captioned movies for people with hearing loss
Movies without captions are generally inaccessible to people with hearing loss.
It
is incomprehensible to me that our society can allow a portion of our
population as large as the hearing loss segment to be denied access to
something as commonplace as movies. Yet, that has been the reality for
too many of us for too long. That appears to be changing, and it looks
like movie access for people with hearing loss will continue to
increase.
November 1999 - Tripod
(the captioning folks) report that some
theaters are now dedicating one screen to continuous captioned movies.
Read their November, 1999 response to our query about theaters that
offer continuous captioning.
February 2000 - A group of deaf people in Oregon filed a lawsuit against
theater owners to require a captioning system called Rear Window
Captioning in all movie theaters. While this sounds like a wonderful
action that would cause universal acclaim within the hearing loss
community, it actually created quite a brouhaha. Find out why in the
Oregon Lawsuit
story. You'll also want to read this story, in which Dot Johnson, one of the plaintiffs in the
Oregon Lawsuit, provides her thoughts on
the lawsuit.
April 2000 - A second
captioning
lawsuit is filed in Washington DC.
May 2000 -
The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) states its position
on the two captioning lawsuits and on the response provided by the
National Association of Theater Owners.
April 2000
- Digital movies are coming!! What's the scoop on captioning
for digital movies?
August 2000 - An
innovative idea called BeamTitling may be the
movie captioning system that everyone can agree on.
January
2001 - Would you pay $10 to watch a movie with the sound turned off?
Approximately 28 million Americans with hearing loss must do exactly
that. In an effort to draw attention to the accessibility needs of
people who are deaf, hard of hearing or late-deafened, the Coalition for
Movie Captioning (CMC) has released a strongly worded policy
statement
asserting the rights of people with hearing loss "to attend any
showing of any movie in any theater at any time." We've also
included a couple of interesting reader responses in this article.
May
2001 - Tripod Captioned Movies Available in Australia
September
2001 - Britain Tests DTS-CSS Captioning System
February
2002 - AMC Adds Captioned Films to Website
May 2002 - A movie theater that had been showing captioned movies for
years stopped doing so. Here are several
interesting opinions about why they did so and what people think about it.
May 2002 -
CMC Documents Lack of Captioned Movies
October
2002 - For a short review of Rear Window captioning and a list of cities
that have Rear Window - equipped theaters, check out the Rear
Window Captioning Update.
December 2002 -
Here's an article about a great idea to help ensure continued access to
captioned movies - Tax Incentives for Captioned Movies?
February
2003 - The Coalition for Movie Captioning just released a report on
captioned movie status for 2002. Here's the press
release.
February 2003 - What's the status of
captioned movies in the US? Well, it's really pretty dismal. Here's the CMC's
report for 2002.
January 2004 - You may have
heard about a lawsuit regarding the lack of captioned movies in the
Washington DC area. It looks like the two sides are
willing to settle, and I bet the terms of the proposed settlement will
surprise you!
May 2004 - The US District
Court has approved the terms of the settlement of the Washington DC area
lawsuit regarding captioned movies. Here's an
update!
October 2004 - What a great idea!
An
open-captioned film festival! Sponsored by InSight Cinema and
Krikorian Premiere Theatres, the event lasts all weekend at two southern
California theaters.
October 2004 -
Yup,
there's nothing like a good captioned movie at the drive-in. . . .
. At the drive-in, you say? ? ? ? Yup! ! !
January
2005 - Captioning may be the preferred method of communications access
at movies. But don't forget that ALDs can be helpful, as well. Here's
Steve Barber with lots of great information on how everyone can help use
this neglected resource.
March 2005 - If you
were trying to establish movie captioning policy for New Jersey, one of
the first things you'd do is include inputs from the hearing loss
community. Right? Seems the NJ Attorney General is opposed
to that idea!
April 2005 - Apparently
satisfied with the proposed resolution, the Coalition for Movie
Captioning (CMC) has withdrawn its request to intervene in the NJ movie
captioning lawsuit.
August 2005 - Wonder why
we're seeing more captioned movies lately? Want to know what you can do
to get more in your area? Cheryl
Heppner's wonderful article on the SHHH Convention Panel on Movie
Captioning is likely just what you're looking for!
March
2006 - Here's the latest on the New Jersey
discrimination complaint against Regal Theaters.
