ARTS COUNCIL ATTACHMENT
Accessibility Consultation with the Pelican Project
- Session led by Phil Kingslan John; participants Sam, Georgia, Sheena, Nicky, Izzy, Charlie, Ben & Nicole
- Four of Swords is looking to investigate live streaming theatre that can be accessed digitally and remotely; something that is different from watching a film and is accessible to as many people as possible
Ways in which using technology can assist with accessibility
- Voice notes: holding down one button to send efficient messages as opposed to texting
- Predictive text to speed up writing messages
- Facetime/Whatsapp faster than writing messages
- Using tablets for entertainment
- Linking handheld devices up to TV
- Watching productions and virtual interactive performances without having to navigate the live environment/during lockdowns
- Audiobooks for accessing stories when literacy is challenging
- Learning scripts from using programmes that can read words out loud
- Alexa – to play songs, listen to a radio station, listen to news headlines
Can be used by users with electronic talkers and understands different speech patterns well - Electronic talkers for watching tv or films, listening to music, telling jokes, etc.
Issues with accessing technology
- Needing time and space to do a lot of practice
- Needing a bigger screen for visual impairments
- Cost of data to access the internet on the move
- Ben’s electronic talker: not robust so can’t use it in transit or in the rain
Use of subtitles
- Not useful for users with literacy barriers
- Not useful for users with visual impairments
- Audio description is often more useful
Challenges following the action with visual impairments
- Portable vision impairment = difficult to focus directly on a thing
- Difficult to focus on and follow fast-moving action
- One 4OS idea is to give the viewer the ability to choose when to cut to a different angle: Georgia agrees that this could be useful for her
Duration of films & programmes
- With visual impairments such as portable vision impairment, the additional effort required to focus means that it’s hard to concentrate on long films or programmes
- 30-40 minute programmes are better than long films, or watching a film over a few nights
- Shorter episodes of 15 mins can be useful
- Ability to pause when needed is important
- BUT if it’s something really interesting, it can be engaging for longer (e.g. live shows)
Other engagement techniques
- Music at the start or in the tv programmes can draw you in
Difference in experience between live theatre and remote watching
- Immersive and all around you = more engaging, able to watch for longer
- Physical theatre with less speech – banter and slapstick – is engaging and easier to process for some viewers
- In a live situation it can be stressful trying to navigate other physical aspects (e.g. Georgia talks about trying to keep calm and not fall out of her seat)
- With some processing conditions, viewers can have difficulty with finding things too real and need to know the story first so that they know what’s coming next
- Companions can help, e.g. family members who know to forewarn and remind that it is not real
- Issues with jumpiness because of visual impairment, not seeing people until they are too close
- Georgia comments that she enjoys the theatre experience – likes the noise and excitement – but struggles with it for the above reasons
Audio barriers
- When tired visually, can entertain self with audiobooks and music
- Wearing headphones makes sound slightly clearer
- Difficulties of headphones for users who move around a lot – need to be wireless
- Shared vs private experience: the choice of whether to share what you are listening to, or to keep it private/not impact on those around you
- Sharing music via speakers is difficult remotely e.g. on Zoom
Augmented reality: 360 degree films or ‘perspective of an actor’ experiences (e.g. RSC clip) – are these effective? What are the barriers?
- Issue: needing a fast connection to watch high resolution recordings
- Use of mouse or arrow keys: alternatives are joysticks, or apps where you can connect it to a handheld device and use touch screen to drag it
- Another technique is moving phone around to move view, either on its own or with goggles
- If you haven’t got good sensory integration, this could be very disorientating, especially balance issues – need to get used to it
Perspective of being an actor: RSC clip
- Does it lend anything extra to that scene?
- Easier to have control of the camera so that you can look away from the action when needed
- But can get lost and not know where to focus – might get stuck and have to figure out how to get back to the action
- Issues with controlling the movement with coordination difficulties e.g. dyspraxia, cerebral palsy
- Camera following action might be easier – would be less disorientating because you can focus your attention on the looking, not the moving
- Suggestion: one camera angle, but following character round
- Knowing story well in advance can also help
Lion King stage show example
- Choosing what you look at is useful
- Problems with being scared in really immersive parts?
In terms of experiencing a full story (no matter the length) – would you enjoy it?
- Depends on the context of the performance
- Something like a big shiny musical would work; something like Macbeth would be perhaps too dark (subject wise)
- 3D cinema: people found it annoying after a while – wearing glasses over glasses – perhaps it would feel the same
- Better for shorter things?
- Not shared experience – a better equivalent would be to wear 3D glasses or similar so everyone is immersed in the same way
- Some users would still prefer to watch in private so they could pause when needed, so this wouldn’t necessarily work at a live show
- Silent discos: shared but not – could that be applied to shows?
- Choose your own adventure version? E.g. watch it from POV of different character