THE RELATION BETWEEN GENRE AND AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE AUDIO DESCRIPTION OF TWO FILMS BY ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU: BIRDMAN (2014) AND THE REVENANT (2015)
Aantal woorden: 19 703
Margo Devlies Studentennummer: 01307022
Promotor: Prof. dr. Hildegard Vermeiren Copromotor: Prof. dr. Lieve Jooken
Masterproef voorgelegd tot het behalen van de graad van: Master in het Tolken (Nederlands – Engels – Duits)
Academiejaar: 2016 - 2017
THE RELATION BETWEEN GENRE AND AUDIO DESCRIPTION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE AUDIO DESCRIPTION OF TWO FILMS BY ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU: BIRDMAN (2014) AND THE REVENANT (2015)
Aantal woorden: 19 703
Margo Devlies Studentennummer: 01307022
Promotor: Prof. dr. Hildegard Vermeiren Copromotor: Prof. dr. Lieve Jooken
Masterproef voorgelegd tot het behalen van de graad van: Master in het Tolken (Nederlands – Engels – Duits)
Academiejaar: 2016 - 2017
VERKLARING I.V.M. AUTEURSRECHT De auteur en de promotor(en) geven de toelating deze studie als geheel voor consultatie beschikbaar te stellen voor persoonlijk gebruik. Elk ander gebruik valt onder de beperkingen van het auteursrecht, in het bijzonder met betrekking tot de verplichting de bron uitdrukkelijk te vermelden bij het aanhalen van gegevens uit deze studie.
Het auteursrecht betreffende de gegevens vermeld in deze studie berust bij de promotor(en). Het auteursrecht beperkt zich tot de wijze waarop de auteur de problematiek van het onderwerp heeft benaderd en neergeschreven. De auteur respecteert daarbij het oorspronkelijke auteursrecht van de individueel geciteerde studies en eventueel bijhorende documentatie, zoals tabellen en figuren. De auteur en de promotor(en) zijn niet verantwoordelijk voor de behandelingen en eventuele doseringen die in deze studie geciteerd en beschreven zijn.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the people who have helped me greatly during the writing process of this thesis and without whom writing this dissertation would not have been possible.
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Hildegard Vermeiren, who has helped me in order to find the appropriate literature and who has assisted me with helpful tips and feedback during the writing of my thesis.
Secondly, I would like to thank Dr Brecht de Groote for the language and grammar advice.
Thirdly, thank you to the respondents, who have taken the time to watch the two movies and answer a number of questions.
And finally, I would like to thank my family and friends, who have motivated and supported me during the whole writing process.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION ...... 1 2 AIMS AND METHODOLOGY ...... 5 3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ...... 9 3.1 Audio description: definition ...... 9 3.2 ADP and ADC guidelines ...... 10 3.3 Film genre ...... 11 3.3.1 Black comedy genre ...... 14 3.3.1.1 Birdman: Synopsis ...... 15 3.3.1.2 Birdman: Genre ...... 16 3.3.2 Adventure genre ...... 18 3.3.2.1 The Revenant: Synopsis ...... 19 3.3.2.2 The Revenant: Genre ...... 21 3.4 Audio description and genre ...... 22 4 BIRDMAN ...... 25 4.1 Analysis of the audio description ...... 25 4.1.1 Suffering ...... 25 4.1.2 Surroundings ...... 28 4.1.3 Open ending ...... 30 4.2 Experiences of the research group and control group...... 31 4.3 Conclusion ...... 34 5 THE REVENANT ...... 37 5.1 Analysis of the audio description ...... 37 5.1.1 Suffering ...... 37 5.1.1.1 Physical suffering ...... 37 5.1.1.2 Mental suffering ...... 41 5.1.2 Surroundings ...... 44 5.1.3 Open ending ...... 49 5.2 Experiences of the research group and control group...... 50 5.3 Conclusion ...... 53 6 GENERAL CONCLUSION ...... 57 7 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 61 8 APPENDICES ...... 63 8.1 Audio description Birdman...... 63 8.2 Audio description The Revenant ...... 75 8.3 Questionnaire Birdman – control group ...... 97 8.4 Questionnaire Birdman – research group ...... 99 8.5 Questionnaire The Revenant – control group ...... 103 8.6 Questionnaire The Revenant – research group ...... 105
Word count: 19 703
ABSTRACTS
Nederlands: Deze studie is gebaseerd op de hypothese dat elk filmgenre specifieke kenmerken heeft. Bijgevolg moet de audiodescriptie van een film rekening houden met deze genrekenmerken om ervoor te zorgen dat een blind publiek een gelijkaardige filmervaring kan hebben als een publiek dat kan zien. In deze studie wordt de audiodescriptie van twee films van Alejandro González Iñárritu geanalyseerd, namelijk Birdman (2014), een zwarte komedie, en The Revenant (2015), een avonturenfilm. Het doel is om na te gaan of de kenmerken van de zwarte komedie en de avonturenfilm voldoende worden weergegeven in de twee audiodescripties. Daartoe worden het begrip audiodescriptie, de bestaande richtlijnen voor audiodescriptie, het concept genre en de genrekenmerken van de zwarte komedie en de avonturenfilm eerst verder toegelicht. Daarna wordt de audiodescriptie van drie uitgekozen kenmerken die tot beide filmgenres behoren onderzocht. De gekozen kenmerken zijn de volgende: mentaal en/of fysiek lijden, indrukwekkende omgeving en een open einde. Uit de resultaten van de analyse blijkt dat de twee audiodescripties wel degelijk rekening houden met de genrekenmerken. Toch blijken een aantal aspecten voor verbetering vatbaar. Ten eerste moet de audiobeschrijver mentale aandoeningen explicieter vermelden. Ten tweede moet meer rekening gehouden worden met details die fysiek lijden weergeven. Bovendien moeten verschillende scenes even gedetailleerd beschreven worden. Ten derde moet de audiobeschrijver proberen de omgeving duidelijker te beschrijven. Ten vierde moeten de verschillende personages en hun relaties met elkaar zo vroeg mogelijk duidelijk gemaakt worden. (234 woorden)
Trefwoorden: audiodescriptie, zwarte komedie, avonturenfilm, genrekenmerken, Alejandro González Iñárritu
English: This study is based on the hypothesis that every film genre is characterised by a set of specific genre characteristics, and that these genre characteristics should be conveyed in the audio description of a movie, in order to guarantee that a visually impaired audience can have an experience of the movie that is similar to a sighted audience. This study examines the audio description of two movies by Alejandro González Iñárritu: Birdman (2014), a black comedy, and The Revenant (2015), an adventure movie. The goal of this study is to determine whether the characteristics of these genres are sufficiently rendered in the movies’ audio descriptions. To this purpose, first of all, the concept of audio description and existing audio description guidelines are discussed in greater detail, alongside the concept of genre and the genre characteristics of the black comedy and the adventure movie. The next section analyses the audio description of three chosen characteristics both movies have in common: mental and/or physical suffering, impressive surroundings, and an open ending. This analysis demonstrates that the two audio descriptions are generally careful to take into account the traits of their respective genres. However, a number of aspects may still be improved. Firstly, mental disorders should be described more explicitly. Secondly, aspects that indicate physical suffering should be conveyed more thoroughly. Moreover, scenes in which the protagonist is suffering should be described with an equal amount of detail. Thirdly, the surroundings should be communicated with a greater sense of detail. Finally, the different characters and their relationships should be identified as early as possible. (261 words)
Keywords: audio description, black comedy, adventure movie, genre characteristics, Alejandro González Iñárritu
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1 INTRODUCTION
Every year on the second Thursday of October, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) organise World Sight Day, which aims to raise global awareness of vision impairment and blindness as major public health issues. According to figures from the IAPB (2017), approximately 285 million people suffer from low vision and blindness worldwide, of whom 39 million are blind and 246 million suffer from either moderate or severe visual impairment.
People who suffer from visual impairment encounter numerous struggles in their daily lives. They face restrictions in their daily activities and exclusion from social and cultural events like plays, dance performances, and movies because of their disability. According to article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948), however, “everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts, and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits”. In addition, articles 21 and 30 of the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities state that disabled people should be afforded access to the internet, mass media, and such cultural activities as film, theatre, and television programmes.
A number of initiatives have been developed in order to help visually impaired people gain better access to these kinds of events and to lead a normal cultural life. One of these developments is audio description, which is a technique used to describe certain events, performances, sports games, or television programmes in as detailed and thorough a fashion as possible so that blind or impaired people can follow the visual aspects of the subjects and events portrayed through these media.
While audio descriptions greatly enhance the accessibility of several forms of multimedia, many television programmes, films, or other cultural activities do not yet receive audio descriptions. In response to their striking absence from the US media landscape, President Obama signed the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act (CVAA) in 2010. The Act requires modern communications technologies to be made accessible to everyone, regardless of visual impairment or hearing loss, and states that Commercial TV broadcast stations affiliated with big networks like CBS, Fox, and ABC should each provide 50 hours of audio description during each calendar quarter. The objective for 2016 was to increase the amount of audio-described content from 50 hours to 87.5 hours per quarter. The 2
Act ultimately aims to have all television programmes audio-described by 2020 (Descriptive Video Works, 2017). Even though the CVAA established a regulatory framework for the audio description of television programmes, there is not yet a legal framework in place to organise the audio description of films, plays, or those other cultural events that continue to lack an audio description.
A second problem in producing audio descriptions inheres in the generality and vagueness of the existing guidelines. There are barely any specific rules for the various types of visual media, like dance performances or film subgenres. The aim of the present study is therefore to analyse the audio description of two movies directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, namely Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015), by attending to the existing regulations and the ways in which the genre characteristics of the movies are reflected in their audio descriptions. Both movies belong to a different genre: Birdman (2014) is a black comedy, whereas The Revenant (2015) is an adventure film. These movies were chosen because, first of all, the link between audio description and these two genres has not been analysed yet.
In addition, while Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015) belong to different genres, the two movies have a few characteristics in common, as they were both directed and co-written by the same person. Moreover, it should be pointed out that the following features do not only frequently occur in Iñárritu’s movies; they are also often portrayed in both the black comedy and the adventure movie genre. Firstly, Iñárritu has a very visual filming style. He often combines silence with visual images to create resonant emotional statements (Ruimy, 11.06.2016). Therefore, impressive surroundings can be found in both movies: Birdman’s (2014) impressive views of Broadway and New York City and The Revenant’s (2015) views of sublime nature create a visual statement. Secondly, fear and suffering are recurrent topics in his movies (The Movie Snob, 23.02.2011). This is also the case with Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015): both protagonists need to overcome their surroundings and themselves in intense struggles in order to survive. Consequently, they suffer. Thirdly, due to this suffering, in the end, it is unclear whether the protagonist survives or not: many of Iñárritu’s movies have an open ending. It should be noted that despite these aforementioned similarities, both movies completely differ in their genres, storylines, settings and subjects. Given these differences, the characteristics the two movies share might need to be displayed in a different way in order to convey their divergence. 3
The objective of this thesis is to determine whether the specific genre characteristics of the black comedy and the adventure film are rendered effectively in their respective audio descriptions. Drawing on the scholarly literature on genre, this study employs as its central hypothesis the idea that every film belongs to a particular genre, and that every genre has its own specific genre characteristics. These characteristics will also have to be communicated in the movies’ audio descriptions in order to ensure an optimal accessibility to the visually impaired.
The first part of this dissertation will focus on the theoretical framework needed to examine the audio descriptions of both films. In the second section, the two movies will be analysed separately through the three characteristics they have in common. In addition, a general conclusion and possible suggestions for future guidelines concerning the two genres will be formulated. Chapter 2 will discuss the aims and methodology of this study in greater detail.
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2 AIMS AND METHODOLOGY
As already stated in the introduction, it is extremely important that blind and visually impaired people, too, should have the possibility to fully experience and enjoy several kinds of visual media, such as movies. In order to guarantee this, audio descriptions should therefore describe movies as thoroughly as possible. However, every film genre is believed to have its own specific characteristics and thus, these characteristics should also be portrayed in the audio description.
Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to examine whether the audio description of two movies, namely Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015), sufficiently describes the characteristics of the two genres the films belong to, respectively the black comedy genre and the adventure genre, and thus, examine whether visually impaired viewers can experience the movies in a similar manner as a sighted viewer.
In order to answer this question, this study consists of two sections: a theoretical section and a research section. First of all, the theoretical part will provide the information that is needed before analysing an audio description. In chapter 3, questions such as “What exactly is audio description?” and “Which guidelines exist?” will be answered. In addition, the notion of film genre and the problems which arise when categorizing films into genres will be described. Furthermore, the characteristics of the black comedy genre and the adventure genre will be analysed in greater detail, after which a short synopsis of both movies will be provided and the reasons as to why Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015) respectively belong to these genres will be discussed. Finally, a number of previous studies analysing the relationship between audio description and certain film genres like the fantasy genre will be mentioned.
In the research part of this thesis, the audio description of both movies will be analysed on the basis of a self-made transcription of the audio description of both movies. When a word or phrase was not understood clearly, this will be indicated as ‘###’ in the transcription. The transcription of each audio description will be included in this thesis as appendices in 8.1 and 8.2.
In order to analyse the films, the audio description of three characteristics which both movies have in common will be examined in greater detail. As already stated in the introduction, the chosen characteristics are the following: description of mental and/or physical suffering, description of the surroundings (nature versus city), and the description of an open ending. 6
These characteristics were chosen for several reasons. First of all, as already mentioned, both films portray these traits. Secondly, the three traits frequently occur in both the black comedy and the adventure genre, which will become clear in chapters 3.3.1 and 3.3.2. Thirdly, suffering, impressive surroundings, and an open ending are all characteristics that are very prominent in both movies and therefore, they are often discussed in the press by film critics.
For example, both mental and physical suffering are central subjects in The Revenant (2015). Kate Taylor from The Globe And Mail (08.01.2016, para. 9) writes the following about the pain that is felt by the protagonist: “DiCaprio is called on to depict the man's desperation, grief and searing anger almost entirely through his eyes and he does it with remarkable depth, turning Glass's endurance into a steadfastness both physical and emotional”.
Concerning the open ending in Birdman (2014), The NYC Movie Guru (17.10.2014, para. 3) says: “Birdman is an uneven, heavy-handed blend of darkly comic satire, drama and magical realism saved by strong performances and an ambiguous ending that leaves enough room for interpretation”. About the protagonist’s mental suffering, The Sun (02.01.2015, para.1) writes: “funny, surreal and moving portrait of a Hollywood star losing his mind, as he attempts to rekindle his career by staging a play on New York's Broadway”.
After analysis of the way in which the three characteristics are being communicated in both audio descriptions, a number of potential problems will be established. Subsequently, a control group and a research group, each consisting of two persons, will be asked to watch the two films, after which both groups will have to fill in a questionnaire with questions related to particular events that occur in the films. All four respondents are females from the UK and they are between 20 and 30 years old. None of them have seen either Birdman (2014) or The Revenant (2015) before. For further reference purposes, considering the respondents wish to remain anonymous, the two respondents pertaining to the control group will be named “respondent 1” and “respondent 2”. The respondents belonging to the research group will receive the numbers 3 and 4.
The first group, the control group, will watch the movies as they would watch any other movie, whereas the second group, the research group, will only listen to the audio description without watching the movies, as a visually impaired audience would do. Both groups will receive the same questions related to the films. In addition, the research group will get four extra questions about the audio description in general. Furthermore, before starting the movies, both groups will receive information about what audio description entails, the objective of the questionnaire, 7 the topic of the movies, as well as which particular characteristics they should pay attention to. This last piece of information in particular will be provided because both movies are quite long and it might be hard to remain focused all the time.
The questionnaire starts with a number of general questions, such as “What is the movie about?” and “Who is the protagonist?” in order to gauge the audience’s general understanding of the film and its plot. Afterwards, the questions focus more on the three chosen characteristics. The questions are composed in such a way that the answers will show whether the audience has understood certain parts of the film correctly and, in the case of the research group, whether the three characteristics were sufficiently described in the audio description. Moreover, if the respondents are not able to answer a question, they will be asked to indicate whether this is because they do not remember a certain part of the film or whether the audio description was not clear enough. That way, not being able to answer a question does not immediately equal an incomplete audio description. In addition, the number of questions is limited and they are not too detailed, considering the length of both movies and the fact that the two groups will watch the movies spontaneously. The questionnaires will also be included in this thesis as appendices 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6.
Subsequently, the answers of both groups will be compared to determine whether the research group had a similar movie experience as the control group. Moreover, the answers of the research group will either confirm or discard the potential problems that occurred from the analysis of the audio description. Finally, drawing on the results of the genre analysis, the audio description analysis and the answers of both groups, a number of suggestions related to possible audio description guidelines of black comedy and adventure films will be established and a general conclusion will be formulated.
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3 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
3.1 Audio description: definition
According to Disabled World (2017, Definition: Video Description), video description, also referred to as audio description, is a narration track which is added to visual media and for which the objective is to help blind or visually impaired people gain better access to these types of media. It should be noted that the term “visual media” does not only comprise television programmes and films, but for example also dance performances, theatres, visual arts, and operas. Disabled World (2016, Definition: Video Description) states that the description “consists of a narrator talking through the presentation and describing what is happening on the screen or on stage during the natural pauses in the audio, and sometimes also during dialogues if deemed necessary”.
As previously mentioned, there are various kinds of visual media. Depending on the type of the source material, audio descriptions can either be live or taped. Live audio descriptions are mainly used in order to describe single events, such as sports games or theatre performances. In such cases, a lot depends on the technical possibilities of the venue or the surroundings where the event is held, since the equipment necessary to produce an audio description needs to be available. For visual media types like films, television programmes, or series, taped audio descriptions are used. In this case, an additional audio track is added to the original recording (Vermeiren, 2017, pp. 3-4).
Even though audio descriptions can be used for a variety of different television programmes, surveys conducted by the Audetel Consortium1 have shown that certain television formats, such as movies, comedy programmes, and soaps benefit most from audio descriptions. Moreover, visual descriptions are also advantageous for documentaries and wildlife programmes. News programmes, game- and chat shows, on the other hand, are considered to have sufficient spoken content so that blind or visually impaired people can easily follow. However, it should be noted that individuals have different expectations and needs with regard to audio descriptions. For example, people who were born blind do not have a visual memory and therefore, they have a
1 The Audetel Consortium is an initiative founded in 1991 by the ITC (International Test Commission). With the financial support of the European Commission, the initiative explores issues related to broadcasts of audio-described programmes in Europe (The Independent Television Commission, 2000, p. 5). 10 completely different experience from those people whose visual impairment occurred through a degeneration of sight through time (ITC, 2000, p. 6-7).
Moreover, it should also be kept in mind that not only blind or visually impaired people benefit from an audio description: it can also help children, foreign language learners, people with a mild disability, and people with autism, since the additional information provided in the video description can help them gain a better understanding of what is happening (Described and Captioned Media Program, 2017, para. 1).
Considering the large variety of visual media types and the fact that, based on their situation, individuals seek different levels of information and detail from descriptions, it becomes difficult to implement specific guidelines. Yet, a number of general guidelines can be formulated. They will be discussed in the following paragraph.
3.2 ADP and ADC guidelines
Audio description guidelines provide rules on how audio descriptions should be produced and what information they should include. These guidelines are not formulated by one single central organisation: they are usually different from country to country. For example, in the United States, the guidelines of the Audio Description Project (ADP) and the Audio Description Coalition (ADC) are usually followed. In the United Kingdom, OFCOM (formerly called the International Television Coalition (ITC)) provides regulations. Even though the general guidelines are usually similar, this thesis will mainly focus on description guidelines drawn up by the APD and ADC, since the two films that are being analysed were produced in the United States.
The guidelines provided by the ADP and ADC focus on two aspects of audio description: first of all, what to describe and secondly, how to describe it. Concerning the question “What to describe?”, it is a general rule to define everything which is necessary to understand what is happening. This not only includes the description of who is speaking or who is on screen, but also the description of lightning, colours, furniture, objects, facial expressions, movements, and unidentified sounds. The information that is shared largely depends on both the amount of time available and the relevance of the information in order to understand everything. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the description should not confuse, distract, or mislead the audience and that, unless it is absolutely necessary, it should not interfere with any dialogues or music: 11 the audio description should not draw away attention from the presentation (Audio Description Project, 2003, What To Describe).
Moreover, when too much information is given, the visual description might come across as didactic and patronising. However, this view differs depending on the age group of the audience: young people who are visually impaired usually feel more independent and claim they do not want to be treated differently from the rest of society. In their opinion, audio descriptions should be short and precise (ITC, 2000, p. 7).
Secondly, the ADP also tries to provide an answer to the question “How to describe it?”, both in terms of language and in terms of style and delivery. The general guideline is to write in an objective, yet descriptive, accurate, concise, and clear way. Furthermore, the language use should match the scene, event or show that is being described: the delivery should be harmonized with the content of the presentation. Moreover, the term “we see” should be avoided. In addition, offensive or racist terms should not be used (Audio Description Project, 2003, How To Describe).
In short, an audio description should adhere to three general rules. First of all, the video description should only provide information about what is currently visible on screen. Secondly, the describer should to remain objective: he or she should not give his or her own personal vision of what is happening. Thirdly, the description should, if possible, not interfere with dialogues or music.
3.3 Film genre
As previously mentioned, audio description guidelines are rather general. Rules on how to describe films, sports events, dance performances, or series, for example, are almost non- existent. In this aspect, Dosch & Benecke (2004) form an exception, as their monography is one of the few literary works that provide a number of guidelines on the audio description of movies. However, rules on how to describe certain characteristics of specific movie genres such as comedies, fantasy movies, musicals, and so on are not provided. Therefore, this can cause difficulties during the production of an audio description, since every film genre is believed to have its own specific characteristics and these should also be portrayed in the video description.
In order to determine which specific characteristics of the black comedy genre, which Birdman (2014) belongs to, and the adventure genre, which The Revenant (2015) belongs to, should be displayed in their respective audio descriptions, it is necessary to examine both film genres 12 separately first. However, before doing so, a more general understanding of the concept “film genre” should be provided. Therefore, this chapter will focus on the ideas and problems which occur when dealing with the topic film genre. Subsequently, in chapters 3.3.1 and 3.3.2, the characteristics of the black comedy and adventure genre will be discussed in greater detail. In addition, a short synopsis of both movies will be provided, after which the reasons as to why both movies belong to these particular genres will be discussed.
According to Cambridge Dictionary (“Genre,” 2017), a genre is “a style, especially in the arts, that involves a particular set of characteristics”. McKee (1998) tries to apply this definition to the film genre. He claims that “the (sub)genre is a system used by screenwriters; a system that has evolved from practice, not theory, and that turns on differences of subject, setting, role, event and values” (McKee, 1998, p. 80). Buscombe (1970, pp. 33-45) elaborates on these differences and links them to the notion of “particular characteristics”. He states that every genre has both outer and inner forms. Outer forms consist of visual conventions which provide a framework for the story, for example clothes, settings, or tools. Inner forms refer to the subject matter, and therefore usually determine outer forms.
It can be argued that film genres mainly serve a practical purpose. Since the audience recognizes particular characteristics of certain genres, the label under which the film is categorized will influence the response and the expectations of the audience. Therefore, genres are not simply groups of films linked by common characteristics: they influence audience expectations, and consequently, they create a kind of shared cultural understanding. The purpose of directors is, however, to construct their movies in such a way that the suspense between predictability of the genre and its innovation remains: the genre characteristics provide a red wire throughout the film, but the suspense should remain (Biltereyst & Meers, 2004, p. 5).
However, there are a number of reasons as to why classifying movies into genres sometimes appears to be problematic. First of all, the classification of films into genres is neither exhaustive, nor definitive: there is not always a clear distinction between different genres as they can influence and merge with each other, often creating subgenres during the process. Moreover, many directors no longer adhere to the characteristics of a particular movie genre in order to maintain the notion of suspense and surprise (McKee, 1998, p. 91). Secondly, due to the fact that genres merge with each other, they are not static: they develop through time. As new genres are developed, older, already existing genres, might receive a different connotation or meaning. However, as Altman (1984, pp. 6-18) claims, genres are often treated as if they are 13 rigid concepts that have not developed at all through history. This is not the case. Genres usually develop according to the worries of a certain generation. For example, as scientific research and development have advanced during the past decennia, new movie genres portraying futuristic and science-fiction films have developed and have increasingly gained popularity.
Moreover, the idea that genres are static and definitive also influences the way in which genre theorists examine movie genres. Rather than creating their own new categories, adapted to genre developments, they usually adhere to defining and describing already existing genres (Andrew, 1984, p. 14). Furthermore, Tudor (1995) addresses another problem genre theorists are faced with: genres are usually defined by analysing an isolated body of films which are believed to share a certain amount of characteristics. However, these films were specifically isolated because they are thought to belong to a particular genre. In other words, the criterion which determines in which category a movie should be isolated is “meant to emerge from the empirically established common characteristics of the films” (Tudor, 1995, p. 5). In short, genre theorists are working in a vicious circle. Consequently, the danger exists that they get caught in outdated and conservative thinking patterns.
Furthermore, both the film industry and the movie audience strongly rely on the existing conventions concerning movie genre: the film industry tries to answer the desires and the concerns of the public with movies categorized into genres that reflect these desires and concerns. In turn, as already mentioned, the expectations of the audience are strongly influenced by a particular movie genre. Therefore, it becomes increasingly difficult to establish new manners in which to categorize genres.
It can be concluded that the phenomenon of genre provides an interesting field of research which can be approached in different manners. Even though the purpose of the movie genre is mainly a practical one since both the film industry and the public rely on genre classifications, several theorists have proven that this classification might also be problematic: definitions of film genres are often too restrictive, static and narrow. However, because this would lead us too far, the following chapters will not go into further detail about the several developments and problems concerning genre theory. In what follows, the most important characteristics of both the black comedy and adventure genre, the genres to which Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015) respectively belong, will be analysed.
