VoicePrint Canada

DETAILS

Contact Name:

Lynne Rach

Title:

Senior Bureau Chief

Affiliate(s):

AudioVision Canada

Website:

www.voiceprint.ca

About the Company:

VoicePrint is the TV Channel that reads Newspapers out loud for the benefit of blind, vision and physically restricted, and senior Canadians. This charitable, not-for-profit service broadcasts into 6.4 million Canadian homes on cable, satellite and terrestrial distribution systems. More than 600 volunteers read for the service across Canada. AudioVision Canada, VoicePrint's sister organization, describes movies and TV shows, making these vision-based entertainment products accessible to the blind, much as VoicePrint makes the printed word accessible.

GENERAL INFORMATION

> Why do you want to meet with independent producers? How can you assist independent producers?

Independent producers wishing to sell content to Canada's private networks should be aware that the CRTC, by condition of licence, is requiring networks such as CTV and Global to phase in described programming for the blind over their current licence terms. Programming that is already described will assist networks in making their licence commitment and should prove more saleable to the networks. AudioVision Canada is the premiere description house in Canada. Its production facilities are located at VoicePrint's national office in Toronto.

> How can you assist independent producers?

Independent producers who understand the describing process will appreciate its benefit and understand that the audience for their production will increase because it becomes accessibile to an additional 2 million vision-restricted Canadians. This number does not include the increasing number of seniors who are losing their sight.

Description can be likened to old-time radio, only it's more exciting. All of a movie or TV show's original production values remain but the program is enhanced with the addition of a described audio track that is woven digitally into the original. The described track is timed precisely so that it never clashes with any of the original audio -- be it actor's voices, music, narration, sound effects. The process requires that an additional script be written and voiced before it is integrated into the original. The end product is so compelling that a movie or TV show can be dubbed to CD and audio cassette and enjoyed without benefit of a screen. Only action that is essential to plot development is described, making the approach minimalist. And, unlike description techniques in the U.S., audio matches video.

Watching a movie or TV show in this format is enjoyable for the blind person as well as sighted family members who join in to watch. The approach is unobtrusive. And even better, made-in-Canada described product is priced in Canadian dollars. In order to give viewers a choice, audio description is delivered on the Secondary Audio Program (SAP). This delivery system is known as "closed description." It is similar to to "closed captioning" for the deaf. It is accessed by choice. Sometimes, description is delivered in open format, which means that all viewers can hear it. That is a key reason for making description as unobtrusive as possible.

> Can help independent producers find: Funding, Production Services, other

The Shaw Children's Program Initiative (SCPI)is the only Canadian production fund to include made-in-Canada description as an area for financial support. VoicePrint Canada will work with other production funds to get made-in-Canada description included as part of Canadian content qualifications for financing.

> Anything else?

AudioVision Canada was established to provide financial support to VoicePrint, the national, charitable reading service for the blind. Currently, AVC does not make a profit. Grant monies from BCE have helped to reduce the cost of description, which, ultimately, can become a revenue source for networks who can sell it to sponsors, much like they do "closed captioning" for the deaf.