July 2006 - Closed Captioning for Movie Theaters
September 2006 - WGBH's MoPix(r) system wins daVinci
Award
October 2006 - Department
of Education and NAD Renew Captioned Movie Program
December
2006 - AMC chain is sued in bias case
March
2007 - Movies - Any Time, Anywhere, Any Seat
September 2007 -
I-Caption device aids hearing-impaired patrons at Adler
Planetarium
December 2007 -
Woman raises money for movie captioning
February 2008 -
All Movies Need Captions
May 2008 - Insight Cinema Shuts Down
January 2009 - NAD Files Brief in Movie
Captioning Case
January 2009 - Rear Window Captioning Makes
Digital Cinema Debut
February 2009 - Movie theaters face suit over lack of
captioned films
February 2009 -
Wash-CAP Captioning Initiative Gains Momentum
March 2009 -
Rear Window Captioning Success Story in Ottawa
May 2009 - DeafCode Launches Captionfish.com,
a Captioned Film & Movies Search Engine
November 2009 - I went out to the movies!
December 2009 - Enabling the Disabled in Digital Cinema
January 2010 - Movie Captioning Case Reaches Appeals
Court
January 2010 - Smooth Sailing for Movie Captioning
Appeals Case?
January 2010 - Nanci Linke-Ellis on Captioning
February 2010 - Arizona Theaters Cry 'Uncle' - But That
May Not Be Good News
March 2010 - Stage Set for Washington Captioned-Movie
Showdown
March 2010 - Doremi Cinema Introduces New Closed Caption
System for Movies
April 2010 - Movie Captioning Lawsuits Update
May 2010 - Court Rules ADA Requires Closed-Captioned
Movies
May 2010 - Washington Court Says Theaters Must Make
Movies Understandable
July 2010 -
Hearing Better at the Movies
July 2010 - Theater Chains Agree to Increase
Accessibility for Hearing and Visually Impaired
September 2010 -
Small local movie theater to institute captioning
October 2010 -
Movie Captioning App for iPhone and Droid in the
Works
October 2010 -
Captioning for Digital Cinema Systems
October 2010 -
Captioning Solutions for Handheld Media and
Mobile Devices
December 2010 - ALDA, Inc. files lawsuit against
Cinemark USA Inc.
December 2010 -
More great coverage of the California captioning
case
December 2010 - Notify DOJ to Support Movie
Captioning
December 2010 - Movie Captioning Action Comes to
California
January 2011 - Cinemark creates nation's first
fully accessible theater complexes
January 2011 -
Feds consider movie-captioning rule
February 2011 - Regal pledges full nationwide
movie captioning
April 2011 - Regal Makes Seattle America's
Most Accessible Movie City
April 2011 - Cinemark to Provide Captioning in
all First-Run Theaters
May 2011 - Regal, Cinemark commit to full
captioning
May 2011 -
More information on proposed movie captioning
systems
July 2011 - Washington theaters must show
captioned movies, judge rules
August 2011 - Harkins Theatres To Make All
Theaters Accessible
September 2011 - Sony developing 'subtitle glasses' for
cinema use
October 2011 - Harkins to equip cinemas for deaf, blind
to settle Arizona suit
November 2011 - National organization recognizes
value of access work
December 2011 - AMC Announces Digital Movie Captioning
in California and Nationwide
January 2012 - Landmark, AMC commit to captioned
movies
More on this and related topics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2001
The National Working Party on Captioning in Australia has announced
that open captioned films from Tripod will soon be available in
Australia. This action greatly increases movie access for Australia's
1.7 million people with hearing loss, who have had extremely limited
movie access.
Australia's three major film distributors are committed to showing
the captioned films as near to their release dates as possible. The
films will initially be screened in Australia's major cities, including
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. Availability will
eventually be expanded to smaller markets. Up to 50 films each year are
available from Tripod.
