Speaker 1: Sorry, I'm the unprofessional one here.

Speaker 2: You're alright, don't you?

Speaker 1: Hey everyone, James Rath here. I'm joined by a very special guest this week, Tommy Edison. He is from the Tommy Edison XP channel and Blind Film Critic. If you want to share a little bit of what you do, if they're unfamiliar with your work, please do so.

Speaker 2: Sure. On the Blind Film Critic channel, I review movies from a blind person's perspective. And over on the Tommy Edison XP channel, I answer all of your questions about being blind. I mean, from things like, how do I use technology? How do I cook? How do I get dressed? How do I get around? So on and so forth. It's fun.

Speaker 1: Yeah, and as a movie critic who has been blind since birth, right? Yes. As a filmmaker who is legally blind, being able to sort of like, having a passion for making movies, I want to make sure my content is accessible to as many people as possible. And a lot of the stuff that I tend to do, since it's very guerrilla, it's very handheld, independent on my own, I tend to focus a lot on very visual heavy films sometimes. So how do we go about making that accessible to everyone? Well, there's a couple things. Obviously, closed captions for those who are hard of hearing or deaf, and audio descriptions for those who are blind or visually impaired who need some of the visual content described to them. Today, we're going to be going through my latest short film called My Dancing Eyes. Tommy, have you seen this yet? No, no. Awesome. Have you heard it yet? No. Okay, just making sure. Let me do the comedy. Yeah, so we're going to go through without audio descriptions first, and then we'll see sort of what you're able to pick up, what made sense to you, and I'm just going to have some follow-up questions and dialogue, and then we'll go through and see what the difference was with understanding the visual elements with the audio descriptions.

Speaker 2: Perfect. So just so you know, this isn't going to be a review, right? We're just going to watch it. Not a review. Ready, Tommy?

Speaker 1: Ready. James. All right, we're going to press play.

Speaker 3: If you saw the world differently, how would that influence you? I have ocular albinism, a condition that has damaged my vision but has also shaped it. It fueled my passion for telling stories, sharing perspectives, and making vision accessible. My eyes have been multiple colors, an ocean-like blue, spring-like green, and even foggy gray. Often when people notice something different, it will be something that is challenged, ostracized, belittled. With my naked eyes, things are constantly out of focus, overexposed, and out of reach. Here lies a dancer. I'm trying to admire her. I'm attempting to focus on her movements, but I notice that she's not the only thing moving. Her body is leaving trails of various artifacts and shadows. I am basically describing vertigo. And here I stand, admiring her. Dancing. I wish I could dance with her.

Speaker 1: That was the movie without audio descriptions. Okay. What were you able to sort of take away from that?

Speaker 2: Okay, what I got from that movie is that you're describing your condition, you're trying to describe the effect that it has on you, how difficult it is to see something. When you're talking about certain things, you put a little bit of a delay or echo on your voice to sort of, I guess, to denote or to show the confusion, perhaps, or that it's tricky to see. You know, that's about it. I got that you couldn't really follow the dancer until you were standing still, and then you could look at her and see that she was pretty and, you know, whatever, desirable, and that it made you want to be able to dance with her. I got that you're unable to dance. I assume you're unable to dance, and that athletics aren't your thing. That's kind of what I got. How'd I do?

Speaker 1: Pretty good. Yeah, it's very visual heavy. There's a lot of things for people who can appreciate the visuals and stuff and can follow along with that, obviously, with the dancer. The way nystagmus works, I don't know how well vertigo has sort of been described to you. Vertigo is when everything feels like it's constantly in motion, as if maybe there's an earthquake happening, and that's often what my eyes kind of feel like. It's a weird sensation because it makes me very uneven with my balance, and even right now it kind of feels like this couch is kind of moving a bit. Wow. Yeah, and a lot of that's because of what my eyes are intaking and sort of like translating to my brain. I made sure in the movie the visuals were very unsteady. They were very shaking. Things kind of look glitchy.

Speaker 2: So let me ask you a question. As I've described the movie to you from what I experienced so far, how did I do? How much of the film do you think I missed?

Speaker 1: I think you got the synopsis. I think you got a lot of what you were able to take away. I'm curious to see sort of what you'll be able to grab. The things that obviously weren't described with my dialogue or sound effects when we do the audio described versions. We can move along to that now.

Speaker 2: I look forward to seeing what's going to be different about the audio described version because, you know, it was a nice read, right? I understood it. The music helped to set the atmosphere for it. So I'll be curious to see, you know, what's described.

