Eye Society – key messages video
transcript including descriptions
Headings refer to timings in the video where voiceover and
descriptions take place.
0:00 to 0:18
Voiceover: Here at RNIB we’ve created this amazing mechanical
automaton to highlight some of the key challenges in eye care
today.
As a result of new discoveries over the past decade, conditions
that would have led to blindness are now treatable. This is a huge
and welcome step forward.
Description: The video opens on a wide shot of the “Eye Society”
Automaton, a multi level free standing exhibit featuring several
scenes containing detailed mechanical models.
The view starts on a scene at the base of the exhibit featuring a
model town with small vehicles moving round a circular road and
tiny people barely two centimetres tall moving on rotating platforms
into model optician shops.
It then pans upwards past two scenes featuring larger models
roughly six inches high in an eye clinic setting on to an operating
theatre scene populated with slightly larger models of headless
chickens and finally to the top of the exhibit where a large vintage
looking clock displays vanes featuring the universal access symbol
for sight loss.
0:19 to 0:28
Voiceover: Increased access to interventions has also
revolutionised eye care. Cataract surgery now ranks as the 3rd
most common procedure on the NHS.
RNIB – supporting blind and partially sighted people
Registered charity number 226227
Description: A model patient about six inches in height is lying
down on a bed in the operating theatre scene while two metal arms
move in and out from their face flashing blue in a model simulation
of laser eye surgery.
0:29 to 0:39
Voiceover: But people are living longer which means demand for
eye treatment here in Britain is on the rise.
Losing or keeping your sight can also depend on where you live.
Description: First the focus is on older people standing in various
positions in the model town scene at the base of the Automaton
after this we see one of the optician’s shops in the scene with
model patients moving on a motorised turntable into its entrance.
0:40 to 0:44
Voiceover: If you’re lucky enough to live here you would be able to
access treatment quickly.
Description: A leafy, well presented area in the model town scene
appears with a sign that reads, “Welcome to Royal Brilchester”. A
lorry moves around the road in the scene with the message “Wait
folks” written on its side in the brand style of a well-known
supermarket chain. The camera then focuses on the opticians
shop in this area where model patients are quickly moving around
a turntable into the entrance.
0:45 to 0:52
Voiceover: In areas with higher levels of social deprivation,
demand for eye care is high but access to treatment is often much
slower.
rnib.org.uk
Description: A run down area of the model town scene is revealed.
A model of a child can be seen playing around a burnt out car and
discarded fridges next to a “no dumping” sign. At the bottom of the
frame we can see a sign that reads, “Dumpington Tunnel”. The
camera then focuses on “Hoots” the opticians shop in this area the
scene where model patients are moving much more slowly around
a turntable into the entrance.
0:53 to 0:55
Voiceover: In effect it’s a postcode lottery.
Description: A white van speeds round the road in the model town
scene featuring a loose parody of the national lottery logo
accompanied by the words, “postcode lottery”
0:56 to 1:05
Voiceover: Losing your sight all too often means losing your job.
You have to stop driving and are far more likely to rely on carers in
day-to-day life.
Description: First a wide shot moves its focus through the various
buildings in the model town scene. Then a shot of the road
appears with a parody of a road sign overhead that reads, “Ageing
Population – NEXT TURN” and finally the focus moves to a model
of an old person in the town scene being supported by a model
carer.
1:06 to 1:12
Voiceover: People with sight loss are also more likely to fall,
meaning further NHS treatment.
Description: First the camera is focused is on a model of an old
lady in the Brilchester area of the model town scene and then
focus moves to a nearby model that appears to have fallen over
with a paramedic crouched down next to it and a pillow placed
under its head.
rnib.org.uk
1:13 to 1:18
Voiceover: Sight loss can lead to anxiety, social isolation, loss of
confidence and self-esteem – even clinical depression.
Description: First the camera comes into focus on a sign that
reads, “Brilchester Heights – an area of outstanding anxiety”. It
then pans up to reveal a figure sitting on the fence above this
location as if about to jump.
1:19 to 1:30
Voiceover: Many patients tell us they have to spend months
waiting for appointments at their local eye clinic. These delays can
lead to permanent sight loss as many eye conditions progress
rapidly.
