In the US, any theater using digital projection must provide closed captioning devices, with a few exceptions. Of course whether or not the device works is another story, although failure to maintain the device is an ADA violation.
I have never seen a movie theater with open captions, but that may be do to where I have lived. I also notice that caption fish doesn’t come close to showing all the captioned movies or even theaters near me.
There have been many complaints over the years that theaters play the volume too loud.
Here in Canada, our major theatre chain has the cup-holder CC units in many theatres.
Interesting. Not seen those before.
Does that mean you have to look up at the screen for the movie and down at the display for the captions all the time? That would drive me bonkers.
No, the idea is that you use the bendy metal arm to postion the CC screen underneath the film, so the captions are in the same field of view.
What about focal plane? Won’t the eyes be constantly refocusing between far (screen) and near (captions)?
Yes, but you’ll be too busy worrying about the whole thing falling onto your neighbour’s lap to watch the movie anyway.
I don’t do caption. I can either watch a movie or I can read the book. I can’t read lips and captions at the same time
Sadly, lips aren’t always on screen to read.
In Australia
[/quote]# CaptiView: a raw deal for deaf cinema goers[/quote]
https://www.abc.net.au/rampup/articles/2013/01/09/3666873.htm
[/quote]So unpopular are the CaptiViews, that many in the deaf community refer to it as “CraptiView”.[/quote]
Fully agree. I tried it once. Never again. I actively resist going to the movies these days. A percentage of captioned sessions should be mandated in my opinion.
Interesting and such a shame.
I noted that Ms McKenzie said…
“The ongoing view from the industry is that, ‘patrons will be turned off by seeing captions’, and, ‘patrons will cease attending movies if OC is required’,” Deaf Australia chief executive Kyle Miers said.
“I have always challenged them to prove these statements, but they have not provided any evidence whatsoever.”
Well, she only has to turn to the UK for this evidence.
To be fair, those who hate subtitles are in the minority. A recent survey found only 10% were against them. Those who do complain though are a real upsetting turnoff when open subtitle screenings are already unreliable and hard to find as it is. In any case, hearing moviegoers in the UK can avoid open subtitled screenings by going at times when subtitles are not shown. And there are plenty of them!
We pay exactly the same as everyone else. How are we “effectively paying extra”?
Strange. It’s exactly the opposite in this country in every city I’ve lived (which have been many, all across the country). Theater showings in the evening are most expensive, during peak times, and are less expensive during the day to try to draw customers during non-peak times.
And sorry, legs, IMO, it’s a violation of artistic integrity to impose open captions on a film. Personally, I would endure hardship, assisted listening devices, CraptiViews, anything to appreciate a film in its original form. But I’m weird that way about movies. Probably most people don’t share my views, as your statistics revealed.
Strange here too, I thought it was the same price regardless.
So I just checked online one of our local cinemas, Cineworld, selected a 2D movie and it’s standard price is £11.90 no matter what time you want to watch, be it afternoon, early or late evening. As I’ve said before, I very rarely go to the cinema anymore but having looked online, it doesn’t seem it’s changed around here. Maybe the cinemas in Weston-Super-Mud where Dave lives are different.
Open subtitles IS appreciating a film in it’s original form IMO. No different to watching a film on TV with subtitles.
I don’t go to the movies. They run the volumes at ear damaging levels. Even ‘quiet’ dramas can run at 100 dba and action movies can easily get to 120 dba.
I need to preserve as much of my limited hearing as I can. Nothing over 85dba get to my ears if I can help it.
Bob
I used to go see the movies many years ago. After a new movie is released, l wait about 6 months or longer when the movie is on dvds. I will wait until l get the new aids that should be better at reducing very loud sounds played in movie theatres.
From an article in the Oct. 26 NY TImes on the history of PBS TV, a short history of captions: ## '45. An accessibility breakthrough.–
'“The French Chef” not only revolutionized cooking shows, it also made history on a more technical front when, in 1972, it became the first television show to feature open captioning — captions that are always onscreen — making it accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. The following year, as ABC began rebroadcasting its national news program on PBS just five hours after it originally aired, it became the first timely and accessible news program. As smaller tests of the closed captioning system (which allows viewers to toggle captions on or off) proved successful, PBS engineers worked to create caption editing consoles, encoding equipment and prototype decoder boxes. And on a Sunday evening in March 1980, closed captioning went mainstream. Deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers got their chance to enjoy some of the most popular programming on television, getting to choose among “The ABC Sunday Night Movie,” “Disney’s Wonderful World” on NBC and “Masterpiece Theater.” Julia Carmel.
I am an avid & obsessive movie watcher. But, now have a dedicated movie room, a big-big screen monitor, high-speed streaming, subscriptions to all the movie channels, subtitles & TV connector, and a great chair. So, I am all set. I do sometimes miss the action of opening-night with the crowds and sounds and smells but Covid-19 has ended all that for now - maybe forever.
CaptionFish seems like a great idea. Has the service died? I’ve never been able to access the website.
I’ve been searching the internet to find any open caption movies within 100 miles of eastern Kentucky and have been unsuccessful…
I cannot believe it hasn’t caught on.