of Scotland's Audio Describer for Exodus to find out a bit more about the play and what blind and partially sighted patrons might expect when attending the audio described performances of Exodus as the production continues on tour until 21 September 2022. Do visit the National Theatre of Scotland's website to find out more about the audio described performances of Exodus and details about access for other National Theatre of Scotland productions - https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)
Leeds based Opera company Opera North have been providing access for blind and partially sighted people through audio described performances of their productions for a number of years now and for the up-coming concert staged production of Richard Wagner's Parsifal there will be audio description available for every performance at Leeds Grand Theatre this June. RNIB Connect Radio's Toby Davey caught up with Alice Gilmour, Access Manager at Opera North and Audio Describer to find out more about the concert staging of Wagner's Parsifal with audio description from Wednesday 1 June to Friday 10 June 2022 at Leeds Grand Theatre. Alice began by giving Toby a bit of background to Opera North and their access offer for blind and partially sighted people as well as a synopsis of Wagner's Parsifal which features Knights, the Holy Grail and the character of Parsifal himself too. Alice then explained to Toby the difference between a full theatre staged opera and a concert staged production, along with how it is possible for Opera North to provide audio description at every performance of Wagner's Parsifal and other concert staged productions. Alice ended by highlighting a number of highlights from Opera North's 2022/2023 season with some real gems that are not to be missed. Opera North's production of Wagner's Parsifal will be at Leeds Grand Theatre from Wednesday 1 June to Friday 10 Jun with performances at 4pm, then touring with audio description to; Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, on Sunday 12 June, Nottingham Royal Concert Hall on Wednesday 15 June, Sage Gateshead on Saturday 18 June, and Royal Festival Hall, London on Sunday 26 June, again all performances starting at 4pm. To find out more about Opera North and their access offer including audio described performances do visit the access pages of their website - https://www.operanorth.co.uk/access/audio-described-performances/ (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)
Audio Describer and voice-over artist Valerie Hunter discusses the history of Described Video and her podcast "Movies for the Blind". October 2, 2021 episode.
Bonnie Barlow is a professional audio describer. That is, Bonnie narrates what is going on during movies, plays, ballets, television shows, and even rodeos for people who can
Bonnie Barlow is a professional audio describer. That is, Bonnie narrates what is going on during movies, plays, ballets, television shows, and even rodeos for people who can
This week on Yes But Why Podcast, listen in as I talk to Audio Describer, Bridget Melton. Bridget Melton is an Audio Describer who has recently relocated to North Texas from the Chicago area. Active in the cultural accessibility community for many years, Bridget works to create a welcoming environment for all. Around the United States, and virtually, she can be found at various theatres promoting inclusion as an audio describer, advisor, or volunteer. Audio Description is a service that makes the visual verbal. In theaters, in museums, and accompanying television, film, and video presentations, Audio Describers provide commentary and narration to guide the listener through the presentation with concise, objective descriptions of new scenes, settings, costumes, body language, and "sight gags," all slipped in between portions of dialogue or songs. Audio Description provides accessibility of the visual images of theater, television, movies, and other art forms for people who are blind, have low vision, or who are otherwise visually impaired. As the main describer for Hamilton: An American Musical during its three year residency in Chicago, Bridget Melton live described over 25 performances. She also most recently live extemporaneously audio described the 2021 Presidential Inauguration for which she and her team won the 2021 Vernon Henley Media Award from the American Council of the Blind. Bridget can also be heard as a featured guest on “Know Your Narrator,” the weekly podcast made by the Audio Description Narrators of America. In our conversation, we talk about how the pandemic has changed views on accessibility and inclusivity in the theater world. Bridget shares what it was like to do the Audio Description for the Inauguration and how amazing she felt to be part of that experience. Bridget speaks about working with the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium, and all that she learned from them about making theater more accessible to all. She says that since the move to Texas, she has been working from home; this has enabled her to connect with the larger community of audio describers and opened doors in her career that she never imagined. Bridget tells me of her work in theater admin and box office roles before finding her niche in Audio Description. With Audio Description, she is happy to have found a job that combines a lot of the different creative work that she loves about theater. Bridget gets to do dramaturgical research about the play she is working on; she gets to perform the show alongside the actors, and sometimes even improvise when the play or live event evolves. She also talks about how much she loves the chance to interact with the audience before the show during the “touch tour” and during the show as she “describes” the performance for them. Bridget expresses her excitement to be able to do theater full time and in such a rewarding role. Support Bridget Melton by hiring her to Audio Describe your event: https://www.bridgetmelton.com/ (Seriously, she's won AWARDS for doing this work!) But really, hire ANY Audio Describer and you are supporting Bridget's community and their efforts to make the arts accessible to all. (And if you've never heard of this but you work at a theater, bring it up to the boss! I mean, how cool is Audio Description?) Learn more about Audio Description, including resources and how to experience it at BridgetMelton.com/intro You can also support accessibility in the arts in general by donating to the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium, an organization that was a formative part of Bridget's own access journey: https://chicagoculturalaccess.org/support/ Yes But Why Podcast is a proud member of the HC Universal Network family of podcasts. Visit us at HCUniversalNetwork.com to join in on the fun. #YesButWhy #Podcast #HCUniversalNetwork This episode of Yes But Why podcast is sponsored by audible - get your FREE audiobook download and your 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/YESBUTWHY. Treat Yourself. Get Audible. This episode of Yes But Why is also sponsored by PodcastCadet.com. Go to PodcastCadet.com to connect with us so we can help you with your podcast! Save money by putting in offer code YBY20 to get 20% off the first service for workshop you buy! This episode of Yes But Why is also sponsored by True Hemp Science! True Hemp Science is our Austin-based resource for vegan friendly, whole plant extract CBD oil. Go to TrueHempScience.com to peruse all the therapeutic CBD product options! Use code YesButWhy7 to get 7% off your order of $50 or more and get a free packet of 2 CBD edibles! (production notes: recorded zoom meeting via Rodecaster on 8/12/2021…posted on 8/23/2021)
