Lubiani Cinematografica, Turin, 8th June 2004
Presentation of subtitles projection systems in cinemas
Report on the needs of users with hearing impairment in cinemas
I'm Giacomo Pirelli. At present I'm attending a course in Multimedia and
Cinema (MultiDams) at the University of Turin.
I'm a member of a few deaf association of northern Italy (Cantù, Como,
Milan and Turin) that represents between 300 and 500 deaf people.
I was present at the presentation of the subtitling system of the Lubiani
cinematographic firm in a cinema in Turin with different associations such
as ENS, FIADDA and APIC (Association of Cochlear Implanted Users) on 8th June
2004.
During the presentation, the firm introduced us to this system. It also promised
to give us support to diffuse the projection of subtitled films in cinemas.
It must be pointed out that these companies would need regional or government
financing to publicize and introduce their support material to cinema owners
and apply it to the projection of the most interesting films. In Italy there
are only a few cinemas that subtitle the less famous or nice films in their
original version.
Before Italy, in Europe, Great Britain, France and Belgium were the first
European countries to introduce subtitling systems to cinemas and to cater
for the deaf and foreign people's needs. In Great Britain there are many cinemas
that project films with subtitles, using the DTS-CSS system, as I have learnt
from press releases of DTS firms. In Europe there are other countries that
make much better use of subtitling in cinemas than Italy. I think the European
Commission should give funds to major cinematographic firms of these countries
and Italy for a project of diffusion of subtitling systems in many cinemas.
Deaf people have to be present at the projection of films in cinemas and
at theatrical shows, where their hearing impairments worsen their condition
of disability and increases their communicative and social distance from hearing
people.
These impairments should be removed to facilitate communication between deaf
and hearing people and the active participation of deaf people in viewing
films; otherwise the deaf people will be excluded from society.
The technologies to remove these impairments are essentially two:
I prefer to see films with this latter solution for a better comprehension
of the actors' voices and music rather than the first because the magnetic
field system doesn't help us to understand the film completely for our different
levels of hearing perception. (A profoundly deaf or hard of hearing person
understands only a few words of a film and the implanted user probably understands
only slightly more than them).
Deaf people could also be present at theatrical shows where the subtitles
could be projected and the stage directions, environment and the actors' dialogues
during the sequences of the scenes indicated. This subtitling system for the
theatre helps us to have complete comprehension of a theatrical show. It's
also useful for old people and hearing people not to lose the thread of the
sequences of the action.
A graduate of the Faculty of translation and interpreting at Bologna University
(Forlì) did a thesis about the subtitling system and simultaneous linguistic
adaptation of the Opera theatre
(see Section Education > University > Thesis > Carlo Eugeni).
He aims at extending his activities in order to anwer also to the needs of
people with hearing impairment, in collaboration with the Università
of Forlì, which is organising a conference on this topic
(see Sectione Events > 2005 > October)
and a preparatory workshop on February
(see Sectione Events > 2005 > February)
If the deaf associations want to promote and support this experimentation, they should ask cinematographic firms to organise an evening in a cinema with a new subtitled film in Italian or another version. We could publicize this evening through adequate mass media advertising to a largely deaf but also hearing group of people and also to political groups.
Giacomo Pirelli
giac_pirelli@hotmail.com
November 2004
- - o - -
I presented this report to the Conference Youth Disability Art and Sport
organised by OPIM in Plzne (Czech Rebublic) on November 2004 in order to spread
information on this topic
(see Section Events > 2004 > November).
Following the request of a few associations of people with hearing impairment
and a few cinema, I extended this topic in a new document, as basis for futur
developments and contacts with cinema operators
(see Section Media > Cinema).