Traditional film and television captions for the deaf and hard of hearing have remained largely unchanged since the ‘70s. FCB Chicago, Chicago Hearing Society (CHS) and core creative partner Rakish Entertainment, have given them a dynamic update. Caption with Intention uses animation, colour, and variable typography to convey not just dialogue, but emotion, tone, and pacing.
“I grew up with two Deaf parents, so we only watched captioned programming in our house. As someone who could hear, I could tell just how much was missing – sarcasm, anger, joy, fear – all of it lost in plain white text,” stated Bruno Mazzotti, executive creative director at FCB Chicago. “That experience stayed with me my whole life. This project was a chance to finally close that gap, not just for my parents, but for millions of people like them.”
Over the course of nearly a year, FCB and CHS collaborated to research, prototype, and test dozens of caption variations using well-known scenes from famous films. Through in-person sessions, remote feedback, and real-time design refinements, the system was built with and for the Deaf community, addressing key shortcomings like speaker attribution, synchronisation, and intonation in a way that hadn’t been done before.
“We brought together a diverse group of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, whose lived experiences and expertise guided the team in shaping a system designed to serve our community and beyond. Centering Deaf perspectives was essential to ensuring the authenticity of this new caption design system,” stated Karla Giese, coordinator of training and education, CHS.
Rakish Entertainment, the LA-based film company founded by director, Marc Forster, worked with FCB from early concept development to visual execution. A longtime partner of FCB and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Forster played a pivotal role in introducing the team and the concept to the Academy.
Following its community-led development phase, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognised the Caption with Intention technology in support of a new industry standard. At the Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards on April 29, the work and contributing individuals were recognised with an Award of Merit, an Oscar statuette, for those “who have developed and supported captioning technology, whether open or closed, for film”.
The open-source system is now freely available for adoption by studios, production companies, and streaming platforms worldwide—representing a major step forward in inclusive storytelling and cinematic expression.
“Our world evolves every second and we have to evolve with it, through creativity. Caption With Intention was born from that very idea: a belief that even the smallest details – like captions – hold the power to connect, include, and move people,” stated Andrés Ordóñez, global chief creative officer at FCB. “What began as a conversation with creatives like So A Ryu and Bruno Mazzotti quickly became a new way of seeing. Through their lens, we realized captions could be more than functional—they could be emotional, intentional, and deeply human. This project is proof that creativity, when led by empathy, can spark lasting change. Because true inclusion isn’t just about being heard—it’s about being understood.”
“As a Hard of Hearing designer, I believe accessibility isn’t just about delivering information, it’s about delivering the full creative expression,” commented So A Ryu. “This project brought that belief to life to deliver a total cinematic experience.”
