Congratulations Dino Dan!

Last week the Daily Show‘s Samantha Bee handed out the 2012 Kidscreen Awards at the New York Hilton and among the worthy recipients was Dino Dan which won the award for Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie in the Pre-school category.

Descriptive Video Works has described 26+ episodes of Dino Dan since it began airing, significant not just because we love the show but because Dino Dan has been sold in more than 100 countries, was the number one episode download for Amazon.com for kids/family programming and has more than 3 million Youtube viewers. The show is exactly the kind of show that should be made accessible to children who suffer from vision impairment.

Here’s a sample of our work on the show:

Dino Dan follows the adventures of young paleontologist-in-training Dan Henderson (played by Jason Spevack) and his friends as they uncover clues about the the past and awesome dinosaur secrets. Combining live action with CGI dinosaurs, the show is produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment in Toronto, Canada.

Previously the show was nominated for a 2010 Gemini Award for Best Pre-School-to-4th Grade Program, won the Shaw Rocket Prize for Best Independently Produced Canadian Children’s, Youth or Family Program and the show’s cast won the 2011 Young Artist Award for Most Outstanding Young Ensemble in a TV Series.

On the heels of their Kidscreen Award, Sinking Ship Entertainment also recently scored a digital partnership deal with Ruckus Media which has been granted the rights to develop interactive eBooks and storybooks, enhanced eBooks and story-based Apps based on the series. So expect lots more Dan, dinosaurs, science and adventure from Dino Dan in the future!

Dino Dan can currently be seen on TVO Kids, Nick Jnr. and CTV.

Descriptive Video Works Honored by Ernst & Young

Left to right: Lui Petrollini of Ernst & Young; Brent Craven DVW Technical Operations Director; Diane Johnson, DVW President & CEO; Kent Stephany, DVW Technician and Arran Henn, DVW Voice Talent

Diane Johnson, CEO of Descriptive Video Works appeared on the front page of the 2nd section in the National Post Newspaper on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 “Canadian Quality, Business Leaders  from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador honoured for their entrepreneurial talents.” Lui Petrollini from Ernst and Young visited the Vancouver Descriptive Video Works studio and presented a beautiful granite plaque to some of the staff to commemorate Johnson’s win.

Johnson is very proud of the high quality standards all her team commit to for each and every show.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much“, a famous quote from Helen Keller, holds very true for the group at Descriptive Video Works. Each and every piece of the work that goes into making their programs accessible to those that are blind is important, the writing, the narration and the technical are important elements to a successful program that is audio described.

Colleen McMorrow, Canadian Leader, Entrepreneurial Services at Ernst & Young say that by necessity Canadian business leaders need to think big – “They need to think about growth beyond our own borders and particularly in emerging markets, you have to go where the growth is“. Descriptive Video Works opened their office in Los Angeles in March and the countdown is on. U.S. broadcasters now have only 5 months to provide audio description on their programs. Descriptive Video Works looks forward to working in the U.S. while still growing with the market in Canada.

Congratulations to all the Ernst & Young Entrepreneurs of the Year, an outstanding group of world class leaders. Dani Reiss of Canada Goose was named the 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year and he will be attending the Entrepreneur of the World event representing Canada in Monto Carlo in June of 2012. From one successful Canadian company to another, we wish him well.

Check out all the outstanding winners from the Pacific region in the online edition of The National Post  here.

Take A Ride In The “Cash Cab”!

We’re extremely familiar with the bright, multi-colored flashing ceiling lights of the infamous Cash Cab since Descriptive Video Works has provided audio description for many, many episodes of the hit Discovery Channel Canada TV series.

The show is based on a format devised by Adam Wood in the U.K. and has since been franchised all over the world with versions of the show being produced in 31 different countries. The Canadian version, however, is the first one to be shot in High Definition. The show uses 8 different cameras placed in and around the Toyota Sienna cab used for the series.

Hosted by comedian Adam Growe, Cash Cab is a unique mobile game show where contestants think they are climbing into an ordinary cab only to be greeted by multi-colored lights and blasting sound effects. Adam then challenges them to play the game and win cash by answering numerous trivia questions on the way to their destination. Contestants are given three “lives” and if they get three questions wrong, the cab pulls over and their journey is over… Regardless of how far away they are from their destination!