This week on Yes But Why Podcast, listen in as I talk to Audio Describer, Bridget Melton. Bridget Melton is an Audio Describer who has recently relocated to North Texas from the Chicago area. Active in the cultural accessibility community for many years, Bridget works to create a welcoming environment for all. Around the United States, and virtually, she can be found at various theatres promoting inclusion as an audio describer, advisor, or volunteer. Audio Description is a service that makes the visual verbal. In theaters, in museums, and accompanying television, film, and video presentations, Audio Describers provide commentary and narration to guide the listener through the presentation with concise, objective descriptions of new scenes, settings, costumes, body language, and "sight gags," all slipped in between portions of dialogue or songs. Audio Description provides accessibility of the visual images of theater, television, movies, and other art forms for people who are blind, have low vision, or who are otherwise visually impaired. As the main describer for Hamilton: An American Musical during its three year residency in Chicago, Bridget Melton live described over 25 performances. She also most recently live extemporaneously audio described the 2021 Presidential Inauguration for which she and her team won the 2021 Vernon Henley Media Award from the American Council of the Blind. Bridget can also be heard as a featured guest on “Know Your Narrator,” the weekly podcast made by the Audio Description Narrators of America. In our conversation, we talk about how the pandemic has changed views on accessibility and inclusivity in the theater world. Bridget shares what it was like to do the Audio Description for the Inauguration and how amazing she felt to be part of that experience. Bridget speaks about working with the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium, and all that she learned from them about making theater more accessible to all. She says that since the move to Texas, she has been working from home; this has enabled her to connect with the larger community of audio describers and opened doors in her career that she never imagined. Bridget tells me of her work in theater admin and box office roles before finding her niche in Audio Description. With Audio Description, she is happy to have found a job that combines a lot of the different creative work that she loves about theater. Bridget gets to do dramaturgical research about the play she is working on; she gets to perform the show alongside the actors, and sometimes even improvise when the play or live event evolves. She also talks about how much she loves the chance to interact with the audience before the show during the “touch tour” and during the show as she “describes” the performance for them. Bridget expresses her excitement to be able to do theater full time and in such a rewarding role. Support Bridget Melton by hiring her to Audio Describe your event: https://www.bridgetmelton.com/ (Seriously, she's won AWARDS for doing this work!) But really, hire ANY Audio Describer and you are supporting Bridget's community and their efforts to make the arts accessible to all. (And if you've never heard of this but you work at a theater, bring it up to the boss! I mean, how cool is Audio Description?) Learn more about Audio Description, including resources and how to experience it at BridgetMelton.com/intro You can also support accessibility in the arts in general by donating to the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium, an organization that was a formative part of Bridget's own access journey: https://chicagoculturalaccess.org/support/ Yes But Why Podcast is a proud member of the HC Universal Network family of podcasts. Visit us at HCUniversalNetwork.com to join in on the fun. #YesButWhy #Podcast #HCUniversalNetwork This episode of Yes But Why podcast is sponsored by audible - get your FREE audiobook download and your 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/YESBUTWHY. Treat Yourself. Get Audible. This episode of Yes But Why is also sponsored by PodcastCadet.com. Go to PodcastCadet.com to connect with us so we can help you with your podcast! Save money by putting in offer code YBY20 to get 20% off the first service for workshop you buy! This episode of Yes But Why is also sponsored by True Hemp Science! True Hemp Science is our Austin-based resource for vegan friendly, whole plant extract CBD oil. Go to TrueHempScience.com to peruse all the therapeutic CBD product options! Use code YesButWhy7 to get 7% off your order of $50 or more and get a free packet of 2 CBD edibles! (production notes: recorded zoom meeting via Rodecaster on 8/12/2021…posted on 8/23/2021)
This week on Yes But Why Podcast, listen in as I talk to Audio Describer, Bridget Melton. Bridget Melton is an Audio Describer who has recently relocated to North Texas from the Chicago area. Active in the cultural accessibility community for many years, Bridget works to create a welcoming environment for all. Around the United States, and virtually, she can be found at various theatres promoting inclusion as an audio describer, advisor, or volunteer. Audio Description is a service that makes the visual verbal. In theaters, in museums, and accompanying television, film, and video presentations, Audio Describers provide commentary and narration to guide the listener through the presentation with concise, objective descriptions of new scenes, settings, costumes, body language, and "sight gags," all slipped in between portions of dialogue or songs. Audio Description provides accessibility of the visual images of theater, television, movies, and other art forms for people who are blind, have low vision, or who are otherwise visually impaired. As the main describer for Hamilton: An American Musical during its three year residency in Chicago, Bridget Melton live described over 25 performances. She also most recently live extemporaneously audio described the 2021 Presidential Inauguration for which she and her team won the 2021 Vernon Henley Media Award from the American Council of the Blind. Bridget can also be heard as a featured guest on “Know Your Narrator,” the weekly podcast made by the Audio Description Narrators of America. In our conversation, we talk about how the pandemic has changed views on accessibility and inclusivity in the theater world. Bridget shares what it was like to do the Audio Description for the Inauguration and how amazing she felt to be part of that experience. Bridget speaks about working with the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium, and all that she learned from them about making theater more accessible to all. She says that since the move to Texas, she has been working from home; this has enabled her to connect with the larger community of audio describers and opened doors in her career that she never imagined. Bridget tells me of her work in theater admin and box office roles before finding her niche in Audio Description. With Audio Description, she is happy to have found a job that combines a lot of the different creative work that she loves about theater. Bridget gets to do dramaturgical research about the play she is working on; she gets to perform the show alongside the actors, and sometimes even improvise when the play or live event evolves. She also talks about how much she loves the chance to interact with the audience before the show during the “touch tour” and during the show as she “describes” the performance for them. Bridget expresses her excitement to be able to do theater full time and in such a rewarding role. Support Bridget Melton by hiring her to Audio Describe your event: https://www.bridgetmelton.com/ (Seriously, she's won AWARDS for doing this work!) But really, hire ANY Audio Describer and you are supporting Bridget's community and their efforts to make the arts accessible to all. (And if you've never heard of this but you work at a theater, bring it up to the boss! I mean, how cool is Audio Description?) Learn more about Audio Description, including resources and how to experience it at BridgetMelton.com/intro You can also support accessibility in the arts in general by donating to the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium, an organization that was a formative part of Bridget's own access journey: https://chicagoculturalaccess.org/support/ Yes But Why Podcast is a proud member of the HC Universal Network family of podcasts. Visit us at HCUniversalNetwork.com to join in on the fun. #YesButWhy #Podcast #HCUniversalNetwork This episode of Yes But Why podcast is sponsored by audible - get your FREE audiobook download and your 30 day free trial at http://
