Sounds of Success

Bryan Horch '92 finds ASL and the language of films fascinatingly similar.

by Jillian Bendig '03

Horch and Maureen Kelly (left) receiving New York Festivals Award for their Sex 411 video

When Bryan Horch '92 bought his first camera as an adolescent, he found comfort in watching life from the periphery, creating his own reality through images. This love for seeing the world through a lens led him to pursue a degree in cinema and photography at Ithaca College.

But about halfway through his time at IC, Horch felt the need to step out from behind the camera and relate to people in a more direct, person-to-person manner. Inspired by the words of his sociology professors Jules Burgevin and Robert Heasley, he also felt compelled to do something for the betterment of society. "I realized that it was my turn to put myself in the picture," says Horch, "to reconnect to the world by working with people."

He continued filmmaking after graduation, moving to Austin to work on documentaries for PBS, but he sought something more. His neighborhood was adjacent to the campus of the Texas Residential School for the Deaf. While feeling like an outsider within this environment, Horch was also fascinated by the highly visual and unique nature of deaf culture and was inspired to take a course in American Sign Language. He got a job at a local TV show, Austin Deaf World, and decided to go back to school to take an ASL interpreter training course. This led to work as an interpreter for several educational institutions.

This new path was not as out of the way as it might seem at first. "The more American Sign Language I learned, the more I realized that the language's structure and rules are very similar to the visual language of film," says Horch. "ASL does not follow the linear grammatical structure of English but uses signs, space, 'facial' grammar, body movement, and representational hand shapes to show relationships visually. As in film, you may start signing a story in what looks like a wide 'establishing shot' and then continue dialogue and actions in what would move in to become medium shots or close-ups --- cutting back and forth. In ASL, this manifests itself in body shifting to show different characters involved, taking on the physical attributes of the people and things you are conveying."

Horch was soon to find a way to blend his careers as an ASL interpreter and a filmmaker. While interpreting at the Rochester Institute of Technology, which happens to house the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Horch worked in classes on digital and interactive media. The information he absorbed there inspired him to return to his first creative outlet. He opened his own digital video production facility, putting his new knowledge to use, first as the codirector and cowriter of the "Campaign for SexuaLiberty," a television commercial that features, coincidentally, a cast of deaf and hearing actors. The ad was created with the collaboration of Maureen Kelly, community educator at Planned Parenthood of Tompkins County, and Horch's best friend, filmmaker Marlene Rhein '92. The 30-second spot, which emphasizes Planned Parenthood's mission of encouraging the "acceptance of sexuality as a positive force that improves the quality of life," won the 2002 Bronze Telly Award.

A more recent project is Sex 411, an interactive CD-ROM that, as Horch says, "personalizes real issues that teens deal with daily, giving useful information without being patronizing." Horch decided to concentrate on educating teens about healthy sexuality because he recalled how difficult it was to find important information when he was a teen. His continued collaboration with Planned Parenthood gives him the opportunity to give today's teens information he'd found lacking. The video portion of Sex 411 received a Bronze World Medal in the film and video category at the 2001 New York Festivals and a Silver Award from the Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival in 2002. The interactive version of Sex 411 also earned recognition recently, taking the independent 2003 Communicator Award of Distinction in the video/film/multimedia/interactive CD-ROM category.

Since relocating to Amherst, Massachusetts, last year, Horch has been using his national certification in ASL to interpret in a wide spectrum of locations --- from a doctor's office to a college classroom to an amusement park to a theatrical production.

He cites interpreting during a Maya Angelou talk and poetry reading at the University of Massachusetts this March as one of his most memorable life experiences. "I was amazed by the fact that Maya Angelou was as curious, interested, and honored to meet the interpreters as we were to meet her. It seemed important for her to make a meaningful connection with us, because we would become the conduit for the spirit of her message," he says. "When she received a rousing standing ovation from the audience, she called me and my team interpreter over to take a bow with her. As interpreters, we are trained to deflect all attention or recognition away from us. At first it felt like it would be unprofessional to accept this invitation, but as she looked toward me in such an honorific way, I realized that this gesture was just all part of her humanistic message. How could I reject that?"

Horch is also working on further digital video and interactive media projects through his company, globoloco. This fall he'll travel to Namibia to document a project there of Global Partners, an organization that engages local women's health affiliates around the world to work toward sexual and reproductive health and rights. And he is collaborating with former IC sociology professor Heasley (now at Indiana University of Pennsylvania) on a video exploring "feminist men who are critically examining issues around sexuality and intimacy."

So what's next? "I never know where I'm going to be from week to week!" Horch laughs. "But to be doing creative work that makes a difference in the world --- that's my dream." And his reality.