Speaker 1: Okay. You might recognize this voice, too. I had Andrea help me. Okay. When it came to audio descriptions, I wanted a voice that would sort of contrast, like be opposite of mine.

Speaker 2: Well, and she's got a nice voice, too. She's a nice, you know, I'd assume she can read well and stuff. Exactly.

Speaker 4: It's going to be good. Distorted frames flash a beach pier, city, and mountains. James's eyelid opens.

Speaker 3: If you saw the world differently.

Speaker 4: He stands in front of a window.

Speaker 3: How would that influence you? You'd be surprised on how circumstances can change and mold you as a person.

Speaker 4: A wristband reads nystagmus.

Speaker 3: How you can grow from the variables that surround you.

Speaker 4: Distorted frames of James walking across a fountain, skateboarding, and typing on a keyboard.

Speaker 3: I have ocular albinism.

Speaker 4: Using a camera in the city.

Speaker 3: It fueled my passion for telling stories.

Speaker 4: Hiking with a white cane.

Speaker 3: I often wear sunglasses to fight the effects of the sun from overexposing my vision. When nystagmus is present in the eyes of someone, they've been dubbed dancing eyes. Their sporadic movements are involuntary, and the attention I get from them are also beyond my control. Here lies a dancer. I'm trying to admire her. I'm attempting to focus on her movements, but I notice that she's not the only thing moving.

Speaker 4: A female performing interpretive dance in slow motion.

Speaker 3: And here I stand, admiring her. Dancing.

Speaker 4: James stands still as she dances around him.

Speaker 3: I wish I could dance with her. To have balance. Be able to process my surroundings. But athletics are beyond me.

Speaker 4: Title, My Dancing Eyes. A movie by James Rath. Featuring James Rath, Rebecca Rose. Wow.

Speaker 1: Were you able to kind of fill in some blanks there at all? Sure. Well, first off, it's cool that you ride a skateboard.

Speaker 2: I try, yeah. That's neat. Yeah, I was able to get a bit more out of it. You know, that the dancer was dancing around you. I thought you were like someplace, you know, watching a real performance. And she, not to say that that wasn't a real performance, but she was right there with you. Yeah. Which I didn't know. The way you wrote it was so good that it told me a lot of the story. Yeah.

Speaker 1: You know what I mean? And I did leave some audio descriptions out that were initially like, for example, during the part where I describe what color my eyes have been, we actually edited that in post where the color of my eyes would actually change color as like the camera's panning around it. But I didn't feel like I had to describe that because I'm already describing that in my dialogue. You've already said so. Yeah. So anyone who just watches the visuals can kind of pick up on that.

Speaker 2: No, it's a neat film. I really enjoyed it. And, you know, the audio description was really nice. I think she did a great job with it. And I also got to learn what the music was at the end, which I like that piece of music in the film. So it was nice to hear the names and the credits too. You know, like our friend Elijah was in that. It was really neat. I got a lot more information from it this time. Nicely done, my friend.

Speaker 1: Thank you. Appreciate it. No problem. I'm glad you were able to, like, you know, see it basically, you know. No, but like seriously. I do want to talk a little bit more about audio descriptions. Sure. What you find useful and what you don't find useful. What you find kind of maybe distracting or maybe just kind of like takes you out a little bit. Where I benefit a little bit, I have some sight. So things that I can, I know that are there, but I just can't identify them because they're too blurry. Audio descriptions, like for facial expressions, for example, Will will identify those for me and help me out with that. Where in your case, what do you say? Do you pay most attention to?

Speaker 2: I'll tell you what. For me, the first time I ever saw anything with audio description was The Matrix. Now, I tried to watch because everybody in the world, including Ben, had said, you got to see this movie. It's the greatest movie. It's, oh my God. And I tried to watch it maybe half a dozen times and I could only get 15, 20 minutes in and was completely lost. And then for Christmas or my birthday or whatever, one year my sister got me a copy of The Matrix with described video. It was incredible. I got it. I saw why this movie was so spectacular. Why it was so good. I've also been able to enjoy silent films without any description. I've been able to enjoy foreign films without any description. So it's really good for me. Some of the things that I don't like, you know, for example, color. Like I don't really care what color something is unless it's, you know, the red velvet murder. Like there's red velvet all through the thing that I would need to know that. But if it was just that somebody had like a red velvet dress on or whatever, you know, at a party, it wouldn't matter to me. I don't care. Some of the things that I do like, like in action films, it's very helpful. You know, where there's not much dialogue and they're like describing fight scenes and stuff. I think it's really cool. I can't imagine people really fight like that flying through the air and stuff, but you know, that's how it is. So, you know, that's sort of my take on audio description. I'm sort of new to it. And to be honest, I don't use it that often. You know, for example, the cable company that I have, you know where the audio description is? Where? The on-screen menu. Oh. Uh-huh. Can't find it. Can't use it. So, you know, if I could get to it, I'd probably use it a little bit more. Yeah.

