The audio description script through the lens of multimodality. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the meaning codes in Elite
Alejandro Romero-Muñoz
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Title
The audio description script through the lens of multimodality. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the meaning codes in Elite
Abstract
Multimodality has been a crucial concept in audiovisual translation (AVT) research that has allowed scholars to explore the audiovisual text. In this vein, researchers should move beyond the idea of AD being a homogenous notion to incorporate a multimodal view where the AD script is the result of different sign systems whose interaction conveys complex meanings. In this study, we first examine how the contents of AD scripts can be described using Chaume’s (2004) proposal of the multimodal meaning codes. Secondly, we explore if this multimodal analysis can account for any difference between the English and Spanish versions. The interaction of multimodal information in an AD script fragment from the Netflix series Elite in both languages was addressed by resorting to a qualitative and quantitative analysis. Our results show that multimodality can describe the sign systems that comprise AD scripts. Moreover, the core of AD scripts in both languages consists of mainly visual information: movement, iconography, textual elements, and spatio-temporal changes. Therefore, we can state that Elite’s AD script in English and Spanish is constituted by four sources of visual information, which can help future researchers to study AD in a more precise way from different perspectives and methodologies.
Keywords
Audio description, multimodality, meaning codes, qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis