These Videos Show--and Tell--the Scenes on Screen : Television: A company prepares TV programs and films for people with sight limitations. Tapes play on a standard VCR.

“Blinking back tears, Ray hurries to pick up a ball and glove lying on the field. He swallows hard and throws. John smiles tenderly. . . . Their smiles grow wider as they throw the ball easily back and forth. . . . Light floods the field as father and son continue to toss the ball.”

The emotional conclusion to “Field of Dreams” would be lost to those who are blind or visually impaired. Normally, all one hears on the soundtrack during this fantasy’s ethereal climax is welling music and the thwack of a ball being caught in a glove.

But thanks to Descriptive Video Service, such Hollywood hits, as well as selected PBS broadcasts and special-interest programs, are now accessible on videocassette in described versions. Just as closed-captioning aids hearing-impaired viewers, so do described videos open up a new world of programming to those who are blind or have low vision.

Developed by Boston’s PBS station WGBH, a closed-captioning pioneer, DVS first provided narrated descriptions of its television shows. DVS programs are available to those whose TV sets are equipped with a Second Audio Program channel.

DVS videos, however, require no special equipment. The tapes play on a standard VCR. The only difference is the added narration describing the program’s visual elements, such as physical action, scene changes, costumes, sets or body language, without interfering with dialogue.

Participating studios and distributors include Paramount Home Video, Disney’s Buena Vista Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video and Time Life Video.

Among the nearly 80 titles in the DVS catalogue are the PBS documentary series by Ken Burns, “The Civil War,” and the films “The Addams Family,” “Patriot Games,” “Beethoven,” “Parenthood,” Disney’s “Aladdin” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Describing is an exacting art. “The most important thing,” said describer Leslie Wu Foley, “is finding the best way to describe a scene’s key visual element and convey it in a way that is informative but never judgmental or obtrusive.”

Describers may watch a film several times, first without looking at the picture to locate gaps in the dialogue or plot. Along with cartoons, in which animated actions do not conform to the physical universe, sex scenes present their own unique challenges, as Foley discovered when she was assigned “Fatal Attraction.”

“I had to break the sex scenes down into physical actions and convey the sensuousness of what was going on,” she said. Thus, Michael Douglas doesn’t just kiss Glenn Close. Instead, his mouth “slides” down her neck.

Filmmakers have been supportive. “I thought it would be ridiculous,” said “Field of Dreams” director and screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson. “But I loved what they did. The description was sensitively and tastefully done.”

* Suggested retail prices start at $14.95. For a demonstration of DVS or to request a large print or Braille video catalogue, call (800) 333-1203.