This week on Yes But Why Podcast, listen in as I talk to Audio Describer, Bridget Melton. Bridget Melton is an Audio Describer who has recently relocated to North Texas from the Chicago area. Active in the cultural accessibility community for many years, Bridget works to create a welcoming environment for all. Around the United States, and virtually, she can be found at various theatres promoting inclusion as an audio describer, advisor, or volunteer. Audio Description is a service that makes the visual verbal. In theaters, in museums, and accompanying television, film, and video presentations, Audio Describers provide commentary and narration to guide the listener through the presentation with concise, objective descriptions of new scenes, settings, costumes, body language, and "sight gags," all slipped in between portions of dialogue or songs. Audio Description provides accessibility of the visual images of theater, television, movies, and other art forms for people who are blind, have low vision, or who are otherwise visually impaired. As the main describer for Hamilton: An American Musical during its three year residency in Chicago, Bridget Melton live described over 25 performances. She also most recently live extemporaneously audio described the 2021 Presidential Inauguration for which she and her team won the 2021 Vernon Henley Media Award from the American Council of the Blind. Bridget can also be heard as a featured guest on “Know Your Narrator,” the weekly podcast made by the Audio Description Narrators of America.In our conversation, we talk about how the pandemic has changed views on accessibility and inclusivity in the theater world. Bridget shares what it was like to do the Audio Description for the Inauguration and how amazing she felt to be part of that experience. Bridget speaks about working with the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium, and all that she learned from them about making theater more accessible to all. She says that since the move to Texas, she has been working from home; this has enabled her to connect with the larger community of audio describers and opened doors in her career that she never imagined.Bridget tells me of her work in theater admin and box office roles before finding her niche in Audio Description. With Audio Description, she is happy to have found a job that combines a lot of the different creative work that she loves about theater. Bridget gets to do dramaturgical research about the play she is working on; she gets to perform the show alongside the actors, and sometimes even improvise when the play or live event evolves. She also talks about how much she loves the chance to interact with the audience before the show during the “touch tour” and during the show as she “describes” the performance for them. Bridget expresses her excitement to be able to do theater full time and in such a rewarding role.Support Bridget Melton by hiring her to Audio Describe your event: https://www.bridgetmelton.com/ (Seriously, she's won AWARDS for doing this work!) But really, hire ANY Audio Describer and you are supporting Bridget's community and their efforts to make the arts accessible to all. (And if you've never heard of this but you work at a theater, bring it up to the boss! I mean, how cool is Audio Description?) Learn more about Audio Description, including resources and how to experience it at BridgetMelton.com/intro You can also support accessibility in the arts in general by donating to the Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium, an organization that was a formative part of Bridget's own access journey: https://chicagoculturalaccess.org/support/Yes But Why Podcast is a proud member of the HC Universal Network family of podcasts. Visit us at HCUniversalNetwork.com to join in on the fun. #YesButWhy #Podcast #HCUniversalNetworkThis episode of Yes But Why podcast is sponsored by audible - get your FREE audiobook download and your 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/YESBUTWHY. Treat Yourself. Get Audible. This episode of Yes But Why is also sponsored by PodcastCadet.com. Go to PodcastCadet.com to connect with us so we can help you with your podcast! Save money by putting in offer code YBY20 to get 20% off the first service for workshop you buy!This episode of Yes But Why is also sponsored by True Hemp Science! True Hemp Science is our Austin-based resource for vegan friendly, whole plant extract CBD oil. Go to TrueHempScience.com to peruse all the therapeutic CBD product options! Use code YesButWhy7 to get 7% off your order of $50 or more and get a free packet of 2 CBD edibles!(production notes: recorded zoom meeting via Rodecaster on 8/12/2021…posted on 8/23/2021)
~~Audio Description in the Performing Arts: This panel of leading theater access professionals highlighted various ways audio description has been provided in performing arts venues, and how each has evolved to provide virtual description services during a pandemic. Moderator: Joel Snyder, PhD, Founder and Senior Consultant, ACB Audio Description Project, Takoma Park, MD Panelists: ♦ Brenna Nicely, Education and Engagement Director, American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, MA ♦ Mary Hanks, Audio Describer, Houston Grand Opera, Houston, TX ♦ Jess Curtis, Artistic Director, Jess Curtis/Gravity, San Francisco, CA ♦ Alice Shepherd, Artistic Director, Kinetic Light, London, UK Recorded during the 2021 ACB National Convention on July 19 2021~~
In this episode we conclude our conversation with Christine Malik and JJ Hunt. Christine and JJ are the creators of the talk description to me podcast. It's a great show where are they I have description rich conversations about current events. JJ and Christine tell us about some of the side projects going on. We talk about the process of producing content. I also ask them to share their thoughts on the “work/ life” balance. Recorded on March 18, 2021 “Where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed out in description-rich conversations. J.J. Hunt is an innovative Audio Describer and a natural-born storyteller. Christine Malec is a perpetually inquisitive member of the blind and partially sighted community who's always wondering about something. In Talk Description to Me, their discussions plunge into current events and topical issues to explore the content of important images, and help place vivid descriptions in their cultural context. Lively, hard-hitting, witty, vibrant, and fun, this is conversation with a view” - quoted from the Talk Description Me podcast website. https://talkdescriptiontome.buzzsprou... Other ways to contact and support Talk Description to Me www.patreon.com/TalkDescriptionToMe www.TalkDescriptionToMe.com Twitter: @TalkDescription Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Talk-Descrip... Email: TalkDescriptionToMe@gmail.com
If you are a fan of theatre audio description, then it is your chance to help out Kari Seeley, an Audio Describer from Australia with her research into theatre audio description in London, Adelaide and Singapore. Kari Seeley is a professional Audio describer from Adelaide who is carrying out research into visually impaired people's experience of audio description of the performing arts in London, Singapore and her home town Adelaide.Kari explains to Connect Radio's Toby Davey why she decided to carry out the research, why she chose London, Adelaide and Singapore as well as some of the key points from the research so far. If you want to take part in Kari's research into theatre audio description then do drop her a line via email: kari.seeley@adelaide.edu.au(Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)
In this episode I continue my conversation with the creators of the Talk Description to Me podcast. We talk about the realities of creating a podcast in today's world covering today's topics. Christine and JJ share some insight and personal reflection in this second part of our conversation. “Where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed out in description-rich conversations. J.J. Hunt is an innovative Audio Describer and a natural-born storyteller. Christine Malec is a perpetually inquisitive member of the blind and partially sighted community who's always wondering about something. In Talk Description to Me, their discussions plunge into current events and topical issues to explore the content of important images, and help place vivid descriptions in their cultural context. Lively, hard-hitting, witty, vibrant, and fun, this is conversation with a view” - quoted from the Talk Description Me podcast website. https://talkdescriptiontome.buzzsprou... Other ways to contact and support Talk Description to Me www.patreon.com/TalkDescriptionToMe www.TalkDescriptionToMe.com Twitter: @TalkDescription Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Talk-Description-to-Me-105458024573428/ Email: TalkDescriptionToMe@gmail.com
In this episode I meet Christine Malec and JJ Hunt. They host one of my favorite podcasts and were gracious enough to record an interview that ended up running a little more than an hour and a half. Christine thoughtfully suggested that I divide the conversation into a few episodes. So her is the first part of our interview recorded on March 9, 2021. During this episode we talk about the origins of talk description to me, Christine and JJ engage in a descriptive rich conversation about a piece of digital art created by former guest Danny Sanculi. I hope you enjoy this first part of our interview. Please consider subscribing and sharing with a friend. “Where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed out in description-rich conversations. J.J. Hunt is an innovative Audio Describer and a natural-born storyteller. Christine Malec is a perpetually inquisitive member of the blind and partially sighted community who's always wondering about something. In Talk Description to Me, their discussions plunge into current events and topical issues to explore the content of important images, and help place vivid descriptions in their cultural context. Lively, hard-hitting, witty, vibrant, and fun, this is conversation with a view” - quoted from the Talk Description Me podcast website. https://talkdescriptiontome.buzzsprout.com www.patreon.com/TalkDescriptionToMe www.TalkDescriptionToMe.com Twitter: @TalkDescription Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Talk-Description-to-Me-105458024573428/ Email: TalkDescriptionToMe@gmail.com
Meet The Hosts of Talk Description To Me In this episode, Brian and Carl interview Christine Mailet and J.J. Hunt from the podcast Talk Description To Me. It is a podcast where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed out in description-rich conversations. J.J. Hunt is an innovative Audio Describer and a natural-born storyteller. Christine Malec is a perpetually inquisitive member of the blind and partially sighted community who's always wondering about something. In Talk Description to Me, their discussions plunge into current events and topical issues to explore the content of important images, and help place vivid descriptions in their cultural context. Lively, hard-hitting, witty, vibrant, and fun, this is conversation with a view! Contact Information for Talk Description To Me: Website: https://talkdescriptiontome.blogspot.com/ Email: FaceBook: Talk Description To Me Twitter: @TalkDescription To leave feedback, suggestions, or ideas for a future podcast on Picture This, please get in touch with the Picture This team by emailing your comments to or leave a voicemail at 857-302-2817. We may use your email or voicemail in a future episode.
Meet The Hosts of Talk Description To Me In this episode, Brian and Carl interview Christine Mailet and J.J. Hunt from the podcast Talk Description To Me. It is a podcast where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed out in description-rich conversations. J.J. Hunt is an innovative Audio Describer and a natural-born storyteller. Christine Malec is a perpetually inquisitive member of the blind and partially sighted community who’s always wondering about something. In Talk Description to Me, their discussions plunge into current events and topical issues to explore the content of important images, and help place vivid descriptions in their cultural context. Lively, hard-hitting, witty, vibrant, and fun, this is conversation with a view! Contact Information for Talk Description To Me: Website: https://talkdescriptiontome.blogspot.com/ Email: FaceBook: Talk Description To Me Twitter: @TalkDescription To leave feedback, suggestions, or ideas for a future podcast on Picture This, please get in touch with the Picture This team by emailing your comments to or leave a voicemail at 857-302-2817. We may use your email or voicemail in a future episode.
Meet The Hosts of Talk Description To Me In this episode, Brian and Carl interview Christine Mailet and J.J. Hunt from the podcast Talk Description To Me. It is a podcast where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed out in description-rich conversations. J.J. Hunt is an innovative Audio Describer and a natural-born storyteller. Christine Malec is a perpetually inquisitive member of the blind and partially sighted community who’s always wondering about something. In Talk Description to Me, their discussions plunge into current events and topical issues to explore the content of important images, and help place vivid descriptions in their cultural context. Lively, hard-hitting, witty, vibrant, and fun, this is conversation with a view! Contact Information for Talk Description To Me: Website: https://talkdescriptiontome.blogspot.com/ Email: FaceBook: Talk Description To Me Twitter: @TalkDescription To leave feedback, suggestions, or ideas for a future podcast on Picture This, please get in touch with the Picture This team by emailing your comments to or leave a voicemail at 857-302-2817. We may use your email or voicemail in a future episode.
This week the Anti-Zoom Gloom room has a new silky smooth vocal presence as Rob, Ryan, and Steve welcome award-winning Voice-over Artist and Audio Describer Roy Samuelson to talk all about his work as an Audio Describer and advocate. Show Notes Roy Samuelson on the Web https://roysamuelson.com/ Audio Description Discussion Group on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/AudioDescriptionDiscussion/ Audio Description Projecthttps://www.acb.org/adp Audio Description Narrators of Americahttps://theadna.org/ Kevin’s Wayhttps://kevinsprocess.com/ UbiSoft Criticized for Ableist Languagehttps://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ubisoft-says-it-will-patch-out-ableist-assassins-creed-valhalla-content-following-criticism/ AT Banter is brought to you by Canadian Assistive Technology, providing sales and training in Assistive Technology and Accessibility with over 30 years of knowledge and experience. Visit them online at www.canasstech.com or call toll-free 1-844-795-8324. Need repairs on your device? Chaos Technical Services offers service and support on almost any piece of Assistive Technology, while also providing parts and batteries. Visit them online at www.chaostechnicalservices.com or call 778-847-6840.
