Reading and Writing in a Digital Age

For our  (Chaya Leverton and Jackie Bierman) audio-essay we decided to work off the concept of Letters that we were introduced to in class. We thought it would be interesting to show how the experience of hearing a letter being read aloud is vastly different than that of simply seeing the words on paper. When you can actually hear the words, the tones, the inflections, the sighs, and the pauses of a written letter, both the meaning and affect can be drastically different than if you had just silently read the letter. The human voice has an amazing power to transform dull, lifeless words into something emotional, thought provoking, ironic, sarcastic, funny, sad, endearing, motivating, manipulative, and more. Hearing gives the listener a better feel of what the speaker (not the writer!) is trying to convey as he/she reads the letter, and it gives the speaker a chance to interpret the letter in his/her own way. In other words, the same letter (written by the same author) can be interpreted and communicated in two totally different ways if read by two different speakers.

We plan to collect about 4-6 interesting and diverse letters and take turns reading them out loud. Our point is to show how by changing how we read the letter, the mood and meaning of the letter can be changed. The broader message here is to show how powerful our voices are and how they can have such a strong impact. Words without a voice aren’t worth as much as words with a voice. We can use our voices to speak up and make a difference.

We plan to use the Letters of Note website for most of our letters. We estimate that we will spend around one minute on each letter and about one minute on a short introduction and conclusion. We will be broadcasting from someone’s home or the school library, and we will use our Macs for the recording.

I wanted to do something related to one question, but I wasn’t sure what question to use for a while. I then looked at the other options, and a part of me wanted to do something about New York City too. So why not ask the question “What do you like or dislike about New York City?” I’d like to hear what people think about the city. I like the city a lot, but it is easy to think of negative things about it. A person can answer about what they like, dislike, or both. The first thing in their mind could reveal a part of themselves by the way they think. I might get common answers, which would reinforce a particular idea a lot of people have. There could also be other answers that might strike me because I never thought of NYC in that way. There are many perspectives that exist, so it would be interesting to combine them and see how potentially diverse the views can be. There may be parts of the city that some people like and other people dislike. For example, it is common for people to ignore you on the streets and not pay attention or care. Some people like it because people usually mind their own business, but other people may see it more negatively since it makes it more difficult to find help or interview people for an audio essay or advertise.

I will ask many people, near Baruch or my neighborhood or some other location. The segments will vary, as I expect some answers to be short and others to be long. I currently intend to use my camera to record people’s responses. The camera records videos and I only need audio, but I like my camera and I can edit the video to become just audio through the video to mp4 conversion sites. I can do that or record audio from a recorder I could probably borrow. I think I have access to everything I need, though maybe a bigger or different message will appear while doing it.

My audio essay involves an intensive study into my unique personality and ways of interacting with other people. I will offer expository information about a particular instance of interaction and then get a guest of mine to offer his / her opinion of what that interaction meant to them, what it means to them now, and what kind of impression I had made on them then. There will be three different anecdotes, with a different guest to comment on each anecdote. I want my audience to get a perspective on my unconventional means and manner of interacting with other people through the critiques and commentary of my longtime friends, who have had plenty of opportunities to express their outlooks on the person that I am and the things that I do. The quintessential aim of this audio essay is to familiarize the audience with my ways of thinking in an entertaining but insightful way so that they will not be as surprised by my antics and abstract references later on down the road.

My plan for this audio essay is to tell the story of how I met a very important person in my life. It was simply one of those odd beginnings that would be interesting retold. To categorize it, the essay would probably fall under “A Life in Two Minutes.” The only two people who will be talking in the recording are Edward and me.

The basic concept is to share two perspectives of the same encounter. There would be a short background to the story, an excerpt of my life up until that point of meeting him at the start of the essay. At the end of the story, there will be a snippet of how my life is now. It isn’t exactly an interview, but I will from time to time ask him to share his opinion or what he recalls his actions/thoughts to be from the given moments. The elements of the story pertain to the setting being at a handball court, our respective ages, and the main conversation we held. The conversation will be the highlight of the story which would be given at least a full minute all to itself in the show; the other parts would at most take up 15 second chunks.

The broadcast would probably be from one of our houses, using just our laptops and their software. It’s a story that is relatable to most women, experiencing what it’s like to be hit on, but not many having the capacity to learn what the guy was thinking while it happened. Hopefully it will be something that is interesting to listen to for 2-3 minutes. I would need help on improving the sound quality of the recording so that there wouldn’t be as much static in the background.

