Greta & Starks

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Greta & Starks

Logos of the two apps
Basic data

developer Greta & Starks Apps GmbH , Berlin
Publishing year 2013
Current  version 2018
operating system iOS , Android
category Accessibility (in the cinema ), communication aid
German speaking Yes
www.gretaundstarks.de
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Greta & Starks Apps (Spelling Greta & Starks ) is a social enterprise from Berlin, which developed the free app Greta for Apple iOS and Android and brought it to market. The app enables visually and hearing impaired people a barrier-free cinema experience through audio description or subtitles  - Greta “whispers audio description” and “plays subtitles”. There is also a website with information on usage and available films .

The requirement for use is the Greta app , which can be downloaded free of charge from the App Store for iOS or Google Play . The corresponding audio descriptions or subtitles for numerous current films can then be downloaded free of charge from the app before going to the cinema. In the cinema, they are played synchronously with the film on your own smartphone or tablet computer using the app's automatic film recognition . The concept was invented by the Berlin film producer Seneit Debese and the application has been jointly developed by her startup company Greta & Starks Apps GmbH based in Berlin since 2013 .

history

Emergence

In 2011 the Berlin film producer Seneit Debese came up with the idea for the apps. At the time, she made a report for MDR about Kidisti Weldemichael, a blind young woman who came to Germany as a migrant with her parents and siblings from Eritrea in the mid-2010s . She told her that she often spends her free time with sighted friends. She would also like to go to the cinema, but could not follow the films. Debese then developed the prototype and carried out initial tests. In December 2013, the apps Greta for audio description and Starks for subtitles were released.

Names and slogans

The development team deliberately did not choose any technical names for the two apps, but rather the names used should create an emotional relationship to the cinema and express the “love for film”. For example a film couple , Greta and Starks .

The Greta app appears with the slogan “Greta whispers audio description”, while the Starks app uses the slogan “Starks plays subtitles”. In addition, both apps are presented and advertised under the heading of accessibility and inclusion with the additional slogans “Simply experience cinema” and “Experience barrier-free cinema independently and independently, alone or with friends”.

Development and dissemination

The Greta and Starks apps have been offered for a limited number of films since 2013, and a film database and the expansion to other language versions are being set up. Experts anticipate a rapid increase in the offer in the future, since according to the new guidelines of the German Film Funding Agency (FFA) only those film projects receive funding that include audio description and subtitles with the finished film. In addition, the technical effort required for the Greta and Starks apps is low and is limited to the availability of a smartphone or tablet computer for the visitor, while the cinema industry incurs no costs and the applications do not require an internet connection in the cinema.

The developer, Greta & Starks Apps GmbH , offers with its service that “existing audio descriptions and subtitles are accessible everywhere, across the board in every cinema, open-air cinema , on DVD , video-on-demand (VoD) and on television are". The commissioning producer , distributor or rights holder pays a fee for this. For the users, however, the apps are free of charge, while the rights holder gains a new audience for his films.

In April 2018, the two apps were merged to form the Greta app . This now plays either audio descriptions or subtitles. For the near future, there are plans to expand it to include hearing assistance, sign language , support for multilingual content and the Starks AR headset . At the end of 2018, around 450 films were available on the two apps Greta and Starks . In addition to many sophisticated art house films , films from the mainstream area ( blockbusters ) are now also part of the growing range of films. The apps have also been available in English , French , Korean and Hebrew since 2016 .

Funding and partners

The development of the two accessible apps Greta and Starks was u. a. supported by:

The project partners also include a. various producers, distributors and media companies such as 20th Century Fox , Concorde Filmverleih, Disney , DCM , Edition Salzgeber , Lucasfilm , Marvel Studios , Neue Visionen, Piffl Medien, polyband Medien, Regards Neufs, Universal Studios , Warner Bros. , X-Verleih and Zorro Film ; as well as numerous cinemas.

