Meet Catherine Hetherington, who is campaigning for more subtitles in cinemas

An excellent plan! I’m in! I want to see movies with my son (hearing) and enjoy them with him.

This story shows why I hsven’t been to the cinema in years! This doesn’t really bother me when films end up on DVD anyway, so you can relax at home and watch for free.

I can see where you are coming from Catherine, but I can also see where cinemas are coming from too. There is indeed no demand for subtitles, due to lack of demand in each area and this will not increase given the numbers of deaf people living in the same vicinity as each cinema.

The other problem is how to bring about “equality” in the cinema, when the vast majority of people do not need subtitles? If every film was subtitled would this drive away the majority of the audience? It is a big questiom and if the answer is “yes” then the cinemas lose thousands in revenue!

I feel this is one particular area where the equality act is absolutely impossible to apply as the supply and demand chain is a powerful medium. All the majority have to do in the face of subtitled films is to walk away from it and find one that is not subtitled.

Once that happens the whole industry would collapse and although this is most unfortunate for deaf people it is not something we can manipulate to suit us.

Equality laws maybe powerful but in the face of the majority, where cinema is concerned, this law has as much power as a “bowl of custard!”

The major film companies pay me to promote subtitled shows in cinemas. If anyone’s interested, here’s how it works:

UK film distributors spent almost £500,000 on subtitle (and audio description) tracks last year for almost 200 films. The larger distributors ensure that tracks are included with all of their films. The top 50 box office films usually include access tracks on release date.

All cinemas can screen almost all popular films with subtitles. Every week around 450 cinemas nationwide, including almost all multiplex cinemas, provide around 1,500 accessible, English-language subtitled/captioned shows, specifically for customers with hearing loss and their friends/families. Most also provide audio described shows, for people with sight loss. Around 60 cinema companies provide a regular ‘accessible’ service. They’re all listed here, on the website I manage: http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/films.html

I’d suggest that people contact cinemas in their area and simply ask that they provide accessible, subtitled shows of popular films, at convenient days and times. Request that the cinema does its best to provide an equal service, to enable its customers with hearing loss to enjoy the cinema experience with family and friends. Accessible cinema screenings via subtitles & audio description provide social benefits such as equality, inclusion and community integration.

Popular films delivered to cinemas USUALLY contain a subtitle track. Cinemas can switch this subtitle track on or off, like a DVD player or Sky box, BUT cinemas prefer to SCHEDULE subtitled shows in advance, so everyone knows a particular show is subtitled. Cinemas prefer NOT to provide subtitles ‘on demand’ because that show will have been listed in the foyer and on the internet as NOT subtitled, and people may have already booked tickets to see that show without subtitles. If subtitles appeared, some people would demand a refund (because some people don’t need them, so prefer NOT to see subtitles on the cinema screen).

To cater for the needs of customers with hearing loss, UK cinemas provide separate, on-screen subtitled shows. Because the number of cinema-goers that require subtitles for their film enjoyment is a fraction of the regular audience, these shows are less ‘economically viable’ than regular shows. This is reflected in attendance figures. Last year there were less than a half million admissions to English-language subtitled shows. A substantial figure, but less than 0.5% of last year’s 172m admissions. Although it’s estimated that almost ten million people in the UK have hearing loss, most are of an age where cinema is not a regular pastime. To provide a subtitled show a cinema may have to put purpose before profit, and forego extra income. For that economic reason, cinemas limit the number of subtitled shows they provide, which of course limits opportunities to attend. Off-peak, mid-week, daytime shows of any kind are usually poorly-attended (because most cinema-goers attend school, or have jobs). Providing subtitled shows at these times further limits the audience size. To cater for people with hearing loss, to enable them to participate in activities and spend money can be costly, simply because their numbers are limited. It’s generally accepted by service providers that to provide ‘access’ facilities – wheelchair spaces, ramps, disabled toilets/parking spaces, elevators, audio/text info – may not always be ‘economically viable’. (Though it may be less costly than the long-term economic impact of exclusion). 

Subtitled shows CAN be profitable. Recently, more than 550 people attended five subtitled ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ 3D shows at a London cinema (where the ticket price is more than twice the national average). 178 attended one mid-week 6pm show, six weeks into the run.

