Today, we spent a wonderful day, organised by Arts Access Aotearoa in association with Wellington City Council and Toi Whakaari, learning from top experts Robyn Hunt and Nicola Owen the fascinating history and range of skills required for audio describing.
Audio describers provide a live, objective description of the action and visual elements of performance. This includes descriptions of the characters, costumes, movement and gestures, props, lighting, action and facial expression provided in between pauses in dialogue, sound effects and sometimes music.
Photo of one of the workshop exercises by Iona McNaughton. Copyright Arts Access Aotearoa
The room was packed with representation from Wellington’s arts scene and interested audio describer novices, all listening and laughing to Robyn and Nicole’s experiences, exercises and feedback.
We learnt so much and how incredibly complex this kind of work is.
Thank you to Robyn, Nicole and Claire, for facilitating and making sure we were well looked after.