The availability of open captioned films is the result of a complaint
by Dr John Byrne of the Deafness Council of Western Australia. In
response the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission convened a
forum that included representatives of deaf organizations, captioning
organizations, and film distributors. After exploring various captioning
options, the forum decided on open captions (as opposed to closed
captions) because that technology requires no modifications to existing
theater equipment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 2001
Editor: Last year we reported on a new captioning system from Digital
Theater Systems (DTS). Called the Cinema Subtitling System (CSS), it
projects captions directly onto the screen instead of etching them onto
the film. It is thus a closed captioning system that allows the film to
be displayed with or without captions, as opposed to an open captioning
system, in which the captions are a permanent part of the film, and
cannot be removed. Also, because the captions are entirely separate from
the film, captions in multiple languages can be provided, with the movie
theater selecting the language to be displayed. The system also provides
for audio description for people with vision loss.
Here are portions of the press release.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The UK cinema industry has decided to trial a digital subtitle system
- the DTS-CSS Cinema Subtitling System (prototype). The trials are
scheduled to take place this summer in cinemas around the country.
The system planned for the UK is a combination disc player and
projector that projects the subtitles/captions onto the screen, and
broadcasts audio description through headphones.
Separate CD-ROM discs with subtitles/caption and audio description
information still need to be produced and supplied to cinemas with the
film. Although most major US releases nowadays include this information,
the digital system currently in use there (Rear Window) is not the same
format as the one planned for the UK
But even though the 'systems' are different, they both use the same
innovative DTS technology. The DTS-CSS projects bitmap files, unlike the
Rear Window, but these files can easily be reformatted to suit different
systems.
Film studios are beginning to produce subtitles/captions and audio
description at an early stage in the film making process, as these same
files can be used at a later date for video, DVD and TV formats.
Whilst digital technology trials are taking place in the UK,
screenings of 'open' captioned films, like the recent Hannibal film,
will be continued. More films, and more copies of them are expected.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2002
Editor: Those of you who live near an AMC theater that shows
captioned films can now access the film schedule on the AMC Theater
website. Here are portions of the Tripod Captioned Film's press release
with complete instructions on how to get the information.
Oh yeah, and something about free popcorn!
Contact information for AMC Theaters and Tripod Captioned Films,
including their website information, is available in the AMC Listing and
Tripod Listing in our Resource Directory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AMC Theaters has added Tripod Captioned Films to their website. Now
you obtain show times a full 7 days in advance for the open
captioned
showing of a popular film in your area at an AMC Theatre.
There are several ways to access the site:
1) Go directly to the AMC site: http://www.amctheatres.com
2) Go to the Tripod Captioned Films site; find the film you wish to
see: http://www.tripod.org. After you find the film go back to the
Captioned Films home page and go to theatre links. Click on "Links
to theatres" and then find AMC Theatres.weblink.
Once you get to the AMC site, choose the area in which you live in
(i.e. Los Angeles) Now choose the specific theatre where the Tripod
Captioned Films is playing (i.e. Burbank Media Center 8). Then click the
film title you know is booked at the theatre and then the day. The open
captioned Showtime will be designated by an asterisk (*).
Remember, the times will only be listed for the 7 days in advance and
they will be updated each day.
We know that this added benefit will be of tremendous help to all of
our TCF patrons. Our sincerest "Thanks!!" to AMC for their
continued support of Tripod Captioned Films!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2004
You may be aware of a class action lawsuit regarding captioning in
the Washington, DC area. The suit was initiated by deaf and hard of
hearing people against two large movie theater chains. A proposed
settlement has just been reached, and it will, if approved, greatly
increase the availability of captioning in the Washington, DC area.
While the theater chains admitted no wrongdoing, they did agree to add
Rear Window captioning capabilities to several theaters and to pay
plaintiffs' attorneys' fees.
This result will hopefully encourage theaters throughout the country
to provide more captioned movies.
Here's a brief summary of the Notice of Proposed Settlement. For a
more comprehensive summary, please point your browser to http://www.lawyers.com/simeoneandmiller/MovieTheaterSettlement.jsp
The plaintiffs claim that the two movie theater chains, AMC
Entertainment, Inc. ("AMC") and Loews Cineplex Entertainment
Corporation ("Loews"), are violating the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) by failing to make movies accessible to people
with hearing loss.
The settlement calls for each chain to add Rear Window Captioning (RWC)
capabilities to one screen in each of six theaters in the Metro
Washington, DC area within 2 years after the court approves the
settlement agreement, and to install RWC capabilities for one screen in
any newly built theaters. The settlement also requires AMC and Loews to
advertise the RWC movies in both newspapers and movie websites. Finally,
the settlement calls for AMC and Loews to pay $260,000 for Plaintiffs'
attorneys' fees and expenses.