Bad Hair Memories. Festival News. Polly Goodwin the Audio Describer! Kira Puru joins us! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Talk Description to Me Christine Malec and JJ Hunt Where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed out in description-rich conversations. J.J. Hunt is an innovative Audio Describer and a natural-born storyteller. Christine Malec is a perpetually inquisitive member of the blind and partially sighted community who’s always wondering about something. In Talk Description to Me, their discussions plunge into current events and topical issues to explore the content of important images, and help place vivid descriptions in their cultural context. Lively, hard-hitting, witty, vibrant, and fun, this is conversation with a view! Join Christine Malec, JJ Hunt and Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities studio for a great descriptive discussion surrounding the creation and relevance of the new podcast, “Talk Description To Me”. Available on Apple Podcast, Spotify and all your favorite pod-catchers of choice. You can find out more about the Talk Description To Me podcast on the web . Contact Your State Services If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361. To find your State Services in your State you can go to www.AFB.org and search the directory for your agency. Contact: You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Storeand Google Play Store. Check out the Blind Abilities Communityon Facebook, the Blind Abilities Page, and the Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired group
JJ Hunt is an innovative Audio Describer and a natural-born storyteller. Christine Malec is a perpetually inquisitive member of the blind and partially sighted community who’s always wondering about something. In Talk Description to Me, their discussions plunge into current events and topical issues to explore the content of important images, and help place vivid descriptions in their cultural context. Lively, hard-hitting, witty, vibrant, and fun, this is conversation with a view! Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/TalkDescriptionToMe)
From almost every corner of the entertainment world, the BVI community is well represented and here they are again in the Blind Abilities studio and sharing their opinions, experiences and a few laughs. Joe Strechay is the Blindness Consultant and Co-Producer from the Apple TV Plus series, SEE. Bree Klauser is an actor from See and also is a voice artist and singer-songwriter. Stephen Letnes is a movie producer and music composer and Roy Samuelson is an Audio Describer for movies and shows. With Blindness being the common thread, Low-vision, totally blind and legally blind are all covered here. And, Roy, who is sighted, does the voice for audio description and is an advocate for bringing audio description to more and more titles. I could go on and on about each of these talented artist and you could actually learn a lot about each one on previous podcasts on Blind Abilities. You can search on the Blind Abilities web site or just click or tap on their name below and you will find episodes from each member of the Entertainment Roundtable. Joe Strechay Satauna Howery Stephen Letnes Bree Klauser Roy Samuelson You can also find them on their web sites: Joe Strechay Satauna Howery Stephen Letnes Bree Klauser Roy Samuelson Thanks for listening! Contact Your State Services If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361. To find your State Services in your State you can go to www.AFB.org and search the directory for your agency. Contact: You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Storeand Google Play Store. Check out the Blind Abilities Communityon Facebook, the Blind Abilities Page, the Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impaired, the Assistive Technology Community for the Blind and Visually Impaired. and the Facebook group That Blind Tech Show.
Full Transcript available. Show Summary: Roy Samuelson joined Serina Gilbert and Jeff Thompson in the Blind Abilities Studio to talk about Audio Description and how we use and how Roy does his craft as well as how we understand Audio Description. Roy announces the New release of Spider Man and his excitement about being part of the team doing the Audio Description. Roy talks about his work and asks the listeners to help him further understand what about Audio Description you like, what impact AD has had on you and basically, just wants to get some feedback from the users of Audio Description. Join us in this educational and in-depth discussion about Audio Description with one of our favorite in the field, Roy Samuelson. You can find out more about Roy on his web site at RoySamuelson.com. Links to his Audio samples, and more about his work. Roy is very active on Twitter so be sure to follow him on Twitter @RoySamuelson. And keep up to date with Roy on his Facebook page, Roy Samuelson Biz. Contact Your State Services If you reside in Minnesota, and you would like to know more about Transition Services from State Services contact Transition Coordinator Sheila Koenig by email or contact her via phone at 651-539-2361. To find your State Services in your State you can go to www.AFB.org and search the directory for your agency. Contact: Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Storeand Google Play Store. Check out the Blind Abilities Communityon Facebook, the Blind Abilities Page, the Career Resources for the Blind and Visually Impairedand the Assistive Technology Community for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Show Summary: ROY SAMUELSON is one of Hollywood’s leading voiceover talents in film and television. Currently Roy is leading the way in the area of DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION / AUDIO DESCRIPTION, an aspect of television and filmmaking that allows Blind/Visually Impaired viewers to get audio description during a show without interruption and fills in the void as the action is not always obvious. Roy Samuelson is a professional Audio Describer for some of the latest Hollywood productions. Movies like First Man, Venom, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Spiderman: Homecoming, Jason Bourne, The Magnificent Seven, Get Out, Skyscraper, Atomic Blonde and television shows like Lethal Weapon, NCIS, Blue Bloods and Criminal Minds. Roy stops by the studio to join Brian Fischler and Jeff Thompson for an in-depth look at Audio Description and where it is today. You can Follow Roy on Twitter @RoySamuelsonand check out his Facebook page, Roy Samuelson Biz, and be sure to check out his latest works and send in some feedback. Roy is happy to hear from you. Contact: Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store.
Show Summary: ROY SAMUELSON is one of Hollywood’s leading voiceover talents in film and television. Currently Roy is leading the way in the area of DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION / AUDIO DESCRIPTION, an aspect of television and filmmaking that allows Blind/Visually Impaired viewers to get audio description during a show without interruption and fills in the void as the action is not always obvious. Roy Samuelson is a professional Audio Describer for some of the latest Hollywood productions. Movies like First Man, Venom, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Spiderman: Homecoming, Jason Bourne, The Magnificent Seven, Get Out, Skyscraper, Atomic Blonde and television shows like Lethal Weapon, NCIS, Blue Bloods and Criminal Minds. Roy stops by the studio to join Brian Fischler and Jeff Thompson for an in-depth look at Audio Description and where it is today. You can Follow Roy on Twitter @RoySamuelsonand check out his Facebook page, Roy Samuelson Biz, and be sure to check out his latest works and send in some feedback. Roy is happy to hear from you. Contact: Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store.
