National Association of the Deaf

Submitted by NAD Conference on Thu, 07/05/2012 - 14:13 Blog:

• NAD Conference

Ever notice how we are able to express an concept in a much easier and more detailed manner through ASL than a simple cinematic film? In this Blockbuster: Cinematic ASL workshop, Windell "Wink" Smith, displayed a great sense of humor and had a very interactive approach, along with a genial personality. He started out with covering the basics of American Sign Language and led his presentation into how a conversation or story expressed in sign language is a lot like a film. Like movies, stories in sign language often have shots, scenes, and close ups. Deaf persons can paint a scene by describing its surroundings in a much detailed format than a movie- and we are able to pick up the tangents of our stories in a much more streamlined manner. We are also able to describe emphasis in color- such as the intensity of its hue or brightness. Smith also pointed out that a person's eye is the camera itself, and that is even more true for deaf folks. Drawing parallels between deaf culture, ASL and film, this workshop combines the three in a beautiful trifecta.