The court will provide an opportunity for people to comment on the
proposed settlement and will conduct a Fairness Hearing to determine if
the proposed settlement is fair and reasonable. The Fairness Hearing is
scheduled for April 1st, and written statements from those who oppose
part of all of the proposed settlement are due by March 12. Following
the Fairness Hearing, the court will decide whether or not to approve
the proposed settlement.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
December
2006
Impaired
not accommodated, Arizona says
Arizona
is suing one of the nation's largest theater chains, accusing it of
discrimination against those with visual and audio impairments. In a
lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, the state Attorney
General's Office charges that AMC Entertainment Inc. is violating laws
that require places of public accommodation to ensure that people with
disabilities are not excluded. The lawsuit says AMC does not offer a
sufficient number of movie screens that provide captioning for the deaf
and descriptive audio services for the blind. Full
Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 2007
Thanks to a new device developed specifically for
the Adler Planetarium, hearing-impaired patrons now can enjoy theater
programs at the museum. The PDA-type device allows for simultaneous closed
captioning and film viewing, theater manager Mark Webb said. "We needed a
system that we could update ourselves and that could handle multiple
programs," Webb said. "This system has been used before, but this is the
first time it's being used in a situation where there is more than one
show at a time," he said. The three shows now at the planetarium are
Egyptian Nights: Secrets of the Sky Gods, Black Holes: The Other Side of
Infinity and TimeSpace. Adler staffers create captions for the films and
time them so they are synchronized with the soundtrack. "It sounds more
difficult than it is," Webb said.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
December 2007
I don't know what it was about this article, but
it really set me off. It's a pretty upbeat story of a woman who wanted to
have access to movies, so she set out to raise $12,500 to donate to a
movie theater so they could install Rear Window Captioning. The vast
majority of movie theaters do NOT provide any access for people with
hearing loss. But I guess it took the actions of this woman to make me
realize just how wrong this whole situation is.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2008
Every time I see a commercial for "Juno" on TV I'm
reminded that I need to wait about six more months until I see it. I was
born profoundly deaf, so if I see a movie in the theater, it's exactly
like watching a TV program on mute. Usually I wait it out and buy the film
on DVD and enjoy the captioning or subtitled feature. Current laws require
all DVDs and TV shows of a national scale to be captioned as part of the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Because of this law, physically
handicapped people have wheelchair access to all movie theaters and have
designated parking spots in lots that exceed a certain size.
Unfortunately, making the movies in theaters accessible to the deaf and
hard-of-hearing community is not as simple as providing handicapped
access.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2009
For most cinema buffs, silent movies went out with
the Coolidge administration eight decades ago. But for film fans who are
hard of hearing, today's theaters offer little beyond an indecipherable
silence. Captioned showings remain rare, and existing technology that
would allow attendees to read along at their seats is rarely used. Now, a
small group of Washington residents hopes to change that through a lawsuit
filed earlier this month in King County Superior Court. As others have
around the nation, the lawsuit's proponents claim that most King County
theaters are violating disability laws by failing to make the movies
accessible to people with limited hearing.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 2009
We've been following the activities of Wash-CAP for some time now, and
it looks like they're really starting to make things happen. For those who
don't know the group, they are working to ensure that captioning is
provided in a variety of venues in Washington State.
Wash-CAP founder John Waldo recently commented on the Arizona movie
captioning case, in which the decision was that movie theaters are not
required to provide captioning. Wash-CAP filed a friend-of-the-court brief
urging the Appeal s Court to reverse. Read John's comments on the
significance of the brief filed by the US Department of Justice at http://tinyurl.com/ce32b2.
The other interesting Wash-CAP news concerns the suit they have filed
to force selected theaters in the Seattle area to provide captioned
movies. The Seattle "Post-Intelligence" newspaper just published an
article about the lawsuit at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/400352_movies17.html
- be sure to click on the "SoundOff" link at the bottom of the article to
read people's response to the article. I think you'll be amazed! I was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2009
On Saturday, Scott Simser bought a ticket to see
the matinee showing of I Love You, Man, at the Kanata AMC theatre. He
settled into the third row from the main aisle in cinema five, and
adjusted the rearview mirror-type device in the seat's cupholder. A
teleprompter on the back wall of the cinema was reflected in the
contraption, showing the captions for the movie without obscuring Simser's
view of the screen. Simser is deaf, and the technology, called Rear Window
Captioning (RWC), is the only way he can enjoy movies on the big screen.