I was thinking of combining both the “Letters” and “One Question” shows for my audio essay.  I know it sounds like a lot and it has the potential to be a complete flop, letters always got me excited and I am determined to make this work.

I was thinking of asking the question “What was the last letter you’ve received?” to my family and friends and recording their responses wile interspersing them with letters I’ve received over the years. I always got so excited when the mailman came around with a letter addressed to yours truly. I mean how often do we, in this technologically advanced world we live in, still receive letters? I am excited to hear about the last letters people have received. How recent were they and who were they from? Were they professional letters or those sent from long lost friends and family?

I am unsure of who will do the talking for this project but right now I am thinking about asking my younger sister, Perie. She is a very personable 9 year old with such a captivating and mature voice for her age. I think it would be cute to hear her pronounce words that seem “big and fancy” to her as well as I’d be making her dream of being “famous,” come true.

As to the technological aspect of this Audio-Essay, I have no idea where to even begin. Although I’ve been a Mac user forever, I’ve never ventured into the world of Garageband or any editing software so I am excited to see where this journey takes me.

Idea 1. (changed)

I want to focus on one particular time in my life which involves more than one individual and take turns describing it in each other’s view point. I would be borrowing the format of “A life in two minutes” but combining the stories so it fits 4-6min.

I believe it is important to explore various viewpoints in order to have a holistic view of the event.

Rather than myself trying to explain everything, I want the audience to figure out what the event is and have their own view of  it as well by listening to various view points.

It will be scripted and read but each story in each individual’s voices.

There will be 2 to 3 people participating in the reading for about 1:30 min each.

I will be recording in my dorm room. Other people’s voices will be recorded through phone calls.

I will be mainly using my macbook and my smartphone while adding in special effect sounds with my own musical instruments if necessary.

Idea 2.

This is something I thought during the class on Monday. Listening to all the samples, I thought people tend to ask questions focusing more on what people regret and miss. These definitely gave off very heartfelt emotions, but made me very gloomy. I want to turn the atmosphere and ask people,”What are you most proud of?” This question may sound very obnoxious at first, but if you think of it, some people just need somewhere to express their pride. And sometimes, what people are “genuinely” proud of may be something completely unexpected from what others would think. I will be interviewing at least 5 people from different age groups. I will be mostly recording in Manhattan area although I may be changing locations within. I’ll be using my phone and mac to record and edit the pieces and I will be adding appropriate music as well.

Everyone’s had one of those days where EVERYTHING seems to be going wrong. First you wake up late, then you miss breakfast, and finally you step in some gum, etc., etc. It’s only natural that people have these days so for my audio project I wanted to interview people asking them to describe the worst day they’ve ever had in their life. Then, more importantly, I will ask them how they dealt with it and/or what could have made their day better. I was thinking of interviewing friends at first, then branching out to other students and maybe even faculty at Baruch based on the responses and material I get. I can use my phone to record the audio then use Garageband on my computer to edit the audio and add in other effects for the broadcast, so I already have everything I need. I was thinking of starting off the broadcast with me doing a small introduction about bad days, then include the responses I get, then include commentary on any connections or greater message I (hopefully) receive from the responses. Hopefully, I can try and include some humor and heartfelt sentiments in my broadcast to make it interesting because I know that those are two things that always interest me when I am listening to something.

I apologize if this ends up being a useless stream of consciousness that doesn’t make sense in any way shape or form. I have no idea what I’m doing. As usual.

Okay, so I was thinking of working with Twitter. I haven’t really found a constructive way to make it work, but I thought it could be funny and relatable. I like to tweet, personally, and use it as an outlet for all the dumb observations I make throughout the day (don’t worry, I hate myself for referring to Twitter as an “outlet” just as much as you do).

