a corpus-based approach to the language of audio description

support of the Bavarian Union of the Blind, the group could start working on
TV and DVD broadcasting. The film “Eine ungeheilige Liebe” was the first
German audio described film included in a Film festival and in TV broadcast
programming. In October 1993, the film “Tootsie” was the first audio
described video to be presented to the wide public by ZDF (which
unfortunately audio described only one or two films in the following years).
The 1990‟s were characterized by a huge increase of initiatives aiming at
enhancing AD performances, among which the Munchner Filmfest in 1993
and the Kinotournee with Pro7 in 1995. Both experiences presented to the
wide public, although not on television, a film concerning a blind witness of
a murder. In 1997, the broadcaster ARTE also started to provide audio
description. In 1997 Bernd Benecke was appointed Horfilm-Redakteur at
Bayerischer Rundfunk, where he still holds the position of Head of the Audio
Description Department, which currently audio describes about 12-14 films
per year, that is one audio described film every one or two weeks
(considering repeats and audio described versions borrowed from other
broadcasters).
Portugal started audiodescribing in 2003, thanks to the initiative of
Radio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). The film “Menina da Ràdio” could be
followed by the blind and the visually impaired by means of a special device
connected to the television set box. In the same year, RTP provided audio
description to two more films and the fiction series A Ferreirinha. In 2004,
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