Descriptive Video Service
Encyclopedia
The Descriptive Video Service (DVS) is a major United States
producer of video description, which makes visual media, such as television programs, feature films, and home videos, more accessible to people who are blind
or otherwise visually impaired
. DVS often is used to describe the product itself.
, the Boston, Massachusetts
, member of the Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS), began investigating uses for the new technology of stereophonic television broadcasting, particularly multichannel television sound
(MTS), which allowed for a third audio channel, called the Secondary Audio Program
(SAP). With a history of developing closed captioning
of programs for hearing-impaired
viewers, WGBH considered the viability of using the new audio channel for narrated descriptions of key visual elements, much like those being done for live theatre in Washington, D.C.
, by Margaret Pfanstiehl, who had been experimenting with television description as part of her Washington Ear
radio reading service. After reviewing and conducting various studies, which found that blind and visually impaired people were consuming more television than ever but finding the activity problematic (often relying on sighted family and friends to describe for them), WGBH consulted more closely with Pfanstiehl and her husband, Cody, and then conducted its first tests of DVS in Boston in 1986. These tests (broadcasting to local groups of people of various ages and visual impairments) and further study were successful enough to merit a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
to complete plans to establish the DVS organization permanently in 1988. After national testing, more feedback, more development of description technique, and additional grants, DVS became a regular feature of selected PBS programming in 1990. Later, DVS became an available feature in some films and home videos, including DVDs.
on PBS, the description has been performed as follows:
The length of descriptions and their placement by a producer into the program are largely dictated by what can fit in natural pauses in dialogue. (Other producers of description may have other priorities, such as synchronization with the timing of a described element's appearance, which differ from DVS's priority for detail.) Once recorded, placed and mixed with a copy of the original soundtrack, the DVS track is then "laid back" to the master tape on a separate audio track (for broadcast on the SAP) or to its own DVS master (for home video). For feature films, the descriptions are not mixed with the soundtrack, but kept separate as part of a DTS
soundtrack.
(FCC) started establishing various requirements for broadcasters in larger markets to improve their accessibility to audiences with hearing and vision impairmentshttp://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/resources/guides/mag_guide_vol3.html, DVS branched out to non-PBS programming, and soon description could be heard on the SAP for shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
and The Simpsons
. However, a federal court ruled in 2002 that the Federal Communications Commission had exceeded its jurisdiction by requiring broadcasters in the top 25 markets to carry video description. Since that time, the amount of new DVS television programming in the United States has declined, as has access to information regarding upcoming described programming, and as broadcasters like ABC and Fox have instead decided to devote their SAP channels to Spanish language
dubbing tracks
of their shows rather than DVS.http://adinternational.org/ADIACB1.html Description by DVS and other producers is still available on television (the greatest percentage of DVS programming is still on PBS). WGBH's Media Access Group continues supporting description of feature films (known as DVS Theatrical) and DVS home videos/DVDs are available from WGBH as well as other vendors and libraries.
:
Nickelodeon
:
Fox
Turner Classic Movies
PBS
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
producer of video description, which makes visual media, such as television programs, feature films, and home videos, more accessible to people who are blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
or otherwise visually impaired
Visual impairment
Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
. DVS often is used to describe the product itself.
History
In 1985, TV station WGBHWGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
, the Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, member of the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS), began investigating uses for the new technology of stereophonic television broadcasting, particularly multichannel television sound
Multichannel television sound
Multichannel television sound, better known as MTS , is the method of encoding three additional channels of audio into an NTSC-format audio carrier.- History :...
(MTS), which allowed for a third audio channel, called the Secondary Audio Program
Second audio program
Second audio program , also known as secondary audio programming, is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over the air and by cable TV.-Usage:...
