How Heckler Sound’s Motion Picture Without Pictures ‘TOUCH’ Redefines the Cinema Experience
Every year, over 500 million people visit the movies. Yet, for those who are blind or have low vision, the experience is an afterthought – relying instead on screen readers, audio descriptions, or explanations from sighted friends.
To launch Mastercard’s Touch Card in Australia, a payment card created for the blind and low vision community, Heckler Sound and Howatson+Company flipped the script, creating an inclusive cinema experience that anyone can enjoy, regardless of their vision.
The team began by engaging director Tony Krawitz, and Bus Stop Films, a non-for-profit social enterprise that uses inclusive filmmaking to raise the profile of people living with disabilities and foster career pathways for disabled people within the screen industry. Bus Stop Films became the inclusion partner for this project and throughout the production, they placed 34 members of the blind and low vision community in roles across every department – giving some their first break in the industry, and helping the team at large consider their perspective at every stage.
With their help, the team wrote an audio-first screenplay; the original story of a neuroscientist trapped inside his father’s brain after an experiment gone wrong, alongside his ex girlfriend and an unsuspecting delivery driver. To escape, they must journey through forgotten worlds and crumbling memories.
To ensure that audio was driving the story, every key sound was written into the script, which was refined by three separate blind and low vision focus groups. Afterwards, every scene was mapped through storyboards to give audio engineers a sense of sonic location and space.
Heckler Sound’s head of sound, Dave Robertson says, “Normally, audio comes last, and pictures comes first. We had to create an entirely new process that questioned how someone is actually led through a movie by sound.”
When it came to crafting the scenes, bringing together blind, low vision and sighted sound engineers, and foley artists, helped Heckler Sound innovate new ways of using sound in cinema.
Dave Robertson says, “Our goal was to create soundscapes so immersive, they didn’t need audio descriptions or narration. This led us to develop sonic versions of visual techniques, like crash zooms, to give the edit energy. Characters’ footsteps had clear ‘weight’ to provide a sense of size. Their voices had different subharmonics to provide a sense of distance. We even walked through mincemeat to create just the right foley.”
The result is an immersive cinema experience unlike any radio play or audio project before, with over 900 audio tracks. One that uses Dolby Atmos to make use of every speaker in the theatre – including surround sound, upper rear and ceiling.
The movie also featured an original score of 17 tracks, written and performed by some of the best blind and low-vision composers and session musicians from around the world – leading to recording sessions in Berlin, Sydney and Mongolia.
Dave says, “This incredible score features everything from old western theme songs to jukebox ballads to overtures that seamlessly integrate Mastercard’s brand sonic. The instrumentals from the eight-piece blind Mongolian band, Tsatsal Hamtlag, are a particular highlight for me.”
Bringing on board Big Bang Sound Design, Heckler Sound teamed up with Wayne Pashley, an Oscar-nominated supervising sound editor. Reflecting on the experience, Dave says,“Wayne brought years of film experience to the project, from movies like Elvis, The Lego Movie and Happy Feet. He jumped at the opportunity to approach movies in a new way that highlighted his craft and was incredibly collaborative with the blind and low vision consultants and sound engineers.”
As the process went on, many of Bus Stop Films’ blind and low vision attachments became full time crew, shaping the project in fundamental ways.
Heckler Sound executive producer Bonnie Law says, “Having post-production crew from the blind and low vision community working alongside us afforded us incredible insights into the unique way they experience film, but also more generally how to navigate the world purely through auditory cues. It’s no exaggeration to say that it has fundamentally changed the way we approach sound.”
One of the most notable consultants from Bus Stop Films was Benjamin Phillips, a blind filmmaker who worked closely with Wayne Pashley and director Tony Krawitz from beginning to end of the process – and formed a close friendship with both.
Dave says, “Ben is one of the most thoughtful and talented people I’ve ever met. Throughout every step of the project - the table read, dialogue recording, assembling the edit, recording foley, and the final mix stage - his creative insights and real-time feedback were such a precious commodity.”
Commenting on the importance of Bus Stop Films, Benjamin adds, “Bus Stop Films have provided me with the necessary education and training to make films, but more importantly have nurtured the creative talents of myself and others, to realise the potential of fulfilling our wildest dreams.”
TOUCH premiered at iconic theatres across Sydney and Melbourne, where both sighted and non-sighted people were invited to experience the film together. Reactions to the movie from blind and low-vision audience members were both emotional and humbling.
“The world is finally making movies for blind people & it means more to me than you’ll ever know.”
- Ingrid Barnes, refinery29 (blind)
“It just so amazing to feel included and to have something like this that can open up somany doors to the vision impaired community.”
- Audience Member, OpenAir Cinema (low vision)
“Because I rely on audio descriptions…I always wondered why we weren’t making movies just like this one.”
- Audience Member, OpenAir Cinema (blind)
“It’s kind of beautiful, because while I’m watching it, I forget that I’m blind.”
- Benjamin Phillips, Project Consultant (blind)
“It was like I was the same as everybody else.”
- Audience Member, Lido Cinema (blind)
After one premiere, the project garnered AUD $10 million-plus in earned media coverage and reached 74-plus million people. Since its premiere, TOUCH has been taught in film schools, including AFTRS, giving future filmmakers a blueprint on how to make more inclusive productions. Plans are in progress to roll-out TOUCH in cinemas and festivals globally in 2024 and beyond.