When it comes to the purpose, I get a little bit stuck but I have a general sense of where I want to go. I was talking to my friend about it and she suggested that I make it a commentary on the fact that Twitter isn’t entirely mindless (I’m not completely convinced, though, that it isn’t). I could start it as a conversation, where a friend makes fun of me for using Twitter. This happens a lot: “I would never use Twitter, I don’t get why you do.” I hate that, because why not? I don’t know if I could make this work exactly, audio-wise, but I would make it as though I’m scrolling through my Twitter feed, reading the tweets out loud. I was also thinking I could get other people to read them, for that universal feel. I’ll start out reading really pointless ones. “Just went to the gym.” Who cares? The same person from before will make comments about how pointless it all is. Then come the funny ones. I don’t see how you can argue that something is bad if it makes you laugh. So, then, my friend will start laughing and admit that maybe there is some point to it after all. There are also inspirational quotes, political movements, stuff like that. I also want to point out that there are comedians whose careers were launched because of their tweets. Personally, I want to write for TV, and I think tweets are a little window into that. Maybe to a very, very small extent, but it’s still there. Writing for TV, you have to be concise. What’s more concise than 140 characters?

I think I can make this work, but there is a very good chance that it will just make me sound like a complete idiot if not done right. I am likely to change my mind, but for now I really like the idea of working with tweets as my project. An entire project based on Twitter sounds a little bit ridiculous, but we are a society that thrives on social networking. I’m really excited to try this and see where it goes.

What I intend to do is focus on speaking to my nieces and recording their responses to various questions, then editing it until I’ve captured the most cute/funny/poignent examples of the things kids say. I think it’ll pretty much just be a conversation, though I’ll draw up a list of questions so that hopefully I can elicit some insightful responses from them. An example of questions I might ask are “Who are your friends? Why?” (I’ve asked them this before and it’s really funny). Also I’ll ask them what they did on their vacation and things like that. But I’ll probably throw in a few more serious questions too like “What’s something that makes you happy?” and yes, maybe even “What do you think is love?” My main goal is for this to be cute/funny but hopefully the climax will be something really insightful that they hit upon. Oh, and for the record my nieces are 3 1/2 and 5 1/2 yrs old, so that should give different perspectives on the same questions.

Or, on a totally different track, I thought that I could have my mom speak about her mother. My grandmother’s mother abandoned her family when my grandmother was a teenager and she had to raise her little sister virtually single-handedly. She was a brilliant woman who never got to go to college because she was too busy being a surrogate mother. I thought I’d have my mom do the talking for this one because a) she knows the stories and b) she has a really nice speaking voice.

For the people who are supposed to be reading my proposal and commenting on it, and for anyone else who’s reading this, I thought you could tell me which idea is more intriguing to you because as of now I have absolutely no idea which direction to go in.

So…. I didn’t exactly follow the suggestions on our assignment sheet and I’m not sure if I can actually make my idea into a coherent and interesting audio essay but, it’s worth a shot. My idea first popped into my mind during class on Monday when we were talking about Morgan Freeman’s voice. People were saying that there’s a certain quality to his voice that makes you want to listen, when he speaks to you it feels like you’re getting a hug, and it makes you feel good. Well unfortunately, not everyone’s voice or tone or way of speaking is as wonderful as Mr. Freeman’s (he’s just got skills) and so I thought, why not make my audio project about the way people speak and the effect it has on the listener?

I feel like this would be a relevant topic because everyone speaks and there is definitely an effect when they do. I don’t know about other people but, when I talk to anyone, I control the tone of my voice depending on the person I’m speaking to or the desired response I would like from them. I know this definitely sounds very manipulative and a little sneaky, but it gives me time to think about my actions and it protects me from most word vomiting situations, though unfortunately not always. In my Audio essay I’ll be speaking about the different tones I use in different situations and the responses that I usually get. I will probably be the only one speaking because I’m not representative of the entire world population I can’t really generalize the ways people speak.

In terms of materials I need, I have garage band on my computer and I can record everything someplace quite in the dorms so I’m pretty much set in terms of the actual recording unless I decide to get other peoples’ input.

When I do record, some topics I plan to cover are: Setting, Purpose, Tone, and Effect of speaking. I will probably add a few of my own more specific situations and anecdotes and maybe I’ll use different examples online such as video reactions on YouTube. Since the project is supposed to be 3-4 minutes each section will probably be about 50 seconds with a minute at the end for a conclusion though I may allot more time to topics I feel are more important and less time to more supportive topics.

My purpose in choosing this topic is to hopefully make other people aware of the different effects their tones have on people and help myself reflect on the way I treat others based on what I say to them. I also hope that this will, in some way, help people listen better to things people are saying and how they are saying them.