Austin Deaf Film In Production
September 19, 2007
KXAN.com & TheCWAustin.com
There’s a new movie being shot in town, but this is not your typical movie set or production. The set of the movie, called “The Deaf Family,” is at the Texas School for the Deaf.
With the plethora of outlets for new movies, deaf films are becoming popular.
Even if you can hear, understanding these films is not difficult.
The air conditioner may be the only sound you can hear on this movie set, but the actors are yelling at each other with their hands.
“It’s a film about a deaf family. Similar deaf families in America experience the same things, what their culture is, with their trends, their tendencies, so we’ve tried to get it all together in kind of a comedy approach,” signed director Chad Taylor.
The approach to making this film involves an entire cast and crew that are deaf.
Even the people who designed and built the set inside Clinger Gym on the Texas School for the Deaf campus are hard of hearing.
“So you see how the floor plan is open throughout the kitchen into the living room, so they can have open communication,” signed Taylor.
For the actors, who come from California and New York, performing in a deaf movie is a lot different.
“Facial expressions are not natural in a hearing film,” signed Megg Rose, who plays “Janet” in the film. “You know, they’re thinking, ‘Why you have that many facial expressions?’ So, I have to kind of minimize that. While, with a deaf film, I can sign and have my facial expressions just normal, so it would be good for hearing people to see that that’s part of their culture.”
Students are also helping. They’re making the behind-the-scenes part for the DVD. It turns out deaf programming is becoming a popular niche in the market.
“For deaf TV, deaf film, theatre, everything is starting to take off and expand and become more popular now,” signed Toj Mora, a senior at Texas School for the Deaf.
“With our coming here, we’re able to contribute to the media program for the future youth who want to make films, so you know, we want to see more deaf filmmakers growing all around,” signed Taylor.
Once this movie is complete, it will be featured on the Hands On Video Relay Services and then will go to DVD.
Link: http://www.kxan.com/global/story.asp?s=7098510