In a project commissioned by New York’s Lincoln Center, SADC produced an audio-described version of the digital comic, “Buffalo Sonnet.”
This artistic meditation on the Black experience tells the story of the historic San Juan Hill neighborhood in Manhattan, a vibrant cultural hub in the early 20th century that was eventually demolished to make way for Lincoln Center.
In close consultation with the comic’s creator, writer and illustrator Kamau Ware and Lincoln Center staff, SADC developed an innovative approach to making the work accessible for blind and low-vision audiences. We wrote detailed descriptions for the art and used a combination of sound design and voice acting to clearly distinguish the AD from the comic’s own narration, character dialogue, and thoughts. Our narrators, including native New Yorkers, were able to draw on authentic voices and personalities, bringing a unique flair to the script.
The described video adaptation of the “Buffalo Sonnet” comic is featured on the Lincoln Center’s Legacies of San Juan Hill page and you can watch the described version of Buffalo Sonnet on YouTube.
Credits
Audio Description Script writer and Scrolling Video Production: Kensuke Nakamura
Blind quality control: Robert Kingett
Audio Description Narration by [Project Lead Nefertiti Matos Olivares
Voice Actors: Barbara Faison and Thomas Reid
Audio Editing and Sound Design: Thomas Reid.
Social Audio Description Collective 