(SAP). With a history of developing closed captioning
Closed captioning
Closed captioning is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information to individuals who wish to access it...
of programs for hearing-impaired
Hearing impairment
-Definition:Deafness is the inability for the ear to interpret certain or all frequencies of sound.-Environmental Situations:Deafness can be caused by environmental situations such as noise, trauma, or other ear defections...
viewers, WGBH considered the viability of using the new audio channel for narrated descriptions of key visual elements, much like those being done for live theatre in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, by Margaret Pfanstiehl, who had been experimenting with television description as part of her Washington Ear
Metropolitan Washington Ear
The Metropolitan Washington Ear is a multi-media reading service for the blind and visually impaired of Greater Washington, D.C.The Metropolitan Washington Ear offers two main services. The first is a radio reading service where volunteers read newspapers and other publications over a sub-frequency...
radio reading service. After reviewing and conducting various studies, which found that blind and visually impaired people were consuming more television than ever but finding the activity problematic (often relying on sighted family and friends to describe for them), WGBH consulted more closely with Pfanstiehl and her husband, Cody, and then conducted its first tests of DVS in Boston in 1986. These tests (broadcasting to local groups of people of various ages and visual impairments) and further study were successful enough to merit a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
to complete plans to establish the DVS organization permanently in 1988. After national testing, more feedback, more development of description technique, and additional grants, DVS became a regular feature of selected PBS programming in 1990. Later, DVS became an available feature in some films and home videos, including DVDs.
Technique
DVS describers watch a program and write a script describing visual elements which are important in understanding what is occurring at the time and the plot as a whole. For example, in the opening credit sequence of the children's series ArthurArthur (TV series)
Arthur is an American/Canadian animated educational television series for children, created by Cookie Jar Group and WGBH for the Public Broadcasting Service...
on PBS, the description has been performed as follows:
"Arthur is an 8-year-old aardvark. He wears round glasses with thick frames over his big eyes. He has two round ears on top of his oval-shaped head. He wears red sneakers and blue jeans, with a yellow sweater over a white shirt."
The length of descriptions and their placement by a producer into the program are largely dictated by what can fit in natural pauses in dialogue. (Other producers of description may have other priorities, such as synchronization with the timing of a described element's appearance, which differ from DVS's priority for detail.) Once recorded, placed and mixed with a copy of the original soundtrack, the DVS track is then "laid back" to the master tape on a separate audio track (for broadcast on the SAP) or to its own DVS master (for home video). For feature films, the descriptions are not mixed with the soundtrack, but kept separate as part of a DTS
Digital Theater System
DTS is a series of multichannel audio technologies owned by DTS, Inc. , an American company specializing in digital surround sound formats used for both commercial/theatrical and consumer grade applications...
soundtrack.
FCC Involvement
When the Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) started establishing various requirements for broadcasters in larger markets to improve their accessibility to audiences with hearing and vision impairmentshttp://main.wgbh.org/wgbh/pages/mag/resources/guides/mag_guide_vol3.html, DVS branched out to non-PBS programming, and soon description could be heard on the SAP for shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
and The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
. However, a federal court ruled in 2002 that the Federal Communications Commission had exceeded its jurisdiction by requiring broadcasters in the top 25 markets to carry video description. Since that time, the amount of new DVS television programming in the United States has declined, as has access to information regarding upcoming described programming, and as broadcasters like ABC and Fox have instead decided to devote their SAP channels to Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
dubbing tracks
Dub localization
Dub localization, also often simply referred to as localization, which is a form of a voice-over. It is the practice of voice-over translation altering a foreign language film, art film or television series by voice actors to further adapt the material for a "local" audience.Dub localization is a...
of their shows rather than DVS.http://adinternational.org/ADIACB1.html Description by DVS and other producers is still available on television (the greatest percentage of DVS programming is still on PBS). WGBH's Media Access Group continues supporting description of feature films (known as DVS Theatrical) and DVS home videos/DVDs are available from WGBH as well as other vendors and libraries.
Regular U.S. series with DVS available
CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
:
- NCISNCIS (TV series)NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
(Dick Charles) - NCIS: Los Angeles
- Criminal MindsCriminal MindsCriminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
(Bob Gelbart) - Without a TraceWithout a TraceWithout a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series was set in New York City and concerned a fictitious FBI Missing Persons Unit.-Premise:...