The Greta & Starks apps

General

First of all, the audio description and the subtitles for the German-language original or dubbed version of the film must be created by the producer, the cinema film distributor or the television company , which is usually done by specialized providers. In the next step, the developer, Greta & Starks Apps GmbH , is commissioned to make the audio description "easily and comprehensively accessible" via the Greta app and the subtitles via the Starks app . The two apps not only work in all cinemas or open-air cinemas as well as for events and premieres , but also at home with DVD, VoD and television.

The user can download the desired Greta or Starks app free of charge from the App Store for iOS or from Google Play . The user can then select the film of their choice from the range of films by Greta & Starks and download the audio description or the subtitles in the app for free before going to the cinema. In the cinema, they are played using automatic film recognition by the respective app and can be listened to or read in sync with the film. The audio description or the subtitles are made accessible to visually or hearing impaired cinema-goers via their own smart device (smartphone, iPod touch or tablet). In the cinema, the respective app automatically recognizes the film and plays the audio description or the subtitles in sync with the film.

Greta (app)

Logo and slogan of the Greta app

The application software Greta ( original spelling Greta ) serves as a mobile "communication aid " for blind , visually impaired , deaf and hearing impaired cinema-goers and makes spoken film descriptions ( audio description ) and subtitles of selected films accessible from their own smartphone or tablet computer.

The production of audio descriptions is an art form of its own, for which there are specialized and particularly experienced providers. The special hearing sensitivity of blind people is important because their auditory perception differs from that of sighted people. Blind people recognize acoustically more than sighted people, because they have a "sharpened sense of hearing". Therefore, in addition to the editor or film descriptor and the speaker, a blind person often works as a consultant and co-editor.

The audio description briefly describes the most important elements of the film plot , gestures , facial expressions and the dramaturgically relevant environment. The film image descriptions are spoken in the pauses in the dialogue . Audio description enables blind cinema-goers to experience a film in this way. The user hears the audio description with one ear using his own headphones ; We recommend using in-ear headphones , which are also usually included with smartphones. With the other ear, the user hears the full cinema sound .

Starks (app)

Logo and slogan of the Starks app

The Starks application ( own spelling Starks ) - new Greta - is aimed at deaf , deaf or severely hearing impaired viewers and plays subtitles of selected films from their own smartphone or tablet. With the subtitling, all dialogues as well as dramaturgically relevant ambient noises in the picture or background, for example with the note “loud bang”, are “translated” into subtitles. In addition, the appearing main characters can be made distinguishable by colored and / or specially formatted subtitles. Subtitles enable deaf or hearing-impaired cinema-goers to experience a film in this way.

The app is designed very dark so that it does not disturb anyone in the cinema. The size of the subtitles can be set manually, and the brightness of the display can be adjusted individually.

A data glasses subtitle is at Greta & Starks apps in development and is currently (2017) in the "final prototype phase." With the so-called Starks AR headset , which uses augmented reality technology , it will in future be possible in combination with the Starks app to read the subtitles directly in the film image.

Awards

  • 2015: 13th German Audio Film Award 2015 , special jury award - for the development of the Greta app , awarded to Greta & Starks Apps
  • 2017: Berlin's Best , Kreativ Kultur Berlin (Berlin advisory center for cultural promotion and creative industries) - the Greta and Starks apps received awards
  • 2017: Kfw Entrepreneurship Awards 2017 , State Winner for Berlin and Audience Winner - each award was given to the business idea of ​​the startup company Greta & Starks Apps
  • 2017: Berlin Deep Tech Award - The Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises praises the project future and the campaign log in. Berlin., The anchor project, together with the SIBB eV, Association of the Information and Communication Industry in Berlin and Brandenburg, the Deep Tech Award.
  • 2019 - Zero Project Award Winner - The Zero Project was launched in 2008 by the Essl Foundation and focuses on the rights of people with disabilities worldwide. The award is given annually to outstanding social companies.

reception

Both applications are rated extremely positively, especially by blind and hearing-impaired cinema-goers as the "main beneficiaries" of the "innovative software development". The Greta & Starks apps are seen as an “important contribution to accessibility in the cinema” both by politics, society and government film subsidies as well as by the film and cinema industry.

