Digital

Mobile technology: tablets and smart phones. We hear so much about this decidedly virtual future; passing fads, or real promises?

Regarding classic linguistic accessibility (Subs, voice over, etc.) or visual and hearing aids (audio description -AD- and close-captioning -CC-), new formats require new production approaches.

Whether they work in programming, content or multimedia, audio video professionals are constantly innovating and adapting to the market’s needs and new, ever-expanding price conditions.

Ever since 2005, the law requires close-captioning for all high-audience television channels and a significant portion of the less popular channels. In addition, the law requires AD quotas for different broadcasts. This doesn’t fail to evoke the institutions and associations efforts to promote accessibility for all; since the decree of April 29, 2015, the RGAA V.3.0 (French government General Accessibility Reference for Administrations, similar to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) are required for public administration establishments, social security organisations, local community bodies, etc.

From a technical creation viewpoint, what appeared initially (metadata linked to a main program) has become an integral part of the program. This change is heralded by the increasingly frequent use of the term “content” versus “program.” There are no longer any secondary features for any kind of content format; all features are part and parcel of the content, including any methods of exchange and interactivity.
All these changes lead to audience fragmentation and internationalisation, resulting in rising unit production costs plus ever-increasing content volume.

This paradigm is also a challenge: how can we maintain quality levels and standards under these new market conditions?