Show Summary: (Full Transcript Below) ROY SAMUELSON is one of Hollywood’s leading voiceover talents in film and television. Currently Roy is leading the way in the area of DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION / AUDIO DESCRIPTION, an aspect of television and filmmaking that allows Blind/Visually Impaired viewers to get audio description during a show without interruption and fills in the void as the action is not always obvious. For example, the movie Castaway is nearly silent during the first half of the movie. This is where Roy steps in with his descriptions. Roy Samuelson is a professional Audio Describer for some of the latest Hollywood productions. Movies like First Man, Venom, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Spiderman: Homecoming, Jason Bourne, The Magnificent Seven, Get Out, Skyscraper, Atomic Blonde and television shows like Lethal Weapon, NCIS, Blue Bloods and Criminal Minds. Join Roy and Jeff in the Blind Abilities Studio and find out how Roy got involved in Audio Description and how his voice makes it to your TV and Movie Screens across the world. Contact: You can Follow Roy on Twitter @RoySamuelsonand be sure to check out his latest works and send in some feedback. Roy is always happy to hear from you. Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities Appon the App Store. Full Transcript: Audio Describer and Voice Artist for Hollywood Movies and TV Shows: Meet Roy Samuelson Jeff Thompson: Blind Abilities welcomes Roy Samuelson, one of Hollywood's leading voiceover, audio description, and voice narrative artists. Jeff Thompson: A sharp dressed man steps from the train, pulls out a cane, and proceeds to go towards a building. Jeff Thompson: Including films First Man, Venom, Jurassic World, Spiderman: Homecoming, Jason Bourne, The Magnificent Seven, and TV shows Criminal Minds, CIS, Blue Bloods, and Lethal Weapon. Jeff Thompson: He enters a door where the sign says Blind Abilities Studios. A young lady looks up from the desk. Speaker 2: Good morning. Jeff Thompson: Good morning. Speaker 2: You've got Roy Samuelson, Studio Three. Jeff Thompson: Okay, thanks. I'm going in. Speaker 2: All right. Blind Abilities Studios. Uh-huh. Jeff Thompson: He proceeds down a hallway. He stops at a door and reads the Braille. It's door number three. He enters and sits comfortably in his chair, reaches over, flicks a few switches, pulls his boom microphone down. He pulls on his headphones, and then reaches for the big red switch and flicks it up. From the hallway, the sign above the door now glows brightly, On The Air. Jeff Thompson: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson, and today in the studio, we have Roy Samuelson, who is out in Hollywood leading the way in voiceover, audio description, and descriptive narrative. How are you doing, Roy? Roy Samuelson: Hey, I'm doing great, Jeff. It's good to be on your show. Jeff Thompson: Well, thank you very much. I'm sure our listeners are excited to hear from someone who does voiceover, audio description for movies and television shows. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, I'm really passionate about it. This is really wonderful work. I really, I like it a lot, and I'm going to stop using the word really. Jeff Thompson: Now you've got me thinking about it. I'll probably be using it. Let's first tell the people what kind of movies you have been doing and television shows. Roy Samuelson: Oh sure. There's a few series that are on right now. On CBS, there's NCIS and Criminal Minds, and on Fox, I'm doing description for Lethal Weapon. Jeff Thompson: Oh, you're busy. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, it's a great season this year. There's a bunch of movies and there's another one that's coming out next month, and right now there's two movies that are out in the theaters, and they're really fun on the descriptive narration side. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, I saw the likes of, what was it, Spiderman? Roy Samuelson: That's right. Yeah, the more recent one. I was on Spiderman: Homecoming. Jeff Thompson: Wow. You even did Jurassic World. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, the most recent one, mm-hmm (affirmative). Jeff Thompson: So what do you do in your spare time? Roy Samuelson: That's a great question. The things that I love about audio description have kind of started to spill into my own personal life. Some of the connections that I'm making through social media are turning out I'm getting some more friends on that side, so it's been fun to correspond with them and some people that have been listening to audio description. As far as other things, I really enjoy hanging out with friends. There's nothing like a night out, cooking some dinner at home, and having some fun, laughs, and conversations. I'm pretty low key when it comes to that. Jeff Thompson: Yeah. Well, when it comes to audio description, there's so many different areas that people can receive their movies or television shows now that some people are cutting the cables and all that or in theaters, and now they're starting to hear your voice. What got you into giving audio description to movies? Roy Samuelson: That was a long ... I can trace it backwards. I can say from where I'm at now, I can look back and say all these steps led back to one person who introduced me to someone who introduced me to someone, and I did an audition, and I'm hesitating, because it's hard to say how it exactly happened. I think a whole bunch of things happened to come together at the right point and at the right time, and a lot of the work that I do in voiceover has certainly carried over into what I do with audio description, so I think I was kind of ready for it. Jeff Thompson: So you took to the microphone. Roy Samuelson: Yeah. My first paid job was down at Walt Disney World for the Great Movie Ride, which is no longer around, but they had a gangster take over the ride, and the ride was maybe 60 people looking at different movie scenes kind of going through the movies on a ride, so with all the distractions going on, I was on mic as a gangster, so trying to figure out what's the best way to say what I needed to say, but not get in the way of what the audience members are trying to appreciate, but still getting the message across. The more that I thought about the comparison between audio description and that first job, there's so many overlaps. It's really amazing to think about it that way. Jeff Thompson: Oh yeah. That was one of the questions I was going to ask is how do you find the space? Like you were just saying, that gap, that space, that little pocket where you can describe something without taking away from the audio itself. Roy Samuelson: That's a great question. There's a script that's given to me. I don't write it. There's some really talented describers who look at the movie sometimes four or five times or even a TV show, and what they do is use a special program that gives me the words that I say as a narrator in between audio cues and between dialogue, sometimes in between visual cues. They give me a script with any one of those things, whether it's a time code where I'm looking at a screen that shows kind of like a timer countdown or a stop watch that shows all the time code, and that time code is a cue for me to say the next line. And sometimes they'll say this line needs to be brisk. You'll hear narrators talk a little faster than they normally do just to try to get it in. Jeff Thompson: Oh yeah. You have to nail it between those two points. Roy Samuelson: Yeah. Jeff Thompson: And so by doing that, you do that in your own studio? Roy Samuelson: For the jobs that I mentioned, those are done at a studio. I guess it is possible that I could remotely do it. However, there's a few things that it's kind of to my advantage to do it in studio. First of all is having the time there at the office. I get to interact with the people there. It's not just going in and doing the job. I'm not socializing and hanging out at the water cooler, but a friendly hello to someone, these are the people that I work with, and that's pretty special. The other thing is there's a lot of legal requirements. I think with the internet, it's easy for things like content to get lost in the internet and get into some hands that might not use it for the intentions needed, not that I'd do it, but the studios as well as the networks are pretty protective of their content. Jeff Thompson: Plus they're pretty much isolated there. You've got all the equipment, the room, the booth, there you go. You're at work and you don't have the phone going off or someone knocking at the door at home. