Lyrics against images: music and audio description

2012

Music has been an integral part of films from as far back as the silent movie era, where a piano accompaniment was used to build the narrative and an orchestra was used to drown out the sound of the projector. Music in films can encompass a wide array of elements, from a song to a whistle, and can play many roles, as has been commented upon by many researchers. Due to the relevance of music in film narrative, it is an element which merits attention when it comes to making a film accessible, be it through Audio description, Audio subtitling, Sign Language or Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. This article focuses on Audio description (AD) and how music is handled in audio described…