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3.3.1 Black comedy genre
According to Blake (2015, p. 18), comedy is a very old genre which dates back to the so-called slapstick films starring Charlie Chaplin and Max Linder. The genre was initially derived from already existing forms of entertainment, such as circus, burlesque, comic strips, and so on. Nowadays, it still continues to be one of Hollywood’s most popular movie genres. The Script Lab (2016) provides the following definition for the comedy genre:
Comedy is a genre of film that uses humour as a driving force. The aim of a comedy film is to elicit laughter from the audience through entertaining stories and characters. Although the comedy film may take on some serious material, most have a happy ending. A comedy film has the tendency to become a hybrid sub-genre because humour can be incorporated into many other genres. Comedies are more likely than other films to fall back on the success and popularity of an individual star. (The Script Lab, 2016, Comedy, para. 1)
Depending on the type of humour that is used, the way in which a movie ends, and the purpose of the humour, comedies can be divided into several subgenres. Blake (2015, p. 16) states that the comedy movie can have three different social purposes. First of all, it has the purpose of lubrication: its goal is to break the ice and to learn to laugh at ourselves. Secondly, it can be considered as a kind of social glue: it entertains, shows empathy, and relaxes. Thirdly, comedy can be used as sandpaper: in this case, it conveys criticism, dissent, and frankness. This type of comedy, which is a mix between comedy and satire, is usually referred to as “black comedy” or “gallows comedy”, a term which was first coined by surrealist André Breton in 1935 (Blake, 2015, p. 107). The Script Lab (2016) describes this subgenre in the following fashion:
Black comedy films often explore concepts and topics that are considered taboo (often controversial due to its subject matter). These are dark, sarcastic, humorous or sardonic stories. Black comedy takes topics and situations that are commonly held as serious and explores them in a comical way. Because of this approach, black comedies often cause the audience to laugh and feel uncomfortable simultaneously. (The Script Lab, 2016, Black Comedy)
As the definition suggests, black comedy often deals with themes that are considered to be taboo, such as murder, rape, suicide, mental illness, depression, abuse, terrorism, or racism. Serious topics like these are often mocked or treated in a light way, with the purpose to channel anger or discontent into a drive for change. Therefore, it can be argued that black comedy has an important social function. Contrary to the “normal” comedy genre, the humour is not necessarily funny; it is more subtle. While standard comedy movies draw humour from exaggerated stock characters, physical appearance, funny situations, and the emotional state of the protagonists, the humour in black comedies can consist in the intricate character of a personage. Considering the taboo topics which are addressed, the humour is usually dark, 15 pessimistic, and cynical and it is drawn from tragic passages in the film. Therefore, laughing usually gives the audience an uncomfortable feeling since it makes them feel guilty (Sahini, 05.04.2016).
Another important characteristic of this subgenre is that black comedy movies usually do not have a happy ending. Gallows comedy often portrays a protagonist who is obsessed with something and who follows this obsession to the bitter end. That way, a martyrdom-element is created: you get the idea of an anti-hero (Blake, p. 107-116). Moreover, human existence is considered to be pointless and ironic, yet somehow comic. Human suffering is central to the black comedy genre as it is regarded to be absurd rather than pitiable. In addition, the surroundings are meant to create a feeling of decay and loneliness (Sahini, 05.04.2016). In chapter 3.3.1.2, the reasons as to why Birdman (2014) belongs to this genre will be discussed by comparing the characteristics of the movie to the characteristics of the black comedy genre.
3.3.1.1 Birdman: Synopsis
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) is a Twentieth Century Fox film both written and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. The main characters are played by Michael Keaton (as Riggan Thomson), Emma Stone (as Riggan’s daughter Sam), and Edward Norton (as Mike). In 2015, Birdman (2014) won four Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography (The Guardian, 24.02.2015).
The movie tells the story of American actor Riggan Thomson, who was once famous for his role as a super hero in the movie trilogy Birdman decades ago. This role has taken over his life: everyone recognizes him as “the actor who played Birdman”. This has had a drastic impact on the rest of his life: Riggan suffers from both depression and schizophrenia. He is tormented by the critical and mocking inner voice of Birdman and he frequently imagines himself to levitate objects and to fly. In several scenes, which are accompanied with impressive views of the city, he is soaring above New York. Moreover, his personal relationships do not seem to go too well either: Riggan is divorced, his daughter is a drug addict in recovery with whom he is trying to rekindle contact, and he gets into a fight with his current girlfriend when she tells him she is pregnant.
Meanwhile, Riggan tries to relaunch his once so successful career by writing, directing, and starring in a Broadway production of an adaptation of What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, a short story written by Raymond Carver. He is prepared to do anything to make 16 the play a success. Riggan’s best friend Jake helps him produce the play and his girlfriend Laura is one of the play’s protagonists. Riggan’s daughter Sam works as his assistant. However, during the rehearsals for the play, several problems occur. Due to an accident with a light fixture, Riggan’s co-star has to be replaced by Mike, a vain and boastful actor whom Riggan cannot stand. Moreover, the reviews of the play’s preview performances are not very positive either. At a bar, Riggan randomly meets Tabitha Dickson, theatre critic for the New York Times. She tells him that she will bury his play because “she has no respect for movie stars who want to pretend to be real actors”.
Riggan grows more and more desperate, thinking that his play will become a failure. Prepared to do anything in order to become successful again, as his last resort, he undertakes drastic action. He takes the fake gun he is supposed to use at the end of the play to shoot himself through the head and replaces it with a real one. Eventually, Riggan shoots himself through the nose on stage, in front of a full audience.
He survives the shot and ends up in hospital. Still, Riggan manages to reach his ultimate goal: be successful again. All newspapers are full of the play and Riggan’s hospital room is constantly swamped by news reporters. Even Tabitha Dickson has written a positive review. When he is alone in his hospital room, Riggan walks to the bathroom, where he has one last imaginary conversation with Birdman. After that, he walks to the window and jumps out of it. A few minutes later, his daughter Sam enters the room and sees that the window is open. She gazes through the window, looks up at the sky, and smiles (The Internet Movie Database, 2014).
3.3.1.2 Birdman: Genre
In order to verify which genre Birdman (2014) belongs to, several movie sites were consulted. The Internet Movie Database (2014), Rotten Tomatoes (2014), and Metacritic (2014) all classify Birdman (2014) as a black comedy movie. Rotten Tomatoes (2014) also categorizes the movie under the more general genre “drama”. Upon examining the characteristics of the movie and comparing them with the characteristics of the black comedy genre, it can be concluded that Birdman (2014), indeed, corresponds with the characteristics of a black comedy.
First of all, as described in chapter 3.3.1, black comedies often address serious and/or taboo topics such as death, drug abuse, terrorism, or mental illness and treat these topics in a light and mocking way. This is also the case with Birdman (2014). The movie deals with drug abuse (Riggan’s daughter Sam is a recovering addict and Riggan catches her using drugs several 17 times), rape (Mike tries to force his co-star Lesley to have sex with him on stage in front of the audience), and mental illness (Riggan does not only constantly hear the nagging and judgemental voice of Birdman in his head; he also thinks he can fly and levitate objects).
Secondly, the protagonist is obsessed with something and follows this obsession until the bitter end: Riggan is so desperate to gain his once so successful career as a Broadway actor back that he eventually even shoots himself in the head, simply to gain praise from theatre critics and to stand out from the rest. Thirdly, human existence is thought to be useless and suffering is a central aspect of gallows comedy. It is considered to be absurd instead of pitiable. Riggan is suffering both mentally and physically. Mentally, he is suffering from a depression because his career is no longer what it used to be. He is afraid of becoming a nobody in The Big City. Furthermore, he has schizophrenia: he is tormented by an inner voice that he identifies as Birdman. Physically, Riggan suffers the most at the end of the film, when he shoots himself through the nose. However, he survives the shot and ends up in hospital. As suffering is a central characteristic of the black comedy, it is one of the three chosen characteristics of which the audio description will be analysed more thoroughly in chapter 4.1.1.
Fourthly, in black comedies, the surroundings are meant to create a feeling of loneliness. Riggan feels as if nobody understands him. The impressive surroundings of New York also reflect this: he feels completely alone, even though he is surrounded by hundreds of people. Fifthly, black comedies usually do not have a happy ending. This characteristic can be linked to the idea that suffering is regarded to be necessary. Even though it is open to interpretation and one cannot tell with complete certainty how Birdman (2014) exactly ends, the most logical option would be to assume that Riggan does not survive his fall out of the window and that he dies on the new pinnacle of his career. However, Sam’s smile when she gazes out of the window and looks up at the sky could imply something different. Consequently, several theories as to what really happened circulate on the internet. For example, some people claim that Sam was high, and that she imagined her father soaring through the sky, which would be the reason for her smiling. Others believe that Riggan died the moment he shot himself on stage, and that before he passed away, he experienced a happy ending hallucination. Whatever may be the case, it is plausible to assume that Birdman (2014), indeed, does not have a happy ending.
Given that next to human suffering, the surroundings in which the movie is being displayed and the open ending also play an important role in this movie, the audio description of these elements will be analysed in greater detail in chapters 4.1.2 and 4.1.3. 18
3.3.2 Adventure genre
Similar to the comedy genre, the adventure genre is one of Hollywood’s longest existing and most popular movie genres. The Script Lab (2016) describes the adventure genre in the following way:
The adventure film is a genre that revolves around the conquests and explorations of a protagonist. The purpose of this conquest can be to retrieve a person or treasure, but often the main focus is simply the pursuit of the unknown. Adventure films generally take place in exotic locations and play on historical myths. They incorporate suspenseful puzzles and intricate obstacles that the protagonist must overcome in order to achieve the end goal. (The Script Lab, 2016, Adventure, para. 1)
The ideology behind this genre was originally developed in reference to the medieval cult of the courtly knight, travelling merchants and, later on, also the spread of the British Empire, hence the (usually) masculine heroic protagonist and the reoccurring themes of conquests, exploration, fights, and white supremacy (Neale, 2000, p. 52).
According to Dirks (2017, para. 1), adventure movies are closely linked to action films, since both of them provide an energetic experience for the audience. Subsequently, the distinctions between both genres are not always as clear. However, the main difference between the two genres is that the action genre generally puts emphasis on violence and action, whereas with adventure films, the focus mainly lies on travels, conquests, struggles, and explorations. Yet, many movies also feature characteristics of both genres. Therefore, the term action-adventure genre came into use.
Since the adventure genre is influenced by multiple other genres, it is not really homogeneous. Yet, a number of general features, some of which already mentioned in the definition by The Script Lab (2016), can be distinguished. According to the Bulgarian philosopher Tzvetan Todorov (1970), many narrative stories follow the same basic narrative structure, which is also the case for adventure movies. In total, a narrative cycle of five phases can be distinguished. The story usually begins with an equilibrium: the protagonist, normally a heroic male, goes about in his daily business. The majority of the characters is content and everything is as it should be.
Then, however, a problem occurs, causing a disruption. What follows is a recognition of the disruption: the protagonist realises that there is something wrong and he starts devising a plan in order to repair the disruption. In order to do so, he has to undertake a journey or a quest to retrieve someone or something. This journey will not only take him to unusual and impressive 19 locations; the hero will also encounter numerous problems he has to solve and villains he has to vanquish. Due to all of this, he will suffer.
Adventure movies usually portray some kind of “life lesson”. Even though the protagonist is heroic, he is far from perfect. The obstacles the protagonist encounters have a big influence on his life and therefore, they change him into a better person. Eventually, the hero manages to restore the equilibrium: the problem is resolved and normality can resume again. What usually follows is a happy ever after. Yet, this is not always the case. In some adventure movies, the main protagonist dies for a greater good.
In short, adventure movies usually portray a heroic protagonist who has to undertake a dangerous journey through unusual locations in order to solve a problem or vanquish a villain. In chapter 3.3.2.2, the reason as to why the movie The Revenant (2015) belongs to this genre will be discussed by comparing the characteristics of the movie to the characteristics of the adventure genre.
3.3.2.1 The Revenant: Synopsis
The Revenant (2015) is a Twentieth Century Fox film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu and produced by inter alia Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, and Alejandro González Iñárritu. The characters are played by Leonardo DiCaprio (as Hugh Glass), Tom Hardy (as John Fitzgerald), and Will Poulter (as Jim Bridger). The movie was based on a book written by Michael Punke in 2002. In 2016, The Revenant (2015) won several Oscars, among which the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Directing, and Best Cinematography (The Guardian, 29.02.2016).
The movie tells the story of frontiersman Hugh Glass’s struggle to survive in the 1800s. Together with his son Hawk, who is half American, half Indian, Glass is hunting for elk while the group of trappers he belongs to are setting up a camp. Suddenly, the group is attacked by Arikara Indians searching for Powaqa, the chief’s daughter who was kidnapped by unknown white men. The group is forced to pick up their furs and flee to a boat they had moored nearby. Later on, Glass decides they should abandon the boat and hike overland as he fears the boat might be an easy target for the Arikara. As Glass is the only one who knows the dangerous territory, he has to guide the group back to their encampment, called Fort Kiowa. However, Fitzgerald, one of the trappers, does not agree with this idea and he continuously antagonizes Glass and his son. 20
Later, while Glass is hunting alone in the woods and the rest of the trappers are still asleep, he is attacked by a grizzly bear. Heavily wounded, Glass manages to stab the bear several times with a knife, because of which they both fall down a slope. Glass lies trapped under the dead bear and is critically injured. Eventually, the other trappers find him and they try to tend to his severe wounds. Meanwhile, the Arikara keep searching for Powaqa.
The trappers try to transport Glass on a makeshift stretcher, but that slows them down a lot. Glass is still in critical condition and physically, he suffers greatly. In addition, he constantly has dreams, flashbacks, and hallucinations of his dead wife and his son Hawk when he was little. Fitzgerald eventually suggests that they should put Glass out of his misery and kill him. However, the captain cannot bring himself to do it and he offers an extra payment to anyone who wants to stay behind with Glass until he dies. Fitzgerald, Hawk, and Jimmy volunteer while the rest of the trappers move on.
When Fitzgerald gets a moment alone with Glass, he attempts to smother him. However, Hawk discovers them and he starts struggling with Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald stabs Hawk in the stomach and lets him bleed to death while Glass is forced to watch helplessly. Fitzgerald hides Hawk’s body and when Jimmy returns, he claims that he does not know where Hawk is and that they should move on quickly because he saw Indians near the river. Jimmy claims that they cannot just leave Glass behind without a proper burial, upon which Fitzgerald quickly digs a shallow grave, drags Glass in it, covers him with dirt, and leaves. Jimmy follows reluctantly. Later, Fitzgerald admits to Jimmy that he has lied. When arrive at the fort, Fitzgerald tells the captain that Glass died and that they lost Hawk.
Meanwhile, Glass manages to get out of the grave and, still heavily wounded, he starts his journey to Fort Kiowa. This journey is full of suffering: after being attacked by the bear and crawling out of the grave, he has to perform self-surgery, his wounds are getting infected, he barely has any food, he has to survive in freezing temperatures and raw surroundings, he falls into an abyss, and he is being chased by Arikara. Because of his physical suffering, he is constantly mentally tormented with hallucinations and dreams of his dead wife and son. Eventually, he encounters an Indian refugee who lives by the mantra “revenge is in God’s hands” and they travel together. However, the man gets hanged by French hunters. Glass decides to infiltrate their camp and he sees the leader raping Powaqa. Glass frees Powaqa and kills a number of trappers. One of the Frenchmen survives and makes it to Fort Kiowa, where he tells the whole story. Enraged, the captain arrests Jimmy. Fitzgerald, however, has already 21 fled and he has taken the safe with him. The trappers start a search party for Glass and eventually, he is found.
When Glass has recovered sufficiently, Glass and the captain set out to find Fitzgerald. When the two men part ways, Fitzgerald kills the captain. Glass eventually finds Fitzgerald and they engage in a brutal fight. Right before Glass is about to kill Fitzgerald, he spots Powaqa together with a number of Arikara on the other side of a river. Remembering the Indian refugee’s words about revenge, he pushes Fitzgerald into the river and lets the Arikara leader kill him. Glass gets spared and heavily wounded, he sees the spirit of his dead wife standing in front of him (The Internet Movie Database, 2015).
3.3.2.2 The Revenant: Genre
In order to determine which genre The Revenant (2015) belongs to, several movie sites were consulted. The Internet Movie Database (2015) and Metacritic (2015) both classify The Revenant (2015) as an adventure movie. Rotten Tomatoes (2015) categorizes it as an action- adventure movie. However, as previously mentioned, the distinctions between both genres are not always very clear and as the other two review sites classify The Revenant (2015) as an adventure movie, it will be regarded as such in what follows. Upon examining the characteristics of the movie and comparing them with the characteristics of the adventure genre, it can be concluded that The Revenant (2015), indeed, corresponds with the characteristics of an adventure movie.
Firstly, as mentioned in chapter 3.3.2, Todorov (1970) considers adventure stories to form a cycle of five phases. These five phases can also be distinguished in The Revenant (2015). The story begins with an equilibrium: Glass, the hero of the story, is hunting with his son Hawk while the rest of the trappers are setting up a camp. Then, however, a number of incidents happen, causing a disruption of the equilibrium: the trappers are attacked by Arikara warriors so they have to flee, Glass is attacked by a bear and is severely injured, and Fitzgerald, the villain of the story, later murders Hawk and tries to kill Glass so he can move on to the camp and receive his extra fee. As Glass slowly gains enough strength to crawl out of the shallow grave, he starts his journey back to Fort Kiowa so that he can take revenge on Fitzgerald. This can be seen as the third and fourth phase of the cycle: the hero realises something is wrong and he starts devising a plan to repair the equilibrium. Glass eventually manages to get back to the fort and after he is sufficiently recovered, Glass leaves on a quest to find Fitzgerald, the villain, and to take revenge. When Fitzgerald dies, the equilibrium is restored. 22
Secondly, in order to restore the equilibrium, Glass has to undertake a dangerous journey which takes him through raw and impressive nature and during which he encounters numerous obstacles. Thirdly, during his journey, he suffers a lot. Not only is he badly wounded because of the bear attack, he is also constantly being chased by Arikara warriors, and he has to survive in harsh weather conditions with little to no food. He is physically tormented by nature. Moreover, because of his severe injuries, he starts hallucinating and dreaming about his wife and son, who were both killed. Therefore, he is not only suffering physically, but also mentally.
Fourthly, adventure movies usually have a happy ending. If not, the protagonist dies for a greater good. In The Revenant (2015), it is not clear whether the movie has a happy ending or not: in the last scene, Glass, heavily injured, blankly stares in front of him, but it is unsure whether he eventually survives and makes it back to the camp or not. Yet, if Glass dies, his death can be considered as meaningful for the greater good, as he has managed to take revenge on Fitzgerald.
Fifthly, even though the protagonist is portrayed as the hero of the story, he is far from perfect. After Glass’s Indian wife was shot by an American soldier and their village was set on fire, he killed the soldier to take revenge. His fellow trappers, who do not know the whole story as to why Glass killed the soldier, often judge him for that. Moreover, they mock him for having a half blood son.
Sixthly, another typical characteristic of the adventure movie is that it portrays a life lesson. In this case, the life lesson can be found in the words of the refugee Indian warrior: “revenge is in God’s hands”. Glass decides to live by these words and instead of killing Fitzgerald, he hands him over to the Arikara warriors.
As mental and physical suffering, unusual locations, and an open ending play an important role in this movie, the audio description of these elements will be analysed in greater detail in chapters 5.1.1, 5.1.2 and 5.1.3.
3.4 Audio description and genre
As already mentioned, the vagueness and generality of the existing audio description guidelines might cause problems. This paragraph will elaborate on a number of researches conducted on the influence of movie genres on audio description and the difficulties that might arise.
For example, Martínez (2010) studies the audio description of animation movies. She also 23 claims that every genre has its own specific characteristics, which makes it different from other genres. Therefore, the audio description should reflect these specific features. The aim of Martínez’s study is to examine whether the main characteristics of the animation movie genre are being displayed in the audio description of movies that belong to this particular genre. In the first part of her study, Martínez (2010) therefore examines the main features of the animation genre, on the basis of which she then develops sixteen hypotheses about what the audio description should look like. Subsequently, she uses a corpus of ten audio-described animation films to determine whether the description matches the hypotheses which were developed earlier on.
Renders (2012) has written a thesis on the influence of the fantasy genre on the audio description of three English movies, namely The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005), Eragon (2006), and Avatar (2009). In her study, Renders (2012) examines how three features of fantasy movies, namely the occurrence of fantastic worlds and creatures, the use of magic, and the transition of one world into the other, are described in the audio description. She comes to the conclusion that the audio description generally portrays the characteristics that are typical for the fantasy genre. However, the description of fantastic creatures is often not detailed enough, because of which many fantastic elements go lost.
In his thesis, Maes (2011) analyses the audio description of Tim Burton’s musical film Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet street (2007). First of all, the objective of his thesis is to investigate whether the audio description follows the general guidelines provided by ITC. Secondly, Maes (2011) examines whether audio description problems arise due to a lack of specific genre guidelines. He comes to the conclusion that the audio description does not divert from the provided guidelines and therefore, it can be considered to be a “standard audio description”. However, the musical and period film genre does influence the audio description and causes a number of problems. For example, musical scenes are often not provided with an audio description for a long amount of time, which causes the visually impaired audience to lose important information. Moreover, the audio description uses different courses of action depending on the scene. This is possibly caused by a lack of clear guidelines. Maes (2011) therefore suggests that specific guidelines concerning film genres are needed.
Furthermore, Seibel (2010) has conducted research on the relationship between audio description and the comedy genre. In her study, she uses a corpus with eight comedy movies of which the audio descriptions have been tagged. Seibel (2010) compares the audio description 24 tags that are statistically most significant and compares them to the main characteristics of the genres. She comes to the conclusion that the four most frequent tags correspond with the main features of the comedy genre. For example, two tags which are frequently used are “physical attributes” and “(negative) emotional state”. This can be linked to the comedy genre, since in comedy movies, the physical appearance and emotional state of the characters often provoke laughter. Therefore, it is important that the audio description thoroughly describes these elements, so that the visually impaired viewer has the chance to understand and take part in the whole comedy experience.
Even though a number of researches have already been conducted on the influence of certain film genres on audio description, many other genres, among which the black comedy and the adventure genre, have not been touched upon yet. Therefore, in the second section of this thesis, the audio description of The Revenant (2015), an adventure movie, and Birdman (2014), a black comedy, will be examined in order to determine whether both audio descriptions sufficiently describe the main characteristics of their respective genres.
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4 BIRDMAN
4.1 Analysis of the audio description
In chapter 3.3.1.2, it was confirmed that Birdman (2014) belongs to the black comedy genre and that human suffering, impressive surroundings, and an open ending are characteristics which often occur in this type of genre. In order to determine whether the audio description sufficiently conveys the black comedy genre, in this chapter, the audio description of these features will be analysed.
4.1.1 Suffering
Birdman (2014) depicts a mentally ill protagonist who suffers from schizophrenia, which becomes clear in the first scenes of the movie: sitting alone in his dressing room, Riggan has a conversation with the voice inside his head, which later takes form as his alter ego Birdman. Considering there is no one else in the room even though Riggan is talking in the plural form (“How did we end up here?”), a sighted audience might quickly be able to draw the conclusion that Riggan is talking to an inner voice. However, a blind or visually impaired audience might think that the protagonist is simply having a conversation with someone else in the room. The audio description does not mention anything about the number of people in the dressing room or about the fact that Riggan is talking to himself:
00:01:38 In a dressing room, a man seated in a lotus position levitates two feet off the floor. Wearing only white briefs, the short-haired man faces the window as he floats in place.
Since there are a number of other instances where Riggan talks to his alter ego, it can be assumed that a blind or visually impaired audience will eventually realize that Riggan suffers from schizophrenia. However, a sighted audience already receives this crucial information at the beginning of the movie. An impaired audience might therefore have difficulties to understand the film in the beginning.
In another scene, Riggan is talking with his alter ego again. For the first time in this movie, Birdman is also actually visible on screen: he is following Riggan down the street and later on, he takes flight. Birdman’s appearance is very particular: he is half man, half bird, he wears a black mask, a black superhero costume, and has long black wings. However, none of this is communicated in the audio description: 26
01:28:32 Riggan stands. 01:28:45 Birdman follows him down the street. 01:29:09 Birdman takes flight, hovering just behind Riggan. 01:29:24 Birdman soars out of view.
Moreover, the only instances during which the audio description provides more information about Birdman’s appearance are situated completely at the beginning and at the end of the movie. In the beginning of the film, Riggan has a poster of the first Birdman movie hanging in his dressing room. The audio description describes the poster as follows:
00:03:08 A poster of a man in a dark, beat mask above the words “Birdman 3” hangs on the wall behind him.
It can be argued that this description is quite limited: it does not mention anything about his wings, his superhero costume, or any other physical characteristics. At the end of the film, Birdman appears in Riggan’s hospital bathroom. The audio description mentions the following:
01:49:50 The reflection of a dark coloured wing drifting into the edge of the mirror. Riggan turns his head and sees Birdman, sitting on the toilet, looking at him. Their sharp profiles now resemble one another.
This is the first time the audio description mentions Birdman has wings and what they look like. Moreover, since Birdman is only described at the very beginning and the very end of the movie, the question arises whether this description suffices for a blind or visually impaired audience and whether the audience will remember this description throughout the film.
Next to the voice in Riggan’s head, another sign of his mental illness is that he believes he has superpowers: he thinks he can fly and levitate objects. Concerning Riggan’s ability to levitate objects, the audio description makes it clear that these items start moving on their own just by pointing or looking towards them and that the protagonist is not in any way touching them:
00:08:30 He opens his eyes and leans on the counter. He reaches behind his head, then removes a light wig, revealing a deeply receding hairline. He stares warily into the mirror, then scowls at pink roses and a picture. A note tucked in the flowers reads “they didn’t have whatever you wanted. Sam.” The picture begins to slide along the counter, away from Riggan. 00:09:03 It flies into the wall. Our view shifts towards the couch, where Riggan faces news reporters.
00:58:59 Pointing, Riggan levitates a makeup case, then flings it against a wall. 00:59:52 Light bulbs explode. 27
01:00:08 A phone flies into the wall. 01:00:16 He rips open his shirt. 01:00:49 A shelf falls. 01:01:04 The Birdman poster levitates, then flies into the wall.
Due to his mental illness, it is difficult for the protagonist to make a distinction between what is reality and what is fantasy. This is also the case with the audience: the movie does not indicate what is really happening and what is part of Riggan’s imagination. Only one scene suggests that the events that are occurring are made up inside the protagonist’s head: first, Riggan is flying towards a theatre, after which a taxi arrives and Riggan gets out. In his head, Riggan thinks he flew to the theatre whereas in reality, a taxi took him there. This important distinction between reality and fantasy is also made clear in the audio description:
01:32:47 We travel alongside Riggan above an intersection. He extends his arms in front of him and soars through a large tunnel. He turns a corner, then rises into the heavens where the sun obscures our view. With his feet pointed towards the ground, Riggan slowly descends. He floats behind the Saint James theatre marquee, displaying the title of his play: Raymond Carver’s What we talk about when we talk about love. Walking into the theatre, Riggan points to an employee. 01:33:48 A cab driver follows him. 01:33:55 Our view remains outside as the theatre employee follows the cabby into the building. The cabby re-emerges with a large wad of cash in his hands. The cab peels off.
In conclusion the audio description sufficiently indicates that Riggan (believes he) has superpowers and that objects start to move without him touching them. Moreover, the audio description adheres to the rule that not more information should be given than what is visible on screen: only during the scene with the taxi, the movie indicates that Riggan has a twisted view of reality and that the events that are occurring are not real. This is also represented in the audio description.
