Back in 2022 we welcomed Dr Monika Zabrocka to the University of York on a 2-year fellowship. As part of that fellowship, Monika and Mariana collaborated on a project that resulted in the creation, in 2024, of an EAD track for an episode of GS Animation's Mami Fatale. This was the first time we worked on a children's animation.
Our EAD work always includes 3 main elements: (1) additional sound effects; (2) audio spatialisation; and (3) first person narration/description. However, the balance of those elements changes depending on the production.
In the case of this episode and because of the fact that it is an animation, there wasn’t much need for that many more sound effects, that is, the original sound design was very rich in this regard, and only a few sound effects here and there were added - such as the sound of the cheese grater and Mami’s impatient foot as she discovers Professor Meatball’s secret! In terms of audio spatialisation, we had limited access to individual voice and sound effects strands but we were still able to apply panning to both types of audio and, as a result, create a clear distinction in the positions of characters and objects on screen.
The application of ‘first person’ was different to other projects we have worked on. The episode’s narrative is driven by a voice over (which we re-recorded in English as the original was in Polish - thanks to the wonderful voice actor Sam Hughes), so we worked on adding some lines that clarified the visual layer of the production and had key information that hadn’t been addressed by either sound effects or spatialisation. The aim and the result: a seamless narrator’s track that contributes to the accessibility of the episode but is fully embedded in the soundtrack. You might ask yourself: where does the ‘original’ end and the ‘accessible’ version begin? We ask ourselves, does it matter? The aim for us is to create an accessible experience that is whole in itself and can be enjoyed as such.
Our thanks to GS Animation for giving us permission to share our EAD work on their episode online and reach wider audiences.