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Aussie audio describer realises her dream
Transcript
3 November 2013
Roberta: A professional audio describer from South Australia has won the British Council Realise Your Dream competition. Lara Torr will be off to the UK to learn from world leaders in audio description. Congratulations and welcome, Lara.
Lara: Thank you very much.
Roberta: Now, when were you first exposed to audio description and what kind of impression did it make?
Lara: I actually found it by accident. In about 2008 I was watching a BBC DVD and I turned the description on accidentally and I could hear this embodied voice telling me what a character was doing physically. I realised it wasn’t a director’s commentary and I started trying to find out what was going on. So that was my first taste of audio description. Then later when I was working on an Arts and Disability funding initiative in South Australia I heard about a training course being run by a describer from the UK and I have a visual arts background but also work in the theatre sector and it just sort of seemed like maybe description would be where those skills came together. So I did the course and it’s been a bit of a whirlwind from then on.
Roberta: I was just going to ask you that. What kind of training does becoming a describer involve?
Lara: Well, I think it’s quite varied around Australia at the moment. In South Australia we have a professional description service which means there’s quite a lot of training. Also our describers are paid for their work and I guess that’s supported by this philosophy that particularly in a theatre context every other professional who is working hard to contribute to a performance is rewarded and expected to work at a particular standard and one way we can make that happen is by paying describers. So my training was initially a week here in Adelaide with a describer called Billy Elliot and then I’ve done some top-up training. He’s come back to Adelaide once and I also had the opportunity to spend a short time with VocalEyes in London last year. So all up it’s probably been about three weeks of direct training plus quite a lot of on-the-job work in the last two and a half years.
Roberta: Can you tell us about the sorts of things that you have described?
Lara: Yes, it’s been very varied. It started predominantly with theatre and that’s probably the mainstay for audio describers around the country, I think, live theatre productions but we’ve also worked on dance shows. We’re starting to work increasingly with visual arts exhibitions. So that takes the form more of a live tour where patrons can meet us, discuss the work in detail. We often have tactile aids that reference textures or details of works which can’t actually be physically handled. The describers in Adelaide, we’ve also worked on the opening parade of the Adelaide Fringe Festival. Earlier this year I was called to go and work in Hobart to describe an arts conference where there were a number of blind and vision impaired delegates and conferences these days include so much visual material in PowerPoint presentations, so that was more just an off-the-cuff, what’s-on-the-slide behind people; who’s asking a question; what’s happening now. So it can range from things which are quite practical through to working on theatre shows where the describers are actually invited into the rehearsal room. So it’s not just that you add the audio description at the end but having the chance to ask the cast, “What are you doing? What’s happening here?” to really drill down into the detail.
Roberta: Lara, what do you think makes a good describer?
Lara: I think patience, timing and observation is probably three things that are really important but I think passion for the arts and an understanding of the arts context, certainly if you’re describing artwork, is really important because the context that you have, if you have an arts background, can really enrich your description. I think those are things that people can learn through training but it’s great to start with a sense of connection to the material that you’re talking about. The other thing, and this grows over time, I think you need you need a palette of language that you can draw on. We are so reliant on adverbs and movement verbs and trying to find ways to say things, rather than, “He sits down. He stands up.” Constantly, I think describers have to filter their choice of words, so is that what’s happening? Is that the quickest way I can say it? Is it the best way to say it? Am I making an assumption about what’s going on or do I literally see it in front of me. It’s like you’ve just got this sieve and you have to sift through all of your work and draft and redraft it and practise it and run it by other people to get to a point where you go you’ve just nailed it. That’s what’s happening on stage. Therefore I can communicate it to our patrons.
Roberta: What opportunities are available in the UK that may not be here in Australia?
Lara: Quite a few, I think the UK has really been leading the way on audio description for a while now. It’s much more widespread. In the small amount of time I’ve spent in the UK investigating description in the past, you tend not to get that reaction that you get here of, “Oh, I’ve heard of it but will anyone really come and use the service?” or people who think it’s actually sign language interpreting and don’t realise it’s kind of the opposite. I think many theatre companies in the UK understand that they need to provide this level of access on a regular basis. What’s particularly interesting for me are the companies who are using it in creative and exciting ways, so companies like Graeae Theatre and Extant Theatre, which is a company led by blind and vision impaired actors who are starting to play with that form a little bit so that it’s not just, as I said before, this sort of afterthought or an add-on but the describer might be in the rehearsal room and have the opportunity to feed into the creative process. So that’s what I’m hoping to connect with in the UK and hopefully bring some of that aesthetic access approach back to Australia.
Roberta: Lara, thank you for sharing all that with us today. It sound very exciting and congratulations again.
Lara: Thank you very much.
Roberta: We’ve been speaking with Lara Torr, an audio describer who just one the British Council’s Realise Your Dream competition. You can find out more about description at the Media Access Australia website, www.mediaaccess.org.au, or by calling 02 9212 6242. Media Access Australia are supporters of this program.