We’re celebrating 10 years of Audio Description in Aotearoa, and taking you behind-the-screens to meet our incredible team of Audio Describers. Introducing Rebekah Dack!
First job? Washing dishes in my mum’s café when I was 11. She gave me $20 at the end of an 8hr shift. I was stoked.
Songs that make you dance? Any pop songs from the 80s. I will also never say no to ABBA or a good R&B slow jam.
Tell us about your work as an audio describer.
When I first saw the role being advertised, I looked at it and thought, yes I could do that! I’m an actor by trade, so writing and voicing for audio description isn’t too far from what I trained to do. I absolutely love my job as an audio describer. When I explain to people what I do, they think it’s awesome and so do I. Providing this service gives me such joy because I love film and television, and it should 100% be accessible to everyone. Sometimes, I also get so excited by my word choice that I get a little excited and dance in my chair. Particularly if I get to use a beautiful, rich word like ‘luxurious’ or ‘elixir’.
Most memorable audio describing challenge/dilemma/moment?
Definitely audio describing World’s Most Scenic Balloon Journey – Minute by Minute. It was an hour and a half documentary that was literally a minute by minute journey in a hot air balloon. The gentlemen piloting the balloon rarely spoke, so it was basically just me describing English country side for 90 minutes. It took me about two weeks to script (with breaks working on other shows) and about 3.5hrs to voice.
I also really enjoyed working on Vegas – it was great to work on a New Zealand made drama with lots of room for audio description, allowing me to describe all the amazing visual storytelling.
Greatest creative achievement?
Starting my theatre company, Embers Collective, with my friend from drama school. We make theatre that speaks to important topics, such as period poverty, and queer-phobic violence. The theatre company also devised a show called Read My Lips, which used NZSL and English so that the Deaf community could have access to a theatre show.