Along the way there are “Red Light Challenges” worth extra cash and contestants can use a “Mobile Shout-Out” to call a friend or a “Street Shout-Out” where Adam pulls over the cab and contestants can ask passersby for help on their question. If the contestants make it to their destination with lives to spare, Adam offers them a double or nothing chance to answer a “Video Bonus” question.

The Canadian iteration of Cash Cab is produced by Castlewood Productions and first aired way back in September of 2008. Host, Adam Growe, spent the first four seasons of the show driving the busy downtown streets of Toronto looking for contestants but for the  fifth season, he is in Vancouver, B.C. Given the number of bridges that connect the downtown core to the surrounding city, the show has added a new twist – the “Bridge Bonus” but you’ll have to watch the show or track down the Cash Cab in person to find out what that entails!

So far none of us at Descriptive Video Works have had the luck in tracking down the Cash Cab in our home city so we’ll just have to be content describing the show and making it accessible to our vision impaired audience.

The brand new season of Cash Cab just began airing on Discovery Channel Canada on Saturdays at 7pm ET/4pm PT.

You can join the Cash Cab on Facebook here and catch up on all the Discovery Channel Canada goings-on by following them on Twitter

January is Glaucoma Awareness Month

The American Optometric Association reports that Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the U.S. and this month is Glaucoma Awareness Month. It is estimated that 2.2 million Americans have Glaucoma but only half of these are aware they are suffering from it.

The Sneak Thief of sight

Half of all patients suffering from Glaucoma are unaware the disease is even present due to central vision being unaffected until the latter stages of the disease. Glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the optic nerve is permanently damaged and is often associated with increased pressure of the aqueous humor (the fluid in the eye). The disease can be divided into two main categories, “open angle” and “closed angle”. Open angle tends to progress at a much slower rate making timely diagnosis and treatment much harder. Closed Angle on the other hand, can appear suddenly and painfully with vision loss progressing rapidly. However, the sudden presenting of discomfort often means patients quickly seek medical attention before the disease has progressed significantly.

There are many causes of Glaucoma (some of which are still under debate) but these include Diet, Ethnicity, Genetics and other factors such as prolonged use of steroids and conditions that severely restrict blood flow to the eye such as diabetic retinopathy.

There is currently no cure for Glaucoma but early diagnosis, medications and in some cases, surgery, can aid in slowing the progression of the disease. In an ideal world, described video services for the vision impaired such as those we provide at Descriptive Video Works would be not be needed. Sadly this is not the case and it underlines the importance of education and regular eye exams especially for those over the age of 45.

For more information on Glaucoma, its causes, its symptoms, diagnosis and treatment visit this in-depth page.

Welcome to 2012!

The year that was 2011 was a major year for Descriptive Video Works.

It was a year of expansion and growth, of celebration and transformation. We added new members to our talented team and opened up offices in the United States. Our President and CEO, Diane Johnson, had to make some extra room on her mantel for several awards and we took our first steps into the fast-moving and ever changing landscape of social media with a brand new website and the establishing of a presence on Facebook, Twitter and here on WordPress.

As with all first steps into new and exciting territory, there are always a few stumbles along the way but with those stumbles come valuable lessons learned and opportunities to grow. This is exactly why Descriptive Video Works continues to be at the forefront of accessible media and descriptive video services because “good enough” is simply never good enough.

We are very proud of the work we do but won’t be resting on our laurels in 2012! With the new FCC regulations and the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act coming into effect in July, millions of vision impaired viewers will be treated to many more hours of described content. We see it as our responsibility to continue to push for the highest standards of description possible so that despite the increase in content it is still a case of quality rather than quantity. Afterall, as Diane so eloquently said in her Ernst And Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award acceptance speech, “It’s more important to make a difference than to make a profit“.

We hope you’ll continue to visit us here and follow our exploits on Twitter and Facebook etc. We have no doubt that 2012 is going to be a fantastic year! Please let us take this opportunity to thank you for your support and to wish you and your loved ones a very happy and healthy new year.

Does Eating Carrots Improve Vision?

When you were a child, did your parents ever tell you to eat your carrots? Perhaps the answer you received when you asked “Why?” was “Well, have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?“

Carrots contain beta carotene which the liver turns into Vitamin A which in turn is absorbed by retinal cells (amongst others). However, intake of Vitamin A only improves the vision if there is a deficiency to begin with. No amount of carrots eaten by someone who already has a healthy diet will make any difference to their vision.

