I Sense there is more than just hearing.

    

Although this is painfully obvious, deaf people cannot hear. Yes, we all knew that, but I just wanted to state that to bring up something that may have been overlooked: all of the other senses. People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing rely a lot on sight and feeling and I just wanted to have a quick post on why this is important and how I will show this in my opening. 

Well first let's talk about sight. 

This is one of the main tools that Deaf people use in order to do almost everything that everyone else does. Sign Language is a very visual language, and just being attentive to surroundings, the eyes are extremely important. I must take into account some of my lighting choices within my film and what may be the easiest to use when accommodating Deaf individuals. 

First off, many deaf people have light switches that flicker throughout the house to notify them when someone is ringing the doorbell. The flickering of lights is also a way to grab someone’s attention, since they wouldn’t be able to hear you. This may also be used in fire alarms at school or even a wake-up alarm that flashes. Second, I will utilize as much natural daylight as possible if my characters need to be signing to allow for proper visual of them communicating. Other than that, I may use bright flashlights or a light kit, if needed to have different colors or add a different effect if I need to film anything in a dark area.

Another important accommodation that I will include in my editing process is closed captions. While subtitles may give a translation or text-to-speech version of what is being said, captions include other sounds such as a radio going off, clicking of a pen, opening of a door, etc. Just the many things that deaf people who may be viewing the film, would like to see to understand what may be happening.

Another important sense is feeling.

    Although not spoken about a lot, Deaf people will still rely on vibrations. Despite not being able to actually listen to music, Deaf individuals can still enjoy it just by feeling it. Many of them will blast their music and speakers just to be able to feel the vibrations and beat of the music. Just like in The Sound Of Metal, people may place their hands on an instrument and feel the clicking of piano keys or the beat of the drum. Additionally, feeling vibrations is also used within speech or oral training for deaf children; they would feel the vocal cords of the person speaking and try to match the vibrations of their own. I plan on having my main character act just as every other deaf person and allow her to feel the beat of her favorite music just to get her day going.