The challenge a visually impaired viewer might be faced with when consulting this movie with audio description arises due to the fact that in the initial scenes, the audio description does not indicate that Riggan is suffering from schizophrenia. Visually impaired people may assume that he is talking to someone else whereas a sighted audience will immediately notice something is wrong with the protagonist. As already stated above, the visually impaired viewer will probably eventually realize that Riggan is mentally ill. Since it will likely take quite a while before this realization dawns, however, it is possible that the audience will have misunderstood certain 28 scenes because of this lack of information. Moreover, Birdman’s appearance is barely described, because of which the audience may lose a part of the experience.
4.1.2 Surroundings
Birdman (2014) is being displayed in New York City, more specifically on Broadway, a famous street which is full of theatres. The majority of the movie scenes take place inside one of these theatre buildings. However, some scenes also depict an impressive view of the city. The description of these scenes can cause problems, as an equilibrium should be found between answering the needs of two kinds of visually impaired people: people who were born visually impaired and people whose view has deteriorated throughout the years. For an audience which was born with a visual impairment, the audio description of New York City should be as thoroughly and as detailed as possible, so that they can form their own mental image of what the city looks like.
However, an audience whose sight has deteriorated throughout the years will have different expectations and needs: they might still have a visual memory of what the city looks like and therefore, an audio description that is too detailed might come across as patronizing and annoying. Consequently, a good equilibrium should be found so that neither too little nor too much information is given.
During the first scene that displays New York City, Mike is leaning outside against a car. The streets are crowded, honking taxis are driving by, buildings are illuminated and people are passing by. However, none of this is rendered in the audio description:
00:32:04 Riggan descends the stairs and exists through double doors. Outside, Mike leans against a car.
The only description a visually impaired audience receives of the surroundings is “outside”. Moreover, none of the noises that can be heard (honking taxis, people rushing by, …) are explained. Consequently, the audience does not know in which city the movie is located, as during the initial scenes, none of the protagonists mention that they are in Broadway. Yet, this location is very important as it is the place to be for actors trying to (re)gain fame with their theatre plays. Only in the middle of the movie and completely at the end, the audio description gives an indication of where the film is situated:
00:36:57 Riggan steps out onto the sidewalk. Large billboards for Broadway shows light up the buildings across the streets. 29
01:14:02 Riggan signs the man’s paper. Riggan steps in a puddle. He rushes out in the bustling Times Square. People notice him and point.
01:49:50 He shambles over to the window, taking in its expansive view of New York city buildings and a green park.
However, except for mentioning the concrete names of these places, no further description is provided. While this information might be sufficient for people who were not born blind and still have a memory of what these places look like, for someone who was born visually impaired, this might not be the case. For them, it might be difficult to form a clear image. Also during the rest of the movie, the audio description barely conveys any information about what the city looks like. For example, at a certain point, Mike and Sam are sitting on a rooftop, looking at the view. The description states that Sam turns back to the view, but it does not clarify which view she actually sees.
00:49:25 Mike walks out of the dressing room and up some stairs. He pulls out a lighter. He opens a rooftop access door and steps out into the night air. He walks towards a stone balcony. He notices Sam, seated on a ledge, looking down towards the street beneath her.
00:53:14 The actor watches her go, then turns back to the view and takes a drag of his cigarette.
At 01:28:45, Riggan is walking down the street while Birdman follows him. He walks by theatre buildings, people, taxis are driving by, and houses built in a typical New York style are visible. Again, the audio description only provides a very general description:
01:28:45 Birdman follows him down the street.
However, as Riggan takes flight a few moments later and he soars over the city, the audio description is more precise:
01:31:49 Riggan jumps off the roof. As he plummets, he stretches his arms and flies. Our view follows him as he soars past sun capped buildings. Riggan flies past a white church tower, then towards us until he hovers just above us. He scans the city with rearing eyes. 01:32:35 We trail him as he soars over a street. 01:32:47 We travel alongside Riggan above an intersection. He extends his arms in front of him and soars through a large tunnel. He turns a corner, then rises into the heavens where the sun obscures our view. With his feet pointed 30
towards the ground, Riggan slowly descends. He floats behind the Saint James theatre marquee, displaying the title of his play: Raymond Carver’s What we talk about when we talk about love.
In addition, as already mentioned in 3.3.1.2, Riggan is surrounded by a city full of people, yet he still feels alone and depressed. By only describing New York in a very general manner, a part of New York’s atmosphere as a bustling city full of people is lost. Moreover, during the scenes where Riggan is outside, surrounded by people and different kinds of noises can be heard, the audio description almost never mentions the crowded atmosphere.
In conclusion, the audio description of the surroundings is very general. Due to the communication of specific place names such as Times Square and Broadway, the audience will probably understand where the movie is located. For an audience whose sight has deteriorated during the years, this information might be sufficient. However, people who were born blind will most likely have difficulties forming a clear mental picture. Yet, it should be kept in mind that during some scenes, there is not enough time in between dialogues to describe the surroundings in a detailed fashion. In such cases, the description tries to convey as much information as possible in a short amount of time and in order to do so, surroundings are described in a general manner.
4.1.3 Open ending
As already mentioned in the synopsis of Birdman (2014), the final scene portrays Riggan standing on the window sill of his hospital room. Even though it would be easy to assume he jumps and dies, Sam’s smile when she looks through the window a few minutes later suggests something different. The ending of the movie is open to interpretation and leaves a lot to the imagination. It is important that a visually impaired viewer also has the chance to form his own opinion about how the movie possibly ends and therefore, the audio description should stick to the general rule that it should neither provide more nor less information than what is visible on screen. The audio description adheres to this rule. A visually impaired audience hears the following when Riggan walks over to the window:
01:49:50 He shambles over to the window, taking in its expansive view of New York city buildings and a green park. He rubs his temples and gazes out through the glass with a wince. He looks skyward, raising his eyebrows. His gaze follows a flock of birds. The bruised actor smiles as he watches the birds. He slides open the window. Closing his eyes, he takes in a deep breath of fresh air. His smile settles into a look of peace. His lips part and 31
he climbs out the window. Riggan stands upright on the sill, a breeze blowing his hospital gown. Our view drifts away from him, back to his empty bed with the lilacs and newspaper. Sam enters. 01:51:48 She searches the bathroom. She notices the open window and her face falls. She runs to the sill and looks down to the street. Her eyes dart about. Her gaze starts to drift upwards and her eyes go wide. A smile creeps across her face. Cut to black.
Just like the movie does not show whether Riggan eventually jumps and whether Sam sees her father lying on the ground or soaring in the sky, the audio description does not mention what happens either. Yet, all visual content is rendered in the audio description, so that the audience receives all the information that is needed in order to interpret the ending like they want. Therefore, it can be assumed that the audio description renders the open ending sufficiently so that a visually impaired audience has the same movie experience like a sighted audience.
4.2 Experiences of the research group and control group
Upon examination of the audio description of the mental suffering, the surroundings, and the open ending in Birdman (2014), a number of possible problems have been formulated. In order to determine whether these hypotheses are justified, in this paragraph, the possible difficulties will be compared to the answers of the research group, which did not watch the movie but listened to the audio description, with the intent to examine whether they encountered the same difficulties. Moreover, the answers of the research group will be compared to the answers of the control group, which watched the movie without the added audio description, to ensure that the problems encountered are related to the audio description and not to the film itself.
A first problem which occurred from the analysis of the audio description is that in the beginning of the movie, the audio description did not indicate that Riggan was alone in his dressing room and he was talking to his inner voice. A sighted audience will quickly be able to grasp this and come to the conclusion that he might be mentally ill, whereas the lack of information in the audio description of the initial scene might cause confusion with a visually impaired audience as they can think he was simply talking to another person in the room. This problem was also addressed by the research group: both respondents indicated that they found the initial scenes quite confusing because they could not deduce from the audio description that Riggan was talking to an inner voice and, subsequently, that he was probably suffering from schizophrenia. The control group, however, did not seem to have any difficulties. 32
Secondly, the respondents of the research group indicated that they were not really sure of what Birdman looked like. Respondent 3 mentioned the following: “I do not really know what he looks like, but I imagine it to be Batman-like. I am guessing he has wings and maybe some standard superhero outfit: a tight suit and maybe a mask. He is probably muscly and manly- looking”. As suggested in the analysis, this uncertainty might be attributed to the limited audio description of Birdman’s appearance. The control group, however, was able to describe Birdman very thoroughly as he appeared in several scenes:
He is a man wearing a mask like a bird, which only covers his forehead, cheeks, and nose, while leaving his mouth and chin exposed. He is wearing a dark, skin-tight superhero costume, and black feathery wings like a bird. As far as build goes, he is muscular, and a younger version of Riggan. (Respondent 1)
Thirdly, as suggested in the audio description analysis, the research group found it hard to determine whether Riggan’s superpowers were real or whether they were just figments of his imagination and whether he was mentally ill. This is reflected in the answer of respondent 4:
There could be several reasons for Riggan's hallucinations and “superpowers”. He could be mentally ill, he could be physically ill (i.e. have a brain tumour or something similar), or he could actually have these superpowers. It is a movie after all. Him being mentally ill would make sense in a realistic setting. We do not know if what happens (the telekinesis and such) is actually happening, or whether it just happens in his mind.
Even though the line between reality and imagination was often ambiguous in the movie, there were some scenes that indicate that Riggan’s superpowers were only imagined. For example, this was the case when Riggan thought he flew to the theatre when in reality, a taxi took him there. The control group was able to grasp this important piece of information in order to understand that, indeed, Riggan’s superpowers were part of his imagination. Even though this information was also mentioned in the audio description, the research group did not pick up on it and therefore, they had difficulties determining whether everything was real or not.
Concerning the audio description of the surroundings, the analysis results have suggested that the main problem lies in the general description of the surroundings. In some scenes, this could be attributed to a lack of time, but in most cases, there was more than enough time to provide a more detailed description. The audio describer mentioned a number of specific place names, such as Times Square, because of which the audience knows the story takes place in New York City. Apart from that, the description of the surroundings was very general. Consequently, a discrepancy might be caused between the information shared in the audio description and the background noises that could be heard. The answers of the research group to the questionnaire show that they had a general idea of where the movie was being displayed, but they found it 33 hard to describe some of the surroundings in greater detail because this information was not communicated in the audio description. For example, respondent 3 said: “There are also some scenes on top of the roof of the theatre so I imagine we get some skyline view scenes, but I do not really know how to describe them”.
Moreover, the respondents also indicated that they were sometimes confused with the basic settings of the scenes and the switches from one location to another. This stands in large contrast with the control group, which managed to describe the surroundings in a very detailed manner, even taking into account the colours of the brick buildings and the time of year. Even though the surroundings are not necessary to understand the storyline, the research group loses a part of the cinematic experience because of this insufficient description.
Furthermore, the analysis of the open ending has shown that the audio description should not really impose any problems, as the audio describer mentioned all the information that is needed for the audience to form their own idea of how the story could possibly end. The answers of the research group also confirm this: similar to the control group, they stated that they are unsure of how the movie ends: Riggan could be lying dead on the ground, but he might just as well be soaring high in the sky. Regarding the question “What do you think Riggan’s daughter Sam sees when she gazes through the window at the end of the movie?”, respondent 4 declared the following: “She sees nothing on the ground, just people milling about. When she looks up I think she sees her father flying. It could, however, be something else. We cannot know for sure”.
Finally, the general questions about the audio description have revealed a number of problems about the audio description of the movie in general. When the research group was asked the question “Do you have the feeling that you missed or did not understand certain parts of the movie because they were not clearly described in the AD?”, the respondents indicated that especially in the beginning, they had trouble understanding the movie as there were a lot of different characters and they found it difficult to determine their relationships with each other and which one was which just by hearing their voices. Moreover, the switch from one location to another sometimes appeared to be problematic. In addition, the fact that the audio description did not indicate that Riggan was talking to his inner voice and not to a real person made everything all the more complicated.
Upon answering the question “Are there any aspects of which you believe that they could have been explained more thoroughly?”, respondent 3 stated that in many scenes, the audio 34 description did not give enough details and she found herself constantly wishing for the audio describer to give more explanation. Therefore, her answer to the question “Has the audio description enabled you to follow and understand the movie?” was rather negative. However, she also indicated that she realized that during a movie, there is often not enough time for a detailed audio description.
4.3 Conclusion
In conclusion, the hypotheses concerning the main problems that occurred from the analysis of the audio description of the mental suffering, the surroundings, and the open ending in Birdman (2014) have been confirmed by the answers of the research group to the questionnaire. The main challenges have appeared to be the following: first of all, concerning the mental suffering aspect, the audio describer did not mention explicitly enough that Riggan was suffering from a mental disorder and that many of the events only occurred within his imagination. The line between reality and imagination was often very subtle in the movie itself and therefore, it was even harder for a visually impaired audience to grasp these little details that indicated that what was happening was a figment of Riggan’s imagination. Moreover, in the beginning of the story, the audio description did not indicate that Riggan was talking to a voice in his head, which left the visually impaired audience quite confused. Because of this lack of information in the initial scenes, the audience initially had difficulties grasping the story line. Furthermore, the research group did not get a clear idea of what Birdman looked like.
Secondly, concerning the surroundings, the research group indicated that they sometimes had difficulties following the transition from one location to another. Moreover, most of the time, the description of Birdman’s (2014) surroundings was quite general, which could be attributed to a lack of time in most scenes. Yet, the research group did not really have the feeling that they were missing out on important information, as the description of the surroundings was not per se necessary to understand the movie. It should, however, be noted that the respondents who were part of the research group listened to the movie and its audio description blindfolded, but they were not really visually impaired. Because of this, the respondents already had a clear mental image of what New York City looks like in their head. Therefore, it is possible that for them, a very detailed description of the city was not necessary. However, as already previously mentioned, this might not be the case for people who were born blind.
Thirdly, concerning the open ending, the audio description did not cause any real difficulties. The audio describer managed to provide neither too much, nor too little information. Similar to 35 the control group, the research group was able to understand that the movie had an open ending and consequently, they could form their own opinion about how the story ends.
Fourthly, concerning the general audio description problems, the research group indicated that in the beginning of the movie, they had difficulties identifying the different characters and their relationships to one another. Moreover, the research group was of the opinion that the audio description did not provide enough details.
Considering the fact that, next to a number of general problems, the audio description of mental suffering and the surroundings has appeared to be problematic in some aspects, a number of suggestions related to possible improvements will be formulated in chapter 6.
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5 THE REVENANT
5.1 Analysis of the audio description
In chapter 3.3.2.2, it was confirmed that The Revenant (2015) belongs to the adventure genre and that human suffering, impressive surroundings, and an open ending are characteristics which often occur in this kind of genre. In order to determine whether the audio description sufficiently conveys the adventure genre, in this chapter, the audio description of these features will be analysed.
5.1.1 Suffering
Human suffering is a central and frequently reoccurring theme in The Revenant (2015). During Glass’s rough journey back to Fort Kiowa, he does not only suffer physically, but also mentally. Glass’s mental suffering manifests itself as dreams, flashbacks, and hallucinations. In this chapter, the way in which the audio description communicates these two kinds of suffering will be analysed. Given that Glass’s mental suffering is often a direct consequence of his physical agony, the physical suffering will be discussed first.
5.1.1.1 Physical suffering
Glass’s physical suffering starts with the bear attack while he is hunting alone in the woods. Everything is happening extremely fast: the images and the movements of the bear quickly follow after one another:
00:22:03 A huge grizzly charges, knocking Glass to the ground. It bites and drags him with its ferocious jaws. He lashes out, struggling, but the bear has him pinned. He bats it away for a moment but it lunges back clinging onto his thigh, dragging him. The bear climbs on top of him, biting down again and again. Glass flails helplessly. Glass is rolled onto his stomach. The bear drags him by his back with its teeth, then slashes his back with its massive claws. Glass’s mouth opens wide, as the bear bites him, then clamps Glass’s back and shakes him like a rag. Glass drops and lies still as the bear sniffs around him. Glass takes short breaths, his face covered in blood. The bear breathes over him, drool dripping down. The bear places a huge paw on Glass’s head, pressing down. Its saliva drips on him. (…)
This makes it difficult for the audio description to describe everything happening on screen with a great sense of detail since there is a lack of time. For example, Glass’s facial expressions are barely described. However, in this case, this might not be necessary: Glass’s screams in 38 agony clearly show how badly he is suffering. The audio description complements the noises which are heard and because of this combination, the audience gets a general idea of what is happening.
Yet, because a lot of information needs to be provided in such a short amount of time, the danger exists that the audio description sometimes talks through the noises, because of which some of the sounds that indicate Glass is suffering go lost. This could lead to a “vicious circle”: the more is being described, the more noises go lost and in turn, the more goes lost, the more needs to be described.
Eventually, Glass is found by the rest of the trappers. The audio description does not mention his heavy injuries in detail:
00:29:47 Glass is a bloody mess.
A few scenes later, the captain and Jimmy try to tend to his wounds:
00:30:24 The captain stitches him. Hawk stays with him.
00:31:03 Jimmy resets a dislocated limb and Glass faints. 00:31:16 Blood oozes from a wound in Glass’s neck. Hawk pours water on it and the captain stitches it up.
Again, due to the lack of time, it is impossible for the audio description to go into further detail, causing a part of the suffering aspect to go lost: Glass has difficulties breathing, but this is not mentioned in the audio description. In addition, he screams in pain, but these screams are also drowned out by the audio description.
When Glass is performing self-surgery in 00:59:47, the audio description is very objective and does not convey a lot of suffering, even though there is enough time to describe everything in a detailed manner as Glass is all alone and not much action is going on.
00:59:47 Beside the river, Glass uproots handfuls of dry grass and separates them. He gathers the dry grass into a small pile. He pours a small amount of gun powder from a capsule onto his fingers and applies it to the still open wound in his neck. Glass crumbles a few grains of powder onto the pile of kindling. He strikes a metal fork against a flint. It sparks and eventually, smoke rises. He stokes the fire with the two-prawn fork and blows on it. He adds a little more powder to the small flames. The fire licks up. He holds a small torch made of moss on a twig in the flames, lets it catch fire. With a grimace, he lifts the torch to the powder in his neck wound. 39
After Glass is left behind in a shallow grave by Fitzgerald and Jimmy, he tries to crawl out of it. The audio description takes into account how badly he is suffering:
00:52:55 The snowy earth moves beneath Jimmy’s canteen. Glass raises a hand. Gritting his teeth, he strains to raise his head and looks around. Glass’s face stretches in pain as he rolls over in the shallow pit. He uses one arm to pull himself forward, attempting to crawl out. He pauses and gathers himself. He pulls his other arm from under himself and leans on both. Glass grits his teeth as he hauls himself over the edge of the hole. He drags himself along the frozen ground, his right foot twisted at an unnatural angle. He freezes, looking straight ahead. He presses forward.
The audio descriper manages to portray this scene in a very detailed fashion because there is enough time to describe everything: Glass is all alone and he is moving slowly. Consequently, not a lot of action is taking place.
Later on, Glass is brutally awakened out of his sleep by Arikara warriors trying to kill him. He leaps on his horse but the warriors drive him into a deep ravine. Together with his horse, he falls dozens of meters down, the crown of a tree eventually breaking his fall. Despite the deep fall, Glass appears to be unharmed. His horse, however, does not survive. Yet, the audio description does not mention anything about Glass being injured or not:
01:47:32 Glass and the horse go over a steep cliff, crashing into a pine tree far below. The huge pine tree slowly stops swaying and goes still. Glass lies motionless in the snow at the foot of the tree as a blizzard begins. Glass stirs and tries to get up.
Given the fact that it is quite unlikely that Glass remains unharmed despite falling off a steep cliff, the audio description should better explicitly point out that Glass is not wounded. Otherwise, the audience might stay left behind with questions as to whether he is injured or not.
After Glass makes it back to Fort Kiowa, he and captain Henry set out on a journey to take revenge on Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald kills Henry, after which Glass and Fitzgerald engage in a fight:
02:18:43 Glass charges with his hatchet, but Fitzgerald ducks and tackles Glass, who tumbles him over his head. Glass hacks off two of his fingers. 02:18:53 Fitzgerald stands. Blood pours onto the snow. Glass gets to his feet and they face off. Fitzgerald yields his knife, Glass the hatchet. They suddenly lurch at each other. Fitzgerald attacks and slices Glass’s cheek. They strike again. Glass turns Fitzgerald and strangles his neck from behind with his hatchet handle. Fitzgerald’s knife hand is also trapped. Fitzgerald grabs his knife 40
with his other hand and plunges it into Glass’ thigh. He yanks it out and the two grapple. They fall onto the ground and Fitzgerald goes for a killing blow with the knife. Glass holds the knife off, then rolls Fitzgerald onto his back. As he tries to pry the knife from Fitzgerald’s hand, Fitzgerald pulls Glass down and bites his ear. Fitzgerald yanks the corner of Glass’s mouth and tries to move the knife in for the kill. Glass holds his arm off, then slips underneath, twisting so the knife points at Fitzgerald. Glass uses his body weight to drive the knife into Fitzgerald’s stomach. Fitzgerald rolls, pushing Glass off, pulls the knife out, then kicks Glass away. As Glass edges towards his hatchet, Fitzgerald plunges the knife through Glass’s hand. Glass slams the hatchet into Fitzgerald’s midriff and pulls the knife out of his hand. Glass crawls after Fitzgerald across the blood-soaked snow. Fitzgerald tries to kick him away but Glass hauls himself on the other’s boot and plunges the knife in behind the knee. Fitzgerald rolls on his back. Glass crawls up and straddles him, both covered in blood.
The audio description purely focuses on communicating the fight between the two rivals in an objective manner. It does not take into account the description of Glass’s and Fitzgerald’s facial expressions, nor does it mention anything about the suffering aspect. At times, both protagonists are screaming in pain. Yet, these sounds are once more drowned out by the voice of the audio describer. However, it should again be kept in mind that during these scenes, a lot of action is taking place, and therefore, the audio description does not always have enough time to provide a thorough description of everything.
Eventually, Glass wins the fight and Fitzgerald is killed by Arikara warriors. However, he is badly wounded. The audio description takes this into account and also mentions how badly he is suffering:
02:21:31 (…) Glass struggles up a hill. He falls to his knees in the thick snow. Shivering, he tries to rise on his wounded leg and falls again, his face contorted in pain, Glass looks up.
Once again, this thorough description can be linked to the amount of time available: Glass is alone and not much action is taking place so the audio describer is able to go into further detail.
It can be concluded that in general, the audio description provides a sufficient description of the physical suffering so that a visually impaired audience can paint a mental picture of Glass’s suffering and injuries. However, the lack of time might impose problems during the description of action scenes. Because of this, the audio describer first of all resorts to more general descriptions. Secondly, since a lot of information needs to be provided in a short amount of 41 time, the audio describer is forced to talk over certain noises, such as Glass’s laboured breathing or his cries in pain, causing the visually impaired to lose a part of the experience.
5.1.1.2 Mental suffering
As previously stated, Glass’s mental suffering, which often manifests itself as dreams, flashbacks, and hallucinations, is mainly caused by his physical suffering: during some scenes, he is in so much pain that he starts hallucinating about his deceased wife. Glass only starts to get tormented by these visions after he is heavily wounded by the bear. There is, however, one exception: the very beginning of the movie portrays a number of flashbacks in which Glass, his wife and his son are sleeping peacefully.
Since Glass’s delusions and flashbacks usually bring him back in time and they depict a moment during which his wife and son were still alive, the chronology of the film is no longer straightforward. Consequently, it is essential that the audio description clearly indicates when Glass has a dream, flashback, or hallucination. Otherwise, it might be difficult for a visually impaired viewer to follow the chronology of the film. Moreover, the audio description should make a difference between flashbacks and dreams or hallucinations, as flashbacks show events which truly happened, which is not the case with dreams and hallucinations.
As mentioned above, the movie starts with a number of flashbacks. The audio description renders all the visual information. However, the describer does not indicate that these scenes are flashbacks. This might be confusing for a visually impaired viewer since in the next scene, Glass and a grown-up Hawk are hunting in the woods.
00:00:55 In a darkened room, a white man sleeps. Next to him are a native American little boy and a woman. Subtitles: “It’s okay son, I know you want this to be over.” Now, the woman and boy stand on a windy hill top by a tree. “I’m right here.” The white man, with straggly shoulder-length hair and a beard approaches. “I will be right here…” The boy stands with his arms wide, dark hair blowing in the wind. The woman smiles. On a snow-dusted hill top, a shelter’s on fire. “But, you don’t give up. You hear me?” A soldier with a flaming torch moves away from the fire. The boy sits with his back to him. Later, a man cradles the boy by the destroyed village. “As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe. Keep breathing.” The man stares out across the hill top, as the screen fades to black.
However, during the majority of the other scenes where Glass is mentally suffering, the audio description clearly indicates that what is visible on screen is only happening inside Glass’s 42 head. For example, after Glass is attacked by the bear, he lies on a stretcher while his son is trying to comfort him by repeating some words his mother always used to say. Because of that, Glass first has a flashback to when his wife was still alive. Afterwards, he hallucinates and sees his deceased wife floating above him. This is followed by another flashback, after which Glass finally sleeps. The audio description makes the difference between flashback, hallucination, and dream clear:
00:39:45 Glass flashes back to his wife. They stand with their foreheads touching. Hawk, a little boy with dark hair, smiles. A black bird rests on his forearm. Later, Glass stares at a burning village and sees his son stumble with his shirt on fire. “I’ll be right here.” He gently squeezes water from a rag into his son’s mouth. The left side of the boy’s face is burnt. “I’m right here. As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe. Keep breathing.” Glass stands in front of a large tree, silhouetted against the grey sky. Soldiers torch a village. “When there is a storm, and you stand in front of a tree…” Glass’s native wife smiles, her hair whips in the wind. Now, young Hawk watches as his mother is shot in the back by a soldier. “If you look at its branches, you swear it will fall.” As Glass stares at his fallen wife, a small pale bird emerges from the bullet hole in her dress, then flies away. Young Hawk’s large brown eyes are filled with emotion. “But if you watch the trunk, you will see its stability.” Back in the frozen forest, the injured Glass sees his wife float over him. In a flashback, young Glass holds the young boy on a blanket of fur. Now, the bandaged trapper finally sleeps. He sees an image of a pyramid of buffalo skulls against the sun. Glass trudges towards the structure and stares up at it.