The myth comes from the difference between the words “improve” and “maintain”.

Click here for a list of the Top 10 Foods Containing beta carotene.

Vitamin A also plays an important role in bone growth, reproduction, cell division and cell differentiation. It should be noted that too much Vitamin A can pose serious health issues including such symptoms as blurred vision. It’s all about balance folks!

One only needs to type the letters “do carr” into Google and the thousands of search results that immediately appear tell us that it is a myth that is not going away anytime soon.

Now go eat your carrots!

November is Diabetes Awareness Month

At Descriptive Video Works we take pride in not just making television and movies accessible to those suffering from vision impairment, but also in educating those with healthy vision as to how they can better protect themselves.

Diabetes is the leading cause of vision loss in North American adults aged 24-70 and this month is Diabetes Awareness Month.

There are two predominant forms of diabetes. Type 1 Diabetes results from the body’s failure to produce insulin and requires the person to inject insulin regularly. Type 2 Diabetes results from a resistance to insulin whereby cells in the body fail to use insulin correctly.

Diabetes can affect vision in a variety of ways but the two most common problems are Diabetic Retinopathy and Macular Edema. Diabetic Retinopathy is a disease which affects up to 80% of all patients who have suffered from Diabetes from more than 10yrs. Small blood vessels in the eyes are particularly vulnerable to poor blood sugar control and an over accumulation of glucose and/or fructose can damage the tiny blood vessels inside the retina.

Macula Edema occurs when fluid and protein deposits collect on or under the macula of the eye causing it to thicken and swell. It is this swelling that can cause a person’s vision to blur and distort.

Here some more numbers for you to digest:

14% of people with diabetes have diabetic macula edema. Prevalence increases to 29% for people with diabetes who use insulin for more than 20yrs.

25% of people with diabetic macular edema will develop moderate vision loss within 3yrs if left untreated.

40-65% is the annual rate for eye exams but this number varies wildly depending on the country. In North America we are lagging seriously so it doesn’t take much to imagine how serious this problem is for Third World nations.

Incredibly, research shows that up to 90% of vision loss cases resulting from diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macula edema could be reduced if there was significantly improved regular monitoring and treatment of the eyes. Even more startling are the prevalence figures of diagnosed and undiagnosed for ethnic minorities who are often in lower income groups and who lack access to medical services.

Be sure to do your part for Diabetes Awareness Month.

If you know anyone suffering from diabetes, please do encourage them to go for regular eye exams. Below are a few helpful links:

American Diabetes Association

American Foundation for the Blind – Diabetes & Vision Loss

Lighthouse International – Preventing Diabetes & Vision Loss

Also, check out this story from CTV about a new drug that could reverse diabetes-related vision loss.

Descriptive Video Service & The Future

Recently Descriptive Video Works was delighted to attended the Merging Media conference in Vancouver, B.C. The 2 day conference was a convergence of content makers, developers and distributors spanning the worlds of Film, Television, Gaming and Digital New media.

Spanning the 2 days were many fascinating and inspiring talks that served to highlight how technology is radically changing how we all view and interact with content. Just as there are many, many different channels catering to every niche interest imaginable there are just as many ways to view programming. In the next few years just as many people will be viewing movies, television shows and web series on mobile devices such as the iPhone and Android and tablets such as the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.0 as there are people watching content on their computers and on television.

Technology is also creating a radical shift in how content is produced. Anyone can now get their hands on a cheap camera that shoots in full HD. There are a multitude of Apps and tools for editing, adding effects, creating music, mixing audio, etc. many of which are free. Its being touted as the “democratization” of media. Where previously one needed large sums of money and resources available, now anyone can be a content producer.

With the shift in viewing habits, financing models are also changing. Advertisers are finally realizing that there are just as many (if not more) eyeballs watching sites like Youtube than traditional network television. Advertising spends on Youtube tripled in just the last 12 months. In terms of how many viewers are watching TV vs online channels, the numbers are staggering…

In 2010 the highest rated Network show was American Idol averaging around 20-25 million viewers. By comparison, the top five most-watched Youtube channels all have well north of 100 million views! (Check out the Youtube most subscribed channels list here). However, not a single web series in Youtubes top 100 list offers descriptive video services…

At the Merging Media conference we were surprised at how many content creators had little to no knowledge of descriptive video or audio description services like those we provide. All the content creators we spoke with were also shocked at how large an audience they are ignoring by not making their content accessible. In North America alone there are more than 20 million people who suffer from a serious form of vision impairment and as the population ages this number will only increase.

