If a visually inpaired person watches horror movies?

Mr. Sakamoto, and Mr. Miwa, preparing for the audio guide at the movie theater

Hello, this is Uematsu, a management member of Spotlite.
I would like to capture two people watching a movie in the movie theatre by using “HELLO! MOVIE” the audio guide app for movies.
First person to capture it is Fuga Sakamoto, a member of the Research and Development team of Evixar which is the company that made the app “HELLO! MOVIE”. He currently participates in a job to synchronize Audio guides with Movies.
Second person to capture is Ryo Miwa, an operation member of Sptlite and is visually impaired. His vision is very narrow due to affection by Retinitis Pigmentosa, and his left vision is 0, right vision is 0.1. He usually moves his eyes when he watches movies to keep everything in his sight. He had never used an Audio Guide until then, so It was my first experience using an Audio guide to watch a movie.
They met each other for the first time when some of the Evixar members joined the Training for supporting visual-impaired people which is run by Mitsuki Cooperation the company that operates Spotlite.
I hope people who use this guide for the first time, and even people who've already been using the Guide can enjoy this article like going to a movie with them.
Before I get into the main topic, I’m going to introduce “HELLO! MOVIE”.

Section line that looks like a movie film

What is “HELLO! MOVIE”

HELLO! MOVIE app is a free app that provides Audio Guide for movies on smartphones, and Subtitle Guide on smartglass. You can check out movies that are currently screening and compatible with HELLO! MOVIE links below.

Download

HELLO! MOVIE is the app that synchronizes with the sound of movies and Audio Guide starts working, so it’s usable even when the theatre doesn't have Wi-Fi. It’s better to download the audio guide before going to the movie theatre if you already know which movie to watch. It’s better to download the audio guide of a movie if you already know which movie to watch before going to the movie theatre. So that there is no issue with internet connection during the movie.

Preparation and earbuds operation check

You can check the earbuds operation on the app. In case you can’t check the operation, you need to prepare other earbuds by yourself, as well we ask you to not use earbuds that emit strong lights so as not to bother other customers.

Meeting and going watch a movie

Them two at the meeting place

A day begins with looking for what movie to watch.
checking one by one out of many movies that HELLO! MOVIE is compatible with. “What happens if blind person watches a horror movie?” “It’ll be interesting to watch movies with less lines by using Audio Guide!” They had lively conversations, and finally decided to watch a movie called CUBE (situation horror, psycho horror)

Them looking for a movie to watch

Buying tickets, going inside movie theatre

Their back going towards ticket machine

They visited Cinemas Kawasaki, directly connected to Kawasaki station. They cooperated with us for this article. Since we got there over an hour earlier than screening, we could smoothly buy tickets without getting in line.

Process of Buying ticket

Mr.Sakamoto operating screen of an automatic ticket vending machine

1. Picking screen time and seats by following the guide 2. choosing the type of tickets, for people buying tickets with discounts by showing disability record book, (caregiver can get discounts too) 3. choosing payment style, and receiving tickets and receipt 4. waiting until entry announcement (approximately 10 to 15 minutes before screening)
For those who are not used to going to movie theaters, it may be safer to arrive early as the theater will be crowded before the screening. Many theaters also let you buy tickets in advance online.

Entering to the theatre

Heard an announcement that it was 15 minutes before screening Proposing tickets and the disability record book at reception.

Mr.Miwa showing his disability record book

Getting seated and ready for HELLO! MOVIE

1. Connecting smartphone with earbuds 2. Opening HELLO! MOVIE app on smartphone 3. Choosing movie to watch from movies lists 4. Downloading the audio data (case of that haven’t downloaded the audio guide) *theatre may have really weak internet connection, it’s encouraged to download the data at place with great internet connection 5. When “waiting” displays on screen, just wait until movie starts 6. Starting to watch a movie! *In case of Mr. Miwa, he finished whole preparation in a minute

Mr.Miwa started the process of connecting his smartphones with earbuds.

Mr.Miwa opening the HELLO! MOVIE and downloading audio data of a movie

When the "Waiting for Voice Guidance" screen appears, stay on the screen until the movie to start

We’ve been introducing the whole process of using HELLO! MOVIE at the movie theatre so far. From now on, I’ll report their day in my perspective.

Closely following them for a day

Having chat before watching movie

Throughout the day, they had a bunch of chats about movies and their usual way to watch movies. Mr.Sakamoto especially had a lot to talk about movies because he’s always involved in a job about movies. After entering the movie theatre, Mr.Sakamoto introduced the background of the movie which Mr.Miwa was interested in after hearing the announcement of it.
After purchasing the tickets, Mr. Sakamoto had pre knowledge about the movie they the movie they were going to watch, and he had a suggestion for Mr.Miwa. “The movie we are going to watch is about getting put in a survival situation. by imagining that, that will be terrible we don’t eat anything before watching lol”
Fun fact, they actually spent time with hunger before watching the movie. I feel like having lively conversations about something other than the movie during that time led them to have deep further interaction. While looking for a place to eat lunch, they figured out that they both like ramen, and when they walked past the amusement arcade, they had lively conversations about video games.
Since Mr. Sakamoto is good at playing music games and Mr. Miwa also enjoys playing the guitar, it seemed that the sound was also a common topic in their conversations.

