TV and Film

Making your films accessible

If you are responsible for commissioning video, make sure you reach all of your target audience by producing versions with:

subtitling
signed inserts in British Sign Language
audio-description

For more information on each of these features and how to include them in your brief for online and offline presentation, download our guide.

Subtitles

ODI research shows that one million people rely on television subtitles, and a further four million use them regularly. Many major TV channels already subtitle 80 per cent of their output.

British Sign Language (BSL)

Signed inserts in BSL produced primarily as TV fillers (content that appears between scheduled programmes) could also be used on a website. This is something you can plan in during your integrated communications planning stage. Planning early will save you time and cost you less.

Audio-description

Producing audio description for your TV or film content increases the impact of your message on people who are blind or have visual impairments. It can convey facial expressions and significant gestures to the listener, which would otherwise be missed.

Getting airtime for your campaign

Consider targeting disability-related factual television programmes as part of your media strategy.‘See Hear’ is a flagship BBC TV programme for deaf people and those with hearing impairments.

Resources

Commissioning accessible video (PDF, 10 pages, 800 KB)

Explore

Beyond the Office for Disability Issues

BBC See Hear website

Page last reviewed: 04 November 2010