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, exactly. It's very focused. People talk about being in the flow, and I appreciate that so much, being able to go in and do my job while experiencing the movie, and it taps a lot of really good synapses in my brain. Jeff Thompson: So I have a question, and this is kind of personal for me, I guess, but I'm sure listeners might be curious too. As you're taking in the script and the movie, you are a narrator. You do a narrative to it, the audio description, but do you, like you said, you get brisk or do you go with the flow of the movie? Roy Samuelson: Yeah. I'm given the script, and then two minutes later we start recording, so there's no time to really look at what is about to happen, so it is ice cold. I can watch a trailer for a movie ahead of time or some of the series that I'm on, I get a sense of what the characters are and the kinds of things that they would normally do, but when it comes to ... let me make sure I'm answering your question correctly too. Roy Samuelson: I think when I'm doing the narration, my goal is to not be the spotlight. I don't want people who listen to audio description think, oh wow, that narrator sounded so good. If anyone thinks that, I'm not doing a good job because the attention should be on the storyline, the content that I'm sharing, whether it's the TV show or the movie. I don't want to get in the way of that. I think I want to enhance it. I don't want it to be all about me, so I try really hard to be within the tone or the genre of the film or TV show, and as that changes try to go with it so that it's not jarring or unexpected. Jeff Thompson: Oh, that makes sense. Now that I think about listening back to movies, the narrative or the audio description just wants to fill in those gaps, so you get the script and you hit the marks. Roy Samuelson: Yeah. I want to be part of the story. I don't want to be the story. Jeff Thompson: So Roy, when you're doing voiceover and work like that, did you see yourself doing audio description some day? Roy Samuelson: Maybe five or 10 years ago, I was unaware it existed. There are so many great opportunities for voiceover. There's narration for instructional videos. There's what they call voice of God where at a special event someone announces someone who's next on the stage. There's commercials, promos, all sorts of experiences, and I've done my best to enjoy those, but when I found out about descriptive narration, I've never felt so laser focused. Everything about it just rang so true to me in my experience and what I was excited about. Jeff Thompson: So what is it that you found in your voice that made you a talent? I mean, I don't know if that sounds bad or something like, but someone must have recognized something that you got the voice for doing what you're doing. Roy Samuelson: I can't speak to how I get chosen, but I will say that prior to doing descriptive narration, I spent about 10 years almost every week going to a script writing group as an actor. In this group, it was a really special group of maybe about two dozen writers, and they would bring in 25 pages of their script, and these are all produced writers, so the quality was really high. As an actor, I would go in and we'd been given a script ice cold, and I'd read 25 pages of it, and afterward the feedback would be given to the writer and not the actor. Roy Samuelson: My experience with that was the first few times I was like, oh, I need to do the best I can. I need to be an actor, and then I realized that the story was what people were focused on, so what I tried to do was when I was doing my acting, I was still acting, but I was trying to bring the story into it because I saw that that's what the writers were focused on, and I think that the combination of ... how many hundreds of times of doing scripts through the years every week, there definitely was a skill of cold reading, there was the attention to the story, the writing ... I'm sorry, I keep talking about the story, I get so excited about, story, story, story, but with all these things, I think it kind of paved the way for a nice foundation so that when the opportunity came to do descriptive narration, there's definitely a lot of nuance. There's still a lot of things that I needed to learn, but I really took to it pretty quickly. Jeff Thompson: Well, that's great because the blindness community really appreciates all the audio description that they are employing today in today's movies. It's getting to the point like when there's not one, it's like hey, hey. Roy Samuelson: Oh, that's great to hear. I saw on some website, I posted on Twitter the link, I can't recall the exact address, but I think there's 2200 titles available right now for audio description, and that's just unique descriptions. That's not overlaps. I thought wow, that's great, let's keep that number going up. Jeff Thompson: Oh yeah. I hope it does keep going up, especially with all these rules about the ADA and making things accessible, and it just shows that a Hollywood production that puts out a movie and takes the extra measure to put in the audio description, it just is more inclusive. It just makes people feel like hey, we matter, and I really appreciate what you're doing to bring that to light. Roy Samuelson: Ah, thanks for saying so. It's been great to be a part of that. The studios and the networks and even the streaming services are aware that yeah, this is audience. It's in everybody's ... it's such a win-win-win situation that I can't stand it. Everybody wins. Jeff Thompson: So Roy, if a movie's coming out, how soon do you get notified about working on the movie for the audio description piece, and when you're done with it, how soon does the movie get released after that? Roy Samuelson: Ah, great questions. My experience is pretty limited, so they give me sometimes a week's notice, sometimes a day or two's notice for a film that's coming out. It's usually about maybe three to five days. We set aside a day for it. It usually takes about maybe ... I can do a movie in about four hours. Sometimes it takes the full day depending on how they need to do it, and then once I'm done with it, it's pretty close to release date. The audio description is one of the last things to get done in post-production sound. Everything else is pretty much locked as far as the picture's locked and the sound is pretty much locked. Everything is kind of good to go to the theater, and then audio description is a special track that kind of lives above and beyond the whole movie. For my work to match up with what they do, as far as the dominoes falling, I think audio description has to be one of the last. And I guess the second part of your question, a movie can come out sometimes within a week of the work I do- Jeff Thompson: Oh, really? Roy Samuelson: And sometimes a few weeks to a month. Jeff Thompson: So you're one of the last guys on that assembly line. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, and they do take it seriously. The quality control, at least the company I work for, and I'm sure all the other companies, they really do take it seriously. They want to make sure all the characters are consistent and that there's not mistakes in the story. They genuinely care about what they're doing. Jeff Thompson: Oh, that's great, and who would have thought that 10 years of cold reading scripts and something of passion that you love to do, obviously you did it for 10 years, would lend into doing something like this? Roy Samuelson: Isn't it funny? I think about other people that have talked about the things that they've I'm going to say invested in for the joy of doing it. I had no intention of oh, I'm going to spend the next 10 years working on this so that I could be an audio descriptive narrator. It did happen in parallel in some ways, but for the most part, it's great to see how that seems pretty common with a lot of different businesses. I really like looking at that. Jeff Thompson: Well, it's really nice when you have a passion for doing something and then all of a sudden, it just leads into something else that someone wants you to do, and you find yourself doing it, and who would have thought? Roy Samuelson: Yeah, yeah. I think, if I could jump on that a little bit, Jeff, there's an openness, almost like a growth mindset that I think comes along. I do my best to keep a growth mindset as opposed to a fixed mindset. I think if I had the fixed mindset, I'd think oh no, I need to make sure I stay focused on just one thing, and when some opportunity like audio description would come up, I'd think oh no, that's outside of my wheelhouse. I've never done that before. I don't know enough about it. I haven't heard about that, so it could almost be dismissed, and here's this great opportunity that can come up, and I use this example. I'm kind of digging my own pit here and my point. I think what my point is that having an almost curious eye and looking at things maybe not necessarily from the most familiar way, seeing things a little differently can open up a whole bunch of new opportunities. Jeff Thompson: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Well, that's great. So I'm curious. Since your tool is the microphone and your voice, do you have your own microphone, your own recording, or a preference? Roy Samuelson: Oh yeah. I've got a whole studio set up in my house. It's called a Whisper Room, just basically a four foot by six foot building, and it's moved along with me a few times. Inside there, there's one side where I can sit down and I do audiobooks on that, because those are usually long form, and then the other side is a stand-up thing, so I've got the mic almost coming from the ceiling, and I read along either auditions on an iPad or if I need to call in for a project that I'm recording remotely, I can do an ISDN connection or even a file, FTP upload. It kind of gives me the freedom to stand and kind of play around with moving my arms around and kind of get into the story a little bit more. Jeff Thompson: Oh, I suppose, especially with the audiobook, yeah. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, mm-hmm (affirmative). Jeff Thompson: So what's your go-to microphone? Roy Samuelson: You know, at the studio where I work, they have a Neumann, and it's one of those condenser microphones. I think it's the 102. I'm trying to think. I'm pretty sure it's the ... anyway, it's a nice Neumann. Jeff Thompson: Typical thousand dollar-plus Neumann. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, and then for my home studio, I really like the Bluebird by Blue. It's just got a nice, for my purposes for auditioning, it's got a nice kind of warm open sound, and yeah, I still get a lot of sibilance though, so I have to kind of process that out a little bit. Jeff Thompson: Now when you say sibilance, can you tell our listeners what that is? Roy Samuelson: Sure. Sometimes S's can come across really hard. It's almost like the microphone is picking up a little too much on the letter S. It just makes it- Jeff Thompson: Kind of like that whistle sound. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, and the microphone just loves it, and it's like a magnet. It just sucks it right up, and so it makes it a lot louder and the experience on mic is a little too much, so that's one example of sibilance. Jeff Thompson: Yeah. Well, that's great. Yeah, the Whisper Room. I've got to remember to use that. I've got to tell my wife about making myself a Whisper Room. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, it's a brand from, if it's not Kentucky, I think it's Tennessee. They specialize in that for a lot of musicians and such, but there's other kinds of quiet rooms and all sorts of, especially in Los Angeles, a lot of voiceover actors like to have custom-made ones. Jeff Thompson: Oh yeah, I follow the Booth Junkie, and he's always building his little booth and going inside it and coming out. So the Whisper Room, you can actually break that down and move it with you. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, and there was one time, Jeff, I did it myself, and I probably need to remember to have a friend come along. That's definitely not a one-person job. Jeff Thompson: So Roy, with all the work that the studios are doing to make audio description available to them, what suggestions would you have for our listeners that appreciate the audio description that they're receiving? Roy Samuelson: Yeah, so a lot of the studios and the networks, they've got so many things on their plate. They're advertising, they're trying to put things together. It's easier for them to not gloss over, but kind of, I guess the best thing to say is if you're watching movies and TV shows and you appreciate the audio description, let the studios know and let the networks know and let the streaming services know that this is something that's really valuable, and that you want more of, and I think that kind of message will help everybody out. It gives more content to viewers who appreciate audio description. Roy Samuelson: In Los Angeles, we get a lot of traffic, and audio description is great for commuters who want to catch up on their TV shows or enjoy a movie when they're trying to fight traffic on the 405. It is kind of like an audiobook that's fully produced, so by trying to get commuters into the audio description game, that can only help audience members who also appreciate it for audio description. It's kind of a win-win for everybody, but I really think letting the studios and the networks and streaming services know how much this service is appreciated and liked, that helps everybody. Jeff Thompson: Oh, for sure, for sure. It's available to us. We use Comcast, and we have that on our phones, and it has audio description so my wife can use her phone to watch a TV show, but she has audio description so she considers it watching TV, and it's like a book like you said. Roy Samuelson: Yeah. Oh, very good, and that's the Comcast cable? Jeff Thompson: Yeah, Xfinity, Prime Video. There's [crosstalk 00:18:43]. Roy Samuelson: Oh, excuse me for the product placement there. Jeff Thompson: No, it's great. I like people to know that because it's available and it's working, and just turn it on, but everybody's a different individual here, and some people like a lot of description, some people like a little, but it's getting better, and as you said, there's what, over 2000 available titles out there with audio description. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, and that's just based on that one website I found, and who knows. There's probably some other options there too. Good to know. Jeff Thompson: You mentioned earlier when we were talking, I think this was before we started recording, your mother went to a show, a movie that just came out, and was trying to use the audio description in the theater. Roy Samuelson: Oh yeah, and it turned out great. The manager gave her and her guests a movie credit for it, but the opportunity for her was to try out the headset for audio description at the movie, and it just so happened that that morning there was an electrical glitch in the theater, so all the power went out and turned back on, and that audio description somehow got reset, and it was important for her to step out and let a manager know, but she was enjoying the movie and she didn't want to stop and interrupt her experience, but as theaters get more and more accessible, particularly with audio description, the more they understand how the ropes work, so to speak. Jeff Thompson: Yeah. It's kind of interesting that she wanted to hear her son. Not too many people get- Roy Samuelson: [inaudible] there. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, not too many people get that opportunity, but that's great. Roy Samuelson: So hopefully the next time she goes to the theater, she'll be able to hear it. Jeff Thompson: Well, that happens with technology, especially when you have like theaters that the workers are going to college or doing other things and stuff like that, and they have this device, and when they work, they work great. It's getting more and more available to people. I love that the entertainment industry is making audio description more available to people and I really want to thank you for what you're doing, creating the voice that people are listening to without interrupting the show. Roy Samuelson: Well, that's the goal, and I always strive for that. Thanks for saying so. Jeff Thompson: Sometimes being in the background is just as important as being in the limelight. Roy Samuelson: Yeah, it's definitely ... I feel like part of the team. Jeff Thompson: Well, great. I want to thank you for what you're doing and for taking the time and coming on the Blind Abilities and sharing this with our listeners. Roy Samuelson: Jeff, it's a real pleasure talking with you. Thanks for having me on. Jeff Thompson: You bet. Jeff Thompson: It was really nice to learn from Roy Samuelson what he does, how he does it, and his interest in it, and he's really motivated. Like he said, contact the studios that are putting out audio description. If you like it, let them know. Let's give them feedback, and you can follow Roy on Twitter @RoySamuelson. That's R-O-Y-S-A-M-U-E-L-S-O-N on Twitter. Jeff Thompson: So as always, thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed, and until next time, bye-bye. Jeff Thompson: Jeff removes his headphones, turns off his mixer, pushes his boom microphone up towards the ceiling. He sits back in his studio chair, looking satisfied. He reaches towards the red switch and flicks it down. The On the Air sign outside Studio Three fades to black. [Music] [Transition noise] -When we share -What we see -Through each other's eyes... [Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence] ...We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities. Jeff Thompson: For more podcasts with the blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter at Blind Abilities. Download our app from the App Store, Blind Abilities. That's two words. Or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.
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