Description: The video cuts to the right side of the middle level of
the exhibit where there is a scene depicting a hospital waiting room
with a sign underneath that reads, “The Long Wait”. This scene is
full of larger models, each roughly six inches high sitting in a line
and a model nurse with a stern look on her face standing at one
end.
At one end of the row a skeleton sits in a chair, its eyes light up
and it turns to the model of an adult man next to it who taps his
foot impatiently. A model of an African carribean lady sitting next to
the man is reading a leaflet about sight loss. The head of the final
model in the row rotates from that of an adult to reveal the face of
a very old person.
1:31 to 1:41
Voiceover: Insufficient capacity in eye units is often to blame for
delays and cancelled appointments. Staff work long hours under
intense pressure, sometimes working in their free time to meet
demand.
rnib.org.uk
Description: A model patient is lying in a bed in the operating
theatre scene at the top of the exhibit. A giant syringe labelled
“AMD Treatment” sits above his head with cogs driving a
mechanism that pushes its plunger in and out. A headless chicken
dressed in a surgeons outfit stands next to the bed.
The camera then cuts to a close up of a series of cogs that are
spinning in this area of the model, we can see small model eye
balls being pushed up a tube that runs from the base of the exhibit
all the way up to this top level where they then run down tubes,
stuck in a perpetual loop.
1:42 to 1:53
Voiceover: Eye Clinic staff have told us about their chaotic working
conditions. They often feel they are running from one crisis to
another. Patients are concerned when their appointments are
delayed or cancelled.
Description: First there is a close up shot of the stern nurse in the
waiting room scene who shakes her head and the camera then
cuts to the operating theatre scene at the top of the model where
the three headless chickens flap their wings dramatically. One is
dressed as a surgeon, one a doctor and one a nurse. The camera
then cuts back to the waiting room scene where there is a close up
of a patient’s watch and then his tapping foot.
1:53 to 2:00
Voiceover: This puts clinic staff at risk of burnout and patients at
serious risk of unnecessary sight loss.
Description: We can see a close up of the consultant sitting in his
office in the scene on the left side of the second tier of the exhibit.
He turns to face the camera and then it cuts to an aerial view
panning around the model optician shops in the model town scene
at the base of the model.
rnib.org.uk
2:01 to 2:07
Voiceover: Urgent action is needed now to prevent a looming
capacity crisis in eye care.
Description: In the office scene a model head moves around a
large disk with two eyes rolling from a chute into its sockets at a
certain point before it eventually stops in position at the head of a
model patient sitting opposite a model consultant. The patient
raises his hands and the consultant types on his keyboard.
2:08 to 2:15
Voiceover: For some patients there isn’t any treatment and without
the right support they can be left feeling isolated and afraid.
Description: The consultant shakes his head and the patient raises
his hands to his eyes. The model head then moves again around
the large disk depositing the patient’s eyes on to a chute that
funnels them down to a dustbin with “waste” written on its lid.
2:16 to 2:24
Voiceover: For others treatment is available. But delays in the
system mean they don’t receive timely care and can lose some of
their sight needlessly.
Description: The consultant and patient can be seen once again
interacting. The camera then cuts to a view of the operation area
on the top level of the Automaton and then the focus is on the
dustbin in the consultant’s room scene where the patient’s eyes
end up when no support is available.
2:25 to 2:33
Voiceover: A sight loss advisor can provide emotional and practical
support to patients, and help them manage their eye condition.
rnib.org.uk
Description: A model of a sight loss adviser pops out of the
doorway in the consultant’s room scene holding a bucket in her
hands.
2:34 to 2:38
Voiceover: With the right support they can start to rebuild their
lives.
Description: The eyeballs from the patient roll down the ramp and
are caught in the bucket held out by the model sight loss adviser.
2:39 to 2:50
Voiceover: All the figures in the automaton are designed to sum up
what we believe at RNIB. That all patients should have rapid
access to treatment and there should be advice and support in
place for them.
Description: In a recap of areas covered earlier in the video the
first shot pans slowly across the model town scene and then in a
second shot the view pans across the faces of the patients in the
waiting area scene. Finally first a wide angle and then a close up
shot of the sight loss adviser is displayed.
2:51 to 2:56
Voiceover: For more information visit eyesociety.org.uk
Description: On screen text matching voiceover
2:57 to 2:59
Voiceover: RNIB Supporting people with sight loss
Description: RNIB Logo
rnib.org.uk