As each year passes, the importance of enhancing accessibility for various digital content spreads worldwide. This is especially applicable to films, which are a source of communication and information, and should be accessible, available, inclusive, and affordable to all citizens without any discrimination. In response to the need, the Government of India has initiated efforts by publishing guidelines to ensure the content is accessible to all visually and hearing-impaired people, especially regarding movies and feature films released in theatres. And this year onwards, from January 1st, it’s mandatory for feature films submitted for prestigious events to include accessibility features such as closed captions and audio descriptions. Not aware of these guidelines? Let’s explore what, why, and how these guidelines will shape the theatrical experience of the cinemas for this unique population.
What are these guidelines?
Have you heard about the Guidelines of Accessibility Standards in the Public Exhibition of Feature Films in Cinema Theatres for Persons with Hearing and Visual Impairment? These are the guidelines issued on March 15th, 2024, by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) following the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, to carry forward the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of allowing people with impairments to experience film like the normal people.
The objectives of these guidelines are:
Establish the general principles for accessibility for feature films.
Identifying and addressing the barriers to making feature films fully accessible.
Introduce measures to ensure the accessibility of feature films screened for commercial purposes in theatres and cinema halls to impaired people.
Create an institutional framework to ensure fair monitoring and resolve conflicts unbiasedly.
Why are these guidelines implemented? According to a 2016 report, 2.68 crore people in India live with disabilities. Not only that, but these numbers do not include people with other disabilities, such as autism and ADHD, that are overlooked as disabilities in some medical diagnoses. Just imagine the situation: a significant portion of India cannot enjoy a regular movie like others in theatres or movie screenings because of accessibility issues.
The vision of the Hon'ble Prime Minister is that:
“Today, special attention is being given to opportunity and accessibility for Divyangjan. It is our endeavor to ensure that every individual in the country is empowered, an inclusive society is created, spirit of equality and cooperation enhances harmony in the society, and everybody progresses together as one.”
Although people with different disabilities may need different accessibility options, these guidelines are the first steps in welcoming this significant population into mainstream society.
What changes arise from the guidelines?
The guidelines released are already in effect from March 15th, 2024, and these are some of the changes that need to be implemented by the applicants for certification of films for theatrical release:
Multilingual films: Films that are released in more than one language should mandatorily have at least one accessibility feature (Closed captions [CC] or Open captions [OC] for hearing impaired and audio descriptions [AD] for visually impaired) within 6 months of implementation of these guidelines
Prestigious events: From January 1st, 2025, feature films submitted for events like the National Film Festival and the International Film Festival of India must mandatorily include closed captions and audio descriptions.
Other films: Any films certified to be released in theatres, including their trailers and teasers, must include CC/OC and AD within two years of implementing these guidelines.
Mobile App Accessibility: Film producers would integrate the accessibility features in any app, allowing users to access these features on their own devices during movie screenings in theatres.
Content Descriptors: Producers must display information about the accessibility features included in the movies (e.g., CC/OC and AD) to make viewers aware of them.
Film theatres: They shall provide these accessibility features within the two years of implementation of these guidelines.
What all needs to be followed under these guidelines?
The guidelines have been carefully drafted with input from all over the country to maintain specific accessibility standards. Let’s look at the guidelines for audio description and closed and open captioning.
Audio description Guidelines: Descriptions should be kept short to avoid disrupting the content.
Closed and Open Captioning Guidelines:
Accurate: The caption should match the spoken dialogue and include non-speech sounds such as doorbell ringing, etc.
Synchronized: Captions should be in sync with the spoken dialogue and displayed at the right speed for viewers to read easily.
Complete: Captions should run from the beginning till the end of the program.
Spelling and grammar: Accurate spelling and grammar must be followed in the captions, especially for the non-speech parts.
Position of captions: Captions should not block the visual, overlap, or stay away from the screen.
Case, italics, and underlining: Use mixed case (except for highlighting essential parts). For emphasis, provide italics instead of underlining the text.
Color: Captions should appear as white text on a black background.
For more information, you can refer to the guidelines here.
While the government is paving ways to ensure accessibility to all, it’s the duty of the people of the nation to follow the guidelines to help these special populations access and enjoy content like them. Timbel, with years of experience in subtitling movies and short films, follows these guidelines with the motto of ensuring accessibility to all and fostering greater inclusion.
Let’s join hands to ensure accessibility. Need captioning for the movie? Drop a mail at sales@timbel.net
Comments