“Tale as Old as Time”: Animation as a Medium in Teaching Audiovisual Language and Audio Description

Abstract

This article presents a didactic sequence for learning the fundamentals of filmic audio description (AD) using audiovisual materials that employ animation techniques. The study also aims to raise students’ awareness of animation as a technique rather than as a children’s film genre. To achieve this, we review the principles of didactics in this translation modality and the principles of animation, we design sessions focused on teaching film language and AD quality standards, and we classify and analyse the most common errors made by students when creating audio description scripts (ADS). The study concludes that errors related to objectivity and the interpretation of film language are the most frequent, and that the sequence encourages students to be more interested in this technique and to recognize its importance in the history of cinema.