Robbie Sandberg from the Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Hamburg praises the app and technology: "Greta is a gain in quality of life, a prime example of how the smartphone can improve life". Bernd Rehling, the founder of the deaf and hard of hearing portal Taubenschlag.de and himself hard of hearing, judges: “Starks works almost perfectly. I only watch films with Starks subtitles. "

Web links

Commons : Greta & Starks  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e MDR : For the love of film. In: mdr.de. November 5, 2016, accessed on May 11, 2019 (interview with Andres Schüpbach from Greta & Starks Apps ).
  2. ↑ a b Katharina Klasen: The cell phone becomes an eye and an ear . In: Saarbrücker Zeitung . May 15, 2014, p. D5 ( digitized on gretaundstarks.de).
  3. ↑ See home page for the separate websites for the two apps: Greta & Starks Apps UG: Greta and Starks  - audio description and subtitles. In: gretaundstarks.de. Retrieved November 12, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b Jan Schapira: Apps: Hard of hearing and without seeing the latest film. In: welt.de . April 16, 2014, accessed November 12, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Michael Pöppl: START-UP of the day: Greta & Starks App. In: tagesspiegel.de . July 18, 2016, accessed November 12, 2017 .
  6. ↑ a b c d e f See: Greta & Starks Apps UG: Greta  - Barrier-free cinema with audio description. In: gretaundstarks.de. Retrieved November 12, 2017 .
  7. ↑ a b c d e f See: Greta & Starks Apps UG: Starks  - Barrier-free cinema with subtitles. In: gretaundstarks.de. Retrieved November 12, 2017 .
  8. ↑ See: Greta & Starks Apps UG: Starks  - Data Glasses. In: gretaundstarks.de. Retrieved November 12, 2017 .
  9. ↑ a b (dpa / tmn): Data glasses show subtitles in the cinema. In: sueddeutsche.de =. March 9, 2015, accessed August 10, 2020 .
  10. ↑ German Blind Union e. V. (DBSV): The German Audio Film Award 2015. In: deutscher-hoerfilmpreis.de. Retrieved November 12, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Creative Europe MEDIA Germany : MEDIA funded apps Greta & Starks awarded. In: creative-europe-desk.de. January 16, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Creative City Berlin : Berlin's Best No. 11. In: creative-city-berlin.de. 2017, accessed November 12, 2017 .
  13. ↑ KfW : KfW Entrepreneurship Award 2017. In: kfw.de. October 12, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Katja: The federal states show the diversity of founders: You should know these 16 start-ups. In: fuer-gruender.de. October 23, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017 .
  15. ↑ (mm): The cinema apps Greta & Starks. Smart way to accessibility . In: Blickpunkt: Film . Issue 13/14, February 1, 2014, p. 30 ( digitized on gretaundstarks.de).
  16. ↑ Micha Bustian: Better cinema with Greta and Starks. Accessibility through apps . In: Syker Kurier . February 18, 2015, p. 3 ( online at weser-kurier.de).
  17. ↑ a b Felix Frank: When Greta whispers. How free apps enable the visually and hearing impaired to go to the cinema . In: Weser courier . February 4, 2016, p. 22 ( online at weser-kurier.de).
  18. ↑ MDR : New film enjoyment - listen to your mobile phone. Documentary Film Festival tests accessibility. In: mdr.de . November 6, 2016, archived from the original on December 19, 2016 ; accessed on November 12, 2017 .
  19. ↑ Heike S. Heindl: Barrier-free cinema experience for everyone. In: Mittelbayerische.de . May 5, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017 .