EXPERT SUBTITLER IS KEEPING THINGS REEL
SEAN AND MEGAN HAVE A MISSION TO MAKE FILMS EQUALLY ACCESSIBLE TO DEAF PEOPLE AND OTHERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
PROFESSIONAL subtitler Sean Welsh knows the power of a Hollywood happy ending after spending a decade making films accessible for deaf audiences.
Now he and film festival programmer Megan Mitchell are celebrating one of their own: winning a National Lottery Award for captioning 275 movies during the pandemic for audiences with certain needs – including deaf people.
The pair worked round the clock to help everyone be able to enjoy entertainment while Covid-19 restrictions kept Britain at home, providing subtitles for independent film festivals and cinemas that moved online.
When lockdown hit and their work running cult movie screenings stopped, the duo joined forces with Film
Hub Scotland – funded by The National Lottery – to offer their expertise to others. They also gave online training so organisations could learn to create subtitles to benefit deaf and hard of hearing audiences, people with English as a second language, and
those who find it difficult processing audio information or have autism.
Sean, 38, says: “Having something to watch has been vital in the pandemic – to fill time, to provide an escape and to stop loneliness. Cinema can be a release. It’s vital for mental health.” Almost 5,000 incredible individuals were nominated for 2020 National Lottery Award – the annual search for the UK’s favourite National Lotteryfunded people and projects. The awards celebrate inspirational people who do extraordinary things with the help of National Lottery funding. Sean’s passion for inclusive cinema has been partly inspired by his brother Stuart, who has cerebral palsy and mild developmental impairment.
“It’s made me more sensitive to the importance of universal access,” he says. “Providing subtitles and screen captions should be mandatory.”
Megan’s commitment to growing audience access stems from how cinema has changed her own life. “I was lucky to get on to a young programmers’ scheme at an independent cinema,” she says. “I got to see art house and foreign language films that I wouldn’t have otherwise. It opened doors for me as a young working-class woman.”
Sean and Megan, who recently moved from Glasgow to Bristol, believe the work they’ve carried out in the pandemic has helped them further the cause of accessible cinema.
“There has always been a will to do this, but there were lots of perceived obstacles like cost and time or how the subtitles look on screen,” explains Megan, 27. “We showed that you can do this relatively cheaply and with excellent quality. The National Lottery funding has also allowed us to deliver some creative events and projects we couldn’t otherwise have done.”
The £3,000 prize to further fund their work that accompanies the National Lottery Award means their “story” will now have a much-anticipated sequel.
By playing The National Lottery you raise £30million* every week for good causes like Sean and Megan’s. Megan adds: “I’d like to thank National Lottery players for helping to support projects like ours. It has expanded our horizons and those of our audiences too.”