Color Adaptive film to allow those that are color deficient to better see color. (PRNewsFoto/Koenig Films, Inc.)
Sight: The Story of Vision, a documentary on the science, medicine and technology of human vision, narrated by Sir Elton John, is the first film to be broadcast with a color correction that is adapted for the vision of people with color blindness. Like Closed Captioning (CC) for the hearing impaired, and Video Description (VD) for low vision and the blind, the color blind accessible correction (CA) helps those with limited red-green color sensitivity better see differences between colors they normally struggle to distinguish.
“A few weeks ago, I tried a pair of EnChroma glasses designed to help with color blindness,” said Kris Koenig, the film’s writer and director. “When I looked through the glasses, greens and reds became more vibrant without degrading the rest of the visible spectrum. It got me thinking about applying color correction for the color blind to the film, like EnChroma does with its glasses.”
Koenig worked with EnChroma President and CEO, Andrew Schmeder, to develop a color calibration method to approximate the effect of EnChroma glasses. Steve Challot, the film’s editor, used the calibration data to implement the correction, which isolates and enhances color along the red-green axis of color space. The result improves the viewing experience for up to 80% of people with red-green color blindness, depending on type and severity. An estimated 300 million people worldwide have some form of color vision deficiency.
“The treated video is quite nice,” said Scott Ecklein, a color blind member of the screening team. “The colors pop more, especially the reds, pinks, oranges, and greens.”
“Color blindness is often considered a mild disability, but can actually have a far reaching impact on a person’s daily life,” said Andrew Schmeder. “The mission of EnChroma is to use our understanding of modern color vision science to expand visual experiences for everyone.”
“Public television is known for presenting inclusive content to millions of viewers every night,” said Mark Stanislawski, president of Southern Oregon Public Television, the film’s public television presenting station. “Color blindness is the last accessibility hurdle for broadcast content. It’s fitting that a documentary on human vision tackles the problem for color blind viewers.”
Sight: The Story of Vision is a one-hour documentary that presents efforts to improve and restore human vision; and the individuals who battle against the darkness of blindness. Every individual will experience an issue with his or her sight in their lifetime, so this film is for everyone. The film shows that people don’t have to suffer with poor or reduced vision. Filmed around the world in brilliant 4K, the documentary visits Australia, Vietnam, China,Honduras, South Africa, India, Peru, Dominican Republic, Brazil, North America, and Europe.
Additional online content will be presented through an Android and iOS Second Screen app, a downloadable eBook, and a companion website www.storyofsight.com.
Sight: The Story of Vision is scheduled to premiere on Public Television on October 13th, World Sight Day. Check local TV listings.
Funding for SIGHT was provided in part by the following: Adlens, Alcon, Brien Holden Vision Institute Foundation, Carl Zeiss Vision International, CooperVision, Costa Dante Alighieri Society of Massachusetts, Essilor, Reade Fahs, Dr. David and Jacqueline Fleishman, Eric Fleishman, Dr. Robert and Marcia Fleishman, Dr.George and Rita Foster, Wayne Godlin, Luxottica, NA, The Ohio State University, OneSight Foundation, Opticians Association of America, Opticians Association of Massachusetts, Dave Sattler, The Vision Council and Vision Service Providers (VSP) and VOSH International.