Throughout the rest of the film, other flashbacks are also indicated:
01:18:22 (…) In a flashback, Glass eyes the pyramid of skulls. Now the sky glooms dark over the skulls. Images flash. A face in a skull. His dead wife. A younger Glass raises a rifle at a soldier in his burning hut, his hands soaked in blood and bloody water with Hawk’s dead body below the surface. (…)
Yet, it is not always necessary for the audio description to explicitly convey this kind of information. Sometimes, the circumstances of the movie make the difference between reality and hallucination, dream or memory clear. For example, in 01:32:51, the audio description does not indicate that Glass is having a flashback. However, since he is unconscious and considering that “When there is a storm…” is a sentence that has occurred several times during Glass’s previous flashbacks of old memories, the visually impaired viewer should be able to realize that he is having another flashback: 43
01:32:51 (…) Now, as Glass lies unconscious, the native carries over a bundle of thick branches. (…) He drags Glass’s inert form over to the fire. He slowly builds a lean-to with thick branches, struggling against the wind. Subtitles. “When there is a storm…” Snow sticks on the native’s mouth and eyebrows as he determinedly keeps toiling in the blizzard. “… And you stand in front of a tree. If you look at its branches, you swear it will fall.” In the shelter, the native applies herbs to Glass’s wounds. “But if you watch the trunk, you will see its stability.” (…)
At the end of the movie, after Fitzgerald is killed, Glass sees his late wife standing in front of him. He is hallucinating again:
02:21:31 Shivering, he tries to rise on his wounded leg and falls again, his face contorted in pain, Glass looks up. Further up the hill, he sees Hawk’s mother watching him. His tortured face softens and he smiles. She smiles back gently. She turns and walks away through the tall barren trees, mist and falling snow. Glass stares after her, then his eyes go glassy and out of focus.
Since Glass has hallucinated about his dead wife numerous times during this film, it is not essential for the audio describer to point this out during every single instance. Otherwise, the audio description might come across as too patronizing and annoying.
Furthermore, Glass’s mental suffering is not only caused by physical pain, but also by emotional torture. For example, when Fitzgerald kills Hawk, Glass is powerless and he cannot do anything but watch. His emotional pain is clearly reflected in the audio description:
00:47:00 Fitzgerald knives Hawk in the gut. Glass watches, eyes ablaze and teeth clenched. He strains against the rope. Fitzgerald, his hand over Hawk’s mouth, eases the mortally injured boy to the ground. 00:47:17 Hawk clenches his stomach as blood drips from his mouth. Glass watches, completely helpless, as Fitzgerald drags Hawk’s body into the trees. 00:47:38 Spit flies from Glass’s mouth as he struggles.
00:52:55 Glass comes upon Hawk’s body at the base of a tree. He stares, eyes filled with tears and mouth parted, then drags himself closer. Glass studies his son’s lifeless frozen face, then inches ever closer and gently places a hand on his forehead. He checks Hawk’s neck for a pulse, then his fingers tab and twitch. He looks around and moves his hand away. Glass lays his head on Hawk’s chest, staring at him tearful. He puts his hand on his forehead and closes the boy’s eyes. “I’m not leaving you, son. I’m right here.”
It can be concluded that the audio description efficiently renders Glass’s mental suffering and that the audio describer makes a clear distinction between dreams, hallucinations, and 44 flashbacks. In some cases, the audio description does so explicitly, in other cases, this is not necessary since it should become clear from the context. Because the audio description makes a clear distinction between reality and imagination/memory, a visually impaired audience should also be able to follow the chronology of the film.
5.1.2 Surroundings
Contrary to Birdman (2014), The Revenant (2015) does not explicitly indicate where the story takes place. Moreover, the landscape in which both movies are being displayed completely differs: Birdman (2014) has urban surroundings, whereas The Revenant (2015) almost completely takes place in nature. This natural environment plays an important role, as a lot of Glass’s suffering is caused by his surroundings: he has to survive in freezing temperatures, walk through unhospitable terrains, and he is attacked by wild animals. Essentially, the story is about a man’s fight against nature. During a large part of the movie, Glass is completely alone in nature. The movie provides numerous impressive nature scenes, creating a very visceral experience for the audience. A number of film critics have pointed out the importance of nature:
Nature plays a primary role in this film, and it can be a presence of awe-inspiring beauty or remorseless destruction. Extreme long shots are often used to frame Glass and other actors amidst the expansive snowy and mountainous terrain, thus emphasizing their diminutiveness. (Coughlin, 2016, para. 7)
Consequently, in order to get an idea of what Glass has to endure, a thorough description of his surroundings is necessary. However, considering the impressiveness and the vastness of the nature scenes in The Revenant (2015), it will be almost impossible for the audio description to provide information about nature in such a way that a visually impaired audience has an experience that is similar to a sighted audience. No matter how thorough the audio describer might describe these scenes, a part of the experience will automatically become lost. Moreover, similar to the description of Glass’s physical suffering, an additional problem is the lack of time to describe certain scenes in a detailed manner. In this chapter, a number of examples in which the audio description provides information about the surroundings will be discussed.
In one of the first scenes, soldiers torch an Indian village. The plain surrounding the village is covered in ice, plumes of smoke drift up, sparks of fire are flying around, and dead people are lying on the ground. However, a visually impaired viewer only receives the following information:
00:00:55 (…) On a snow-dusted hill top, a shelter’s on fire. “But, you don’t give up. You hear me?” A soldier with a flaming torch moves away from the fire. 45
This general description can be attributed to a lack of time: the audio description does not only have to describe the surroundings, it also has to mention what Glass is saying, as he is speaking in Pawnee language. The lack of time also causes the following scene to be described in a general manner:
00:04:49 The man in a headscarf walks to a fur trappers camp.
A visually impaired audience receives no further description of the fur trappers camp, whereas a sighted audience can see what it looks like: bales of fur are lying around, camp fires are burning, armed trappers are making food, there’s a cistern, … It can be argued that this extra information is not necessary for the audience to understand the story. Yet, they lose a part of the experience.
After Glass manages to kill the bear and he lies trapped underneath it, an aerial view of the misty forest, in the middle of which Glass and the bear are lying, is shown. The scene is very impressive, but it is not described in the audio description, even though no other action or dialogue is taking place. The same happens when the trappers are carrying Glass on a stretcher. An aerial view shows how they are trying to cross a broad river surrounded by high trees. The sky is grey and the forest is misty. This scene is followed by three different nature shots. Yet, the audio describer conveys none of this information.
In 00:39:45, the trappers are sleeping underneath the stars and the northern lights. The audio description does not mention anything about this impressive natural phenomenon:
00:39:45 (…) Later, beneath the stars, Hawk leans over Glass.
When captain Henry and the rest of the other trappers are on their way to Fort Kiowa, they have to cross a river at the top of a waterfall. An impressive aerial view portrays how the trappers are standing in the middle of a huge frozen plain, facing a waterfall. Yet, a visually impaired viewer only hears the following:
00:52:10 Some men cross the icy river.
This description is not sufficient, as it does not explain the noise of the waterfall that can be heard. Moreover, despite the fact that no other action is taking place in this scene, the information provided in the audio description comes very late.
At 01:32:51, the description of the surroundings is again quite vague. Glass is walking up a hill. Behind him, in the distance, a vast plain covered in snow is visible. In a small forest, the 46 remnants of the shelter built by the Indian warrior can be seen. Grey clouds are hanging low in the sky. Yet, the audio description only communicates general information:
01:32:51 (…) He pauses, then moves up a gently sloping hill. At the top, he manoeuvres around several small bare trees. (…)
However, during several other scenes, the audio describer manages to provide a description that is as thoroughly as possible. This is usually the case when the movie portrays nature scenes in which no further action is taking place so that there is enough time to provide detailed information.
00:02:11 Water floats over massive tree roots. A title appears in white letters against the water’s dark surface. “The Revenant”. The water swirls and ripples around twigs. The reflection of towering trees wavers. The view rises from the surface to the flowing water to reveal that it is pouring through a flooded woodland. The narrowed and thick roots of the massive trees are exposed against the flooded terrain. A man with a rifle advances cautiously through the ankle-deep waters. Another figure, also carrying a rifle, follows close behind him. They move slowly and step gently through the barren trees. Daylight filters through the leafless branches.
00:22:03 (…) Elsewhere, Glass scouts alone in the misty forest. He moves stealthily through the towering evergreens at a long and dry gulley with fallen trees across it. He climbs down into the deep trench, then moves on, his rifle held at ready. Now, out of the gulley, Glass continues to move along the forest floor. The bright white sky beams hazy light through the tall thin trees. (…)
00:59:47 (…) Further away, Glass crawls on through sun-capped snowy woods. He drags himself to the edge of a cliff, overlooking a river, woods and plants. Glass stares out over the vast landscape, with mountains rising in the distance. A breeze blows his furs and sun shines down on him. Later, he dips his fingers in the fast flowing river, tastes the water and fills the canteen. (…)
01:18:22 (…) Now, Glass hobbles up a slope, away from the snowy river bank. He stands on a small ### overlooking a river and a forest on the other side. A flaming meteor blazes across the sky. A small flame shoots off, as the fiery ball falls far beyond the range of hills. A meteor fragment lands in the water in front of a man, creating a huge splash. (…) He pushes forward through branches, hoisting himself along. He picks up his pace as he reaches the top of the slope, then stops. Glass stares out at a herd of buffalos right across the snow covered prairie, pursued by a pack of wolves. The wolves isolate a buffalo and surround it, taking turns jumping and tearing at it. The rest of the 47
herd scatters, leaving the lone buffalo, which is viciously attacked. The wounded animal falls on its side as the wolves tear it apart. Glass trudges forward, then sinks to his knees, staring open mouth. Night. The pale moon shines down through the thick clouds. Glass sleeps on his back on a hill by the plain. Firelight flickers on his face as he opens his eyes. He turns to look behind him. He rolls over and crawls to the edge of the plain. Small fires are burning and a wolf runs off with its fur on fire. Glass crawls closer, staying low. The fires are being set by a lone warrior in furs. Glass struggles to stand with his staff. (…)
After Glass faints because of his injuries, the native tries to tend to his wounds. However, a snow storm is coming up. Consequently, the native is forced to build a shelter for Glass. The audio description indicates that the native is toiling in the snow:
01:32:51 (…) Now, as Glass lies unconscious, the native carries over a bundle of thick branches. Struggling against the snowy wind, he sets them down. The native crawls over to Glass and feels his forehead. The companion lights some brittle glasses, covering them in his hands and blowing on them to produce smoke. A small fire glows within the bundle. He chops down the upper half of a slim tree. He builds a fire, placing stones around the flames. He drags Glass’s inert form over to the fire. He slowly builds a lean-to with thick branches, struggling against the wind. Subtitles. “When there is a storm…” Snow sticks on the native’s mouth and eyebrows as he determinedly keeps toiling in the blizzard. (…)
When Glass and his horse fall off a cliff after being chased by Arikara, Glass uses the dead body of the horse to find shelter: he cuts open the stomach, takes out the intestines, and crawls into the horse’s abdomen. An aerial view depicts the dead body of the horse with its intestines lying next to it in a bloody heap. This view is quite impressive, especially because of the contrast between the white snow and the red blood of the intestines. The audio description tries to describe this scene in as thorough a fashion as possible:
01:47:32 (…) He breaks the horse’s ribs, then catches his breath, a snow storm whirling around him. Naked, he crawls inside the carcass, pulling the hind tightly around himself. Glass shivers, his breath forming clouds in the air. His face pokes out from the deep cut in the horse’s underbelly, his knife by his head. An aerial view shows the bloody carcass shelter and a heap of guts surrounded by a sea of white. Now, towering pines are silhouetted against the pale light of dawn. The sun filters through a tree and snow melts from its branches. The horse carcass has frozen solid. Glass’s hand emerges from the long cut in the hind and he tries to pry it open. He breaks the frozen flesh, forcing a gap wide enough to crawl out. His face tightens, his beard covered 48
in frost and blood. Glass looks up at the tree above him and the snow melting off of it in the morning sun. He slowly emerges from the snow-covered carcass. The sun’s rays shine through the pines as Glass takes in his surroundings. He gets dressed in the white light. The trapper picks up his satchel and lays a grateful hand on the dead horse’s flank. Glass walks away, pausing to stare up at the cliff at the top of the trees. A huge frozen lake is surrounded by snow-dusted peaks with pine forests at the base of their slopes. A tiny figure moves across the wide expanse of frozen water. Glass tramps across the snow and ice at a steady pace. (…)
Even though the audio description of the surroundings is not always necessary to follow the story as it mainly contributes to the visceral experience, the description of these surroundings sometimes appears to be crucial, not only because the surroundings partially cause Glass to suffer, but also because small details might influence the story. For example, after Glass and captain Henry split up to find Fitzgerald, the description mentions the following:
02:08:37 (…) The captain emerges from the woods onto an open rocky area. (…)
It is crucial that the audience knows that the captain finds himself at an open area because this makes him more vulnerable: it gives Fitzgerald the opportunity to shoot him from a distance.
When Glass is chasing Fitzgerald, the description of the surroundings is important as both men use the forest to hide and to run away:
02:10:23 (…) A panicked Fitzgerald races through the dense pines. Glass runs after him. Fitzgerald descents a slope with Glass charging after him through the thick snow. An aerial view shows the two men racing across the vast snow- blanketed landscape. Glass slides down through some trees, looking around wildly. He hurries along a path, rifle in his hands, then reaches a creek and pauses. Glass jumps down into the snowy trench formed by the creek, picks a direction to follow and heads downstream. Glass advances through misty level woods. Fitzgerald, hiding behind a thin tree, sits still, eyes shifting. Glass scans the foggy woods. He walks backwards and forwards, keeping his eyes moving in all directions. Glass narrows his eyes, peering through the mist. (…)
Both men get heavily injured during the fight and eventually, Fitzgerald dies. Again, the contrast between the white snow and the red blood creates an impressive view. The audio description also takes this into account:
02:21:31 (…) A waterfall is divided by a large rock. In another part of the river, Fitzgerald’s body is carried along by the fast moving current. A wide trail of 49
blood remains in the snow by the river where Fitzgerald and Glass fought. Snow begins to fall. Snow covered peaks loom over a barren area of the woods. (…)
It can be concluded that in general, the audio describer does not always provide a description of the surroundings that is as detailed and as thorough as possible. As was the case with the description of Glass’s physical suffering, the audio describer sometimes has to resort to providing information in a more general fashion due to a lack of time, usually caused by action scenes or dialogues. Consequently, a visually impaired audience will almost automatically lose a part of the experience. The Revenant (2015) is famous for its impressive nature scenes, and no matter how thorough the description may be, it will be nearly impossible for a visually impaired viewer to paint a mental picture of the surroundings that is as detailed as the visual content.
5.1.3 Open ending
The Revenant (2015) has an open ending: even though Glass eventually wins the fight with Fitzgerald, whom is killed by Arikara, the audience does not know whether Glass himself survives or not. The last scene shows how Glass, heavily wounded, stares at another hallucination of his dead wife, who smiles and then walks away. This ending might be interpreted in different ways. On one hand, Glass’s hallucinations of his dead wife throughout the movie might be interpreted as something for Glass to hold onto; his wife is giving him courage to continue his journey and to take revenge. For example, during numerous instances, Glass keeps his wife’s words “When there is a storm…” in mind. The last scene might then indicate that his wife is proud of him for succeeding and surviving. Her walking away might also have a symbolic meaning: now that Glass has reached his objective, he can continue his life without her. On the other hand, the hallucinations might also be interpreted as a sign that Glass is about to give up. He hallucinates about being reunited with his wife. However, they can only be reunited if Glass dies. In this case, the last scene might indicate that Glass is deliberating whether to follow her, and therefore, die, or whether to keep living.
What actually happens is left to the imagination of the audience. In order to give a visually impaired audience a similar movie experience, it is therefore crucial that the audio description provides the information necessary for the visually impaired audience to form their own idea of how the story ends. Yet, the audio description should not provide more information than 50 what is visible on screen either. The audio description of The Revenant (2015) attends to this rule:
02:21:31 (…) Snow begins to fall. Snow covered peaks loom over a barren area of the woods. Glass struggles up a hill. He falls to his knees in the thick snow. Shivering, he tries to rise on his wounded leg and falls again, his face contorted in pain, Glass looks up. Further up the hill, he sees Hawk’s mother watching him. His tortured face softens and he smiles. She smiles back gently. She turns and walks away through the tall barren trees, mist and falling snow. Glass stares after her, then his eyes go glassy and out of focus. He shivers, his skin white, his beard covered in frost. He turns and fixes his pale eyes right on us in a penetrating gaze. Fade to black.
The audio describer takes into account that Glass is heavily wounded, which is important information for the audience. Otherwise, they might just assume that the movie has a happy end and that Glass simply returns to Fort Kiowa. By mentioning that he is injured and that he is struggling to walk, the description makes the audience doubt: it is possible that he survives, but he might just as well die. In conclusion, the audio description sufficiently renders the open ending for a visually impaired audience to form their own opinion about it.
3.3.1.1 Experiences of the research group and control group
Upon examining the audio description of the physical and mental suffering, the surroundings, and the open ending in The Revenant (2015), a number of possible problems have been formulated. In order to determine whether these hypotheses are justified, in this paragraph, the possible difficulties will be compared to the answers of the research group to examine whether they encountered the same difficulties. Moreover, the answers of the research group will be compared to the answers of the control group to ensure that the problems encountered are related to the audio description and not to the film itself.
A first possible problem which occurred from the audio description analysis is that the description of the protagonist’s physical suffering was rather general in some scenes and it did not take into account many details. For example, during many instances, the injuries and the facial expressions of the protagonist that indicated he was suffering were not described. This was mainly caused by a lack of time: the main focus of an audio description usually lies on the action, so during scenes in which a lot is happening, the audio describer first tries to make sure the action is described. Consequently, there is not much time left to describe other details. 51
During scenes in which Glass was alone, on the other hand, not much action was taking place and therefore, the audio describer had the opportunity to focus on details.
However, the distinction between a general and detailed description of Glass’s physical suffering strongly influences the experiences of the research group. For example, when asked “Can you give a number of instances of Glass’s physical suffering?”, both respondents of the research group mainly referred to Glass being attacked by the bear. The respondents were able to describe this event in great detail. This can be attributed to the fact that the audio description of the bear attack was very thorough and it took a lot of time. However, numerous other instances during which Glass was suffering were not described in such a detailed a fashion in the audio description. Consequently, these parts of the film were barely taken into account by the respondents. This was not the case with the control group: they gave numerous examples of Glass’s suffering and did not only focus on the bear attack.
Moreover, neither of the respondents of the research group were able to answer the question “What does Glass do in order to heal his neck wound caused by the bear?”, despite the fact that the audio description mentioned how Glass tried to cauterize his wound by lighting moss on fire and applying this to his neck. Both respondents indicated that they could not remember anything about this scene being mentioned in the audio description. A possible explanation could be that the audio description did not provide enough detailed information about this scene, because of which the suffering aspect was weakened and that therefore, it did not leave a big enough impact on the audience for them to remember what happened. Subsequently, a major part of the research group’s experience concerning Glass’s physical suffering is lost. The difference with the control group is substantial: the scene during which Glass performed self- surgery was quite impressive to see and it clearly showed how badly the protagonist was suffering. Consequently, the control group was able to vividly describe what happens:
At first he tries putting mud on it as a salve, but that does not work. He finally wraps a stick in some gauzy material, maybe moss, and lights it on fire in order to cauterize the wound. It is hot enough that it sears the wound shut, albeit painfully. (Respondent 2)
Concerning Glass’s mental suffering, the analysis results have suggested that neither the description of his mental suffering, nor the occurrence of flashbacks, dreams, and hallucinations should impose any problems for a visually impaired audience, as Glass’s emotional torture was clearly reflected and the audio describer clearly indicated scenes in which Glass had flashbacks, dreams, or hallucinations. Because of the detailed description of the scene in which Glass’s son 52
Hawk died, both respondents of the research group have indicated that in their opinion, mentally seen, Glass was suffering the most in this scene. The control group indicated the same scene, so it can be concluded that both groups had a similar experience concerning the mental suffering aspect.
Due to the explicit indication of flashbacks, dreams, and hallucinations, indeed, the visually impaired audience did not have any problems following the chronology of the story. Respondent 4 stated the following:
For me the chronology of the movie was reasonable and easy to follow as it started with a normal day in his life that turned out to change his entire life. The straight line of the chronological order gets interrupted by the flashbacks, but as they are marked clearly it is again easy to follow. Contrary to the control group, however, the research group did not seem to notice the distinction between dreams, hallucinations, or flashbacks and interpreted all these scenes as flashbacks. This generalization could lead to an unconscious misunderstanding of certain aspects of the storyline, as the difference between flashbacks on one hand and dreams and hallucinations on the other hand is essential to make a distinction between what really happened, which is the case with flashbacks, and what was part of Glass’s imagination, which is the case with dreams and hallucinations. However, this problem cannot be attributed to the audio description, as it provided the information that was necessary.
Concerning the audio description of the surroundings, the analysis results have suggested that the main problem lies in the impressiveness and the vastness of the nature shots in The Revenant (2015): no matter how detailed the audio describer tries to provide information about what the surroundings look like, it is almost impossible to describe nature in such a way that a visually impaired audience can have a similar experience to a sighted audience. The lack of time is an additional problem: as previously mentioned, the audio description mainly focuses on describing action. Therefore, during action scenes, there is little to no time left to describe other details and surroundings so that the audio describer has to resort to providing general information. Since the harsh natural environment was partially what caused Glass to suffer physically, this suffering aspect goes lost if the surroundings are only described in a general manner. Therefore, a visually impaired audience does not only miss out on the visceral experience created by the impressive nature shots, but also on Glass’s physical suffering.
This also becomes clear from the answers of the research group. When asked “Do you have the feeling that you missed out on parts of the cinematic experience because you were not able to see the nature scenes which The Revenant (2015) is so famous for?”, respondent 3 claimed that 53 she thought the surroundings were described as well as possible. Yet, she still had the impression she was missing out on how majestic the scenes must have been as nature is simply too difficult and impressive to describe accurately.
Furthermore, the analysis of the open ending has suggested that the audio description should not really impose any problems, as the audio describer mentioned all the information that is needed for the audience to form their own idea of how the story could possibly end. Still, neither the research group nor the control group seemed to interpret the ending of the movie as an open ending. Both groups stated that according to them, the ending was not very surprising, with the hero of the story defeating the villain and being able to continue his life now that he has taken revenge. However, several aspects of the last scenes indicated that the ending might not be so obvious: Glass was heavily wounded, his dead wife floated in front of him and it seemed as if she wanted him to follow her and in the end, Glass’s eyes went out of focus. Therefore, it is not completely sure whether he actually survives. This was also reflected in the audio description.
Finally, the general questions about the audio description have revealed a number of problems about the audio description of the movie in general. Similar to Birdman (2014), when the research group was asked the question “Do you have the feeling that you missed or did not understand certain parts of the movie because they were not clearly described in the AD?”, the respondents indicated that especially in the beginning, they had trouble telling the different characters apart and understanding the storyline. Moreover, the respondents stated that they had difficulties figuring out which character was the hero and which one the villain of the story because in their opinion, the facial expressions and the body language were not described thoroughly enough. Furthermore, they were confused about the age of Glass’s son, as the audio description did not indicate whether he was a child, teenager, or young adult. However, generally seen, the respondents claimed that the audio description enabled them to follow and understand the movie, and that it was extremely helpful in terms of the description of action.
5.3 Conclusion
In conclusion, the hypotheses concerning the main problems that occurred from the analysis of the audio description of the physical and mental suffering, the surroundings, and the open ending in The Revenant (2015) have been confirmed by the answers of the research group to the questionnaire. The main challenges were proven to be the following: firstly, concerning the physical suffering aspect, the audio description did not always provide a sufficient amount of information, depending on the amount of time that was available. For example, the facial 54 expressions and the injuries of the protagonist were often not taken into account, because of which a part of the suffering aspect is weakened. In other scenes, however, the audio describer had enough time to provide more detailed information. This difference between a detailed and general audio description of Glass’s physical suffering has seemed to influence the experience of the visually impaired audience: they could not recall certain instances during which Glass was suffering, possibly because these instances were not described sufficiently, whereas they could vividly remember other instances because of their detailed description.
Secondly, concerning Glass’s mental suffering, the answers of the research group have confirmed that the audio description did not really create any problems. However, the respondents did not seem to notice the difference between flashbacks, hallucinations, and dreams, although this distinction was clearly indicated in the audio description. This could cause a misunderstanding of the storyline, as the audience might think certain fragments Glass dreamed or hallucinated about really happened in the past, which is not the case. Yet, since the audio describer did provide a clear distinction, this difficulty cannot be attributed to the audio description.
Thirdly, the audio description of the surroundings appeared to be problematic because of two reasons. On one hand, the nature that had to be described was so vast and impressive that it almost becomes impossible to describe the surroundings in such a way that an impaired audience gets the same impression like a sighted audience. On the other hand, just like in many other instances, the lack of time made it difficult for the audio describer to provide detailed information. Even though the respondents of the research group indicated that the surroundings were described as well as possible, they still stated that they had the feeling they missed out on the impressive nature shots.
Fourthly, the analysis of the open ending has suggested that the audio description provided the same information as what was visible on screen, and therefore enough for the audience to create their own opinion about how the story ends. The last scenes of the movie were ambiguous: it is possible that Glass survived, but due to his severe injuries, he might just as well have died. Yet, the answers of both the research and the control group have shown that none of the respondents interpreted the ending as an open ending: they all shared the opinion that the hero eventually overcame the villain and that he lived happily ever after.
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Fifthly, concerning the general audio description problems, similar to Birdman (2014), the research group indicated that in the beginning of the movie, they had difficulties identifying the different characters and their relationships to one another.
Given the fact that, next to a number of general problems, the audio description of Glass’s physical suffering and the surroundings has appeared to be problematic in some aspects, a number of suggestions related to possible improvements will be formulated in chapter 6.
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6 GENERAL CONCLUSION
The present study was based on the hypothesis that every film genre is characterised by a set of specific genre characteristics, and that these genre characteristics should be conveyed in the audio description of a movie, in order to guarantee that a visually impaired audience can have an experience of the movie that is similar to a sighted audience. However, since the currently existing audio description guidelines are quite vague and they do not provide further rules for diverse film genres, it was suggested that creating an audio description of certain film genres could appear to be problematic. The aim of the present study was to analyse the audio description of two movies directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, namely Birdman (2014), a black comedy, and The Revenant (2015), an adventure movie, with the intent to determine whether the two audio descriptions reflect the characteristics of both movies, and thus, examine whether visually impaired viewers can experience the movies in a similar manner as a sighted audience.
Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015) were chosen for numerous reasons. First of all, the black comedy and the adventure genre are two subgenres of which the relation with audio description had not been analysed yet. Secondly, the movies were directed by the same person. Thirdly, the two films have a number of characteristics in common, namely mental and/or physical suffering of the protagonist, impressive surroundings, and an open ending, which are features which often occur in both genres. However, it should be kept in mind that, despite the fact that these characteristics often occur in both the black comedy and the adventure genre, both genres are entirely different and they each portray various other characteristics that do not correspond with each other. Therefore, it is perfectly possible that other movies which belong to the black comedy or adventure genre do not portray the three characteristics discussed in this thesis.
