TV News: I noticed that Shrinking preview finally, confirming a mid-October release for the second season of the Jason Segal/harrison Ford comedy. And, in somewhat fun news, Homicide: life on The Streets makes its streaming debut this week on peacock. I’m positive it won’t have audio description, but I’m still making a note for die hard fans of the show.
TV Shows Watched: Interview With A Vampire: S2E5 (AMC Plus) No Audio Description, Bel Air: S3E3 (Peacock) with audio description, UnPrisoned: S2E8 (Hulu) with audio description, and The Traitors UK: S2E? (Peacock) no audio description.
Podcasts: Assembly Required with Stacy Abrams (Politics), The john Campia Show (Entertainment News), You Are Good (Review: Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead), and Pod Save America (Politics)
Youtube: Deep Focus Lens (Review: Alien Romulus), Geeking With James Hancock (Review: Caligula: The ultimate Cut), and definitely a third one I’ve now forgotten.
Movies: (A Spooky Season Title)- I don’t want to tip my hat, but I did bank a review early for my Spooky season, where I release 31 reviews of horror titles, or at least spooky of Halloween themed titles. I always try and get one in there that is family friendly. It’s my third year doing it. Subscribe to my YouTube if you haven’t already to get those reviews before they wind up here.
So for today’s blurb, we are diving into a rabbit hole. it is a very specific, very stupid hole, but I spent a lot of time asking myself this question. Perhaps it is because now that I’ve done the QC process for Audio Description, I see something like this and I go… could it have been done slightly better?
Today’s show in question is UnPrisoned, which was the Season Finale, and I’ll keep it spoiler free. A lot happens in the final episode, and to the creators credit, they take one hell of a swing in the final moments daring Hulu to cancel them. but, audio description wise, there’s the two sisters, with Paige (Kerry Washington) as the lead of the show. Her sister Estee was featured in a scene, with Paige’s son, where she’s upset. So, we establish who is on camera. Finn and Estee. During the transition, we hear audio description that says “In Paige’s room, she sits on the bed.”
I’ve already warned you this is already the most nitpicky thing I’ve ever done. You are in the rabbit hole of insanity now, there’s no turning back.
And while “she” speaks, that narration really said to me that we were following Estee, perhaps through the house as she has more conversations. After all, what bigger conversation to have in this episode than between the two sisters? But, as “she” speaks, it becomes clear that ‘she” is Paige. So, I asked myself this really dumb question… would I have written it that way?
that opens up this fundamentally important, yet also a little crazy door about how many syllables you can fit in any given space. So, even though you may want more context, you don’t always have the space for it. Here though, I’m trapped in the rabbit hole of insanity. And, I’ll tell you wat I found… and why.
“In her room, Paige sits on her bed.” The difference here, is that the character is established, while the location is subsequently heavily implied. Previously, the location was defined, while the person was implied, using the eventual later dialog and description to set up the scene. But, what I think is important here, is that the last “she” we encountered was Estee, and until you pass that torch, “she” is Estee. But, with relatively little effort, and using the same amount of space and time, I’ve re contextualized a little portion so that it is clear that we have left Estee, and this is now Paige. Within the confines of the show, this does take place pretty much always in Paiges house. Paige is the lead. But, I still feel like you have to pass that narrative torch, so to speak, so that the “she” becomes the next female character. And I did it here, without suffering inn the length of time.It is the same amount of words. I’ve actually shortened it by a letter, as I’ve removed the possessive from Paige. I flipped Paige and She, and then swapped She for Her, which are both one syllable words. then, at the end, I also swapped her for the, another one syllable swap.
So, “in Paige’s room, she sits on the bed” becomes “In her room, Paige sits on her bed”, Honestly, the second her isn’t even needed and could stay “the” if you wanted. in some ways, when you have already given Paige possession of the room through the first her, then everything in it becomes hers, so the second her is redundant, and “the bed” could actually stay, as ‘her bed” could unintentionally imply that there is more than one bed in the room, and Paige is on her bed specifically, and not the other one.
So for you guys that think i don’t always hear and think about the little things. I do. I just don’t always talk about them in this much detail, because I kinda start sounding like a lunatic. Whatever room or bed you are in or on today, have a great day.
