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Topic: Theater declines request for captioning
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Paul Goulet
Master Film Handler
Posts: 347
From: Rhode Island
Registered: Jan 2000
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posted 04-09-2017 08:33 AM
www.projo.com
Deaf and hearing-impaired patrons requested subtitles at ‘Beauty and the Beast’ screening
By Gregory Smith Journal Staff Writer
WARWICK — Disheartened, 18 deaf and hearing-impaired adults and children shuffled out of the Showcase Cinemas Warwick Mall on Saturday without having seen the Disney movie "Beauty and the Beast."
They had arrived unannounced and asked movie theater manager Dave Kuncio to switch on the open-captioning function embedded in the movie and, in effect, screen the 4:15 p.m. scheduled showing with subtitles for their benefit.
"I can’t do it ...," Kuncio told them. "People are already in there" and have not paid to see a subtitled movie.
The ad hoc group of hearing-impaired would-be customers wanted to see "Beauty and the Beast" because, according to organizer Tim Riker, 36, of Pawtucket, the movie has a theme of social inclusiveness. "We just want to go out and have fun," Riker said.
But they also had a point to make. They want the General Assembly to enact pending legislation requiring theaters with at least eight screens to accommodate customers who are hearing- and sight-impaired.
The legislation would require that any movie being screened that is equipped with open-captioning would have to be shown at least twice weekly with open-captioning visible and, for the visually impaired, audio description of the action on the screen.
If hearing-impaired patrons constitute a majority in the screening room, and the theater lacks enough "assistive devices" to serve all who need them, the theater would have to turn on open-captioning if requested.
Eight such assistive eyeglasses were available Saturday, and Kuncio offered them. The group declined because there weren’t enough for everybody, they are too big for a child and they are clunky for someone who already wears eyeglasses.
Kuncio referred questions from a news reporter to theater owner National Amusements. A spokesman was not available Saturday night.
— gsmith@ providencejournal.com
(401) 277-7334
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 04-09-2017 11:53 AM
This situation - an organized outing of far more hearing impaired customers than the venue is required to have CCAP devices for - is clearly unusual. Frankly, tbe organizers of the outing should have realized this, and, rather than make a publicity stunt out of it, worked with the theater's management in advance to ensure that enough devices would be available. Given enough notice, they could have borrowed some from another screen or location in the chain for that specific screening, or maybe even rented a set from a vendor.
There is almost never going to be an audience in which HI or VI customers outnumber those who are neither, unless it's an organized event, which is why the new ADA regulations do not require us to have as many devices as there are seats in the auditorium. If it is an organized event, the organizers need to organize it properly, which means working constructively with the theater's management, not trying to guilt shame them.
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Jim Cassedy
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1661
From: San Francisco, CA
Registered: Dec 2006
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posted 04-10-2017 10:54 AM
It's not just the general public, muck-raking journalists and ADA activists
who have no idea of the mechanics of theater presentation technology,but
surprising as it may (or may not) be, even film-makers often don't have a
clue as to how their product gets on screen.
As I've mentioned before, 98.5% of my work are press, preview, & 'quality
control' screening events.
Last month I was doing one of these "QC" check screenings for a fairly
well know filmmaker whose works have been seen in theaters & on PBS.
About 3min before the start of the screening he popped into the booth
(I gotta remember to start locking that door!) and asked me to "turn on
the subtitles", since he said he had paid extra to have the movie closed
captioned,and wanted to confirm that it was done correctly.
I explained to him that there were no captions on the DCP drive I had
been sent, and that I couldn't play what I didn't have.
He was annoyed, and at first implied that I didn't know what I was doing,
and that all I had to do was "push a button", and the captions would
magically come up on screen.
I tried to explain that it's a bit more involved than that.
He called the studio, who then called whatever place made the DCP, and
they confirmed that while there was a captioned version made, the version
they sent me did not have captions, because whoever booked that QC
screening (ie: the filmmaker) did not specifically request the captioned
version. . . . . . . so, not my fault- - end of story.
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