Before he went to the AMC on March 21, it had been nine years since he was
in a theatre. When he was living in Toronto, he watched a James Bond film
at a Famous Players. "I wrote a letter to Famous Players, asking for
captioning, but nothing happened within six months," he said, "and so I
started a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission in September
of 2000." Two other deaf people joined Simser in his campaign, and they
added a few more Hollywood film companies to the grievance. Two years ago,
a settlement was reached.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2009
Who wants to pay a small fortune to sit in a movie
theater snacking on high-calorie popcorn, unable to pause the action for a
bathroom break, watching a film that's going to come out on DVD in several
months anyway? I do! Because I'm deaf, I couldn't enjoy most movies in
theaters until recently. Now I can, thanks to AMC Loews Waterfront, which
has introduced to the Pittsburgh area something called Rear Window
Captioning. As much as I love movies, it's painful to sit through one
without understanding everything. It's no fun if everyone is laughing and
I missed the joke. Waiting for movies to come out on DVD sometimes feels
like an eternity. Many movies have special effects that are better seen on
a big screen. And when my girlfriends talk about going to see a movie
together, I feel left out when I can't join them.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2010
The lawyers have written their legal briefs, and
we hope that by the end of next month, we'll know whether a Washington
court agrees with us that our state Law against Discrimination requires
movie theaters to show captioned films. Oral argument is scheduled for
Friday, April 16, on cross-motions filed by Wash-CAP and by the five
corporate entities that operate movie multiplexes in the Seattle area. Our
motion is for partial summary judgment. We want the court to declare that
under Washington state law, movie theaters are required to do whatever is
"reasonably possible in the circumstances" to show captioned films that
are understandable and therefore accessible to people with hearing loss of
such a magnitude that the volume-enhancing Assistive Listening Devices
offered by the theaters are insufficient. Should the court issue such a
ruling, we would then undertake discovery into the economic aspects of
movie exhibition and determine how much captioning each of the theater
defendants can due before the cost becomes an undue burden.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
March 2010
Doremi Cinema is introducing the new CaptiView
Closed Caption Viewing System for hearing-impaired movie audiences. The
CaptiView system transmits and receives AES-128 encrypted closed captions
on a wireless band frequency. With an 80-meter signal range, CaptiView can
be used from any seat in the house (unlike existing "mirror-image" systems
that limit seat selection). The CaptiView system consists of a small, OLED
display on a bendable support arm that fits into the theatre seat
cupholder. The easy-to-read screen is equipped with a rechargable Lithium
Ion battery that lasts up to 16 hours per charge. The high-contrast
display comes with a privacy visor so it can be positioned directly in
front of the movie patron with minimal impact or distraction to
neighboring patrons. CaptiView is economically priced to allow the cinema
owner to outfit 100% of the multiplex. It runs on the existing Doremi
digital cinema server, so no additional hardware is required. It supports
SMPTE and Cinecanvas packages, and can support up to four languages
simultaneously. Learn more at booth 1921.
More . .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 2010
Bainbridge Cinemas, a locally owned five-screen
complex on Bainbridge Island, Washington, has agreed with the Washington
State Communication Access Project (Wash-CAP) to begin showing
closed-captioned films on a regular basis this fall. Bainbridge Cinemas
will equip one of its five auditoriums to show captioned films using the
Rear Windows Captioning system. Once Bainbridge Cinemas installs the
necessary equipment, it will rotate its films through that auditorium, so
that patrons will be able to see two captioned films per week. This
rotation plan should mean that most if not all of the movies that
Bainbridge Cinemas shows and for which captions are available will
actually be shown in captioned form during the first two or three weeks of
a film's release. All showings will be captioned.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 2010
I'm all for anything that makes it easier for
people with hearing loss to understand movies, and captioning has made
that possible. I support both open captioned movies (captions are part of
the film and typically display at the bottom of the screen) and movies
using the Rear Window system (captions appear on a plexiglass device that
the viewer can position under the screen). I've never tried a handheld
device, but I've heard from people who have that constantly having to
refocus from the distant movie to the close device quickly causes
eyestrain. I imagine it may be more of an issue for us older folks than
for those who are younger. Be that as it may, a company is developing a
captioning application for the iPhone and Droid that has the potential to
make captioning available at a greater number of movies.
