Universal Signs > About the Film

Despite being an inappropriate and offensive term, traditionally, in the subtitling section of DVDs, captions are listed for the “hearing impaired.” (Some more modern films do appropriately list their captions “Subtitled for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.”) The term “captioned for the hearing” refers to the fact that Universal Signs is told through the beauty of ASL. This reversal allows the Deaf and Hard of Hearing audience to watch the film in their native language while the non-signing audience members find themselves in need of captions.

In the creation of the film, the filmmakers paid special attention to the sign language, making sure that the signing was visible in every frame. Robert DeMayo, ASL consultant, was on set every day at the monitor with Ann Calamia, the director. He made sure that the actors’ signs were not only accurate but also always visible on screen.

Many feature films are shot with an aspect ratio of 16x9 (1.77). However, Universal Signs has an aspect ratio of 2.25. By removing approximately 21% additional height from the image, the filmmakers allowed for a permanent on screen “black area." This area was set aside solely for captioning, making Universal Signs a permanently open-captioned film. The film was captioned following the guidelines of The Caption Media Program provided by the US Department of Education (www.captionedmedia.org). The filmmakers also conducted extensive research regarding common complaints of Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and hearing individuals in regards to captioning and subtitling and took those needs into consideration when captioning the film. Robert DeMayo, the film's ASL consultant, was also brought in to assist with the film’s captioning.

Below is a clip from the film showing the captions.

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