Because they’re ‘out of the ordinary’, separate ‘special’ shows can be more prone to scheduling or operational errors. Mistakes rarely happen – less than a half percent of the 1,500 weekly subtitled shows shows go wrong (a handful a week). But when it does go wrong it can be far more serious than when a ‘regular’ show goes wrong. If a show is cancelled, or subtitles not set to ‘on’ when they should be, people that depend on subtitles for their film enjoyment can’t just wait for the next show in an hour or so, or come back tomorrow, or next week. They will usually have only one or two chances to catch the film on the big screen. They may have travelled far and incurred costs.

US and Australian cinemas have recently advanced in the area of cinema access, by widely-adopting ‘closed’ caption/subtitle solutions – personal glasses or seat-mounted displays. These solutions render the captions/subtitles invisible to the general audience – only the wearer/user sees them. Utilising these solutions, all shows of all films (that have caption/subtitle tracks) can also be captioned/subtitled shows. All shows can be inclusive – accessible to customers with or without hearing loss. Cinemas can provide many more opportunities to attend. Fri/Sat evening shows can be provided. Smartphones can be used as ‘closed’ solutions, via a simple app (but as yet, no official infrastructure is in place to synchronise/stream a subtitle or AD track from a film playing on the cinema screen to a phone). 

The UK cinema industry has trialled and is currently investigating personal subtitle/caption solutions.

If personal solutions become available to UK cinema-goers, attendance to accessible shows should be far higher. Such solutions remove the need for separate shows, enabling cinemas to offer a vastly increased choice of films and showtimes. More opportunities to attend would ultimately result in better box office returns. Additional ticket sales may even cover costs of such a solution. Eventually, it would be seen as just another ubiquitous access facility – like beeping traffic crossings, bus audio announcements, lifts, disabled toilets, ramps, wheelchair spaces, disabled parking spaces etc. 

Personal solutions can also receive audio description (AD) tracks, via a standard headphone socket, enabling customers with sight loss to use their own, familiar, regular headphones to experience the isolated narration track, rather than the current choice of cinema-supplied, over-the-ear headphones (which can block out the ‘regular’ film soundtrack that’s delivered via cinema surround speakers). 

Any queries, please ask. Film companies pay me to promote accessible cinema, it’s my job to help!
Derek, YourLocalCinema.com
http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/films.html

Here’s the current ‘personal’ subtitle solutions, which are installed in many US and Australian cinemas:
http://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/cinema/products/captiview.html
and
https://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/mkt/digicinema/brochures/EntAccessGlasses-DI-0272_2.pdf

The UK cinema industry trialled them in London a few years ago. None were considered perfect. The Sony glasses have since been taken off the UK/Europe market.

The current ‘cinema subtitles’ process – foregoing extra income and severely limiting choice by providing separate, non-inclusive, segregated shows via ‘on-screen’ subtitles’ – is not sustainable. It severely limits box office. Some kind of ‘personal’ solution, such as glasses or displays, would provide people with hearing loss with many more opportunities to enjoy films at cinemas. More opportunities = more visits = more tickets and popcorn = more £££ for cinemas!

I wonder would it be possible to integrate a polarised strip along the bottom of the cinema screen, where subtitles streamed from the cinema server, ‘appear’ when viewed through inexpensive polarised glasses? Maybe a 3D glasses company such as RealD could enter this ‘access’ market, make use of its ubiquity in the screens/glasses arena? Or a cinema industry developed/approved smartphone app that automatically dims the phone and displays synced subtitles, whilst disabling recording, notifications etc? One year’s additional cinema admissions would probably cover all research, development and production costs of a solution. Ideally a solution that customers and cinemas were happy with – if that’s even possible? Discuss?

Derek, YourLocalCinema.com (disclosure – the film industry pays me to promote accessible cinema shows, increase audiences).
http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/films.html

Is it too much to ask to see a film at a reasonable time?

Deaf people have been messed about for too long so they have lost faith on cinemas. I do think cinemas really need to pull their fingers and start being proactive. It’s all very well messaging the cinemas as we dont get any replies from them and most of the time we get generic reply which isn’t good enough.

Do join the Facebook campaign “Accessible Cinema” at https://www.facebook.com/groups/captioncinemas/