Ears for the eyes

It’s a common enough sight – a couple playing with their smartphones while waiting to buy tickets for a movie screening.
Except that the couple in question is far from ordinary and the “playing” involves not the social networks or games but the downloading of an app that will help them “see” the movie through a audio description. 
New graduate Yoowanna Nutnapun, 24, was born blind and she along with her friend Akarin Punyaworawat, 42, blinded four years ago in an accident, were at SF Cinema in Central Rama IX to catch the recent Thai horror flick “Phuan Thee Raluek” (“The Promise”). 
The app is called Pannana and allows the visually impaired to watch a movie at a cinema with a sighted audience during an ordinary screening. Right now, audio descriptions have only been completed for selected movies but the app is easy to use, requiring just a cellular network, and can be downloaded for both the iOs and Android platforms.

 

Pannana, which literally means “to describe”, has been developed by the social enterprise group Klongdinsor, who works with the visually and hearing impaired. It’s not the first AD project to be released but it is the first to give freedom to the blind to walk into the cinema and enjoy the show without asking their companion to explain what’s going on to them.
“It’s fun and it was so nice to be able to watch a film in the cinema rather than at home. I really hope they do more movies, especially fantasy movies and my favourite Harry Potter,” says Yoowanna.
Thanaphoom Paktra, 24, was also at the cinema that day with two of his friends and the three couldn’t stop talking about the film after it ended, giggling as they compared notes on the scenes that scared them the most. All three were full of praise for the app.
“I always get scared when watching horror films (even without AD) and then I dream about it because the music and the sound effects are scary in themselves. But watching with AD is so much better because the description elaborates on what’s going on, I love it!,” says Thanaphoom.  

 

“The scariest thing is the imagination so a ghost movie for the blind that needs imagination creates scary feelings,” says Klongdinsor’s founder and manager Chatchai Aphibanpoonpon.
The AD for movies was introduced on Thai DVDs a few years ago but is only available for GTH and later GDH films. Now, with DVDs in decline, AD needs support from everyone involved in the business. Making an AD for a movie costs around hundreds of hundreds of thousands of baht and Klongdinsor would not have been able to complete the horror film project without the support of SF Cinema and GDH. 
It’s not that the blind can’t go to movies but to do so, they need to be accompanied by a friend to act as a living AD. Given the potential for disturbing another spectators, it’s hardly a comfortable situation. The AD in app form sets them free and allows them to enjoy themselves. 
The app is in synch with the sound and starts working when the titles begin rolling. 

 

Chatchai says that the idea was born when the company organised a special movie screening for the blind with AD provided. “We could see it worked but we also knew that the cost was high and it would reach out only to a small group of the blind,” he says, adding that he starting working on the app after learning that many countries were passing laws that made it compulsory to provide AD for the visually impaired. 
He took the idea to media agency Dentsu Thailand and spent a year working on the app with financial support from the Thai Health Promotion Foundation.
Klongdinsor is a social enterprise company whose projects and products cater to those with impairments. Its best-known product is the Lensen kit, which allows the visually impaired to draw. 
Its mission, says Chatchai, is to create an inclusive society where people with and without disabilities can live together in harmony and help contribute to the enrichment of the society. 
“We organise workshops on volunteering skills for the blind so they too can give to society.”

 

The principle for the AD app, says Chatchai, is the sound synching between the (AD) sound recorded on the app and the sound on the screen. “And when it works, the people who want to use it can do it alone, anytime and anywhere,” he says.
The Pannana app, however, is not limited to movies but is also a platform for any audio-visual media who want their content to reach out to those with impairments. 
“I hope the content provider takes responsibility for this part. There’s a need to build awareness among movie-makers and TV producers that there are hundreds of thousands of people – the blind – who can’t access their content. I hope they pay more attention to these people and do it. We have already provided the platform, so they only have to do the AD and put it into the app. That’s not so expensive,” says Chatchai.
The visually impaired in Thailand are all too often ignored, which isolates then from society. But even though many more organisations are providing more access to the blind, for example, the 1414 hotline that they can call to find information, news, audio books and even AD, not enough is being done to encourage them to play a full role in society.
“Speaking in business terms, the app and the platform will make their products or content reach out hundreds to thousands of customers,” he says.
So far only a few movies and TV shows are available for download.
Like other people, the blind enjoy watching commercial films and are hoping that AD will one day be available for Hollywood films. Chatchai has already started work and recently added blockbusters “The Avengers Part 1” and “Thor Part 1” to the app along with the TV series “Mom” from Thai PBS TV, one of the few channels to provide AD. 
“I’ve heard that most Hollywood films are obliged by law to have their own AD but I don’t know whether their distributors in Thailand have it or not. It would be great if they have it in hand so that we could translate it and put it into the app,” he says.
The next challenge is finding the manpower to translate and write the AD script for the app. He hopes this will be achieved by volunteers, in much the same way as audio books have become possible.
“There is a AD course at Thammasat University and also some organisations hold occasional workshops on creating the AD script. It’s not a hard job. The AD doesn’t need to convince the visually impaired but just paint them a picture through words. Their imagination will do the rest.
“Audio description will help create equality and should be provided for all kinds of content. The blind should have the right to choose what they listen too – it shouldn’t be only Dharma or information,” he stresses.
“Our project shows what can be done for them. It’s like the chicken and the egg. In the past, we didn’t see the blind going to the cinema and people would say it was because there were no facilities for them. Now we have the Pannana app and everyone can see that a platform exists that helps the blind to see a movie at the cinema,” he says.

LISTEN A LITTLE

- The Pannana team is holding a special screening for the blind today of two movies: “The Avengers Part 1” shows at 10am and “Thor Part 1” at 1.30pm in meeting room 413 at the Thai Health Promotion Foundation’s Rian Roo Sukha Phawa building in Soi Ngam Duphli, Sathorn. 
- The movie is Thai dubbed and has the audio description provided in the app. Those wanting to see the films can bring along one companion. All that’s needed is a smartphone with Internet access and earphones to listen to the AD.
- Find out more at Facebook.com/pannanaapp/ or call (086) 069 5652.