In order to answer the question “Does the audio description sufficiently describe the characteristics of the two genres the films belong to?”, this study was divided into two parts. In the first section, the theoretical part, information that was needed in order to analyse an audio description was provided. To this purpose, a thorough explanation of what audio description entails was given and the existing guidelines were described. Additionally, the notion of film genre and the problems that arise when categorizing films into genres were discussed. Moreover, the characteristics of both the black comedy genre and the adventure genre were analysed, which established that the three characteristics discussed in this thesis often occur in 58 both genres. Afterwards, a short synopsis of both movies was provided and the reasons as to why Birdman (2014) and The Revenant (2015) respectively belong to these genres were explained.
Furthermore, a number of previous studies about the relation between specific film genres and audio description were addressed. For example, Renders (2012) has studied the influence of the fantasy genre on the audio description of three movies. She concluded that the audio description generally portrays the characteristics that are typical for the fantasy genre, but that the description of fantastic creatures is often not detailed enough, causing many fantastic elements to go lost. Examples of other studies were Maes’ (2011) analysis of the audio description of a musical film and Martínez’ (2010) research about animation movies.
In the second section of this thesis, the research part, the audio descriptions of both movies were examined. To this purpose, the three previously mentioned characteristics, namely mental and/or physical suffering, surroundings, and an open ending were analysed. Upon examination of the audio description of these characteristics, a number of possible problems have arisen.
Subsequently, in order to determine whether the analysis findings were justified, a research group and a control group were asked to watch both films, after which they had to fill in a questionnaire with questions related to some of the events that occurred in the films. By comparing the answers of the research group to the problems that occurred from the audio description analysis, these potential problems could either be confirmed or discarded. Moreover, by comparing the answers of both groups, it could be determined whether the research group had a similar movie experience as the control group.
Upon comparing the audio description analysis of Birdman (2014) and the answers of the research group, it could be concluded that most hypotheses concerning the main problems which occurred from the audio description analysis were confirmed. The main challenges appeared to be the following: first of all, concerning the mental suffering aspect, the audio describer did not mention explicitly enough that Riggan was suffering from a mental disorder and that many of the events only occurred within his imagination. Birdman’s appearance was not described in a thorough enough a fashion. Furthermore, concerning the surroundings, the transition from one location to another was sometimes unclear and the communication of the surroundings was too general. As expected, the audio description of the open ending did not cause any difficulties. In addition, a number of other general problems were addressed. For 59 example, in the beginning, the audio description did not identify the different characters and their relationship early enough.
The analysis results of the audio description of The Revenant (2015) and the answers of the research group also greatly corresponded. The main challenges were proven to be the following: firstly, the aspects that indicate physical suffering were not conveyed thoroughly enough. Additionally, certain aspects were described with a greater sense for detail than others, possibly causing a visually impaired audience to forget scenes that were described in a less detailed fashion. As expected, the audio description of the mental suffering did not impose any problems. However, although clearly indicated in the audio description, the research group did not seem to notice the difference between hallucinations, flashbacks, and dreams. Furthermore, similar to Birdman (2014), the communication of the surroundings was not detailed enough. In addition, the analysis results have suggested that the audio description of the open ending should not impose any problems. Yet, the answers of both the research group and the control group showed that they interpreted the ending as a happy end instead of an open ending, despite the fact that the audio description provided all the necessary information. Finally, the general problems which appeared in Birdman (2014), namely the fact that the different characters and their relationships were not identified early enough, also appeared in The Revenant (2015).
On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded that generally speaking, the audio description has taken the genre characteristics of both movies into account. However, given that in both movies, the audio description of the suffering aspect and the surroundings sometimes appeared to be problematic, a visually impaired audience will not be able to have the same experience as a sighted audience, as certain aspects of the movie go lost. Therefore, a number of suggestions related to possible improvements can be formulated. It should be noted that the answers of the research group have also brought a number of other problems to light: the open ending in The Revenant (2015) was seen as a happy end and the audience did not make any difference between flashbacks, hallucinations and dreams. Yet, these aspects will not be taken into account in the following paragraph as the audio description provided the information that was needed and these problems might have been caused by ambiguities in the movies themselves.
First of all, the audio describer should indicate mental illnesses more explicitly. For example, in Birdman (2014), due to Riggan’s schizophrenia, it was not always clear what was really happening and what was a part of Riggan’s imagination. It was already hard for a sighted audience to make this distinction and therefore, additional information should be provided for 60 an impaired audience. Secondly, concerning the physical suffering aspect, the audio describer should try to describe injuries and facial expressions that indicate someone is suffering in a more detailed manner so that the idea of suffering remains. Yet, this is not always possible due to a lack of time. Moreover, it is important that several suffering scenes are described in an equally as detailed fashion. Otherwise, this might influence the experience of an impaired audience. Thirdly, the audio describer should properly convey the surroundings. Again, it should be noted that in some cases, this is not possible because of the lack of time. Moreover, as sometimes surroundings are not taken into account, a visually impaired audience may grow confused since certain background noises are not explained. Still, it should also be kept in mind that when describing the surroundings, a good balance should be found between providing too little and providing too much information, as the latter might quickly come across as annoying and belittling. Finally, concerning the audio description in general, the describer should better communicate the names of the characters and their relationships as early as possible in order to avoid further confusion.
However, it should be noted that analysing two movies does not suffice to form general conclusions about two whole genres. Moreover, as previously discussed, the chosen characteristics might not appear in every black comedy or adventure movie, as both genres portray numerous other characteristics next to the three traits discussed in this dissertation. Consequently, additional research on the audio description of the discussed characteristics and the black comedy and adventure genre in general could be useful to formulate more guidelines. Additional specific genre guidelines would not only be very beneficial for the audio description industry, but also for visually impaired viewers since an optimal audio description will enable them to have an experience that is similar to a sighted audience.
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7 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Altman, R. (1984). A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre. Cinema Journal, 23(3), 6- 18. Andrew, D. (1984). Concepts in Film Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Audio Description Project (2003). Organizing Principles: Guidelines for Good Describing. [Website]. Retrieved March 8, 2017 from http://www.acb.org/adp/guidelines.html Blake, M. (2015). Writing the comedy movie. NY: Bloomsbury Academic. Biltereyst, D. & Meers, P. (2004). Film / TV / Genre. Gent: Academia Press. Buscombe, E. (1970). The Idea of Genre in the American Cinema. Screen, 11(2), 33-45. Cambridge University Press (2017). Cambridge Dictionary. [Website]. Retrieved March 22, 2017 from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/genre Coughlin, S. (28.04.2016). Man is almost as unforgiving as nature in ‘The Revenant’. The Sophian. Retrieved April 22, 2017 from http://www.thesmithsophian.com Described and Captioned Media Program (2017). Welcome to the Description Key. [Website]. Retrieved March 5, 2017 from http://www.descriptionkey.org/index.html Descriptive Video Works (2017). Frequently Asked Questions. [Website]. Retrieved April 13, 2017 from http://www.descriptivevideoworks.com/faqs Dirks, T. (2017). Adventure Films. [Website]. Retrieved March 31, 2017 from http://www.filmsite.org/adventurefilms.html Disabled World (2017). U.S. FCC Proposes to Expand Video Description Rules. [Website]. Retrieved March 5, 2017 from https://www.disabled- world.com/disability/accessibility/fcc-regulation.php Dosch, E. & Benecke, B. (2004). Wenn aus Bildern Worte werden: Durch Audio-Description zum Hörfilm. München: Bayerischer Rundfunk. Iñárritu, A.G., Lesher, J. et al (Producers), & Iñárritu, A.G. (Director). (2014). Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) [Motion Picture]. USA: 20th Century Fox. ITC (05.2000). ITC Guidance On Standards for Audio Description. [37pp.]. [Word Document]. Retrieved March 5, 2017 from msradio.huji.ac.il/narration.doc Maes, T. (2011). Analysing the Audio Description of a Musical and Period Film in Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007). Unpublished thesis. Universiteit Gent – Faculteit Toegepaste Taalkunde. Martínez, S. (2010). Disney contra la nueva ola del cine de animación: un análisis descriptivo a través de la AD. In C. Jiménez, A. Rodríguez & C. Seibel (Ed.), Un corpus de cine. Fundamentos teóricos y aplicados de la audiodescripción [pp. 295 – 313]. Granada: Ediciones Tragacanto. McKee, R. (1998). Story. Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. London: Methuen Publishing Limited. Metacritic. (2014). Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). [Website]. Retrieved April 7, 2017 from https://www.metacritic.com/movie/birdman-or-the-unexpected- virtue-of-ignorance Metacritic (2015). The Revenant. [Website]. Retrieved April 8, 2017 from http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-revenant-2015 Milchan, A., Goin, S. et al (Producers), & Iñárritu, A.G. (Director). (2015). The Revenant [Motion Picture]. USA: 20th Century Fox. Neale, S. (2000). Genre and Hollywood. London: Routledge. Oscars 2015: Full List of Winners. (24.02.2015). The Guardian. Retrieved May 9, 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com 62
Oscar Winners 2016: The Full List From Spotlight to Leonardo DiCaprio. (29.02.2016). The Guardian. Retrieved May 9, 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com Renders, R. (2012). The Relation between Genre and Audio Description: An Analysis of the Audio Descriptions of three Fantasy Films: Eragon (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (2005) and Avatar (2009). Unpublished thesis. Universiteit Gent – Faculteit Toegepaste Taalkunde. Rotten Tomatoes. (2014). Birdman (2014). [Website]. Retrieved April 7, 2017 from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/birdman_2014 Rotten Tomatoes. (2015). The Revenant (2015). [Website]. Retrieved April 8, 2017 from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_revenant_2015 Ruimy, J. (11.06.2016). The Visual Poetry In The Films Of Alejandro González Iñárritu Is Beautiful & Brutal. [Website]. Retrieved May 7, 2017 from https://www.theplaylist.net Sahini, R. (05.04.2016). What Are The Characteristics Of Dark Humour? [Msg 1]. Message posted to https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-characteristics-of-dark-humour Seibel, C. (2010). La audiodescripción del género cine de humor. Análisis desde un corpus anotado. In C. Jiménez, A. Rodríguez & C. Seibel (Ed.), Un corpus de cine. Fundamentos teóricos y aplicados de la audiodescripción (pp. 245 – 267). Granada: Ediciones Tragacanto. Taylor, K. (08.01.2016). The Revenant: Powerful storytelling captures the revenge of Hugh Glass. The Globe And Mail. Retrieved April 5, 2017 on www.theglobeandmail.com The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. (2017). World Sight Day. [Website]. Retrieved April 9 from https://www.iapb.org/advocacy/world-sight-day The Internet Movie Database. (2014). Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). [Website]. Retrieved April 6, 2017 from https://www.imdb.com/ The Internet Movie Database. (2015). The Revenant. [Website]. Retrieved April 8, 2017 from https://www.imdb.com/ The Movie Snob. (23.02.2011). Director Spotlight: Alejandro González Iñárritu. [Website]. Retrieved April 14, 2017 from http://www.themoviesnob.net The NYC Movie Guru. (17.10.2014). Birdman – Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. [Website]. Retrieved April 5, 2017 from http://nycmovieguru.com/ The Script Lab. (2016). Genre: Comedy. [Website]. Retrieved March 31, 2017 from https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/comedy The Script Lab. (2016). Genre: Adventure. [Website]. Retrieved March 31, 2017 from https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/adventure Todorov, T. (1970). Introduction à la littérature fantastique. Paris: Editions du Seuil. Tudor, A. (1995). Genre. In B. Grant (Ed.), Film Genre Reader III (pp. 3-10). Austin: University of Texas Press. UN (1948). Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [Website]. Retrieved April 24, 2017 from http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html UN (2006). Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Optional Protocol. [Website]. Retrieved April 24, 2017 from http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf Vermeiren, H. (2017). Audiodescriptie. Unpublished syllabus. Universiteit Gent – Faculteit Toegepaste Taalkunde. Zane, A. (02.01.2015). Infinity and Beyond. The Sun. Retrieved April 5 from https://www.thesun.co.uk/
63
8 APPENDICES
8.1 Audio description Birdman
00:01:38 A distant fiery object falls in the sky, leaving a trail of thick smoke. The fireball rips through grey clouds as it hurtles at tremendous speed. In a dressing room, a man seated in a lotus position levitates two feet off the floor. Wearing only white briefs, the short-haired man faces the window as he floats in place. 00:02:36 The man stretches his neck to the side. Getting to his feet, he presses a key on a laptop on a vanity counter. A window opens on a screen, showing a young blonde at a flower market. 00:03:08 The video feed ends. The middle-aged man shuts the laptop. Now, wearing a button-front shirt, he looks at his reflection in the mirror. A poster of a man in a dark, beat mask above the words ‘Birdman 3’ hangs on the wall behind him. The goateed man continues to stare into the mirror. 00:03:31 A red light bulb blinks near the mirror. 00:03:35 Riggan crosses to a couch and pulls out a pair of brown slacks. He zips up, then grabs a black notebook. He slides it under his arm as he leaves the room. Tucking in his shirt, Riggan heads down a long corridor lined with faded red wallpaper. He meanders past a bulletin board filled with notices. He steps down a flight of stairs, beneath a hanging florescent light. Papers and news clippings clutter another board. A man with a ladder approaches, walking upstairs. 00:04:13 Backstage, a bearded man with glasses approaches Riggan. 00:04:25 Riggan joins three actors on a kitchen set on stage. 00:05:33 Riggan looks up. 00:05:48 Riggan wipes his hand across his face. 00:05:55 A light falls on Ralph’s head. 00:06:00 Riggan backs away. 00:06:28 Riggan stops and stares at Jake. 00:06:38 They stop in an empty hallway. 00:07:12 Riggan shuts the door on Jake, who stops it. 00:07:18 Riggan opens the door. 00:07:33 Riggan crosses his dressing room alone. 00:07:45 He raises his hand towards the TV. It turns off. Riggan takes a seat at the vanity and lowers his gaze. 00:08:02 Riggan glances at the Birdman poster. 00:08:30 He opens his eyes and leans on the counter. He reaches behind his head, then removes a light wig, revealing a deeply receding hairline. He stares warily into the mirror, then scowls at pink roses and a picture. A note 64
tucked in the flowers reads “they didn’t have whatever you wanted. Sam.” The picture begins to slide along the counter, away from Riggan. 00:09:03 It flies into the wall. Our view shifts towards the couch, where Riggan faces news reporters. 00:10:43 Jake strolls in. 00:10:52 Riggan carries the Birdman poster. 00:11:53 A blonde actress opens the door. 00:12:34 Jake kisses Lesley. 00:12:39 He leaves Riggan’s dressing room and enters the hallway. Staring down at his phone, Jake heads into a dark backstage area. 00:12:56 Annie switches on several lights backstage and around the theatre. A man in a hat stands near the stage’s edge, facing the empty seats. A single ghost light shines near him, casting a long shadow on the wall. 00:16:36 Mike raises his eyebrows at Riggan, who nods. 00:16:45 Sam arrives. 00:16:53 Mike and Riggan cross the stage to Sam. 00:17:18 Mike follows Sam backstage. 00:17:34 They enter a wardrobe. 00:17:50 Mike takes off his shirt and holds it out to Sam. 00:18:02 Mike strips off his pants. 00:18:29 Mike poses in the mirror. 00:18:53 Lesley’s eyes widen. 00:18:58 It’s Sam. 00:19:27 Mike strokes her hair. 00:19:33 They touch foreheads. 00:19:36 She attacks him. 00:19:38 In a stairwell, Larry walks by Riggan and Jake. 00:19:59 Riggan shakes his head and scratches his chin. 00:20:21 An actress struts down the stairs. 00:21:00 She gives him a joyful hug. 00:21:09 She pushes him away and slaps him. 00:21:15 She grabs his hand and puts it on her crotch. She slides it up her stomach to her breast and kisses him passionately. With a seductive look, she walks away. She glances at a staring stage hand, then back at Riggan. 00:21:41 She slings around a corner and our view continues into the wings. We move past a seated overweight stage hand. The stage drifts into view. Lesley, Mike and the pregnant actress perform a scene. Wearing a suit, Riggan takes a prop bottle from a stage hand. 00:22:02 Riggan stops beside Annie. 00:22:11 He watches Mike on a monitor. 00:22:25 Riggan walks on stage in front of an audience. 00:22:28 He puts the bottle in an ice bucket. 00:23:31 Riggan faces the audience. 65
00:24:34 Mike throws a glass. 00:25:19 A cupboard on the kitchen set collapses. 00:25:26 Riggan walks off stage. 00:25:30 Jake follows him upstairs. 00:26:11 Jake rubs his forehead. 00:26:17 He checks his watch. 00:26:26 Jake walks off, leaving Riggan nodding. The goateed actor looks down on his zipper. He plods away. 00:26:38 Mike pins him to the wall. 00:26:44 He pats Riggan on the chest and walks off. 00:26:50 Riggan continues into his lamp-lit dressing room. He enters the bathroom and flicks on the light. 00:27:04 He steps out to find a blonde woman. 00:28:10 The pregnant actress leaves. 00:28:20 Riggan sits in front of a makeup mirror. 00:29:11 He takes a swig. 00:29:18 He casts a thoughtful gaze to the floor and gives himself an eye. 00:29:40 His eyes dart about. 00:30:01 He removes his wig. 00:30:30 He wears a wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression. 00:30:41 Riggan’s wife stares at him, her eyes glistening. She sucks in her lower lip, then reaches out and pulls a bobby pin from his hair. She drops it on the counter. She kisses him on the head and walks away. 00:31:26 She leaves. 00:31:44 Riggan goes into the hallway, where Annie waits. 00:32:04 Riggan descends the stairs and exists through double doors. Outside, Mike leans against a car. 00:32:39 Riggan tosses change to a drummer. 00:33:27 Mike walks into a bar and waves to someone. As he walks past patrons, the bartender pours him a drink. 00:34:24 Mike takes a drink. 00:34:48 The woman hands Mike her phone and poses her family with Riggan. 00:34:55 Mike snaps the photo. 00:35:06 Mike nods as he watches the tourists leave. Riggan turns back to his drink. 00:35:18 Mike walks off, then returns. 00:35:27 Riggan pulls a folded note out of his wallet. 00:36:08 Riggan looks down. Mike approaches Tabitha. 00:36:57 Mike steps away and Tabitha looks down at her notepad. She glances over her shoulder towards Riggan at the end of the bar. He takes one more drink, then leaves the bar. Riggan steps out onto the sidewalk. Large billboards for Broadway shows light up the buildings across the streets. With a sigh, Riggan runs a hand over his head and walks back towards the theatre. The marquee in front shows his picture. The aging actor pulls 66
a key from his pocket and unlocks an unmarked side door. Inside, he walks past full garbage cans and through a florescent lit brick hallway. Down a small set of stairs, he comes to a room where Sam sits behind a desk. She writes on a roll of toilet paper. 00:38:46 Riggan’s shoulders sag. 00:38:57 He digs through an ashtray. 00:39:06 He picks up an open jar. 00:39:12 He pulls out a joint. 00:40:49 The young blonde woman’s expression slowly softens. She casts her eyes down with a remorseful look on her face. She stands up and walks behind Riggan. 00:41:09 With his back to her, Riggan casts his gaze at the desk. Sam throws her head back and leaves. The tiny joint sits on the desk beside a metal cigarette case. Riggan flicks his finger near the case and it starts to spin. He picks up the joint. With a raised eyebrow, he lights it. He brings it to his lips and takes a drag. The smoke billows out of his mouth. He lifts the joint again and puffs. Wincing, he drops the joint and licks his fingertips. He takes one more quick puff, then tosses it down. He leaves the room. Glancing down the hallway, he sees it glowing with foggy blue light. 00:42:38 The pregnant actress performs on stage. Behind the backdrop, Lesley and Mike prepare for a scene. They climb into a bed. Stage hands drape a sheet over them. 00:43:17 Mike climbs on top of her and they struggle. She tosses Mike off, sending the sheet with him. 00:43:31 Mike’s underwear bulges, Riggan holds a gun. 00:43:36 He punches Mike. 00:44:17 Riggan lowers the gun. 00:44:31 He points the gun at his head. 00:44:37 Red liquid shoots from Riggan’s head and he falls to the stage. With the curtain lowered, he gets up. 00:44:48 Riggan examines the blood pack under his wig as he walks off stage. 00:45:09 Mike and Lesley walk out for the curtain call. 00:45:18 They bow for the audience. 00:45:22 They wear plastered smiles. From the wings, Riggan and the pregnant actress join them on stage. Riggan tosses a hand in the air and they bow twice. He takes Mike’s hand and the four actors bow one more time before walking off stage. 00:46:58 The other actress catches up to Lesley. 00:46:07 Lesley storms through the hallway to her dressing room. She flings her makeup to the floor. 00:46:20 The actress rubs Lesley’s back. Lesley rubs her nose with the back of her hand and tries to compose herself. 00:47:00 They hug. Riggan enters. 67
00:47:27 He backs out of the dressing room. Lesley smiles. 00:47:40 The other actress looks away, her arms crossed. 00:48:03 They intertwine their fingers. Riggan’s girlfriend tilts her gaze to Lesley’s eyes and leans in close. 00:48:15 She kisses Lesley. She leans back as the stunned blonde stares. 00:48:27 They kiss passionately. Mike enters. 00:48:39 Lesley throws a hairdryer at him. 00:48:45 He glances between them. 00:48:48 We follow Mike out of the dressing room and down the hall. He throws a towel. 00:48:55 He enters Riggan’s room. 00:49:15 He drops the gun in front of Riggan. 00:49:25 Mike walks out of the dressing room and up some stairs. He pulls out a lighter. He opens a rooftop access door and steps out into the night air. He walks towards a stone balcony. He notices Sam, seated on a ledge, looking down towards the street beneath her. 00:49:46 He slowly approaches her. 00:50:21 Mike looks away and puffs his cigarette. 00:51:17 She shrugs and nods. 00:51:26 He looks over the ledge. 00:51:37 He motions to the street. She rolls her eyes. 00:52:17 Sam purses her lips. 00:52:43 He stares into her eyes and leans closer. 00:53:00 They gaze at each other with impassive expressions. Sam swings her legs over the ledge and back to the roof. With a glance at Mike, she walks to the access door. 00:53:14 The actor watches her go, then turns back to the view and takes a drag of his cigarette. He blows a puff of smoke into the night sky. It swirls and disappears in front of two skyscrapers. One by one, the building lights blink out and the darkness of night fades into daylight. Our view drifts down in front of a brick building adorned with a wide fire escape. Attached to the building, billboards advertise “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Motown, the musical”. Our view drifts to a wrought iron railing outside Riggan’s window. He props his feet on the windowsill and scribbles in a notebook. A newspaper lands in his lap. 00:54:12 A photo of Mike adorns the front page. 00:54:20 Riggan’s girlfriend sits on the sofa. 00:54:48 Riggan glares at the newspaper, Laura’s smile fades.