(Dick Charles) - CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationCSI: Crime Scene InvestigationCSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
(Bob Gelbart)
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
:
- Dora the ExplorerDora the ExplorerDora the Explorer is an American animated television series created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh, and Eric Weiner. Dora the Explorer became a regular series in 2000. The show is carried on the Nickelodeon cable television network, including the associated Nick Jr. channel. It aired on CBS until...
(Kate Loman read the descriptions for most episodes; filling in for her were Tom Glinn) - Go, Diego, Go!Go, Diego, Go!Go, Diego, Go! is a children's television series created by Chris Gifferd and Valerie Walsh, and is a spin-off of Dora the Explorer. The show premiered on September 6, 2005, on Nickelodeon. It also aired as part of the Nick Jr. on CBS block from September 17, 2005, to September 9, 2006. On...
(all of the series done by Kate Loman) - Blue's CluesBlue's CluesBlue's Clues is an American children's television show airing on the Nickelodeon family of channels. The show premiered on September 8, 1996 and airs on Nick Jr. and other channels, although production of new episodes ceased by 2006. Versions of the show have been produced in other countries,...
- The Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...
(descriptions read by Joel Snyder, who also does narration for Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
) - ChalkzoneChalkZoneChalkZone is an American animated television series that aired on Nickelodeon. It was created by Bill Burnett and Larry Huber, and produced by Frederator Studios for the Nickelodeon TV channel...
- My Life as a Teenage RobotMy Life as a Teenage RobotMy Life as a Teenage Robot is an American animated television series, created by Rob Renzetti for Nickelodeon. The series follows the adventures of XJ-9, better known as Jenny Wakeman, a female robot designed to protect Earth, who is excessively addicted to teen-related activities, which are almost...
- Ned's Declassified School Survival GuideNed's Declassified School Survival GuideNed's Declassified School Survival Guide, commonly called Ned's Declassified for short, is an American live-action situation comedy on Nickelodeon that debuted in the channel's Sunday night TEENick scheduling block on September 12, 2004. The series' actual pilot episode aired on September 7, 2003...
(Joel Snyder) - RugratsRugratsRugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, and aired its last episode on June 8, 2004....
(Kate Loman read the descriptions for all 1990s episodes and all from 2000-2003, with Tom Glinn reading the descriptions for the final season) - Jimmy Neutron (Tom Glinn read the descriptions for seasons 1 and 2; Kate Loman read the descriptions for the rest of the series)
- Team UmizoomiTeam UmizoomiTeam Umizoomi is a computer-animated series on Nick Jr. It is located in the center of Umi City, a colorful city where the streets are paved with origami...
and Bubble GuppiesBubble GuppiesBubble Guppies is an American preschool children's television series produced for Nickelodeon and created by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull. The series revolves around the underwater adventures of a group of mermaid-like preschoolers...
(Unknown narration reads the script and annouces for Milli,Geo and Bot and Molly,Gilly,Nonny,Mr Grouper,Goby,Deema and Oona and instraumental in all the new episodes)
Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
- The SimpsonsThe SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
(again, same as the Dora the Explorer episode "Fish Out of Water", except Miles Neff, who filled in for her, did a few episodes)
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies is a movie-oriented cable television channel, owned by the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, featuring commercial-free classic movies, mostly from the Turner Entertainment and MGM, United Artists, RKO and Warner Bros. film libraries...
- Various films, listed on WGBH's DVS page on TCM
PBS
- Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
(done by Joel Snyder)
External links
- WGBH - Media Access Group - DVS Services
- The Audio Description Project
- Metropolitan Washington Ear
- Audio tracks of DVS version of Masterpiece Theatre's "Wind In the Willows" (regional restrictions may apply)
- http://canopycanopycanopy.com/1/basic_instinct_poemsPoems written from a transcribed DVS version of Basic Instinct via Triple Canopy (online magazine)Triple Canopy (online magazine)Triple Canopy is an online magazine, which was first published in 2008. In an effort to "slow down the Internet," the magazine curates and facilitates new media projects, which engage with the formal possibilities of the web. Its content ranges from art and literature to essays and critical theory...
]