Reid My Mind Radio: A Note on Notes on Blindness
In this episode of RMM Radio, I take a look at Notes on Blindness, a new film released in the US and premiering in NYC. It’s the story of John Hull who recorded his thoughts, observations and more on audio cassette. This Gatewave story includes a conversation with Co-Director Peter Middleton.
It’s pretty hard to watch a movie about someone going blind without thinking of my experience. Checkout some of my own personal recordings included in this episode.
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Transcript
TReid:
Today I am sharing a recent piece for Gatewave Radio. A first of sorts for me.
A story about a new film being released in the United States on the topic of blindness.
This was a challenge for me, I’ll tell you why after you take a listen.
Let’s Go!
[Sample from Kurtis Blow’s AJ… “1, 2, 3, 4 hit it!]
Music … Reid My Mind Radio Theme
[Notes on Blindness Audio:
John Hull:
This is cassette 1 , track one, um… fades out]
TReid:
This audio is from the movie titled Notes on Blindness, just released in New York City and playing at the Film Forum.
Theologian, John Hull using a cassette recorder, documented his experience and thoughts as his vision faded beginning in 1983.
The film was produced using both actual tape of John Hull and his family as well as interviews he and his wife Marilyn had with co-directors Peter Middleton and James Spinney.
Actors portray John and his family, but they are lip syncing to the recorded dialog.
I spoke with co-director peter Middleton (PM) via Skype.
PM:
Using film to try and convey the sightless experience is quite an exciting creative challenge for us. So undoubtedly there was that sense of artistic project which first attracted James and myself to John’s story.
TReid in conversation with PM:
Water seems to play a big role; the idea of the rain, the tsunami…
PM:
We can’t take much credit for that. It’s all in John’s account. After losing sight he had these incredible powerful operatic dreams that were, often water was this kind of analogous feature of them…
He would have dreams of water sort of rushing down and sweeping his children away and dragging him to the depths of the ocean. And all this kind of very powerful imagery that was just absolutely kind of laced throughout his account. And of course the connotation of water as the bringer of life.
TReid:
Remember, The original audio used throughout the film was recorded via cassette in the 1980’s. Audio restoration, editing and sound design are other artistic elements of the film.
It was the inclusion of audio description that gave me access to some of the visual techniques used to tell the story.
Like Shadows, blurred or out of focus fades and sun spots.
Darkness acting like periods, concluding a statement, some times
an exclamation mark or bold emphasis highlighting a turning point in his life.
Peter says audio description served more than giving people with vision loss access.
PM:
Since we’ve been releasing as well we’ve been trying to open this conversation around accessibility and different ways people could approach the film so it has taken on that kind of social angle as well which we’re very much relishing and very much hoping to push further.
TReid:
In addition to the audio description, a Virtual Reality experience and enhanced audio version were created.
PM:
Which rather than having an external audio narration as you would do in audio description, actually built in more narration from John and Marilyn, the key subjects of the film, along with sort of sound design and music. We’ve been releasing these audio tracks with a smart phone app that allows audiences to sync that up in cinemas or on TV o\r on DVD or home or what have you.
TReid:
Director Peter Middleton said John Hull was very specific about assuring that Peter and his Co-director James Spinney understood this was just one experience.
PM:
He was always careful to point out that he didn’t intend to speak for or on behalf of anybody. So we were aware that our kind of knowledge and our experience of blindness is very much refracted through his subjective story and subjective account.
TReid:
Yet a close examination can provide some insight into the shared vision loss experience. Like the strong need to continue.
For some that means continuing an education or a hobby.
In Hull’s case it meant his career.
[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull recalling a conversation :
No, look, how do blind people read big books?
They said, they don’t!]
TReid:
Finding new ways for accomplishing a task, well that’s a big part of a person’s adjustment to blindness.
[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
The first thing I did was build a team of people to record books for me
With ingenuity and a little bit of help there were problems that could be solved.]
TReid:
Resolving some of these basic difficulties offers hope!
Until… the next even more difficult problem arises.
[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
It wasn’t until The final tiny bit of light sensation slowly disappeared that my mood changed.]
TReid:
Another obstacle in the process of adjusting to blindness, , maintaining or establishing relationships.
Hearing his daughter scream as she plays in the garden,
John tries to quickly get to her aid.
[Notes on Blindness Audio plays in the background.]
When he arrives , Marilyn is comforting her and already has the problem under control.
[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
That was a frightening moment.]
He struggles with feelings of inadequacy as a father.
[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
The discovery that you are useless is not a nice discovery for any father to make.]
Relationships with his wife, parents and even with God are all parts of his own journey.
Notes on Blindness, while a personal portrait of one man’s experience losing vision, is a poetic but practical look at the journey through loss.
Take for example, the role and importance of adaptations.
[notes on Blindness Audio playing in the background.
John his son Thomas saying bye to one another. ]
After Walking his son Thomas to school in the morning,
we watch as the father and son practice their special way of saying goodbye.
It’s the equivalent of both child and parent watching one another move further apart while assuring both the other is just still close
enough if needed.
[Notes on Blindness Audio: Their exchange of goodbyes growing further apart and his son Thomas’ voice fades with each goodbye.
John Hull describing the practice:
Echoing in chorus!]
We witness not only the bonding between father and son, but Hull’s appreciation for these small yet meaningful adaptations in his life.
[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull:
“I Love this!”]
Treid:
It’s not a movie for just the audience.
TReid in original conversation with PM:
What have you personally learned about blindness after all of this work?
PM:
Spending so much time with John and being able to listen to his account and researching has lead us to further research on different kind of people’s experiences. It’s been an incredibly fascinating process for us.
TReid:
Vision, often considered as the most feared sense to lose, yet the dialog offered by Hull and the sound design and music have a very calming effect. As if saying, it will all be alright. Or maybe that’s just my final note on blindness.
The film has been nominated for 6 British Independent Film Awards including:
Best British Independent Film
Best Debut Director
Outstanding Achievement in Craft
You can catch Notes on Blindness beginning November 16 in New York City
at the Film Forum. Other cities are soon to follow. As well as on demand distribution in the future.
Visit BlindnessMovie.com for more on dates and information.
you can find them on Twitter @OnBlindness
I’m Thomas Reid;
[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull and son Thomas exchange goodbyes…
John Hull:
Until his voice becomes faint.]
TReid:
For Gatewave Radio
[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull and son Thomas exchange goodbyes…]
TReid:
audio for independent living.
[Notes on Blindness Audio
John Hull: “I love this!”]
T.Reid:
When I received an email asking if I were interested in doing a story on a new movie called Notes on Blindness, my first thought was …
“I don’t think you’re going to want me to do that!”
I like to profile people who are doing things that ultimately dispel the misperceptions about blindness.
I’m cynical when it comes to movies about blindness and disability.
My experience says they are probably going to be the sappy oh look at this poor guy or wow, isn’t this person so amazing!
This, was not that!
Naturally I thought of my own experience while watching.
I guess you could say it was a comparison of notes!
The scene when he rushed to his daughter after hearing her scream;
I had my own similar experience and questioned my usefulness in emergencies.
Fortunately, I realized there’s no way I’m useless… as Hull felt at that time.
Again, the experience of blindness is specific to the individual.
One scene, John talks about how he can no longer
conjure up an image of his oldest daughter or his wife…
I never experienced that…
In fact I vividly remember both and
way more.
I don’t think it’s a spoiler so I’ll share that Hull comes to see blindness as a gift.
He’s clear to say it’s not a gift he would want for his children, but he recognizes there’s something there.
I don’t think I ever referred to it as a gift, but I know it’s not a curse.
I found myself very much curious about how John’s vision loss impacted his children. Specifically, his oldest daughter Imogen who was around the same age as my oldest when I went blind.
She reflects on her relationship with her father both as a child an as an adult in a short film titled Radio H.
[Audio from Radio H]
Notes on Blindness was focused on Hull’s experience with blindness and
not much time interacting with his kids.
At least not much that showed a playful side.
Like the tapes he made of his children performing and
him telling adventure and spooky stories.
It reminds me of some of the early recordings I did with my kids…
[Audio of Thomas and his children when they were younger.]
I’m a sucker for Daddy Daughter stories!
For more on Notes on Blindness or Radio H;
see the links in the resource section included with the notes for this episode on Reid My Mind.com.
While you’re there, hit that subscribe button or subscribe to Reid My Mind Radio via iTunes.
Peace!