Hearing is Seeing - improve descriptive writing with film

Into Film’s series of Industry Visits, which brings film industry talent into schools across the UK, saw Veronika Hyks, Head of Audio Description at BTI Studios, visiting young people at Lent Rise Primary School in Slough. Audio description (AD) is the verbal description of film images to support the experience of visually impaired audiences.

Creating AD narratives provides a wonderful opportunity for descriptive writing in the classroom or as part of an Into Film Club. Using literacy techniques during a practical workshop, Veronika encouraged the children at Lent Primary to encourage them to write their own descriptions, using a clip from Disney’s Frozen.

Keeping their eyes closed, the children were asked to listen to the dialogue and sounds used in the clip, and imagined what the experience might be like to someone who is visually impaired. They then had a go at writing their own audio descriptions, using descriptive words and thinking about how tense could be used. Veronika tasked the children with reading their own descriptions out loud alongside the clip, helping them to think about rhythm and pace, and using the sounds and dialogue to bring the clip to life. Watch the video above to see how they got on, and to hear Veronika discuss audio-description in her own words.

Visit www.intofilm,org for details on how to start an Into Film Club for resources, exclusive industry careers advice and more.