Open access

The fine art of subtitling has become even more useful in the age of streaming and is too important to be left to machines, Dan Buckingham tells SHARON STEPHENSON.

- SIMON YOUNG

Should Dan Buckingham ever need a specialist Mastermind subject, he could always pick Emerson Romero.

Specifically, how Romero, a deaf actor and film director, pioneered captioning for film and television.

Romero made silent movies in the 1920s. But in 1929, after Hollywood introduced “talkies”, the Cuban-American found himself out of a job – and unable to enjoy films, since they were no longer accessible to deaf people.

“So, the enterprising Romero created subtitled film versions, experimenting with splicing text between scenes,” says Buckingham.

Though Romero’s early efforts weren’t a hit, years later his work inspired the now widely used captioning for TV and film that can include both dialogue and sound effects.

If it wasn’t for Romero, Buckingham might not be in the job he took up last May as chief executive of Able, New Zealand’s only media accessibility company. The not-for-profit organisation provides captioning, subtitling and audio description services for programmes and some commercials in television (TVNZ, Discovery and Prime) and film, as well as for film festivals, government organisations and live events such as the Commonwealth Games.

The 42-year-old is particularly suited to the job: not only did he come from a broadcasting background, he’s also active in the disability sector, having been a tetraplegic since a rugby accident in 1999.

“I’m strongly committed to making New Zealand a more accessible place for everyone, especially the disabled,” he says on the phone from his home in Auckland’s Mt Eden. “What we do in this space can help change perceptions of the way people with disabilities live their lives.”