00:54:53 She storms away, leaving Riggan with a confused expression. She stops at the door. 00:55:06 Riggan raises his hands, bewildered. 68
00:55:26 Riggan marches down the hallway, breathing hard. The aging actor rolls the newspaper in his hand as he goes. He turns a corner, then bursts into a room with a closed tanning bed. He lifts it open, revealing Mike in a small swim suit. 00:55:46 Riggan swats his leg. 00:56:55 He grabs Mike’s throat. 00:57:44 Riggan grins. 00:58:59 Riggan raises his fists. 00:58:05 He punches Mike in the face. Mike waves a hand and wrestles Riggan to the floor. Stage hands watch the men struggle. 00:58:31 Riggan walks down the hallway, his face curled into a grimace. He punches the wall as he goes. He bursts through his dressing room door and stands in front of the air conditioner. A frosted window spills its bright sunlight on his face. 00:58:59 Pointing, Riggan levitates a makeup case, then flings it against a wall. 00:59:52 Light bulbs explode. 01:00:08 A phone flies into the wall. 01:00:16 He rips open his shirt. 01:00:49 A shelf falls. 01:01:04 The Birdman poster levitates, then flies into the wall. 01:01:21 Jake timidly pokes his head in the door as Riggan trashes the room with his hands. 01:01:37 Riggan notices Jake, then puts a casual hand on his hip. 01:02:05 Jake stares wide-eyed at his friend. He licks his lips. 01:03:16 In the hallway. 01:03:28 Jake marches down the hall. 01:03:34 Laura and Jake leave Lesley alone in the hall. She stares at Riggan’s door pensively, then approaches it. She enters and spots Riggan sitting at his dressing table. 01:03:50 Lesley glances around the ransacked room. 01:04:37 Tears well in her eyes. 01:04:42 Lesley turns and heads for the door. She brings her hand to her face and hurries down the hall. Mike opens his door and glances at Lesley as she walks away. A small dark bruise swells under his left eye. He heads for the dark flight of ascending stairs. He steps past a bare light bulb and out onto the roof balcony. Buildings and marquee lights glow at dusk. Mike lights a cigarette, then spots Sam sitting on the ledge. He moves towards her. 01:05:43 Sam faces him. 01:05:47 He blinks, then looks away. 01:06:00 He raises his eyebrows. 01:06:41 Sam stares off at the street below, then up at Mike with glistening eyes. He takes a drag from his cigarette, then tosses it. 69
01:07:26 She stares intensely into Mike’s eyes. 01:07:44 She kisses him. Mike tentatively reaches towards her, then pulls away. He shakes his head softly. Sam swings her legs over the ledge and steps onto the balcony. Leaving Mike, she crosses the roof towards the exit. Sam stops at the doorway and turns back to him. 01:08:24 She smiles, then steps into the dimly lit stairwell. Our view follows her silhouette, framed by a bare light bulb as she descends the stairs. She glances back, then passes in and out of shadows down several landings. 01:08:48 The young blonde looks back, grinning, then enters a catwalk overlooking the stage. Stage hands prepare the kitchen set. 01:09:26 Standing beside de rigging ropes, illuminated by a single bare bulb, she leans in and they kiss. 01:09:39 They move to a table and Mike climbs on top of her. Our view passes over them and we slowly descend towards the stage, where Mike sits along the other performers. Riggan faces the audience. 01:10:33 The stage lights go dark. Our view stays with Riggan as he heads off stage, removing his wardrobe. As the stage lights return, Lesley faces the audience. 01:10:51 Annie hands Riggan a wig. 01:11:00 Riggan puts on the dark wig. Laura changes costumes beside him. 01:11:29 Laura puts on a dark wig. 01:11:38 She walks to the edge of the foggy stage, then returns to Riggan who now wears a red robe. 01:11:49 He furrows his brow, as a makeup artist works on him. Laura returns to the stage as the curtain rises. 01:12:01 Something catches Riggan’s eye and he cranes his neck to see Sam and Mike kissing in a corner. Mike crosses towards the stage and Riggan eyes him until he’s out of view. With an unsettled expression, Riggan allows the makeup artist to continue. 01:12:20 Riggan swipes his wig off his head and walks away. 01:12:30 A burly stage hand offers his pack. Riggan takes one and lights it. He takes a few drags, then unlatches a large stage door. Riggan steps into an alley as rain pours down. He crosses his arms and takes another drag. Wearing a red bathrobe, he leans against the door. He closes his eyes, muttering silently to himself. The stage door closes. Riggan opens his eyes and discovers a corner of his robe caught in the crack between the doors. He tugs at the cloth to no avail. He tosses his cigarette and uses both hands. He struggles with the robe. Riggan desperately pulls at the robe. He crouches low, scanning the alley. He pulls the robe open and slips out, wearing only white briefs and dark socks. Carrying the dark wig, he marches down the alley, avoiding eye contact. 01:14:02 Riggan signs the man’s paper. Riggan steps in a puddle. He rushes out in the bustling Times Square. People notice him and point. 70
01:14:18 A young mother rushes up to him. Riggan leaves through the crowd and encounters a drum line. People with cameras follow him down the sidewalk. Riggan rushes to a street corner and ducks right. He heads towards a theatre door beneath the marquee for his play. He strides to the front doors and enters past the box office. Riggan spots Ralph in a wheel chair. 01:15:23 Riggan enters the theatre at the back row. Members of the audience take notice. The bare-chested man puts on his wig and walks towards the stage in his underwear. 01:15:52 He holds up his hand, pointing a finger like a gun. 01:16:10 A stage hand gives him a prop gun. 01:16:19 Riggan punches Mike. Jake watches from the wings. 01:16:28 Jake wrestles his cell phone from his pocket and heads backstage. 01:16:52 Jake storms upstairs. Our view roams to the long hallway lined with old red wallpaper. Our view slowly inches forward through the narrow space. Riggan steps ahead, stage blood streaming down his bare neck from his dark wig. He walks down the hallway and enters his dressing room. The Birdman poster lies in a crumbled heap at the end of the hall. Riggan puts on a robe. He takes ### from a small refrigerator. 01:19:02 She rolls out toilet paper. 01:19:23 Riggan stares at the single square of toilet paper, then looks to Sam. 01:19:30 He grimaces. 01:19:43 He wipes his mouth with the square. 01:20:08 On her cell phone, she plays a Times Square video of Riggan in his underwear. 01:20:24 Riggan looks up at his daughter. 00:20:32 Now at the bar. The bartender sets down a glass in front of Riggan and another on the bar. 01:20:56 Riggan glances at the critic at the end of the bar. 01:21:07 Riggan downs his drink and saunters over towards Tabitha. Riggan slides his cocktail napkin note in front of Tabitha. She does not look up from her writing. 01:21:25 She moves the napkin off her notepad. 01:23:28 He grabs a flower from a vase. 01:24:01 He throws a glass. 01:24:31 Tabitha smiles. 01:24:38 As she gathers her things, Riggan stares off. Tabitha places the flower in his clenched fist. 01:24:48 Deflated, Riggan watches the critic as she exits. He tosses the flower against the wall. Riggan shifts his weight. He takes a sip of her martini, then downs the entire drink. He slaps the glass on the bar. Our view settles on the empty glass, resting atop his cocktail napkin note. Riggan throws down a couple of bills and stalks towards the door. Pumping his arms and 71
shoulders like a fighter, he steps out to the dark sidewalk and onto the street. 01:25:47 He enters a liquor store. 01:26:27 He drinks from a paper bag. 01:27:00 A ### man hangs by his arm from a scaffolding. 01:27:11 Riggan walks away from the imploring man. He brings the bag of liquor to his lips and staggers away. Riggan sits on the stoop of a brownstone. With a resigned expression, he takes another swig from the bottle. As Riggan tilts his head skyward, our view follows his gaze. A security light glares beneath the fire escape. The inky black sky begins to lighten until dawn overtakes it and the security light turns off. Our view scans down the brownstone to the stoop. Using a blue garbage bag for a pillow, Riggan sleeps on the stairs. The bottle lies in its bag on the step above him. 01:28:32 Riggan stands. 01:28:45 Birdman follows him down the street. 01:29:09 Birdman takes flight, hovering just behind Riggan. 01:29:24 Birdman soars out of view. 01:29:31 Riggan snaps his fingers and a car explodes. Commandos enter. Helicopters fire from overhead. A missile hits one. 01:29:59 Birdman shoots a lazer in a gigantic mechanised bird. 01:30:26 Riggan floats into the air. 01:30:59 Riggan stares off tethering on a rooftop’s ledge. 01:31:13 A man approaches him. 01:31:24 He grabs Riggan’s arm. Riggan steps towards him. 01:31:36 Walking across the roof together, they stop and Riggan turns to the man. 01:31:44 Riggan’s eyes widen and he runs. 01:31:49 Riggan jumps off the roof. As he plummets, he stretches his arms and flies. Our view follows him as he soars past sun capped buildings. Riggan flies past a white church tower, then towards us until he hovers just above us. He scans the city with rearing eyes. 01:32:35 We trail him as he soars over a street. 01:32:47 We travel alongside Riggan above an intersection. He extends his arms in front of him and soars through a large tunnel. He turns a corner, then rises into the heavens where the sun obscures our view. With his feet pointed towards the ground, Riggan slowly descends. He floats behind the Saint James theatre marquee, displaying the title of his play: “Raymond Carver’s ‘What we talk about when we talk about love’”. Walking into the theatre, Riggan points to an employee. 01:33:48 A cab driver follows him. 01:33:55 Our view remains outside as the theatre employee follows the cabby into the building. The cabby re-emerges with a large wad of cash in his hands. 72
The cab peels off. We remain outside the theatre as day turns into night and the lights flicker on. Patrons exit the theater. 01:34:47 Our view rises up the side of the building. Slipping through the bars of a small window, we enter Riggan’s dressing room. Bouquets fill every surface. Sam’s mother enters. Riggan lies on his back on the vanity table. 01:36:44 Sitting before her, Riggan looks into his ex-wife’s eyes, then averts his gaze. 01:37:36 He smiles down at her, the lights from the vanity softly illuminating her face. 01:38:47 She kisses him. 01:39:00 Smiling at him, she lingers a moment. As he watches her walk away, his expression pains. Riggan puts on his shaggy wig and costume jacket. 01:39:29 He reaches behind a basket on the shelf and pulls out a pistol. The aging actor ejects the pistol’s clip, then snaps it back into the gun and cocks it. Lifting his hand, he points his index finger at the door, which swings open. Our view floats out of the room. We drift slowly down the hallway, passing a short, bald stage hand. We continue down the hallway. An actor in a costume crosses his path in the shadows. In a room around the corner, a drummer pounds up the rhythm. With his brow furrowed in an expression of deep focus, Riggan marches through the hallway in his shaggy wig. In the wings, Annie approaches him with a blood pack. He waves her away. Lowering his head, he lets the makeup artist spray him with water. He stops outside the motel room door built into the backdrop. He lowers his head before pounding on the door. 01:41:56 He bursts on stage with the gun. 01:41:43 Riggan starts to laugh. 01:42:06 He points the gun at Mike, who flinches. Riggan lowers the weapon. Mike glances at Lesley as Riggan steps towards the audience. The older actor raises his head and points the gun at the crowd. He grins, then struts closer to the edge of the stage. He lifts the gun to his head. A plume of blood flies and Riggan collapses. The audience members rise to their feet. Near the front row, Tabitha stands and walks out of the theatre. Our view drifts up to the balcony to an intense spotlight. Now, viewed through the branches of a tree, a brilliant meteor falls across the night sky. Back on stage, the drum line from Times’ Square plays with their backs to the audience. A quick flash through the motel room window shines across the set. A man in a Spiderman costume poses between the frontline performers. On the street, we peer up at the meteor streaking across the sky. On stage, more costumed characters join the band. In Riggan’s darkened dressing room, brilliant light shines through the window. Costumed characters fight on stage. Our view drifts towards the empty theatre’s ghost light. Outside, we take in the smoking meteor. On a beach at dawn, seagulls swarm around beached jellyfish. In a hospital room, our 73
view drifts down from a circular vent in the ceiling. Sam’s mother stands, looking out the window. Floral bouquets sit in the corner. 01:44:10 Jake enters. 01:44:15 The bearded man walks to the foot of the hospital bed. He carries a newspaper. 01:45:13 Jake wears a wide grin. 01:45:35 He grabs the remote. 01:45:56 She slaps him. 01:46:08 Bandages cover Riggan’s face, except the eye holes. 01:46:29 Reporters and cameramen throw open the doorway. Jake backs them down the hallway. 01:46:44 Guards escort Sam from the elevator. With a tense expression, she carries a bouquet of lilacs through the throng to Riggan’s room. As Sam enters, her mother lets go of Riggan’s hand. She kisses her daughter on the cheek, then walks into the hall. Sam slowly approaches the bed, then sits on the edge. She hands the flowers to her father and pushes a strand of hair behind her ear. His bandages resemble his Birdman mask. 01:47:18 She nods, frowning. Riggan brings the flowers to his nose and takes a deep sniff. 01:47:38 She lifts up her phone and points it at him. 01:48:07 She looks into her father’s eyes. 01:48:15 She nods but remains seated. Riggan takes her hand and shakes it lovingly. She puts her head on his chest and closes her eyes. In the sunlight from the windows, Riggan rubs his daughter’s shoulder and strokes her hair. She glances up at him, then slowly rises and heads off. Riggan stares in her direction as she goes. With a wince, he raises a hand to his bandages. He struggles to lift himself out of bed. Now, on his feet, he sets the lilacs on the newspaper and waddles to the bathroom. He pushes open the door and stands in front of the mirror over the sink. Riggan carefully removes the top part of his bandages, uncovering his eyes and forehead. Dark red rings encircle his eyes. Uncovering the rest, he sees his reconstructed wider nose. He squints at his reflection. 01:49:50 The reflection of a dark coloured wing drifting into the edge of the mirror. Riggan turns his head and sees Birdman, sitting on the toilet, looking at him. Their sharp profiles now resemble one another. Birdman looks down, Riggan turns to leave the bathroom. He shambles over to the window, taking in its expansive view of New York city buildings and a green park. He rubs his temples and gazes out through the glass with a wince. He looks skyward, raising his eyebrows. His gaze follows a flock of birds. The bruised actor smiles as he watches the birds. He slides open the window. Closing his eyes, he takes in a deep breath of fresh air. His smile settles into a look of peace. His lips part and he climbs out the window. Riggan stands upright on the sill, a breeze blowing his hospital 74
gown. Our view drifts away from him, back to his empty bed with the lilacs and newspaper. Sam enters. 01:51:48 She searches the bathroom. She notices the open window and her face falls. She runs to the sill and looks down to the street. Her eyes dart about. Her gaze starts to drift upwards and her eyes go wide. A smile creeps across her face. Cut to black.
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8.2 Audio description The Revenant
00:00:55 In a darkened room, a white man sleeps. Next to him are a native American little boy and a woman. Subtitles: “It’s okay son, I know you want this to be over.” Now, the woman and boy stand on a windy hill top by a tree. “I’m right here.” The white man, with straggly shoulder-length hair and a beard approaches. “I will be right here…” The boy stands with his arms wide, dark hair blowing in the wind. The woman smiles. On a snow-dusted hill top, a shelter’s on fire. “But, you don’t give up. You hear me?” A soldier with a flaming torch moves away from the fire. The boy sits with his back to him. Later, a man cradles the boy by the destroyed village. “As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe. Keep breathing.” The man stares out across the hill top, as the screen fades to black. 00:02:11 Water floats over massive tree roots. A title appears in white letters against the water’s dark surface. “The Revenant”. The water swirls and ripples around twigs. The reflection of towering trees wavers. The view rises from the surface to the flowing water to reveal that it is pouring through a flooded woodland. The narrowed and thick roots of the massive trees are exposed against the flooded terrain. A man with a rifle advances cautiously through the ankle-deep waters. Another figure, also carrying a rifle, follows close behind him. They move slowly and step gently through the barren trees. Daylight filters through the leafless branches. The man following is young, in his teens, with native American features. He glances anxiously over his shoulder. 00:03:45 The teen, Hawk, looks right, to the bearded man from the opening scene, who nods for the young man to look ahead. They continue forward, the bearded man readying his rifle. As the teen cocks his gun, the older man holds out a warning hand. They both freeze, and watch a large elk in the mist up ahead. A third hunter also has his rifle ready to shoot. They draw back the hammers. Lining up his shaft, the bearded man fires first. By a river, another man looks up while urinating. 00:04:32 He adjusts his pants. 00:04:37 He grabs his rifle. 00:04:49 The man in a headscarf walks to a fur trappers camp. 00:05:32 A young man moves towards a camp fire. 00:05:56 A naked man collapses, an arrow in his back. 00:06:02 Suddenly, an arrow pierces the ordering man’s throat. 00:06:13 The trappers grab their rifles. Another trapper is struck by an arrow. In the woods, the other two hunters are cutting up the elk. Hawk asks: “What was that?”. The bearded man picks up his rifle, and tips gun powder into the muzzle. “Pa?”. The bearded man stands. “Let’s go.” He tips a rifle ball into his mouth and spits it down the barrel. He takes off running with Hawk close behind. Meanwhile, the trappers drag a bloody naked body into camp. As a 76
trapper watches from behind a tree, warriors gallop along a ridge above the camp. One throws a dead trapper from his horse. 00:06:59 The young, red-bearded captain joins the trapper, as the others make a loose circle, aiming their rifles in every direction. One man looks up into the sparse high pines. 00:07:23 Arrows hiss through the branches. The men drop to the ground. 00:07:32 A man flees out into a clearing. 00:07:38 He’s hit immediately. More arrows whizz by. The captain and another man huddle at the base of a three. 00:07:58 The father and son splash through the misty forest along a shallow river as tribal warriors gallop in charge into the trapper camp. One of the warriors goes down. 00:08:13 The father joins the trappers. 00:08:19 He pushes Hawk and then hits an attacking native with the butt of his rifle. 00:08:30 He’s tackled by a warrior and choked with a gun. He’s pinned, struggling. The bearded man struggles, gritting his teeth. A fellow trapper knocks the attacker off in a spray of blood. The rescued man gathers himself. 00:08:55 A trapper crawls past, trailing blood from his severed leg. The bearded man draws a pistol. 00:09:05 An arrow hits a man in front of him. He looks up into the trees and fires. A warrior’s body falls and a trapper smashes his face with a rifle butt. A trapper gets an arrow through the eye, a native wearing a chief status gallops at the injured trapper and hacks his head. 00:09:23 The chief, Elk Dog, is shot through the shoulder and falls off his horse. He struggles to get up before being kicked in the face by the head trapper, Fitzgerald. 00:09:39 Fitzgerald snatches a pelt and gets charged by a spearman. He falls on his back but rolls the warrior over and knives him repeatedly. 00:10:01 Fitzgerald grabs a bale of furs. A shirtless man in a daze, clutching a violin, shoots a horse. In a shed, a trapper tends to a dying man. 00:10:21 The trappers flee and the warriors plunder the fallen. 00:10:29 A running man gets an arrow in the leg. The man is hit again and falls. The father has a wounded man over his shoulder. As the trappers stumble towards their boat, more horsemen gallop along the ridge above the camp. The young trapper, Jimmy Bridger, is jumped and held underwater by his attacker. Fitzgerald bashes the attacker’s skull. 00:11:12 Behind Fitzgerald, a fleeing man falls into the water, staining it red with his blood. The remaining trappers struggle towards a wooden barge with their pelts. 00:11:24 Two men use long poles to push the barge from the shallow waters. 00:11:38 The father shoots his rifle from the boat. Hawk hands his father another rifle. Flames and smoke rise from the camp as the warriors advance into the water. 77
00:11:52 A trapper trudges through the water towards the boat but is hit in the back with a hand axe and falls face first. Smoke drifts upwards from the tree tops, flooding the grey sky with black plumes. Dark-winged birds circle above. 00:12:15 Bodies cover the barren battled torn camp. An elderly native wrapped in a blanket walks through the carnage, chanting. 00:12:36 Elk Dog searches the area. “My daughter, Powaqa, is not here. Collect all the pelts we can carry. We’ll trade pelts with the French for horses and keep searching for her.” A burning pine tree falls. Now, the barge drifts down the misty river. 00:13:00 A body is dropped in the water. 00:13:06 The fallen Duane has his boots removed. Hawk and his father crouch behind bales of pelts with their weapons, keeping watch. 00:13:22 The captain pulls an arrow out of the man’s shoulder. 00:13:40 Jimmy tends to the arrow wound. The captain looks to Fitzgerald, then approaches the bearded hunter. 00:14:39 Fitzgerald’s eyes bore into the captain, who storms away. Duane’s body is covered with a blanket. Bales and mules are unloaded. 00:15:35 Fitzgerald spits. 00:16:24 They stash the pelts among rocks. 00:17:13 Glass loads his rifle. Fitzgerald puts more bales on a mule. The men settle on a hill top overlooking the water. 00:17:23 Glass looks up. 00:17:30 Glass keeps cleaning his rifle. 00:17:42 Hawk glares at him. 00:17:48 “Shut up!”. 00:17:53 He leans towards Glass. 00:18:04 He grabs the rifle barrel. 00:18:08 Glass keeps his eyes averted. 00:18:15 Glass gives him a cold stare. 00:18:29 Subtitles: “I told you to be invisible, son.” “At least he… -“ “If you want to survive, keep your mouth shut.” – “At least he heard me.” “They don’t hear your voice, they just see the colour of your face. You understand?” He grabs the back of Hawk’s neck. “You understand?” “Yes.” Glass relaxes, his hand still on Hawk’s neck. “You have to listen to me, son. You have to listen.” Hawk avoids his father’s gaze. Glass removes his hand and shakes his head. He stands. The chastised boy looks away, brow furrowed. Later, the boat drifts, floating downstream. 00:19:17 The remaining trappers are clustered together on the rocky shore. They watch the boat disappear. 00:19:27 Fitzgerald takes off his scarf, revealing a deep scar on his scalp. He rubs his hand across his head. 00:19:35 He eases down to the water and rinses his hands. 78
00:19:41 He washes his face and sits back thoughtfully on his haunches. Sparks from a fire drift up into the high evergreens after dark. Hawk climbs against the base of a tree. The boy’s face is streaked with tears. Glass approaches. Glass eyes Hawk. “It’s time to move. Get up. We’re headed out.” The distraught boy doesn’t move. His left cheek bares scarred skin. “I’m coming.” Hawk swallows hard. Glass turns toward him. “It’s better if you lay down. When the rest of the men are ready, you send them to me. I’m going west.” Glass checks his rifle, then stares at Hawk. He approaches the boy. He crouches and touches the young man’s cheek, then pulls a blanket over him. “You are my son.” Hawk doesn’t turn. “You are my son.” Hawk closes his eyes. Glass leaves. Smoke rises from the beached boat at sunrise. Arikara surround it. “There are only two here,” Elk Dog says. “Powaqa is not here.” A dead trapper with an arrow through his chest lies against the beam on the boat. “The others probably took her. They went north.” They move through the mist. Elk Dog replies: “We’ll pick up their tracks on the mountain.” Meanwhile, rain pours down through the towering tightly packed trees as the trappers trudge on. The branches are covered in moss. 00:21:35 Captain Henry casts a glance at Fitzgerald and the other men, then turns to Glass, who leads the line. 00:21:48 Glass keeps walking, his fur hood matted with rain. 00:22:03 They tramp on through the water-locked forest floor. Later, early morning sunshine shines through wet branches. One of the trappers, awake before the rest, cuts off his hair, then scratches at his head. The men sleep on the muddy ground. Hawk sleeps against a mossy tree. Elsewhere, Glass scouts alone in the misty forest. He moves stealthily through the towering evergreens at a long and dry gulley with fallen trees across it. He climbs down into the deep trench, then moves on, his rifle held at ready. Now, out of the gulley, Glass continues to move along the forest floor. The bright white sky beams hazy light through the tall thin trees. Glass looks at all directions as he walks. He pauses, chews a morsel of food and looks around. He moves on a few paces, then stops and removes his fur hood. He whips around and freezes. Glass looks around tensely, cocks his rifle and aims from behind the long barrel. He edges forward slowly, scanning behind him and to the side. He spots two bear cubs, moving through the undergrowth, a short distance away, and focuses intently on them. He tenses, then slowly turns to see a bear rise up behind him. A huge grizzly charges, knocking Glass to the ground. It bites and drags him with its ferocious jaws. He lashes out, struggling, but the bear has him pinned. He bats it away for a moment but it lunges back clinging onto his thigh, dragging him. The bear climbs on top of him, biting down again and again. Glass flails helplessly. Glass is rolled onto his stomach. The bear drags him by his back with its teeth, then slashes his back with its massive claws. Glass’s mouth opens wide, as the bear bites him, then clamps Glass’s back and shakes him like a rag. Glass drops and lies still as the bear 79
sniffs around him. Glass takes short breaths, his face covered in blood. The bear breathes over him, drool dripping down. The bear places a huge paw on Glass’s head, pressing down. Its saliva drips on him. It sniffs at Glass and backs off for a moment. It paws at Glass’s limp body, bouncing him. The grizzly suddenly gallops towards the cubs’ cries. Glass stirs in agony. The wounded trapper tries to lift his head with difficulty. Nearby, the great bear is in a small gathering of trees with her cubs. Glass tries to crawl away. Unable to rise, Glass rolls onto his side on the moss covered forest floor and struggles towards his dropped rifle. He winces and cringes, pushing himself along on one arm. Gritting his teeth, Glass tries to lift the gun. He slowly rolls onto his back with the rifle. He gets hold of the rifle and points it towards the huge bear, which is by its cubs. He lets the gun low in his weak arms. He rests the barrel on his knee, spit flying from his mouth as he breathes hard. He watches as the bear returns. Glass hits the bear but it still charges. Glass puts his arms and hands over his throat, but the bear bites down on his chest and drags him along. Glass raises his hands in defence and the bear clamps down on his wrist. Glass is rolled on his front again, and the bear bites down into his back. The animal strips the back of Glass’s coat and takes him up in its jaws. It throws him aside, then falters. It places a paw on his shoulder and sniffs. The grizzly gets its snout under Glass’s midriff and rolls him on his back. It straddles him and licks his face, stepping on his shoulder. The bear backs away from the shredded figure. Glass tilts his head to see the creature. He fumbles in his torn bloody clothing. Glass pulls a knife from a sheath by his right shoulder. The bear staggers, its fur matted with blood. The bear charges, and Glass stabs repeatedly into its flank and neck. Both roll down into a steep slope into the gulley, the bear landing on top of Glass. The enormous grizzly tries to get up, then lies still. Glass lies trapped underneath it. 00:29:12 The group runs just above the gulley. 00:29:30 Hawk, Jimmy and the captain run down. Hawk and Jimmy roll the bear off. Jimmy vomits. The men apply pressure to the wounds. 00:29:47 Glass is a bloody mess. 00:29:56 Hawk lunges at Fitzgerald. 00:30:24 The captain stitches him. Hawk stays with him. 00:30:38 Fitzgerald stands with two trappers. 00:30:51 Fitzgerald puffs a pipe. Hawk holds Glass down. 00:31:03 Jimmy resets a dislocated limb and Glass faints. 00:31:16 Blood oozes from a wound in Glass’s neck. Hawk pours water on it and the captain stitches it up. 00:31:25 Hawk bends toward his father. “I’m right here. I’ll be right here.” Night. Fires glow at another camp site. Elk Dog approaches with his men from the shadows. The men around the fire look up. One leans towards another. “Toussaint, he’s here.” Toussaint, a French trapper, stands. “I thought he 80
wouldn’t make it.” He approaches Elk Dog. “I’m glad you made it here.” “We need horses and rifles. We bring you many pelts.” Toussaint waves his hand. “No horses, just what we agreed.” “Take all the pelts you want, we need horses and rifles.” Toussaint addresses the native. “I need a woman with big tits who can cook. We can’t give you any horses.” “What’s he saying?” “I don’t know, something about horses.” “Bring us something to drink, some whiskey. Tell him to stop asking about the horses.” Toussaint offers some whiskey. “Always good doing business with you.” Elk Dog refuses the drink. “Horses.” “No horses.” Toussaint downs his whiskey. “All we can trade are guns and ammunition. Tell him that if he asks about horses again, there is no deal. He inspects the pelts. “Where did you get these? The Americans? They’re already branded, I’ll only be able to get a half price for that.” A native looks at a horse. “Get him away from there, I said no horses.” “We’ll take these three horses.” “I’m not going to say it again. They aren’t part of the deal.” “Now tell your men to step away. We had an agreement you have to honour.” The chief glares at him. “You stand there and talk to me about honour.” “I told you he speaks French.” Toussaint glares at Elk Dog. “Those pelts are stolen.” The warrior stares down Toussaint. “You all have stolen everything from us. Everything. The land, the animals. Two white men snuck into our village and took my daughter, Powaqa. The firelight dances on the chief’s grim expression. “We leave you these pelts because honour demands it. I take your horses to find my daughter. You are free to try and stop me.” Toussaint’s shoulders drop as he nods. He looks around. “Business is business.” Toussaint turns to his men. “Prepare five horses!” The natives lead the horses away. A fire burns in the gulley. 00:34:36 Jim examines removed bear claws. 00:34:47 He puts the claws in Glass’s bag. Hawk, wrapped in a blanket, sits beside his heavily bandaged father. Hawk gently puts his hand over Glass’s blood- stained beard and his eyes flicker. Morning. The trappers cross a stream in the woods. Jimmy carries a bale on a head strap. Six men have Glass on a stretcher. 00:35:28 As they near the shore, Fitzgerald and Anderson drop their end of the stretcher and throw punches. Jimmy picks up the dropped end. Later, snow falls softly on the men as they traverse the woods, still carrying Glass, who stares at the sky. As they rest among the trees, Hawk leans over his father and strokes his forehead. Now, the men trudge on grimly through the freezing landscape. 00:36:11 They pass below snow-dusted cliffs, Glass still clinging to life on the stretcher. 00:36:27 The group toils up a steep, snowy hill with Glass. 00:36:45 They put the stretcher on the ground to slide Glass up the steep incline but it slips. 00:36:59 Jimmy feels Glass’s head. 81
00:37:14 Glass wheezes heavily. The captain leans over him. 00:37:48 A distressed Hawk is held back. 00:37:55 Jimmy puts a rag over Glass’s eyes. 00:38:05 Fitzgerald watches intently behind the captain as he aims a pistol at Glass’s head, then lowers it. 00:38:53 Fitzgerald hesitates, shifting his weight. 00:39:28 He catches up to Fitzgerald. 00:39:39 Fitzgerald eyes the captain coldly. 00:39:45 The captain, Henry, watches Fitzgerald, then looks up towards Glass. Later, beneath the stars, Hawk leans over Glass. “Can you hear that wind, father?” Jimmy and Fitzgerald sleep. “Remember what mother used to say about the wind? The wind cannot defeat a tree with strong roots.” Glass’s eyes are open and he stares blankly. A fire burns nearby. “You are still breathing.” A pale moon shines down through the tall trees. “I miss her so much.” Glass flashes back to his wife. They stand with their foreheads touching. Hawk, a little boy with dark hair, smiles. A black bird rests on his forearm. Later, Glass stares at a burning village and sees his son stumble with his shirt on fire. “I’ll be right here.” He gently squeezes water from a rag into his son’s mouth. The left side of the boy’s face is burnt. “I’m right here. As long as you can still grab a breath, you fight. You breathe. Keep breathing.” Glass stands in front of a large tree, silhouetted against the grey sky. Soldiers torch a village. “When there is a storm, and you stand in front of a tree…” Glass’s native wife smiles, her hair whips in the wind. Now, young Hawk watches as his mother is shot in the back by a soldier. “If you look at its branches, you swear it will fall.” As Glass stares at his fallen wife, a small pale bird emerges from the bullet hole in her dress, then flies away. Young Hawk’s large brown eyes are filled with emotion. “But if you watch the trunk, you will see its stability.” Back in the frozen forest, the injured Glass sees his wife float over him. In a flashback, young Glass holds the young boy on a blanket of fur. Now, the bandaged trapper finally sleeps. He sees an image of a pyramid of buffalo skulls against the sun. Glass trudges towards the structure and stares up at it. In the forest, Fitzgerald struggles to dig in the frozen ground. He stands in a shallow grave, chipping away at the earth, then sets down his tool. 00:42:43 Later, Fitzgerald, Hawk and Jimmy rest at their campsite. Hawk sits beside his father. 00:43:20 His gaze becomes distant. 00:43:40 Fitzgerald whirls around towards Jimmy. 00:43:49 Jimmy pulls a rock away from the canteen and, keeping his gaze on Fitzgerald, puts it beside him. In its metal is a carved spiral design, resembling snail shells resting on a rock nearby. Jimmy throws stones into a patch of unfrozen lake. The landscape is covered in thick snow. Hawk 82
hammers a stake into the ground in thigh-high water. He then ties a fishing line around the pole. 00:44:20 Fitzgerald sits by Glass, near the fire. 00:44:28 He wears his headscarf. 00:44:38 Fitzgerald glances towards Glass. 00:44:44 Fitzgerald’s eyes become determined and he rises. 00:44:57 He kneels next to the injured man. 00:45:18 Fitzgerald leans over him. 00:45:36 Glass looks at Fitzgerald but doesn’t blink. 00:45:46 Glass stares at Fitzgerald, then shifts his unblinking gaze. 00:45:57 Glass slowly closes, then opens his eyes. 00:46:06 He tightens a rope around Glass, then stuffs a rag in his mouth and covers his nose. 00:46:32 Hawk hits Fitzgerald in the head with his rifle. Elsewhere, Jimmy fills his canteen in the river. Hawk holds Fitzgerald at gunpoint. 00:46:45 Fitzgerald snatches the rifle. 00:47:00 Fitzgerald knives Hawk in the gut. Glass watches, eyes ablaze and teeth clenched. He strains against the rope. Fitzgerald, his hand over Hawk’s mouth, eases the mortally injured boy to the ground. 00:47:17 Hawk clenches his stomach as blood drips from his mouth. Glass watches, completely helpless, as Fitzgerald drags Hawk’s body into the trees. 00:47:38 Spit flies from Glass’s mouth as he struggles. Above, the tall trees sway in a gust of wind. The high branches trash against the grey sky. Clouds drift over a long snowy mountain range at dusk. At the camp, Fitzgerald stands, eyes bulging, coughing on his pipe as the young trapper returns with a fish. 00:48:22 Fitzgerald keeps his back to him. 00:48:37 Jimmy places a fur hood over Glass’s head. 00:48:40 He looks around. 00:48:47 Jimmy looks at the struggling Glass as Fitzgerald wanders over. 00:49:01 Glass stares up at Fitzgerald, who stands over him. 00:49:07 Fitzgerald stares after Jimmy with wary eyes. 00:49:15 Night. The moon is a white dot in the vast deep blue evening sky. Thick clouds hang over the forest in lumps. At the camp, Jimmy sleeps. Fitzgerald approaches and clamps a hand over his mouth. 00:50:19 Fitzgerald whips the blankets off Glass. 00:50:32 He violently yanks Glass off the stretcher. 00:50:40 He drags Glass by the feet to the grave he dug. He starts to cover him with dirt. 00:51:07 Fitzgerald walks away, leaving a distraught Jimmy by the grave. The young man steps into the grave and looks around. 00:51:27 He leaves his canteen on Glass’s chest and runs off after Fitzgerald. He trips and falls but picks himself back up and keeps going. Elsewhere. 00:52:10 Some men cross the icy river. 83
00:52:17 The trappers are at the top of a waterfall, surrounded by ice. 00:52:38 The freezing water rushes through a wall of ice. Elsewhere, lifeless weeds stick up through the snow. Above, jagged, frozen rocks rise nearly to the tops of towering trees. 00:52:55 The snowy earth moves beneath Jimmy’s canteen. Glass raises a hand. Gritting his teeth, he strains to raise his head and looks around. Glass’s face stretches in pain as he rolls over in the shallow pit. He uses one arm to pull himself forward, attempting to crawl out. He pauses and gathers himself. He pulls his other arm from under himself and leans on both. Glass grits his teeth as he hauls himself over the edge of the hole. He drags himself along the frozen ground, his right foot twisted at an unnatural angle. He freezes, looking straight ahead. He presses forward. At the base of a tree, Glass finds blood in the snow. He feels it with his hands. He crawls over roots. White light shines through the icy mist. Glass comes upon Hawk’s body at the base of a tree. He stares, eyes filled with tears and mouth parted, then drags himself closer. Glass studies his son’s lifeless frozen face, then inches ever closer and gently places a hand on his forehead. He checks Hawk’s neck for a pulse, then his fingers tab and twitch. He looks around and moves his hand away. Glass lays his head on Hawk’s chest, staring at him tearful. He puts his hand on his forehead and closes the boy’s eyes. “I’m not leaving you, son. I’m right here.” Glass stares at his boy. He closes his eyes. His breath fogs the air. Clouds drift over snow-covered mountains. A pale sun breaks through the grey foggy mist. The thick mist begins to dissipate as the sun spot grows brighter. Now, a stream of smoke diffuses in the air on a cliff above a river. Fitzgerald gazes down, puffing on his pipe. He glances over his shoulder. Now, Jimmy lies by a small fire. 00:57:11 Fitzgerald stomps out the flames. 00:57:24 Fitzgerald continues packing up his gear. 00:57:30 Jimmy raises his head. 00:57:44 Jimmy stares off, propped up on his elbows. He turns to Fitzgerald. 00:57:58 Fitzgerald nods, eating. 00:58:03 He aims his rifle at the older man. 00:58:18 Fitzgerald stands. 00:58:44 Jimmy glares. 00:58:50 Fitzgerald stares back calm. 00:58:56 The rifle aimed at Fitzgerald’s face shakes. 00:59:02 Fitzgerald takes the gun and hits Jimmy in the chest, pointing the rifle at him. 00:59:23 Fitzgerald cocks the rifle, the barrel against Jimmy’s forehead. 00:59:32 He drops the gun on him. 00:59:40 Fitzgerald gathers his things. 00:59:47 Fitzgerald walks away. The frightened trapper remains on his back in the snow. In the woods, Glass still lies with Hawk. He lifts his head. Shivering and sprinkled in snow and ice, Glass stares at Hawk’s face, then looks up at 84
the sky. Glass winces, and raises himself up on his side. He pulls a pouch from around Hawk’s neck and tucks it inside his coat. Glass looks around, reaches out and plucks a piece of moss from a tree. He places it between Hawk’s lips. Snowflakes are caked on Glass’s eyelashes as he rests his forehead against his son’s forehead. Glass lays a hand on Hawk’s head, then rolls himself over until he’s leaning against a tree. He looks at Hawk, gathers himself, then moves again. Elsewhere, Fitzgerald and Jimmy tramp through deep snow with mountains in the distance. At the abandoned camp site, Glass crawls on his elbows across the hard earth. Glass grabs a bag and searches it. He finds a small pouch and shoves it back inside. He crawls to his abandoned stretcher and loops the bag’s strap around his neck. He takes the fur hood and rags from the stretcher. He binds his raw right hand while staring at the trees with a ### look. Glass snatches a heavy fur from the stretcher. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald hikes along a frozen river. Jimmy follows, dazed. The younger man trudges along gloomily, with no rifle and no pack. Low in the sky, the pale sun filters through the closely packed, slender giant pines. Glass, breathing with difficulty, draped in furs, comes across the skeleton of a buffalo. He breaks a vertebra off the spine. Glass digs frozen marrow out of the bone and chews hungrily. Back at the camp, the natives come upon the shallow grave. Elk Dog finds a bloody rag in the hole. He bends and sniffs it. “Fresh blood. This could be Powaqa.” Another native tosses aside the wooden stretcher, then bends and finds a bloody rag. “A dead boy,” Elk Dog says. An older native gently brushes snow off Hawk’s corpse. The old man looks up and says “A Pawnee boy. Let’s go!” The group moves on. Further away, Glass crawls on through sun-capped snowy woods. He drags himself to the edge of a cliff, overlooking a river, woods and plants. Glass stares out over the vast landscape, with mountains rising in the distance. A breeze blows his furs and sun shines down on him. Later, he dips his fingers in the fast flowing river, tastes the water and fills the canteen. As Glass drinks thirstily, water spills out his neck wound. He coughs up blood. He clutches his neck as blood comes out, then catches his breath. Beside the river, Glass uproots handfuls of dry grass and separates them. He gathers the dry grass into a small pile. He pours a small amount of gun powder from a capsule onto his fingers and applies it to the still open wound in his neck. Glass crumbles a few grains of powder onto the pile of kindling. He strikes a metal fork against a flint. It sparks and eventually, smoke rises. He stokes the fire with the two-prawn fork and blows on it. He adds a little more powder to the small flames. The fire licks up. He holds a small torch made of moss on a twig in the flames, lets it catch fire. With a grimace, he lifts the torch to the powder in his neck wound. The powder flares and sparks and Glass lies back, clutching his throat. He passes out. A bird’s perched on a tree, overlooking the river bank. Water floats over shallow falls. On a densely snow covered mountain top, Henry and the exhausted trappers press onwards. 85
01:07:43 Henry looks around warily and they trudge on through deep snow on a mountain ridge. In a similar landscape, Fitzgerald, eyes down, and Jimmy walk along a ridge overlooking a vast valley. Ice sickles hang on the end of a frozen branch. Glass sits in a cave near the river at dusk beside a flickering bonfire. The skeleton of a small bird lies on the floor of the cave in the fire light. Glass’s chest rises and falls in his sleep. Daylight. He practises walking with the aid of a thick stick. He takes slow but steady steps up the sandy river bank, then falls broad on his back. Later, he pulls up woods and eagerly shoves them in his mouth. He notices something out at the river. Three elk cross the deep water. Glass raises his stick as if it was a rifle and takes aim. He mimics taking a shot and lowers the stick. Later, he examines the bear claws in his bag. Glass turns the claws over in his hands, then looks up into the sunny sky. He scratches letters onto a flat rock with a stone. F I T Z G E. He stops writing. Glass looks up anxiously, spots the native warriors on horseback and scrambles towards his cave. Glass crouches among the rocks, watching. He backs under a ledge of rock. A warrior stands just a few yards from Glass’s hiding place. Glass grabs the canteen and backs into the water. Glass retreats, shoulder-deep in water, hugging the rocks along the river’s edge, eyes wide. He props himself against the hidden rocky ledge, then looks up. Warriors are standing on the edge of the rock face above him. One of the party approaches the cave. He looks up and spots Glass. Glass pushes himself back into the water. Glass swims desperately downstream. The warriors follow along the rocks and as Glass paddles, arrows zip into the water around him. Glass ducks underwater and keeps paddling. Arrows continue to whizz by, barely missing him. The trapper comes up for air, flailing as the current gets stronger. He looks back, wide-eyed. Glass lets the rapids carry him violently over a series of wide ledges. A huge drop approaches. Glass grabs a rock but is swept away and over a fall. His figure pops up in a short flat space before another drop. Glass frantically tries to keep his head above water as he goes over another fall. The falls become a powerfully flowing torrent. Glass floats on his back, swept along by the fast flowing wild waters. Rocky banks rise to thick pine forests and high wooded hills. Glass is a tiny dot flowing past them. As the river calms, Glass swims between sheer cliffs, using his legs. He paddles forward and grabs onto a floating log. He catches his breath. He holds onto the log and the current carries him forward as the sun lowers. Viewed from afar, the river carves its way through white snowy plains that stretch to the horizon. Glass pushes himself towards a shoreline. He flounders, utterly exhausted, onto snowy land. He abandons the log as he limbs on to the bank. He drags his right leg behind him. Glass struggles out of the sodden heavy fur. He leans forward on his hands, then sits. He tries to blow warmth into his freezing fingers as he slowly collapses. Fitzgerald and Jimmy come upon a few roman pigs in a destroyed Pawnee village. 01:14:33 The place is strewn with dead bodies. 86
01:14:46 Fitzgerald moves past a dead pregnant woman. 01:14:58 He bends to pick up a pocket watch. Fitzgerald looks around, sniffing. He turns, then stalks in another direction. He stops short, eyes piercing through the fog, then continues on. Jimmy follows a short distance behind the older trapper with hesitant steps. Wild-eyed, Jimmy whirls around and aims his rifle. An older woman cowards in a hut. She steps out slowly. 01:15:41 He looks at Fitzgerald, then back at the woman. He lays a parcel down. 01:15:49 Jimmy moves slowly away, glancing back over his shoulder. The woman approaches the parcel and picks it up. She unwraps the cloth and begins to eat the food inside. Later, trees are silhouetted dark against the pale moon. 01:16:21 Jimmy sits gloomily by the fire. 01:16:33 Fitzgerald cooks a hunk of meat on a fire. 01:17:32 He chews and nods with conviction. 01:17:53 He looks at Jimmy amused. 01:18:05 Fitzgerald’s gaze bores into Jimmy, then he squints and looks away, still chewing. 01:18:22 Jimmy eyes Fitzgerald pensively. The dark blue sky stretches across the vast plain, becoming lighter as it covers distant mountains. At a river bank, Glass warms his hands over a fire, forming a fist, then releasing it. Now, Glass hobbles up a slope, away from the snowy river bank. He stands on a small ### overlooking a river and a forest on the other side. A flaming meteor blazes across the sky. A small flame shoots off, as the fiery ball falls far beyond the range of hills. A meteor fragment lands in the water in front of a man, creating a huge splash. Fitzgerald turns. In a flashback, Glass eyes the pyramid of skulls. Now the sky glooms dark over the skulls. Images flash. A face in a skull. His dead wife. A younger Glass raises a rifle at a soldier in his burning hut, his hands soaked in blood and bloody water with Hawk’s dead body below the surface. Glass awakes in fog on the snowy river bank. Glass stirs, his face tight with pain. He pulls of his coat to check on his wounded right shoulder. He touches it and winces, then covers it. He sits up, throwing off the big fur, then grabs a large stick. He slides down to the water and examines a fish trap, made of a curved wall of stones. He hobbles into the thigh-deep water, positioning himself by the make-shift trap. Peering into the water, Glass puts down the stick and crouches, putting his hands below the surface. A fish swims in the trap and Glass struggles to catch it, splashing the water. He finally scoops it out and bites straight into it, tearing at the raw flesh ravenously. Hunched over, he glances up, briefly scanning his surroundings before going back to his meal. Looking up, he stands straight. Now, using the stick as a staff, he limps up the frozen river bank. He pauses by the fire, tossing the stick. He lifts the large pelt, revealing the bear shape. He throws it over himself, then picks up his staff, then continues up through small, leafless trees. He is able to use both his legs now. He pushes forward through branches, hoisting himself along. He picks up his pace as he reaches 87
the top of the slope, then stops. Glass stares out at a herd of buffalos right across the snow covered prairie, pursued by a pack of wolves. The wolves isolate a buffalo and surround it, taking turns jumping and tearing at it. The rest of the herd scatters, leaving the lone buffalo, which is viciously attacked. The wounded animal falls on its side as the wolves tear it apart. Glass trudges forward, then sinks to his knees, staring open mouth. Night. The pale moon shines down through the thick clouds. Glass sleeps on his back on a hill by the plain. Firelight flickers on his face as he opens his eyes. He turns to look behind him. He rolls over and crawls to the edge of the plain. Small fires are burning and a wolf runs off with its fur on fire. Glass crawls closer, staying low. The fires are being set by a lone warrior in furs. Glass struggles to stand with his staff. Glass hobbles forward. Glass lurches towards the warrior, who stands, then kneels behind the fallen buffalo. Glass reaches out a pleading hand. The native eats raw meat from the carnage. There are dead wolves all around. The warrior rises quickly as Glass approaches and raises his bow. Glass falls to his knees and raises his hands, then lies flat in surrender. Glass crawls on his stomach as he makes desperate eating gestures. The lone warrior lowers his weapon and sits back down. Glass crawls closer and stops in front of the huge dead beast. Glass pleads again. The warrior cuts off a hunk of meat and tosses it towards the starving man. Glass grabs the raw meat and chews hungrily. Suddenly, Glass drops the meat. The warrior watches, tearing at the flesh, his chin and hands coated in blood. Glass gathers himself and keeps eating, eyes on the warrior. The two consider each other warily. Glass lays down his food and falls asleep where he is. A wider view shows three small fires providing dim light on the vast snow covered land. In daylight, a horse stands calmly. The fires have gone out and Glass is still asleep. The warrior prods Glass with his bow, pulling up his clothes to reveal the brutal scars on his back. He pokes Glass, who sits up abruptly and raises a hand defensively. He tells the warrior: “I’m injured.” “What happened to you?” Glass mimes clawing at his throat as he repeats “A bear”. He pulls out the bear claws made into a necklace. 01:27:26 Glass tries to take off his necklace, which gets tangled in his hood, and pulls it off as well. He offers the claws to the expressionless man, who takes them. “My men left me for dead. Killed my son.” The warrior looks at the claws, then at Glass. “I lost my family too,” he says. “Sioux killed my people. I’m going south to find more Pawnee.” He looks over his shoulder. “My heart bleeds but revenge is in the creator’s hands.” He walks away as he speaks. He picks up his things and continues walking. The man looks back. “You will ride with me.” Glass stares after the man. Later, they both ride his horse across a plane with snow covered peaks in the distance. At night, Glass sleeps beside a campfire as his new companion keeps watch. A light snow falls as firelight dances on his face. In the fading grey wintery daylight, they ride across ### snow dusted grasslands. Now, Glass fills the canteen at a stream and drinks deeply. His companion walks up to him with a grim 88
expression and stops. He spits on his fingers and applies the saliva to the wound on the back of Glass’s neck. “Your body is rotten. Need to heal.” Glass looks up with dark rims under his eyes. “You could die.” The native turns and walks away. Fitzgerald and Jimmy crest a snowy ridge on horseback and look across a misty plateau at a fortified camp. 01:30:25 Fitzgerald eyes the young man sternly. Jimmy rides ahead of Fitzgerald. They ride slowly through the bustling camp. They pass through a native encampment outside the fort and children run up to them. They sit at a desk at the camp. 01:31:36 Jimmy can’t look the captain in the eye. Henry gets up from his desk. 01:31:48 Henry leaves the room and Fitzgerald glances at a stone-faced Jimmy, who looks at him, then down. As Henry moves around upstairs, dust filters down through the floorboards. Fitzgerald’s eyes dart around, following the footsteps. Henry returns with a wad of banknotes, which he drops on the desk in front of Fitzgerald. 01:32:23 The captain places money in front of Jimmy, who looks at it, then abruptly stands, grabs his rifle and leaves without the bonus. His boss watches with a confused expression. 01:32:37 Fitzgerald stands and pockets his money. He leaves. 01:32:51 Henry, now clean-shaven and more youthful looking, stares out the window with a sombre expression. Jimmy, teary-eyed, sits near a cabin clutching his rifle. On the prairie, the native picks on ### herbs and grasses, which he stuffs in a small leather bag. Now, the two men sit on a snowy patch beside a leafless tree. The native looks up at the sky. Wrapped in his fur, Glass looks up at the falling snow. His companion opens his mouth and sticks out his tongue to catch a snowflake. Glass glances over, amused, as the native closes his mouth, eyes closed. He turns to Glass, who sticks out his tongue. Both playfully catch snowflakes and smile. The sun filters through a barren wood of silver birch as thick white clouds roll in. The heavy clouds deposit snow. The native, still catching snowflakes on his tongue, leads Glass on the horse through the woods. Glass also keeps up the game. Suddenly, Glass topples off the horse. The man hurries to his side. Now, as Glass lies unconscious, the native carries over a bundle of thick branches. Struggling against the snowy wind, he sets them down. The native crawls over to Glass and feels his forehead. The companion lights some brittle glasses, covering them in his hands and blowing on them to produce smoke. A small fire glows within the bundle. He chops down the upper half of a slim tree. He builds a fire, placing stones around the flames. He drags Glass’s inert form over to the fire. He slowly builds a lean-to with thick branches, struggling against the wind. Subtitles. “When there is a storm…” Snow sticks on the native’s mouth and eyebrows as he determinedly keeps toiling in the blizzard. “… And you stand in front of a tree. If you look at its branches, you swear it will fall.” In the shelter, the native applies herbs to Glass’s wounds. “But if you 89
watch the trunk, you will see its stability.” Snow is placed on smouldering herbs and their steam rises towards Glass’s face. He inhales, eyes barely open. Fade to black. Light flickers against the wall. Hands explore the crack surface, which is covered in religious Christian frescos. A silhouetted man stands in front of the ancient art. Now, in pale wintery daylight, ants cluster together on a stone. Glass stands without scars or injury, staring at the ruins of a small church. A bell still swings in the remains of a tower. Glass walks towards the structure. He stares up at the crumbling walls and the empty circle above the altar. Glass enters what is left of the church and scans the area, brow furrowed. He trudges through a puddle and finds Hawk, standing in front of the frescos. His son turns towards him. Their eyes meet. Hawk, in a black cape, walks through the puddle towards Glass. Father and son embrace emotionally. Glass shuts his eyes as he holds Hawk. Snowflakes drift on the wind. Glass is hugging a tree in the middle of the church ruins. Clutching the trunk, he sinks to his knees in the mud. The bell swings and Glass, with a mournful expression, lifts his head. Glass wakes up in the dark shelter. He pushes away some branches, letting in light and snow. Shirtless, Glass looks around and swallows. Low in the sky and partly obscured by clouds, the sun shines weakly through the birched trees. The snow-caped shelter shakes as Glass pushes against it. Glass bursts through and crawls from the tent-like structure. Deep scars from the bear attack cover his back. He puts on his shirt and finds provisions hanging from a tree. The native and his horse are gone. Glass slings the canteen and other supplies over his shoulder and, in his fur, walks away from the cluster of birches with a staff. He pauses, then moves up a gently sloping hill. At the top, he manoeuvres around several small bare trees. He hesitates, staring straight ahead. A man hangs from a tree with a sign around his neck. As he moves closer, he sees it’s his native companion. The sign is in French and reads “on est tous des sauvages”. Glass looks up grimly as the body turns on the rope. Hearing the voices, Glass rushes to the thick tree from which the body hangs. He crouches. He spies a group of men in the distance. Warily, he moves closer. Glass crouches lower, wincing. Glass looks back at his dead friend. At the camp, the French trappers drink and eat. Toussaint serves soup from a cauldron. 01:42:01 Elsewhere, day turns to night as Elk Dog and Arikara warriors sit by a fire. A scout runs over, yelling: “There are traces of a camp! There are traces of a camp!” Elk Dog looks up. “Where?” “Entering the moon forest, maybe from two days ago! They are moving east.” “Tell the others! Let’s move quickly! Powaqa could be with them.” In dim light, the native’s body swings gently on the rope. Glass leans against a tree, looking upset at his friend. He peers around the tree towards the French camp. 01:42:53 One of the men toasts to the group. “Bring me the girl! Those five horses weren’t for free!” A young native girl lies under a blanket. Her lip is busted 90
and her eyes have a blank stare. Glass hides among the gathered horses, one of which was taken from his companion. He strokes its neck as he moves towards its backside, using its body as cover. He throws the fur over the horse’s back, keeping his eyes on the men. He drapes his provisions and supplies over the horse as well, crouching low. Glass stares at Toussaint marches the native girl away from camp towards the horses. She slips and he yanks her up, pushing her forward. She falls to her knees and the Frenchman pulls her up. Glass watches them with a deep frown, ducked under the horse. He glances to the camp, then back to Toussaint. Toussaint rapes the young girl up against a tree. Glass crawls up behind Toussaint on his elbows and grabs the pistol on the ground nearby. He slowly rises to his feet, gun trained on Toussaint. Glass grabs him and clamps a hand over his mouth. 01:44:26 Glass shoves Toussaint against the trunk of a tree, pushing the gun to the side of his head. 01:44:32 Glass pulls it back, and nods to the girl to take Toussaint’s knife. Glass backs away. “I will get a horse”. Glass moves away, letting the young woman hold Toussaint at knife point. She moves forward. “I’ll cut off your balls.” Glass moves back to the horses and begins to untie them. Three trappers, sensing something is wrong, stand and turn to the horses. One shouts: “Where’s Toussaint?” They approach. Glass calls to the girl: “Come here!”. Glass hides behind the horse, eyes wide. Glass shoots a trapper and sees the girl running in the opposite direction. Toussaint sinks to his knees, his groin bloody. The horses pull with Glass riding his ###. Glass kills another Frenchman as he rides off. The body drops next to Jimmy’s canteen on the ground. 01:45:43 In a tavern, men dance with native women. In the midst of the boozy laughter, Fitzgerald sits sullenly with a thoughtful expression. His gaze is directed on the captain, who taps on a table nearby. 01:46:42 Fitzgerald plays with a candle as Henry takes a swig. 01:47:17 Fitzgerald glares at Henry and fixes his jaw. 01:47:32 Fitzgerald stumbles through the crowded tavern and exits. He staggers along the wooden palisade of the fort. He tethers, then falls flat on his face in the snow. In hazy daylight, the native young woman washes her bloody hands in a stream and looks around the frozen woods anxiously. Glass struts across a snow-covered meadow towards a bank of mist and the pine forest. Night. Firelight flickers on the bows of tall, barren trees, with the pale moon shining in the dark blue sky. Glass wakes suddenly and glances over his shoulder. He picks up the pistol and holds it under his fur. The first light of dawn tints the sky. Later in the morning, Glass sleeps against the foot of a tree. The image of his Pawnee wife walks towards him across the meadow. Under a bright sun, Glass lies on his back as his wife floats above him. Now, Arikara warriors led by Elk Dog cross the snow-covered meadow. The horse looks 91
