o_0

[reddragdiva]

I work for a company that makes music videos for deaf people.

Comments

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

i've seen those. the people sign along, and dance. badly. i don't understand the point...

[reddragdiva]

The point appears to be to fill an OFCOM quota rather than to be of much use to anyone. The signers (the ones who aren't deaf themselves) really hate doing them too.

[wendolen.livejournal.com]

That's a shame -- the ones I saw while I was there, a few of the signers really seemed to be rocking out. I found them weird but kind of charming.

[reddragdiva]

They hate quota-filling when they could be doing something of any use.

[wendolen.livejournal.com]

Well, that I understand.

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

oh, that's rather a relief. i was afraid i was missing some important deaf-culture thing that made signing and dancing in front of someone singing and dancing considerably more enriching than just having subtitles.

[shamus9999.livejournal.com]

Funded by blind people's television licence fees, I presume?

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

Goodness, they must be loud.

[ksta.livejournal.com]

yer, well, I had to subtitle the charlotte church show today. charlotte church and amy winehouse singing beat it. It was as bad as it sounds.

[ianthes.livejournal.com]

WHAT????

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

You mean... There's another sort of music video?

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

It wasn't until I read the comments that I realized you meant this literally.

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

Same here - my first thought was that it was some kind of metaphor for pointlessness (like suck.coms famous 'TV made by the blind' rant about the early days of the commercial internet)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

... they're played very loud so you can feel the noise ?

What a good excuse: "Yes, officer, this is very loud. That is because it is accommodating the disabled and not just because punks enjoy their music at volume levels to make the neighbours' ears bleed"

[sharplittlteeth.livejournal.com]

You know how they have those silent raves, where everyone wears headphones that are beamed the music from the DJ?

Some one should do something like that for deaf people. Imagine a gigantic floormat that's built on top of vibrators so it can transmit the rhythym up through the soles of the dancers' feet. Or an Architects of Air style bubble dome that wobbles and pulsates in time to the silent music.

[crypticgirl.livejournal.com]

There's already such a thing as a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3621529.stm>deaf rave</a>.

[crypticgirl.livejournal.com]

Ahem. What I meant to say was:

There's already such a thing as a deaf rave (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3621529.stm).

[sola.livejournal.com]

A bit freaky, isn't it? Let me tell you, closed captioning a music video is a truly baffling experience. Fortunately, one of the owners enjoys it and usually takes the job for himself, but rying to translate, caption and set properly to the beat a rap video is like trying to teach a square mile of oilslick beach sand how to be rocks again.

[blarglefiend.livejournal.com]

The results are, however, immensely appreciated by those who need them to follow along. Not sure how many completely deaf people would be watching music videos, but there are plenty of people who can kinda-sorta hear the music but can't comprehend the lyrics.

The signed videos just sound plain wacky, though.

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

i quite like the closed-captioned ones. it's interesting to see what the lyrics actually are - some of the things that sound deep when sung look so inane as pure text!
the signed ones are pretty high on my list of surreal late-night TV. right up there with shopping channels.

[reddragdiva]

You don't get the lyrics sent? Most in-house captioning and signing is immensely helped by having the actual script to hand, though of course it needs checking against what's actually ended up being said by the actors. The third-party stuff is a PITA.

[maxcelcat]

The majority of music videos are improved by turning the sound off.

In fact, the majority of music videos would also be improved by turning off the television completely and playing some of your old Kraftwerk records :-)

[sister-stella.livejournal.com]

Are they made for kids? Because I've seen kids' music videos that have somebody dancing and signing along with them. I can see the point for the kids so the deaf kids don't feel left out of the fun.

I've worked in a TAFE Disabilities Unit and not everybody who is legally blind is 100% blind. The same would be true for deaf people.

The deaf are getting quite active in promoting themselves as a community with a unique culture because they have to manage language differently to everybody else.

[jon-from-shef.livejournal.com]

For deaf people whose first language is signing and written english a poor second, I can see the signing is a good way in to the music.

I've been surprised by deaf people's interest and ability with music. It still astonishes me that somebody can learn to speak a langauge which they have never heard so that they can speak to hearing people and then learn to lip-read a language they have never heard so they can listen to us too! Miraculous really.

I was disappointed to find that my DVD of Abba didn't have english sub-titles as it made it harder to share with a deaf friend. I wonder how the signing works? It must be really hard to sign an english word-order to a rhythm. I hope the signers are paid well! :-)

Where can I get these videos?

[reddragdiva]

A lot of dancing and air guitar in the example I saw ;-)

[reddragdiva]

Oh, you can see them on one of the EMAP music channels on digital TV in the early hours of the morning. I'm not sure where you'd find a program schedule.

[jon-from-shef.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, air guitar! I have to try not to explode into air drum kit as I walk along with my earphones on. So uncool.

Not on DVDs then? :-(

[reddragdiva]

Not that I know of. EMAP put it on then to fill a quota under the impression that nobody will care.