Over thirty years ago, WGBH, Boston's public broadcasting station, revolutionized television and video for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing by providing program dialogue as text or "captions" on the lower third of the television screen.

WGBH then worked to develop a technological tool to enable people who are blind or visually impaired access to visual images. The result was the introduction of Descriptive Video Service® or DVS® in 1990. DVS provides narrated descriptions of key visual elements during pauses in the soundtrack of a program. Together these two technologies enable thirty-six million people to fully enjoy television programming independently.

Building on its past success in pioneering access solutions, in 1992 WGBH began researching captioning and description in movie theaters to enable independent access to films. WGBH successfully developed two innovative technologies that make it possible to provide closed captions and descriptive narration for deaf and blind patrons, without the need for special prints or screenings or altering the experience for the general audience. Collectively these systems are known as Motion Picture Access or MoPix.

The patented Rear Window® Captioning System displays reversed captions on a light-emitting diode (LED) text display which is mounted in the rear of a theater. Deaf and hard-of-hearing patrons use transparent acrylic panels attached to their seats to reflect the captions so that they appear superimposed on the movie screen. The reflective panels are portable and adjustable, enabling the caption user to sit anywhere in the theater. The Rear Window System was co-developed by WGBH and Rufus Butler Seder of Boston, Mass.

DVS Theatrical® delivers descriptive narration via infrared or FM listening systems, enabling blind and visually impaired moviegoers to hear the descriptive narration on headsets without disturbing other audience members. The descriptions provide narrated information about key visual elements such as actions, settings, and scene changes, making movies more meaningful to people with vision loss. These technologies have been available in specialty theaters--such as large format movie theaters and theme parks--for several years.


The following theatres offer the MoPix Caption Service:

Squire

Mamma Mia
Friday, July 25 - Sunday, July 27 - 12:00PM, 2:30PM, 5:00PM, 7:30PM, 10:10PM
Monday, July 28 - Thursday, July 31 - 2:30PM, 5:00PM, 7:30PM, 10:10PM


Chelsea 9

The Dark Knight
Friday, July 25 - Saturday, July 26 - 10:00AM, 1:15PM, 4:45PM, 8:15PM, 12:00PM
Sunday, July 27 - 10:00AM, 1:15PM, 4:45PM, 8:15PM
Monday, July 28 - Thursday, July 31 - 1:15PM, 4:45PM, 8:15PM


New City

Space Chips
Friday, July 25 - Thursday, July 31 - 12:20PM, 2:20PM, 4:20PM, 7:20PM, 9:20PM


Kinnelon

The Dark Knight
Friday, July 25 - Thursday, July 31 - 11:00AM, 2:30PM, 6:00PM, 9:20PM

Middlebrook

The Dark Night
Friday, July 18 - Thursday, July 24 - 12:00PM, 3:30PM, 7:00PM, 10:30PM

Succasunna

Mamma Mia
Friday, July 25 - Thursday, July 31 - 11:30AM, 2:00PM, 5:00PM, 7:30PM, 9:50PM

Mansfield

The Dark Night
Friday, July 25 - Thursday, July 31 - 11:30AM, 3:30PM, 6:30PM, 10:00PM

Headquarters 10

Stepbrothers
Friday, July 25 - Thursday, July 31 - 12:20PM, 2:50PM, 5:30PM, 8:00PM, 10:20PM

Parsippany

Hell Boy II
Friday, July 25 - Thursday, July 31 - 2:00PM, 4:30PM, 7:00PM, 9:50PM

South Orange 5

Space Chimps
Friday, July 25 - Thursday, July 31 - 12:15PM, 2:30PM, 4:30PM, 7:00PM

Wanted
Friday, July 25 - Thursday, July 31 - 9:30PM