Here Goes Nothing?
I’m trying to convey to my listeners the simplicity of our generation’s dreams. After discussing the layout of my essay with Professor Smith we came to the conclusion that my classmate’s dreams seemed limited. Almost like we all grew up to enclose our aspirations, taught not to step outside the box and imagine greater things. About 60-65% of the responses I received were very simple things: things that could be easily accomplished with little to no risk of failure. Some of my interviewees veered off into more adventurous territory and the small remainder dreamt as big as I expected them to.
Despite my own predictions before I started interviewing people, I wanted my listeners to walk away with a sense of surprise and essentially reflectiveness. By the time they’re done listening to my segment I want them to think, “What would I do if failure wasn’t an option?” Surprise stemming from the nature of the interviewees responses and reflectiveness from the question itself.
In Part 3 from 3:54-4:08, Glass tells us how not to talk in our radio segments. Although it was his eighth year on radio, he still emphasized the pronunciation of every three words making the segment sound robotic. Although I’m not talking a lot in my own project, I made sure to sound as natural as I could. Since I’m beginning and ending my audio essay, my voice will be the last one lingering in the listener’s mind. The last thing I want is to make my listener cringe or tune me out at some of the most important points in my segment.
In Part 4 from 4:20-4:44 Glass talks about the balance between interviewer and interviewee. Although the kind of story he talks about is different from the one I’m creating, I still added a sort of introduction and conclusion to my audio essay. I did it mainly because I was afraid that it would be too difficult to figure out what exactly the point in my story would be and also because I wanted to give my input on what I initially expected and how the project turned out. I also didn’t want to throw the listener into this essay without any kind of background information left to wonder what is going on. I used this advice in the beginning and end of my audio essay.
The most difficult part of this project was finding a common thread behind the responses I received. Not knowing how people would respond, and hoping that after asking dozens of people I actually would find some sort of common theme was one of scariest things about this project. Actually, I didn’t find one until I freaked out after hearing everyone’s proposals in class and staying after class and talking about the responses I had received with Professor Smith. I think it’s a little bit risky, going from ordinary, to funny, to serious, all trying to convey the idea that our dreams begin small and crescendo into greater, less possible things to accomplish. I used the bell curve effect that the creator of 50 People One Question to try and tie this theme together in a more organized manner.
I think at this point I need to work on interviewing more people. I don’t think I have enough responses. I interviewed a lot of people but many of the responses were no longer than 2-3 seconds, which makes it difficult to meet the 3-4 minute timeline required for the assignment. I want to work on making it more refined, and eliminating background noise.
2 responses so far
Hi Jacky,
You’ve got a great voice for audio; it is smooth and sounds pretty natural. I say “pretty natural” because it does sound like you’re reading a script, but still, I like how you come off. If you re-record any of your frame, try and see if you can lighten it up a little, let your voice
“go.” Try to add some emphasis or play with tone (without falling into the traps Glass talks about). You know, play.
Your intro is good. It gets the job done. Once (if) you cut the numbers of responses you use, you might refine the intro to set up the arc you’re trying to create and the underlying message you’re trying to get across. The transition into the answers is a little choppy. I know you struggled with the editing process, but it might be worth trying to smooth that over.
You need music in the background. The lack of music
I don’t think you need to record more responses. I think I would try to edit them down first. I like that most of your respondents sound young, like college students, because you’ve got your proverbial whole lives ahead of you, you really can still do anything, your futures aren’t decided. So, I’m quite interested to hear what your generation would do. So, keep it to young voices and then decide what mechanism to use for pruning. What if you went for two halves, two chapters of sorts, each representing different types of answers. Maybe the first would be the super-easy, super-achievable, even already-achieved. And the second half would be fantasy/comedy (Asian Justin or no pants or steal a pony or fly). And you could play with appropriate music to underlie each section, perhaps. Such a structure would help you emphasize the funny ones in their own chapter at the end, set off through the juxtaposition from the more, I dunno, “mundane” goals. This could be a great structure–but it’s just one idea. I think you should not worry about getting more or better responses. Actually, I think you have some great ones. Just pare them down and decide how you want to massage them into a message that’s both thought-provoking and entertaining. You might be more playful with this material. Don’t worry about getting your audience to reflect (I think they likely will anyway). Get them to laugh a little, maybe. Another possible choice would be to only keep the funny fantasy ones. Maybe you’ll only include 6 or 8 or 4 responses. What then? Then your frame will take on more importance, and you’d discuss the impulse to “go silly” with the opportunity to “do anything.” What do you make of that? Of course, you could do a similar move with just the kinda mundane ones, which would require different reflection from you–something closer to what you say now at the end, but maybe go a bit deeper. Ask yourself, when asked this kind of college-application question, what are the “formulas” that people revert to, and why? What in our “training” makes us think either so small or so silly?
We can play this is class on Monday, revised or as is.
I don’t think you should be so worried about this. I’m not sure why you’re fretting so much. Is is the tech stuff? The fact that you didn’t get the responses you anticipated? I feel like you’re a little blocked with this one; perhaps you should “let go” and play a little with it. Maybe sound effects? The sound of superman music when the guy says he wants to fly, for instance? Go a little silly… The sound of pants unzipping when the girl wants to pass a no pants law. I dunno; I’m thinking out loud here…
I really enjoyed listening to your audio essay.
First of all, it was well-framed. I think you have a pretty prevalent common thread, and you clarify it in that moment of reflection at the end there.
Second of all, you organized the answers well. Nice bell curve!
And third of all, the question you pose is really, really good. I was thinking about it in class when we were going over your proposal and the fact that you remove the risk of failure opens it up that much more. We’re bright eyed and bushy tailed at our age — and it sounds like you interviewed college students. (Am I nuts or did I hear the voices of a few of our classmates?) And so you got great answers because the question itself was great too.
If you want certain answers to pop more, you could play with music and sounds. I can’t wait to see what you do with it.
P.S. Don’t stress, Jacky! You got this!