Q:
What are open captioned films and how do they work?
A: When
people talk or when sounds are shown in a movie, this
is changed into words and shown on the screen using
white captions. They look similar to subtitles on foreign
language films. The captioned films are shown using
a normal film projector in a cinema. The audience sees
the captions.
Q: What are Captions?
A: Captions provide access to movies for people
who are Deaf or hearing impaired by changing the audio
into text. Most of the time, this is shown on the bottom
of the screen.
Q: How do captions differ from foreign language subtitles?
A: Foreign language subtitles only translate
what is being said. Captions include everything that is heard,
e.g sound effects and music. They are also coloured to help the
viewer follow who is speaking.
Q: How are current films selected?
A: Representatives
from InSight Cinemas in the USA attend screenings of
the films about a month before they open and together
with studio executives and theatre film buyers, decide
whether or not a particular film will have wide enought appeal
to Deaf and hearing impaired audiences. InSight then negotiate
with the film production company to get the captioning done.
Q: Who uses captions?
A:
Deaf People – People
who are deaf rely on captions to follow the soundtrack
on films and television. Hearing Impaired People –
People who have some degree of hearing loss use captions to help them
understand the soundtrack. People Learning English –
Language schools can use captioned films to help teach people spoken
English. It is easier to follow a soundtrack reading the captions and listening
to the pronunciation of words. Everybody else – Captioned
films are for everybody and all people
are welcome and encouraged to see them.
Q: How can YOU help get more people interested
in
watching captioned films?
A: It
is up to you to let your local theatre know how much you love going to
see captioned films and want to see more. Tell your
friends!
Q: How did cinema captioning start in New
Zealand?
A: As there are an estimated 223,500
New Zealanders who are Deaf or
hearing-impaired, a Deaf man filed a complaint
to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in December 2001
regarding lack of captions in movies. The first captioned
film screenings - Lord of the Rings - took
place on a limited basis in Auckland , Wellington
and Christchurch in November 2002. A captioned
version of the second of the Lord of the Rings films screened in February/March
2003. After the trial, a working party of six
representatives from the MPDA, MPEA (Motion Pictures Distributors & Exhibitors
Assn), Deaf Assn of NZ, Hearing Assn and CANZ
(Captioning Access New Zealand ) was set up
in June 2003 to focus on a process to bring
captioned movies into New Zealand. This was
facilitated by the Human Rights Commission.
Due to this joint effort between the Deaf community, representatives
of the film industry and the Human Rights Commission,
New Zealand citizens can now enjoy captioned movies!
 Q: What is this Logo?
A: This
logo is for movie distributors and advertisers
to put on their advertisements. So if you
see this logo in a newspaper next to a movie, you
know that the movie is captioned!
Q: Who is
CANZ?
A: Captioning
Access New Zealand was created to drive
the captioning issues on behalf of the
Deaf Community. It has a vision that Deaf and Hearing
impaired people can access captions on TV, cinema
movies and DVDs and enjoy the same entertainment
as other people eg family and friends,
workmates.
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