Hi All,
To me this is good news regarding audio description and closed captioning
of movies. Does anyone know if the $12,000 estimate to format a movie for
closed captioning and audio description is accurate? If it is, that's
chicken feed when you consider the typical cost of a movie today. The
$15,000 to outfit a theater to take advantage of this technology isn't a
small amount but I honestly think theater chains will make that up in extra
revenues and publicity of the added accessibility. To give some
perspective, an article in yesterday's LA Times said that the cost of a new
movie screen costs between $2.50 and $10 per square foot with the typical
screen size of today being more than 2,000 square feet, plus an extra
$1,500 to install the screen. This means that a new movie screen can
easily cost $10,000. Obviously the screen benefits a much larger
population but I still think it helps to have even a little basis for
comparison.
According to that same article,, the theater business is booming. The
following is a paragraph from that article.
***Begin Quote
Last year, exhibitors nationwide sold nearly 1.4 billion tickets worth $6.4
billion--attendance unequaled since the American cinema's heyday just after
the dawn of television.
"We're putting more butts in seats than at any time since the 1950s,"
said Jim Kozak of the North Hollywood-based National Assn. of Theater Owners.
***end quote
I wonder if any other movies are slated for audio description and closed
captioning as part of their general release?
Finally, does anyone know what's going to happen when movies like Titanic
go into video release? Will the audio description that's already been
created be available on a SAP (separate audio program) basis, as with the
PBS broadcasts? Or perhaps the movies with audio description will be
immediately available for purchase from the WGBH video library?
Kelly
>Posted at 6:26 p.m. PDT Wednesday, July 15, 1998
>------------------------------------------------------------
>
>General Cinema Tests New Closed-Captioning, Narration System in Chicago
>
>
>By Jeff Coen, Chicago Tribune
>Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
>
>Jul. 16--The movie at a Lombard theater Wednesday morning was "The Mask of
>Zorro." But for Mary Kozy, sitting in the darkened theater with a
>seeing-eye dog curled up at her feet, the blockbuster "Independence Day"
>might have been more appropriate.
>
>Kozy, who is legally blind, never has shied away from going to the theater
>to enjoy a first-run film -- perhaps the most powerful form of American pop
>culture these days. On this day, though, she didn't need a companion
>whispering in her ear to provide details about what was happening on
>screen.
>
>Instead, the wireless headphones she wore received an infrared signal from
>hardware in the theater's projection room. She listened while a narrator
>colorfully described the action, the masked Antonio Banderas seeking his
>revenge.
>
>"With this system, I got everything and had the same rich experience as
>anyone else," Kozy said after the show. "This means independence for me."
>
>Building on an idea already being used with television, General Cinema
>Theatres of Chestnut Hill, Mass., is introducing new technology to give
>audience members with vision or hearing impairments a better opportunity to
>enjoy a trip to the movies. General Cinema has tested its new system at one
>theater apiece in Los Angeles and Boston -- and on Wednesday unveiled its
>first in the Chicago market, in one theater at the new Yorktown 18 megaplex
>in west suburban Lombard.
>
>For the deaf, a personal "screen" that looks something like a rear-view
>mirror delivers closed-captioning.
>
>The movie's dialogue is displayed backward on a light board mounted on the
>rear wall of the theater. The personal screen, an adjustable rectangle of
>reflective plastic on a bendable stand that fits into any seat's cup
>holder, can be moved until the viewer comfortably sees the words being
>spoken in the film.
>
>The reflectors used in the technique have been designed never to be in the
>line of sight of audience members sitting behind those using them.
>
>The technology was developed by Boston public television station WGBH
>through cooperation with California's Digital Theater Systems, a company
>that brings stereo sound to the movies. Closed captioning has been
>available on television for years, and some theaters use it in certain
>movies at select times.
>
>Right now, General Cinema communications manager Brian Callaghan
>acknowledges the idea of expanding such accessibility "is simply the right
>thing to do" rather than a money-making venture.
>
>Still, company representatives said the new technology could eventually
>open up a new market for movies. The DuPage Center for Independent Living,
>of which Kozy is an employee, estimates 2 percent of the population in the
>Chicago area suffers from vision or hearing impairments.
>
>Only three movies -- "The Jackal," "Titanic" and Zorro -- have been
>produced so far in a format usable in the new theaters. Officials said it
>costs about $12,000 to format one film and about $15,000 to outfit one
>theater with the new technology.
>
>In Lombard, twenty sets of headphones and 20 screens are available for each
>showing. There is no additional cost.
>
>In the past, officials said, theater companies and movie studios each have
>looked to the other to make a first move toward accessibility for those
>with visual and hearing impairments. But a workable system should get the
>ball rolling, they said.
>
>"Theater chains have asked how many movies will be available for the
>system," said Judith Navoy, project manager for WGBH, "and the studios have
>asked how many theaters are equipped to handle them."
>
>WGBH's National Center for Accessible Media began testing closed-captioning
>systems for the movies in 1993, attempting to determine what general
>audiences would find too distracting and what theaters could reasonably
>install and maintain. DTS innovations carried the technology into
>conventional theaters, Navoy said, by pressing closed-captioning onto
>compact discs that are read by the company's hardware in theater projection
>rooms.
>
>General Cinema last fall agreed to the original tests of systems for both
>deaf people and blind people in a conventional theater in Sherman Oaks,
>Calif.
>
>Jeff Blake, president of Sony Pictures releasing, said theater companies
>and the studios should take on the responsibility to make the technology
>widely available. Sony Pictures paid to have "The Mask of Zorro" formatted,
>while Paramount Pictures made "Titanic" and Universal Pictures made "The
>Jackal."
>
>"This seems to be a big step forward in the technology," said Blake, who
>pointed out that making theaters accessible to the physically disabled took
>a period of years. "It's a cost we're happy to incur."
>
>Blake said Sony Pictures will pay for the formatting on movies General
>Cinema requests. He said those likely will be films that appeal to wide
>audiences, at least initially.
>
>Navoy said three other theater chains have expressed some interest in
>installing the equipment in their movie houses. Many companies, including
>Loews Cineplex Entertainment; the film unit of Marcus Corp.; and AMC
>Entertainment Inc. now offer closed-captioned films shown at select times.
>
>General Cinema plans to place the system in one theater in metropolitan
>areas across the country.
>
>Those invited to Wednesday's screening said the new technology means they
>won't have to wait for special videos of blockbusters while the rest of the
>nation is buzzing over them.
>
>"For once I didn't drift off," said Harold Hicks, who is legally blind. "A
>couple of times I caught myself thinking about what might happen next.
>Others take that for granted."
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