One of the most challenging aspects of audiovisual translation (AVT) is to make audiovisual media accessible to the blind and visually impaired. In this undertaking, audio description (AD) plays an essential role, and comprehensive research in this area should be carried out. Currently, much AD research focuses on relevance, that is, what to audio describe seems to be the main issue. However, there are other relevant aspects still to be covered.
This presentation will discuss two different approaches to the audio description of characters. First, it will focus on characters which have been adapted from literary works. It will investigate whether using the original book could contribute to creating a suitable AD. Through numerous examples taken from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Burton, 2005), this analysis aims to test to what extent the information in the book can be considered to be a reliable source for successful AD creation. Finally, a different approach based on a cognitive perspective will be presented. How we understand and remember film characters will be the main issue of discussion.