Week # 2 - Audio & Personal Narrative
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
-William Carlos Williams
Listen
If you’ve never listened to Radio Lab you’re missing some of the most brilliant audio editing on radio. Their Making the Hippo Dance is a not-to-be missed lesson on re-working audio in order to tell a compelling story.
Assignment
Audio record a personal narrative. Decide if your voice will be heard. Re-edit the story to bring out the theme you most want to communicate to your audience. Post both the original & edited version. Finished length should be 1-3 minutes.
Also please scan & post your Holga contact sheets.
All is due by midnight Wednesday.
More resources
- Studs Terkel is the granddaddy of oral history. His thoughtful, caring interviews on the Great Depression are particularly moving.
- David Boder collected over 100 interviews with Holocaust survivors in 1946. This American Life did a great story on Boder. In particular how people speak when there isn’t yet a defined language for a catastrophic event.
- StoryCorps
- Transom has a lot of great info on audio tools & techniques.
- For some great thesis presentation preparation check out The Moth. Their live 5 minute story slams are a great resource for finding out how to create a story that resonates with an audience.
- War of the Worlds by the Mercury Theater. OK its not an actual documentary but still….great audio editing.