toward Glass, who still sleeps. He stirs and jerks on the ground. Covered in his fur, he blinks. Glass’s eyes go wide as an arrow thuds into the tree inches by his head. He fires his pistol, taking down a warrior, then scrambles for the horse as the warriors charge. Glass leaps on the horse’s back, desperately perches it into a gallop across the sun-lit meadow. The attackers gain fast, emerging from the trees behind it. Glass shoots one of the warriors out of his saddle. He looks behind him, eyes wide and mouth open as the Arikara gain on him. His horse has an arrow in its flank. Glass and the horse go over a steep cliff, crashing into a pine tree far below. The huge pine tree slowly stops swaying and goes still. Glass lies motionless in the snow at the foot of the tree as a blizzard begins. Glass stirs and tries to get up. He looks around. He clenches his freezing fingers and puts them to his mouth. He looks over at the broken and bloody body of the horse, then crawls towards it. Glass frantically cuts open the horse’s abdomen. He reaches deep into the horse’s body. He hauls out the horse’s internal organs and drops them to the side. Glass reaches back in. He pulls out more huge organs and dumps them to the side on a pile. Glass jams his knife into the carcass, then begins to take off his clothes. He takes off his shirt, then reaches down to the dead horse again. He breaks the horse’s ribs, then catches his breath, a snow storm whirling around him. Naked, he crawls inside the carcass, pulling the hind tightly around himself. Glass shivers, his breath forming clouds in the air. His face pokes out from the deep cut in the horse’s underbelly, his knife by his head. An aerial view shows the bloody carcass shelter and a heap of guts surrounded by a sea of white. Now, towering pines are silhouetted against the pale light of dawn. The sun filters through a tree and snow melts from its branches. The horse carcass has frozen solid. Glass’s hand emerges from the long cut in the hind and he tries to pry it open. He breaks the frozen flesh, forcing a gap wide enough to crawl out. His face tightens, his beard covered in frost and blood. Glass looks up at the tree above him and the snow melting off of it in the morning sun. He slowly emerges from the snow-covered carcass. The sun’s rays shine through the pines as Glass takes in his surroundings. He gets dressed in the white light. The trapper picks up his satchel and lays a grateful hand on the dead horse’s flank. Glass walks away, pausing to stare up at the cliff at the top of the trees. A huge frozen lake is surrounded by snow-dusted peaks with pine forests at the base of their slopes. A tiny figure moves across the wide expanse of frozen water. Glass tramps across the snow and ice at a steady pace. With the aid of a thick walking staff, he limps less. He breathes on his free hand as he walks. At night, he lies beside a fire in a cave, hollowed out of thick snow. By firelight, Glass writes in charcoal on the roof of his small cave. He writes: “Fitzgerald killed my son.” Glass lies on his back, his beard encrusted with frost. Dawn at the fort. A lone man approaches the main gate. 01:56:36 The man trudges across the snow-covered road to the heavy wooden gate. Fryman searches him through the gate. 92
01:56:58 In the tavern. 01:57:17 He removes items from his cloak. 01:57:33 Jimmy’s canteen. 01:57:42 Jimmy stares at Fitzgerald. 01:57:46 Fitzgerald shifts his eyes and nods. 01:58:11 Fitzgerald examines the dented canteen thoughtfully. He pushes his plate of food across to the Frenchman and stares off. 01:58:31 A search party rides out from the fort. As darkness falls, with the captain in the lead, the searchers all carry flaming torches. They cross a river and ride through woods. The torches glow orange in the misty dark between the long thin silhouettes of trees. 01:59:00 The riders stop and listen. 01:59:05 Some men are on foot. 01:59:15 Glass limps towards the search party, stepping in the torches’ glow. 01:59:25 He stumbles forward. Jimmy gapes as Glass falls to his knees. 01:59:57 Two men half carry, half drag Glass away. In daylight, the captain arrives back at the fort ahead of the rest. He rides through the open gates and dismounts. 02:00:12 Taking his rifle, the captain bursts into a bunkhouse. 02:00:23 The captain stalks through the bunkhouse. He grimly approaches a man washing his face and cocks his weapon, aiming it at his head. 02:00:43 Henry kicks him. 02:01:00 Mouth tight, he walks out. 02:01:08 The captain walks across the courtyard, his eyes blazing. He levels the rifle as he approaches his office. He pushes open the door with the long barrel and looks inside. He pauses to sift through papers on his desk, then he shifts his gaze to the stairs. He slowly climbs the stairs, keeping the rifle level. His safe is open. He runs to it. 02:01:39 The safe is empty. He slowly lifts his head. 02:01:52 The captain looks out of the window as the gates open and Glass is led in, sitting unsteadily on a horse. 02:02:04 He strikes Jimmy. 02:02:07 He kicks Jimmy, repeatedly. 02:02:21 The rifle is in his face. 02:02:40 Glass turns to watch the exchange. 02:02:50 Glass goes into the doctor’s office. Now, two natives collect water. 02:03:02 Nearby, men stack boats. In his office, the doctor examines Glass’s back wounds, rubbing a balm into them. Glass stares out the window and the captain enters. 02:03:27 The captain considers the doctor and Glass grimly, then sits facing Glass as the doctor leaves. 02:03:39 The captain nods, brow furrowed. 02:04:03 The captain studies Glass with a frown. 93
02:04:12 Glass stares out of the window, eyes tearful, then turns. 02:05:01 Glass eyes him, his face battered and lips cracked. 02:05:19 He gazes out of the window with a faraway look, then turns back to the captain. 02:05:29 The captain gives a resigned look and stands. He walks to the door. He pauses in the doorway, studies Glass again, then nods and leaves. The stars and stripes of a flag flap above the wooden fort. Lightning flashes in dark clouds over the snow-covered mountains. Night. Glass sits by a fireplace in a dark bunkhouse and sips from a small bowl. He looks up, eyes fierce, face scarred. Now in daylight, Glass pours water over his head from a steamy bath tub outside and washes his face. Glass stands in the steamy water, his head tilted towards the sky. Later, Glass and the captain ride out from the fort, passing a native encampment. Glass leads the way. They lead their horses through deep snow. Later, Glass examines tracks. 02:07:10 Snow falls thickly on towering pines. 02:07:24 The two men sit by a campfire at night. 02:07:33 Henry glances anxiously at Glass, who chews pensively with a deep frown. He wears a thick fur. 02:07:46 Glass doesn’t look at him. 02:07:54 Glass turns his piercing gaze on Henry across the flames, then lowers his eyes. Daylight. They ride through snow covered trees. They pause as Glass sniffs the air and looks at Henry. 02:08:16 Glass points to his right at the foot of a steep mountain side. 02:08:37 Glass draws his pistol and rides forward, as the captain heads right. Pistol at the ready, Glass rides slowly through closely packed snow covered pines. In a dense area of pines, Glass comes to a hold. He dismounts, and pats his horse’s neck. The captain emerges from the woods onto an open rocky area. Now, on foot, Glass edges down a narrow trail between rocks and trees. Glass looks around. He stoops to examine the remnants of a small fire and looks back. As the captain moves forward, Fitzgerald moves forward from behind a rock with his rifle aimed at him. 02:10:23 With a grimace, the captain draws his pistol from beneath his cape and both men fire. Glass whirls around, then hurriedly mounts his horse. Glass rides quickly in the direction of the sound. He reaches the open escarpment and reigns in the horse. Looking around, Glass rides down the slope, then up a small incline. He stops and dismounts. He pulls his rifle from his saddle and warily scans the open slopes. He comes upon the captain on the ground, motionless. He kneels next to Henry and puts his hand on the captain’s throat. The top of the captain’s head is bloody and raw. It’s been scalped. Glass looks up and scans the area. He turns to look behind him. An avalanche tumbles from a mountain side some distance away. Glass watches the cascading wall of snow, then scans the slopes and rock faces. Glass slowly stands very still. His eyes shift and dart around the expansive landscape. 94
Glass rides onwards on a ridge with the captain’s horse in tow and his dead friend draped limply over the saddle. The captain’s bloody head is visible from the neck of his coat. Later, in heavy snowfall, the two horses stand by a tree. Glass crouches, filling his canteen from a creek. He keeps his gaze upwards, wary as he drinks. Glass stands up and puts down the canteen. He walks upstream a short way and examines the branches of a fallen tree. Glass gets out a hatchet and chops off a stout branch. He brings it back towards the horses. Glass sets down the forked branch and trims off a smaller twig with his hatchet. Glass drops the branch. Later, hunched over, he rides his horse with the captain’s in tow across an open, snowy clearing. The barrel of a rifle is trained on Glass, aiming from behind trees on a nearby hill. Glass topples from his horse. Fitzgerald slowly lowers the rifle, eyes riveted. The fur- covered body lies in a heap in the snow. Fitzgerald approaches on horseback. Fitzgerald dismounts, keeping his rifle raised cautiously as he approaches the two horses. He sweeps the big fur off the body with the muzzle of his gun. A huge branch is under the fur. Fitzgerald kicks the body over. He moves a piece of fur covering the face and sees it’s the captain. Fitzgerald looks up with a start, aiming his rifle. Glass, draped over the saddle, shoots first, hitting Fitzgerald and causing a shot to go into the air. Fitzgerald runs for the trees. Glass falls off the horse and leaps up and grabs his rifle. A panicked Fitzgerald races through the dense pines. Glass runs after him. Fitzgerald descents a slope with Glass charging after him through the thick snow. An aerial view shows the two men racing across the vast snow- blanketed landscape. Glass slides down through some trees, looking around wildly. He hurries along a path, rifle in his hands, then reaches a creek and pauses. Glass jumps down into the snowy trench formed by the creek, picks a direction to follow and heads downstream. Glass advances through misty level woods. Fitzgerald, hiding behind a thin tree, sits still, eyes shifting. Glass scans the foggy woods. He walks backwards and forwards, keeping his eyes moving in all directions. Glass narrows his eyes, peering through the mist. He raises the rifle. Glass stops and turns slowly, looking all around. Looking straight up, the tall pines tower towards the pale sky. Glass keeps advancing. Glass ducks, and is showered with splinters as Fitzgerald misses and runs off through the thin tree trunks. Glass stands, aims and shoots but misses. He runs off in pursuit. Brow furrowed, Fitzgerald drops his rifle and runs. Glass pursues with a fixed gaze, holding his rifle. Glass closes in and Fitzgerald runs up a hill. He slips at the top and tumbles down the other side. Glass plunges after him, trying to break his slide with a hatchet. Glass grabs for his rifle, but it gets caught on the slope. He slides down quickly, flailing. Fitzgerald staggers off warily as Glass tries to get up and catch his breath in the background. Fitzgerald winces in pain as he examines his shoulder wound. Glass lurches after Fitzgerald, who’s trudging away slowly with his back to him. Fitzgerald glances over his shoulder and glares at Glass, then keeps on walking away slowly. 95
02:17:55 They plot along a creek. 02:18:22 Glass shakes his head with a murderous stare. 02:18:43 Glass charges with his hatchet, but Fitzgerald ducks and tackles Glass, who tumbles him over his head. Glass hacks off two of his fingers. 02:18:53 Fitzgerald stands. Blood pours onto the snow. Glass gets to his feet and they face off. Fitzgerald yields his knife, Glass the hatchet. They suddenly lurch at each other. Fitzgerald attacks and slices Glass’s cheek. They strike again. Glass turns Fitzgerald and strangles his neck from behind with his hatchet handle. Fitzgerald’s knife hand is also trapped. Fitzgerald grabs his knife with his other hand and plunges it into Glass’ thigh. He yanks it out and the two grapple. They fall onto the ground and Fitzgerald goes for a killing blow with the knife. Glass holds the knife off, then rolls Fitzgerald onto his back. As he tries to pry the knife from Fitzgerald’s hand, Fitzgerald pulls Glass down and bites his ear. Fitzgerald yanks the corner of Glass’s mouth and tries to move the knife in for the kill. Glass holds his arm off, then slips underneath, twisting so the knife points at Fitzgerald. Glass uses his body weight to drive the knife into Fitzgerald’s stomach. Fitzgerald rolls, pushing Glass off, pulls the knife out, then kicks Glass away. As Glass edges towards his hatchet, Fitzgerald plunges the knife through Glass’s hand. Glass slams the hatchet into Fitzgerald’s midriff and pulls the knife out of his hand. Glass crawls after Fitzgerald across the blood-soaked snow. Fitzgerald tries to kick him away but Glass hauls himself on the other’s boot and plunges the knife in behind the knee. Fitzgerald rolls on his back. Glass crawls up and straddles him, both covered in blood. 02:21:31 Glass’s murderous snarl softens as he stares at Fitzgerald. He blinks and slows his breathing, then looks up. The group of native warriors approaches close by on the other side of the narrow river. Glass stares. “Revenge is in God’s hands.” He looks down at Fitzgerald. “Not mine.” Glass grabs at Fitzgerald’s bloody mouth. Glass drags Fitzgerald into the river and the current carries him down to the native warriors. Knife drawn, Elk Dog drags Fitzgerald out of the water. Glass watches warily, out of breath but focused. He sits down. Looking up from Fitzgerald, Elk Dog eyes Glass with a cold, steady gaze. Glass stares back, brown knitted and lips parted. He takes a deep breath. They watch each other from opposite sides of the narrow river. The warriors abandon Fitzgerald and move forward the small river towards Glass. Under the water, blood streams from Fitzgerald’s freshly scalped head. Glass’ head trembles as the warriors approach. The group comes close on their horses, holding their weapons. Glass’s wide eyes bulge from behind strands of matted hair and blood. Glass looks up helplessly as Elk Dog towers over him on his horse. He rides past, and Glass recognizes the next rider: the native woman he saved from Toussaint. They stare at each other as she passes. Glass lowers his eyes and catches his breath. He collapses on the river bank as the warriors ride away, his clothes drenched in blood. The 96
warriors disappear behind the riverbed. A waterfall is divided by a large rock. In another part of the river, Fitzgerald’s body is carried along by the fast moving current. A wide trail of blood remains in the snow by the river where Fitzgerald and Glass fought. Snow begins to fall. Snow covered peaks loom over a barren area of the woods. Glass struggles up a hill. He falls to his knees in the thick snow. Shivering, he tries to rise on his wounded leg and falls again, his face contorted in pain, Glass looks up. Further up the hill, he sees Hawk’s mother watching him. His tortured face softens and he smiles. She smiles back gently. She turns and walks away through the tall barren trees, mist and falling snow. Glass stares after her, then his eyes go glassy and out of focus. He shivers, his skin white, his beard covered in frost. He turns and fixes his pale eyes right on us in a penetrating gaze. Fade to black.
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8.3 Questionnaire Birdman – control group
(NOTE: The control group consists of two females from the UK who are between 20 and 30 years old. Neither of them have ever seen Birdman (2014) before. The respondents belonging to this control group are named “respondent 3” and “respondent 4”.)
Introduction
My name is Margo and I am an Interpreting (English/German/Dutch) student at the University of Ghent. This survey is part of my master thesis, in which I examine how the movie Birdman is being rendered in audio description. Birdman is about an actor who used to be famous in the past and who now tries to regain that fame by directing his own play. Audio description is a narration track which is added to movies and which is primarily intended for blind and visually impaired consumers of visual media. It consists of a narrator talking through the movie, describing what is happening on the screen during the natural pauses in the audio, and sometimes during dialogues if deemed necessary. The narrator describes facial expressions, objects, surroundings, and other visual information that is necessary to understand a movie.
However, it is incredibly difficult to describe certain characteristics of certain movie genres (e.g. science-fiction, fantasy) in audio description, as certain characteristics are simply hard to explain to blind or visually impaired people. The goal of my thesis is to find out whether the audio description of the movie I chose (Birdman) succeeds in successfully describing what is happening in the movie so that no information (or as little as possible) goes lost. In order to determine this, I focus on three aspects of the film, namely mental suffering, surroundings and an open end. After you have watched the movie, I will ask you 10 open questions (which you can fill in anonymously) related to these aspects. Please do not look at the questions before watching the movie, answer the questions as thoroughly as possible, and bear in mind that there are no right or wrong answers.
Afterwards, I will compare your answers to the answers of people who watched the movie blind (so with audio description) in order to find out if both groups of people (who watched Birdman with/without audio description) were able to understand the movie to the same extent.
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Questions related to the film
1) What do you think the movie Birdman is about? 2) Who is Riggan Thomson? 3) How would you describe Riggan’s mental health? a. If you think he is mentally ill, why do you think that? b. What made you draw that conclusion? c. Can you give certain examples? 4) How would you describe Riggan’s relationship with his ex-wife, girlfriend and daughter? 5) Who or what do you think Birdman is? 6) What does Birdman look like according to you? 7) Where is the movie being displayed? (country, city, surroundings,…) 8) Why does Riggan end up in hospital at the end of the movie? 9) How do you think the movie ends? 10) What do you think Riggan’s daughter Sam sees when she gazes through the window at the end of the movie?
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8.4 Questionnaire Birdman – research group
(NOTE: The research group consists of two females from the UK who are between 20 and 30 years old. Neither of them have ever seen Birdman (2014) before. The respondents belonging to this research group are named “respondent 1” and “respondent 2”.) Introduction
My name is Margo and I am an Interpreting (English/German/Dutch) student at the University of Ghent. This survey is part of my master thesis, in which I examine how the movie Birdman is being rendered in audio description. Birdman is about an actor who used to be famous in the past and who now tries to regain that fame by directing his own play. Audio description is a narration track which is added to movies and which is primarily intended for blind and visually impaired consumers of visual media. It consists of a narrator talking through the movie, describing what is happening on the screen during the natural pauses in the audio, and sometimes during dialogues if deemed necessary. The narrator describes facial expressions, objects, surroundings, and other visual information that is necessary to understand a movie.
However, it is incredibly difficult to describe certain characteristics of certain movie genres (e.g. science-fiction, fantasy) in audio description, as certain characteristics are simply hard to explain to blind or visually impaired people. The goal of my thesis is to find out whether the audio description of the movie I chose (Birdman) succeeds in successfully describing what is happening in the movie so that no information (or as little as possible) goes lost. In order to determine this, I focus on three aspects of the film, namely mental suffering, surroundings and an open end.
I would like you to “watch” Birdman “blind” and with the help of the audio description. Since the film is quite long and it is hard to stay focused on every detail of it, I would like to ask you to focus especially on the previously mentioned aspects (mental suffering, surroundings (country, city,…) and an open end). If you want to take a break in between, then that’s perfectly fine. After you have watched the movie, you will have to answer 10 open questions (which you can fill in anonymously) related to these aspects in order to determine whether they are described sufficiently in the audio description or not. After that, 4 general questions related to audio description will follow. Please do not look at the questions before watching the movie, answer the questions as thoroughly as possible, and bear in mind that there are no right or wrong answers. 100
Afterwards, I will compare your answers to the answers of people who did not watch the movie “blind” in order to find out if both groups of people (who watched Birdman with/without audio description) were able to understand the movie to the same extent.
Questions related to the film
Please note:
In case you cannot answer a question, please indicate whether this is because you simply do not remember or because something was not made clear in the audio description! Please answer the questions with a minimum of 50 words
1) What do you think the movie Birdman is about? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 2) Who is Riggan Thomson? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 3) How would you describe Riggan’s mental health? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) a. If you think he is mentally ill, why do you think that? b. What made you draw that conclusion? c. Can you give certain examples? 4) How would you describe Riggan’s relationship with his ex-wife, girlfriend and daughter? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 5) Who or what do you think Birdman is? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 6) What does Birdman look like according to you? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 7) Where is the movie being displayed? (country, city, surroundings,…) (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 8) Why does Riggan end up in hospital at the end of the movie? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 9) How do you think the movie ends? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 101
10) What do you think Riggan’s daughter Sam sees when she gazes through the window at the end of the movie? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description)
Questions about the audio description in general
1) Has the audio description enabled you to follow and understand the movie? 2) Do you have the feeling that you missed/did not understand certain parts of the movie because they were not clearly described in the AD? a. If so, which parts were not clear? 3) Are there aspects of which you believe that they could have been explained more thoroughly/in bigger detail? a. If so, which ones? 4) Are there certain things you only came to understand as the movie continued? a. If so, which ones?
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8.5 Questionnaire The Revenant – control group
(NOTE: The control group consists of two females from the UK who are between 20 and 30 years old. Neither of them have ever seen The Revenant (2015) before. The respondents belonging to this control group are named “respondent 3” and “respondent 4”.) Introduction
My name is Margo and I am an Interpreting (English/German/Dutch) student at the University of Ghent. This survey is part of my master thesis, in which I examine how the movie The Revenant is being rendered in audio description. The Revenant is about a trapper who gets attacked by a bear and is left for dead by his fellow trappers afterwards. Audio description is a narration track which is added to movies and which is primarily intended for blind and visually impaired consumers of visual media. It consists of a narrator talking through the movie, describing what is happening on the screen during the natural pauses in the audio, and sometimes during dialogues if deemed necessary. The narrator describes facial expressions, objects, surroundings, and other visual information that is necessary to understand a movie.
However, it is quite difficult to describe certain characteristics of certain movie genres (e.g. science-fiction, fantasy) in audio description, as certain characteristics are simply hard to explain to blind or visually impaired people. The goal of my thesis is to find out whether the audio description of the movie I chose (The Revenant) succeeds in successfully describing what is happening in the movie so that no information (or as little as possible) goes lost. In order to determine this, I focus on three aspects of the film, namely mental and physical suffering, surroundings (nature) and an open end.
I would like you to watch The Revenant without audio description (so just like you would watch any other movie). Since the film is quite long and it is hard to stay focused on every detail of it, I would like to ask you to focus especially on the previously mentioned aspects (mental and physical suffering, surroundings (nature) and an open end). After you have watched the movie, I will ask you 10 open questions (which you can fill in anonymously) related to these aspects. Please do not look at the questions before watching the movie, answer the questions as thoroughly as possible, and bear in mind that there are no right or wrong answers.
Afterwards, I will compare your answers to the answers of people who watched the movie blind (so with audio description) in order to find out if both groups of people (who watched The Revenant with/without audio description) were able to understand the movie to the same extent. 104
Questions related to the film
1) Who is Glass? 2) What has happened to Glass’s wife? a. How do you know that? 3) Glass’s son Hawk has several scars on his face. a. How did he get these? b. How do you know that? 4) Can you give an example of both Glass’s mental and physical suffering? a. Mental suffering: b. Physical suffering: c. In which of these examples do you think Glass’s suffering was the worst? i. Worst mental suffering: ii. Worst physical suffering: 5) What would you say about the chronology of the film? 6) Who is Powaqa and what happened to her? 7) After being attacked by the bear, Glass’s neck is heavily wounded. What does he do in order to try to “heal” his neck wound? 8) Where is the movie being displayed? How would you describe its surroundings? (in terms of landscape (mountains/plains/woods/…), weather, temperatures, vegetation,… 9) Why do you think the native warriors let Glass live at the end of the movie? 10) How do you think the movie ends?
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8.6 Questionnaire The Revenant – research group
(NOTE: The research group consists of two females from the UK who are between 20 and 30 years old. Neither of them have ever seen The Revenant (2015) before. The respondents belonging to this control group are named “respondent 1” and “respondent 2”.) Introduction
My name is Margo and I am an Interpreting (English/German/Dutch) student at the University of Ghent. This survey is part of my master thesis, in which I examine how the movie The Revenant is being rendered in audio description. The Revenant is about a trapper who gets attacked by a bear and is left for dead by his fellow trappers afterwards. Audio description is a narration track which is added to movies and which is primarily intended for blind and visually impaired consumers of visual media. It consists of a narrator talking through the movie, describing what is happening on the screen during the natural pauses in the audio, and sometimes during dialogues if deemed necessary. The narrator describes facial expressions, objects, surroundings, and other visual information that is necessary to understand a movie.
However, it is quite difficult to describe certain characteristics of certain movie genres (e.g. science-fiction, fantasy) in audio description, as certain characteristics are simply hard to explain to blind or visually impaired people. The goal of my thesis is to find out whether the audio description of the movie I chose (The Revenant) succeeds in successfully describing what is happening in the movie so that no information (or as little as possible) goes lost. In order to determine this, I focus on three aspects of the film, namely mental and physical suffering, surroundings (nature) and an open end.
I would like you to “watch” The Revenant “blind” and with the help of the audio description. Since the film is quite long and it is hard to stay focused on every detail of it, I would like to ask you to focus especially on the previously mentioned aspects (mental and physical suffering, surroundings (nature) and an open end). If you want to take a break in between, then that’s perfectly fine. After you have watched the movie, you will have to answer 10 open questions (which you can fill in anonymously) related to these aspects in order to determine whether they are described sufficiently in the audio description or not. After that, 6 general questions related to audio description will follow. Please do not look at the questions before watching the movie, answer the questions as thoroughly as possible, and bear in mind that there are no right or wrong answers. 106
Afterwards, I will compare your answers to the answers of people who did not watch the movie “blind” in order to find out if both groups of people (who watched The Revenant with/without audio description) were able to understand the movie to the same extent.
Questions related to the film
Please note:
In case you cannot answer a question, please indicate whether this is because you simply do not remember or because something was not made clear in the audio description! Please answer the questions with a minimum of 50 words
1) Who is Glass? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 2) What has happened to Glass’s wife? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) a. How do you know that? 3) Glass’s son Hawk has several scars on his face. (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) a. How did he get these? b. How do you know that? 4) Can you give a number of examples of both Glass’s mental and physical suffering? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) a. Mental suffering: b. Physical suffering: c. In which of these examples do you think Glass’s suffering was the worst? i. Worst mental suffering: ii. Worst physical suffering: 5) What would you say about the chronology of the film? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 6) Who is Powaqa and what happened to her? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 7) After being attacked by the bear, Glass’s neck is heavily wounded. What does he do in order to try to “heal” his neck wound? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 107
8) Where is the movie being displayed? How would you describe its surroundings? (in terms of landscape (mountains/plains/woods/…), weather, temperatures, vegetation,… (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description)
9) Why do you think the native warriors let Glass live at the end of the movie? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description) 10) How do you think the movie ends? (I cannot remember / this was not made clear in the audio description)
Questions about the audio description in general
1) Has the audio description enabled you to follow and understand the movie? 2) Do you have the feeling that you missed/did not understand certain aspects of the movie because they were not clearly described in the AD? (e.g. landscape, injuries, clothes, animals, weather,…) a. If so, which aspects were not clear? 3) Are there parts of which you believe that they could have been explained more thoroughly/in bigger detail? a. If so, which ones? 4) Are there certain things you only came to understand as the movie continued? a. If so, which ones? 5) Is it manageable to listen to a movie with audio description for such a long amount of time or do you think the audio description was “too heavy/too much” for you? 6) The Revenant is very famous for its nature scenes. Do you have the feeling that you missed out on part of the cinematic experience because you weren’t able to see these nature scenes?