Speaker 1: And I think that's another important thing to bring up is making sure the option is accessibly there. It can't just be hidden.

Speaker 2: Nope. The first time I got DirecTV back in the 90s, it was a big giant remote and on the bottom of the remote was four little buttons. And the third end from the left was the SAP button. Okay. And it was awesome. So, anything. I mean, I watch the Flintstones in Spanish because that's what was on Cartoon Network on their SAP. That's what they put up. Yeah. You know, watching those nature shows on PBS. Here comes the ant. No. Walking towards. You know, and it's like wowee. It fills in a lot for me.

Speaker 1: Would you say maybe like because obviously audio descriptions weren't always accessible or available with video at least as a medium for the longest time. So, growing up with like not having the technology to sort of provide that is why you sort of maybe became accustomed to watching without. And that's why it's pretty new.

Speaker 2: Well, that's exactly right. And also, I always say nobody audio describes my life. Right. So, if I say something to you, for example, and I insult you. Right. Maybe I can't see. I get it. Maybe I can't see the face you make, but I can hear the reaction. Perhaps if I say something to you, you don't like it and you go.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: I get that you're frustrated and you're upset or angry or whatever it is, but there is some sort of emotion happening and that way I can ask you more questions about what I do. Am I right? Did I offend you? Did I say something? Whatever. You know, so my whole life I've never had it. So, yeah, it's very new, but I really like it. And for some movies, it's very helpful. For some, it's unnecessary. Sure. There's a great. Did you ever see the movie Sideways? No, I have not. It's a great film. It's the fully arts, wonderful. They do a really nice job. It sounds so good. And you really don't need audio description for that. There's one scene where you sort of have to do a little bit of guesswork with the rest of it. You know, other films like Goodfellas, I don't think needs audio description, or Clerks.

Speaker 1: What do you think about audio descriptions for online video? What genres do you think would benefit from it and what would be sort of unnecessary?

Speaker 2: Some people's films might need it. You know, if there's long parts where nobody talks. I think the vloggy stuff, you don't really need it because you're sort of describing your day or you're kind of telling us a story. But I think if there's more action to it, I think it might need more, you know, some audio description. If it's maybe a demonstration, it might need a little audio description at times. Sure. But, you know, that's about all I could think of.

Speaker 1: Some ways that even without audio descriptions, like if you're doing like unboxing videos, just being a little bit more descriptive and writing it out a little bit of what you're taking out of the box, what it kind of looks like a little bit. And that stuff can all kind of come naturally in the way you speak. Exactly.

Speaker 2: I mean, you know, when I do, I've done a few unboxing videos and I love them and I love watching them. You know, yeah, I'm very careful to describe everything that's happening. Sure, yeah. So that, you know, somebody who can't see can enjoy the experience as well.

Speaker 1: Well, I think that really answers all the questions I have today. If you have any other like last input or...

Speaker 2: No, listen, if this video is going to be audio described, you know, I want the person to be able to, you know, say how handsome I am and things like this. But, you know, handsome Tommy Edison smiles and laughs at James' joke.

Speaker 1: So I just want to say a big thank you to Tommy for being part of this video and Ben who helped with the production and putting it together. Thank you for being a part of this video and part of my channel here. And we did a video over on Tommy's channel where sort of illustrated the differences between being legally blind and then being blind since birth. Check that video out. It's very interesting. You kind of learn a little bit more about like my past and a bit of Tommy's and how we go about our day to day and putting us in different scenarios. So check that video out and subscribe to Tommy's channel if you're not already because he's got pumping out loads of funny content. And show them the funny side of being blind, right? Yeah, absolutely. Cool. Thanks, James. Yeah, thank you. That's about it. Usually I put my hand up to the lens and fade it out there, but too far, so...

Speaker 2: You don't want to play Elijah's song? Parental Guidance's Advice.

Speaker 1: Pa-ra-ra-rental Guidance's Advice. I always sing that in my head.

Speaker 2: Me too.

Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that's great. Fantastic. I'm sending this little clip to Elijah.