The takeaway for us from the conference is the importance of education and the need for increased advocacy. The new FCC rules that will be coming into effect in July 2012 regarding mandatory weekly percentages of accessible programming on network television are a good start but, are only the tip of the iceberg.

Technology is making a difference for the blind and vision impaired with software such as text to speech. Many are excited at the possibilities of the personal voice assistant, Siri, that was recently launched with the new iPhone 4s. Google (which includes Youtube) has guidelines on how to use their accessibility products but these products are limited, many do not know about their existence and the majority of video content creators are not even contemplating accessibility.

Given the radical shift in how and where more and more people are viewing media content, it is vital that we all do our part to ensure that those suffering from vision loss are not excluded.

If you are a content creator, an app developer, a broadcaster or have any questions about making your products more accessible please contact us via our homepage at Descriptive Video Works, we’d love to hear from you!

You can see samples of some of our work here.

Also, look for us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter!

W5: “Confessions Of A Newshound”

Descriptive Video Works has been describing the CTV current affairs show W5 for many years. Given the nature of the stories featured on the show, the turnaround time is extremely tight – we often don’t receive the show until Friday night but have the descriptive script written, the audio description narrated and mixed and the show returned to CTV within hours in time for airing on Saturday evening.

 

This week’s episode of W5, Confessions of a Newshound, really caught our attention since one of the two stories featured focuses on CTV political correspondent Craig Oliver who suffers from the optic nerve disease Glaucoma. His interview subjects are blurry blobs to him and look in his words “like bad Monet paintings” but you would never know it from the degree of insight he brings to the stories he tells. He says he has learned to see the personality behind the words of the many political leaders he reports on.

Craig grew up in Prince Rupert, British Columbia and endured many hardships in his childhood years. A job at the local CBC radio station was all it took to set him on his path. Over the years Craig has witnessed and reported on many a news event and has rubbed shoulders with some of the biggest political names from Tommy Douglas and Pierre Trudeau to Ronald Reagan. Craig has been fighting Glaucoma for many years but he has not let his vision impairment stop him from either doing his job or from getting the most out of life.

Known for his novel insights and crackling sense of humour, Craig is as well known a fixture in Ottawa parliamentary circles as any past Canadian prime minister. Over a career spanning more than 50 years he has collected many a story but to find out about any of his crazy political tales from behind the scenes you’ll have to tune in to W5 or look out for his newly released memoir, Oliver’s Twist: The Life & Times of an Unapologetic Newshound. (available in bookstores or on Amazon here).

Check out W5 airing Saturday November 5, 2011 at 7pm coast to coast on CTV.

The Price of Novelty

We love what we do at Descriptive Video Works but, as crazy as it sounds, we would love it more if services like those we provide weren’t needed and we all lived in a world that was free of vision impairment.

As Halloween approaches many of you are no doubt putting the final touches to your Halloween costumes. Some people spend many months conceptualizing their scary look, scouring novelty and thrift stores for unique accessories and even building their costumes from scratch. In your quest to out-do previous years’ Halloween endeavors, perhaps you’ve even considered novelty contact lenses to fully complete your perfect spine-tingling look…

A quick Google search instantly brings up many, many sites offering mail order contact lenses – some of these sites are dedicated just to novelty lenses while others are more widely known companies that deal more in prescription lenses than party favors.

There are a staggering number of novelty lenses available with names inspired by movies (“Palpatine”, “Hellraiser”, “Avatar” and “Orc”) as well as other trends (“Rave Blue”, “Smiley”, “Spiderweb” and ”Lycan”). With prices ranging from $45 to $100 they make for a relatively cheap addition and they are rapidly becoming the hottest new item on the market.

But before you jam these lenses into your eyeballs, you might want to read this article from EyeSmart. Many of these novelty contact lenses are not FDA approved, are being sold illegally and can cause permanent eye damage. Even more worrying, a growing number of teens, especially teenaged girls, are treating the lenses as though they were year-round fashion accessories.

As much fun as it is changing your look dramatically, even if it is just for a few hours of good old fashioned Trick ‘r Treat craziness, please play safe. Some scares just aren’t worth it.