Deepening movie experience by sharing thoughts

They immediately started sharing thoughts with each other right after movie

Right after the movie, Mr.Miwa said “I might not be able to understand the story without audio guide due to the nature of horror movie (because scene changes without sound and has way less lines than others)”
“It was really helpful for understanding to tell me the background of the movie before watching it”
and he asked Mr.Sakamoto about scenes which he didn’t get during the movie, and he looked glad that he figured them out
They headed to the cafe to continue sharing thoughts

At cafe, reviewing the audio guide

Them looking at the menu

It was so much fun because I could enjoy it with the sound of the movie,the audio guide, and my vision.

I also watched it by using the audio guide, I was glad that change in colour was conveyed that I could imagine

Exactly, even if I closed my eyes, I could imagine what’s going on. For example when something fell off, the audio guide told me what fell of

I actually figured it out with the audio guide I couldn’t see because it was dark. There are many things to notice with the audio guide.

that’s awesome, it conveys the scenes that even for those who can see don’t notice

that’s right, it’s really spectacular that we can get way deeper things than we see. I felt it was director’s intention to convey through the audio guide about character's casual motions

everything can be important information, I also figured out that advance hints were in the audio guide. Wow, It’s so easy to talk about my thoughts because of the audio guide. If I could understand CUBE through the audio guide, I think I can imagine other movies like this.

Wasn’t it hard to identify 5 different actors' voices?

if I didn’t have the audio guide, I probably couldn’t tell which one was which. There was a moment I didn’t get who was doing what, but I got who was doing what very specifically because of the audio guide

Was that so? I didn’t know about that. Speaking of which, since I work for my current job, I just research about movies a lot before watching. There were many differences between the Japanese version and the original Canadian version. I felt difference of camera work and colour expression in japanese version

oh really? Wow, It's so interesting to hear your extra knowledge like this. Other than the audio guide, I think It'll be interesting to have the director and actors’ backstory audio commentary as second voice. I want to watch a movie with Sakamoto audio commentary next time lol.

It will be bad because I will give it a really bad evaluation lol. This is off topic, at the theatre, other people get in my sight, and I saw a woman hold her ears when she is scared. It was so funny to see people’s different reactions.

(Mr.Miwa concentrated in conversations too much and about eat paper on top of the cake)

Mr. Miwa, you’re about to eat paper !! lol

(noticed the paper , get rid of it to eat)

wow, that is the outstanding reaction ability that you trained in sound game

Hahaha

before this, I used to ask my friends to explain what was going on as a secondary voice, it looked like they were really struggling. And I think I couldn't understand the movie If I watched it all alone today. I’m glad that we deepen our understanding by enjoying the whole story of the movie and crossing our two perspectives.

Them looking kind of sad at farewell

These are reports from today until here. Later, I asked Mr. Miwa again about his first experience with the audio guide.

Asking Mr.Miwa about his first experience of the audio guide

I had so many experiences that I didn’t understand what my friends were saying about the movie even if I watched it with them before. Even in this movie which I watched with Sakamoto, I might have not reached the conversation of checking answers of the movie without audio guide.
I felt that the audio guide bridged the information gap through this experience. Even If there was something I didn't understand with the audio guide, I could deepen the understanding of the movie by hearing extra information and combining the different perspectives with because of Mr.Sakamoto. Because of the audio guide I was able to enjoy a shared experience of crossing the thoughts with each other after watching a movie.
There were few opportunities to go to a movie before this, but I feel like going to watch a movie once a month from now on.

Editor’s note

I thought of two future possibilities after hearing impressions from Mr.miwa.
Firstly, the audio guide will become an essential aspect of spreading out choice of watching movies and places to go. I frequently hear stories around me about visually impaired people who want to go out but have hurdles to be accepted. For instance, there is a case that they get rejected when they try to go to the gym on a regular basis because there isn’t enough stuff out there. However when it comes to watching movies, I heard from one of my friends who is visually impaired that he goes to the cinema by himself by utilizing the audio guide. I also hear a voice like “I could go and watch a movie on the day it came out due to the audio guide, I can enjoy it when it’s newsworthy so that I don’t have to wait until it comes out on the internet or TV. Moreover, Mr.Sakamoto enjoyed watching movies with the audio guide too. Nowadays, audio guides are widely developed not only for the visually impaired, but also for core movie fans, such as audio commentary guides and multilingual guides for foreign visitors to Japan. I feel that new technologies have the potential to become various bridges between people, and I look forward to the future.
Secondly, there will be possibilities that new connections can be created by sharing experiences with someone. Mr.Miwa, who used to be unsure about others’ thoughts about movies, spent over an hour in a cafe discussing the movie he watched. This time, by utilizing the audio guide, they discussed a movie and seemed they understood about each other as well. Actually, I watched the movie as well. Afterwards, I had the best opportunity at the workplace to explain a thing to Mr.Miwa by comparing it to a scene from the movie.
I can’t write details here because it’s an important part of the movie, but I was glad that I could tell him well. Throughout that, I thought common experience can connect relationships in daily life. I’m thinking of interviewing everyone in Cooperation Evixar who gave us this opportunity once again. We mainly focused on introducing the audio guide this time, but Evixar is challenging many things with sound technology.