About nyc, audio draft
http://soundcloud.com/user695749558/englishaudioessayaboutnyc
Question: What do you like or dislike about New York City?
I interviewed people in Bryant Park, Herald Square, and Washington Square Park, all in one day. I got a lot of rejections and almost all were generic responses, but that is to be expected. I didn’t get many special responses, but I put together what I could. I had about 50 responses saved, but I guess it wasn’t enough.
The point of the audio essay is to show how perspective is a very significant factor in judging things or people. When asked the question, many people said how diverse the city was, and I think it’s partly because that is what it is known for. That’s how they see the city. That’s how I see the city too. Sometimes we don’t think much more of it. You can share certain incidents, but that doesn’t mean it is the norm (I had one response from a guy who said he dislikes the dangers, as he got mugged last night, but NYC is supposedly safe). I’m satisfied that I found a person who said they like the crowds since there were a few who disliked them (I like the crowds).
One piece of Glass’s advice I want to focus on is understanding the building blocks of the story (part 1, 0:13-3:05). While I’m not explicitly doing a story, I’m try to structure the audio such that it builds up to something. I want to keep people engaged, but I wasn’t sure how. I put more of the simple responses in the beginning and then towards the end I include the more interesting or longer responses. Even if part of the content of the response is generic, I like the way it is presented, so I include it later. I don’t have any questions to raise other than the main question, so I could work on that. I’m afraid people get disinterested towards the middle because there may not seem to be a point to it, so I have to work on that. The other piece of advice is having a moment of reflection (part 1, 3:19-3:34). I am thankful for the person who did the second to last quote in my audio because I think that makes people reflect on likes and dislikes in general. It questions how we feel in a particular moment versus how we feel in a daily basis.
I tried to figure out how to use garageband to lower background noise but failed. I could try for more responses from people to get more insight. I definitely need to edit the sound. There are one second gaps, but I didn’t put any sound or music in, and I want to reduce the background noise. I forgot to put in music in the intro as well.
2 responses so far
You really got people on the street talking. That’s testament to the question you ask. People have immediate responses, and they talk about the city with good enthusiasm–better than you would generally get when polling strangers on the street.
The sound quality, as you note, is so so. It’s the problem with outdoor recording. Of course, you’ve got city noise as a sound effect, but yes, do work on editing the background noise down so it won’t compete with your speakers. And some music, not only in the intro as you discuss in your letter, but somehow under the speakers, or little interludes between them or between groupings of them. Provide some sense of chapters or sections to organize the responses (once you provide the
I love the voice of the guy talking about the food and then the dirtiness (around 2.25). What a great voice. Something about him. This is a strength of the piece; it has the character of the people you’re interviewing. And then the guy talking about how people’s ideas have sex with each other (starting around 3.20). I mean, as they say, only in NY! And the last woman who imitates a panhandler on the subway. How great is she?
I mean, do the whole show perhaps with these three answers. Or the first one and the last one, since both are basically saying NY can be filthy but it has got its charms, too. What an interesting distinction for you to explore. What if you locate your message in those two respondents’ answers? Of course, you’d need to add more reflection from you about what makes the city interesting and unique (SPECIFICALLY what), and why you decided to ask this question, and what surprised you in the answers you got, and what you learned… You need to frame the comments from people on the street with your reflection before AND after, don’t let it just end.
Because your big task, as I see it, is working on message. You have a hodgepodge of responses, but you’re not organizing and reflecting on them to provide meaning. I believe paring it down to fewer responses (two or three or heck even one), as I suggest above, will be key, and then making an audio-essay with a thesis about NYC and the passionate ways people–real people who are real characters–feel about it and what these ways of feeling about NY mean. What do you think they mean?
I know you’ll have to abandon some great material, by not using a lot of the interviews you recorded, but it will be worth it because you’ll gain focus and message along the way. And some of what you lose will be fairly generic material about museums and diversity and traffic, etc.
Again, what great material in some of your interview responses. Especially the guy about the food and then the bad smells, and the woman at the end. Rich, rich, rich. You’re lucky to have this stuff to work with. USE it!
Do work on editing transitions between speakers so we don’t hear the breaks so much.
I look forward to seeing what you do with this!
Personally, my issues with living in New York outnumber my praises of it. Like, I hate the crowds. I hate feeling like a packed sardine on the subway. I hate the pigeons. I hate how expensive everything is. I hate the noise. And I could totally go on, but that wouldn’t be very constructive of me.
Anyway, you got a lot of really great responses, and a few generic ones too. The ones that stood out to me were the foodie, the guy who talks about people’s ideas having sex with each other, the girl who likes finding things to do at 2 AM, and the girl who works at Lush. They had really great voices and they were engaging and interesting.
I may hate New York, but I love the people. And I especially love them when they have something interesting to say. So that’s maybe an angle for you if you want to consider it?
I can’t wait to see what you do with this!