2016 Rio Paralympics on Channel 4 Fully Accessible Live Games

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

2016 Rio Paralympics

Tom Wootton – Red Bee, Access Services, Product Manager
You asked me, you know, what it’s like, what it feels like when you’re faced with that sort of challenge, and it’s exciting.

It’s kind of why you get up in the morning for the job.

Graham Wilkinson – Channel 4, Presentation and Content Manager
Paralympics 2016, Rio.

Red Bee Media: Access Services getting ready for Rio

Tom Wootton:
Channel 4 came to us with a particular challenge, which was to make the Paralympics the first totally accessible Paralympics that they’d ever done.

Graham Wilkinson:
We wanted to do live signing, we wanted to do live audio description and live subtitles. We wanted to go in areas other broadcasters can’t go, and they said yes.

Interviewer:
– Is that a big deal?

Graham Wilkinson:
It’s a huge deal. We hadn’t done that before.

Tom Wootton:
It meant getting in new technology. In this case, we were putting in some new technology from the States, and it also meant people learning new skills.

Lee Worth – Subtitling Team Leader
As all the Paralympic athletes were finalizing their training and striving for glory, we were training, but in a very different way.

Lesley McGilp – Signing General Manager
Because it was the Year of the Disabled, Channel 4 said, “Actually, we want a deaf translator, we don’t want to have
a hearing interpreter.” The number one thing in my mind was preparation.

Mary Sweeney – Audio Describer
We had done a lot of research and prep over the summer.
We’d done rehearsals.

Tom Wootton:
What it means when you’re doing it live, of course, is that there’s no going back. There’s no re-recording it. You have to get everything right first time.

Lydia Docker- In-Vision Signer

Graham Wilkinson:
I was in a Channel 4 building…
..crossing my fingers.

Lee Worth
And when it came to the hour, as all the athletes are limbering up, waiting for that starting gun over 5,000 miles away…

Mary Sweeney
The stadium’s absolutely packed!

Lee Worth
..ready to press the on-air button and go live.
And when I say live, I mean live!

Mary Sweeney:
A wheelchair stuntman launches himself down the ramp, spectators continue to stand, cheering and waving across the Maracana.

Tom Wootton:
We did it, I think we did it really well.

Lesley McGilp:
We were the first in the world, It’s never happened before.

Graham Wilkinson:
Really proud of the fact that Channel 4 did it first.
Job well done.

Interviewer:
– And would you do it again?

Tom Wootton:
– Of course we’d do it again, yeah.

933 hours 35 Mins of live captioning across Channel 4, More4 and 10 online streams.

20 hours of Audio description on 4seven.

20 hours of British Sign Language on 4seven.

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During the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Red Bee Media provided live captioning, live sign language translation, and audio description, making Channel 4 the first ever in the world to deliver a completely accessible Paralympic Games. Red Bee Media was the exclusive provider of access services for Channel 4 Paralympics.

For Red Bee this meant to invest in new technology and training people to acquire new skills, with no room for error on a live event, Red Bee Media assembled a team that was up to the challenge and delivered an extraordinary groundbreaking performance.

THE CHALLENGE

Completely accessible live Paralympic games

Make the Paralympic Games completely accessible.
Include live captioning, live signing and live audio description.
Use deaf translators for the job instead of hearing interpreters.
Because it was live, it was imperative that we were accurate the first time.

THE SOLUTION

New technology training & preparation

Pulling in new technology and talent from across the globe.
Training, preparation, research and rehearsals pre-games to ensure the best possible outcome.
Dedicated staff of expert signers, audio describers and deaf translators.

THE RESULT

The first even totally accessible Paralympics

C4 was the first in the world to deliver a totally accessible Paralympic Games.
933 hours 35 minutes live captioning across Channel 4, More4 and 10 online streams.
20 hours Audio Description and 20 hours British Sign Language on 4seven.

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2016 Rio Paralympics on Channel 4 Fully Accessible Live Games

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