More information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 2010
A subcommittee of the Society of Motion Picture
and Television Engineers/SMPTE has worked for many years now to develop a
standard for the inclusion of subtitling/captioning data in digital cinema
packages (DCP), as well as inclusion of description as an audio track in
the DCP. The Media Access Group at WGBH has participated from the
beginning in this committee work. WGBH's work on this effort was funded by
the U.S. Department of Education from September of 2003 to August 2006.
WGBH continues to work on ensuring access to digital cinema, and will do
so until the nation's transition to digital cinema is complete. In October
of 2009, the standard was finalized for open and closed caption, and open
and closed subtitle data in the DCP (how to insert it into the DCP and how
it will play out with external devices.) In April, 2010, a movie industry
standard for how to recognize and play out captioning files from DCPs
across various brands of digital cinema servers was finalized, and a
demonstration of beginning support for the standard took place. While
there is still some work to be done before all the manufacturers support
the new standards, support has been rolling out and should be completed by
April 2011.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
December 2010
A column in this morning's San Jose (Cal.) Mercury
News takes another sympathetic look at the lawsuit filed last week in
Oakland by the Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA) and two
individuals against Cinermark theaters.
Author Patty Fisher recounts the frustration
people with hearing loss face when trying to go to the movies. Her
conclusion: with 36 million Americans having some degree of hearing loss,
and that number climbing rapidly, the theaters ought to be doing whatever
is required to get people away from their DVD viewers and into the
theaters.
Her conclusion mirrors mine. The movie theaters
are doing everything possible to create an experience that can't be
duplicated at home -- witness the push for 3D movies. Yet they ignore the
needs of those of us who are at home with our captioned DVDs by necessity
rather than by choice.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 2011
As previously reported, the federal Department of
Justice is considering adopting a regulation that would require movie
theaters to show half of their movies with closed captions. Because
Congress gave the DOJ the authority to adopt regulations interpreting the
portion of the Americans with Disabilities Act that applies to movie
theaters, a DOJ regulation would become the law of the land, and for that
reason, getting it right is really important.
We were pleased to see DOJ finally getting
involved with the critical issue of movie captioning. That said, though,
we don't think the proposal for 50% access phased in over five years got
it even close to right. In our opinion, there is simply no reason why the
major corporate theater owners cannot equip every one of their theaters to
show captions for all movies that have had captions prepared. We also
think the five-year phase-in is unnecessary, since the major theater
chains intend to fully convert to digital projection in far less time, and
can easily equip their theaters to show captioned movies at the time they
convert to digital.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2011
We're thrilled to learn that two of the three
largest movie theater chains in the US have committed to providing
captioning in all their theaters. We're not so sure about the captioning
equipment choices they've made. Here are the systems being considered.
The
CCS by USL, Inc. being tested by Regal
The CaptiView system
by Doremi Cinemas, LLC, selected by Cinemark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
September 2011
Sony is hard at work building a special pair of
glasses for cinema-goers that will display subtitles to the wearer without
the words having to appear on the screen. For hearing-impaired cinephiles,
the glasses will enable them to pop down to any screening rather than
having to schedule their lives around special subtitled showings. "What we
do is put the closed captions or the subtitles onto the screen of the
glasses so it's super-imposed on the cinema screen, so it looks like the
actual subtitles are on the cinema screen," explains Sony Digital Cinema,
Tim Potter.
Full Story
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
October 2011
The state’s largest movie chain will outfit
virtually off its theaters with equipment designed to help those with
hearing and sight problems, including those who are totally deaf or blind.
In a consent decree filed late Thursday in U.S. District Court, Michael
Bowers, president of Harkins Theaters, agreed to install closed caption
and descriptive video systems in half of its 25 theaters it operates in
Arizona by this coming June 15. And the balance of its theaters will have
the equipment by Jan 15, 2013. Only the aging Harkins Arcadia 8 theater,
which the company plans to close, and its IMAX theater in Tempe, where
there is not yet compatible equipment, will be exempt.
Full Story
