Exegesis

The name of my podcast is The River to Freedom, an audio feature about my mother’s escape from Vietnam. The story focused on the initial leg of her journey, a dangerous trip down a river, late at night. Initially when I first looked at the assessment, I wanted to do an audio fiction piece. However, after week 7, where we discussed audio features, I decided that I would do an audio feature for the final assessment. I was partly inspired by an ABC Heywire piece we listened to in class, which was the story of a boy from Cape Town set to music and SFX. I realized that this was a great way of telling stories, as it captured my attention and elicited empathy. I was also inspired by the SBS Extremes podcast, which explores the stories of people who have lived through extreme situations. I emulated the style of this podcast, which blends soundscapes, soundtracks, interviews, and archival audio together.

I knew that I wanted to do an audio feature, and that it would have to connect to the theme of water, so I started brainstorming ideas for interviewees. As suggested by Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva (37), some of the best story ideas come from discussions with ordinary people. In my case the inspiration for my podcast came from a conversation I had with my mother about why she left Vietnam. After hearing the story of how she escaped on a boat, I knew it would work perfectly as a podcast piece.

After getting the green light for my story pitch from my tutor, I set to work preparing my interview. The biggest issue I ran into in this initial stage was convincing my mother to do the feature. Instead of retelling the story myself I wanted my mother to speak in her own words, after all it was her lived-in experience. The beauty of the audio feature is the ability to give voice to others, enabling voices that are typically silenced to have a space. My mother was hesitant to do the interview because she was not confident in her English and her accent. I understood her hesitance, when we listen to the radio, we often hear the same types of voices. Voices that are typically male, with sophisticated Australian accents. Christine Mottram’s (54) studies indicate that listeners are more likely to trust public speakers with low, authoritative voices, which makes it difficult for women to be accepted as sources of information. However, podcasts listeners celebrate authenticity, allowing for a variety of voices that are not tied to western cultural values (Mottram 64). After showing my mother some podcasts hosted by individuals with accents and explaining the importance of sharing her story, she agreed to do the interview.

After recording the interview, the first thing I did was cut and clean the audio in Audition. I had several reasons for doing this, firstly I needed to condense the length within 6 minutes, and secondly, I wanted to get rid of mistakes, and rambling. When cutting the audio, I kept in mind that an effective edit still had to sound natural, the cuts and joins should be invisible (Boyd et al, 230). I did not want to distort the meaning of what my mother was saying so I was careful to retain the key parts of the story when removing tangents from the final cut and summarizing sections of the stories in post narration. During the editing process I took my mother’s answers and placed them in sequential order, which ensured that the story line made sense. The audio piece was structured so that there was a setup, rise in tension, climax, and resolution (Phillips et al, 96). The climax of the story is when my mother rushes to meet the main fishing boat. I placed a long pause before this moment to enhance the tension, then I created action by layering panicked sounds and a rapid drumbeat under her narration. The result was a frenzy of sounds that contrasted with the tense silence that preceded it, enhancing its dramatic impact. My tutor suggested I do this edit after the listening party in week 12, and I believe it was effective in conveying the stress and rush.

With audio pieces the sound effects and narration become stimuli, which the listener uses to form a picture with their imagination (Hand and Traynor 34). Thus, nonverbal codes, like sound and music help evoke moods, atmospheres, and environments, providing a fuller picture (Hand and Traynor 40). When I was initially connecting this story to the theme of water, I brainstormed sounds that clearly conveyed a river scene. The strongest sound I could picture was that of a rowing boat. As I did not have access to a boat, I had to replicate the sound using household items. To create a rowing sound, I filled up a pot with water and recorded myself stirring and occasionally hitting the pot. While experimenting with sounds, I discovered that when applying pressure on my office chair it created a creaking noise, reminiscent of an old wooden boat. I recorded this noise to give the boat sound more weight. I also used symbolic sound effects such as the ticking of a clock. The clock is a recurring sound in my piece, appearing when my mother is initially waiting for the smuggler to collect her and then in the moment of rising tension preceding the climax. The clock enhances the tension of both scenes and symbolically conveys my mother’s anxiety of being caught to the listeners. To get the clock sound, I recorded the ticking of a wall clock in my room.

Overall, I am happy with what I was able to achieve with my audio piece. I am glad that I was able to share my mother’s story and utilize the editing skills I learnt throughout the semester. I do wish I had more time to expand on her experiences, as I felt I had to cut finer details to meet the time limit. If I worked in a pair, I would have had more time. However this was an immensely personal story. I do not believe my mother would be comfortable doing the interview with a stranger. I am proud of the way that I was able to recreate the environments and atmosphere of Vietnam, which has a distinctive sound in my memories. I feel that I was able to convey my mother’s anxieties through the use of sound effects and soundtracks, most of which I recorded myself using Foley methods.

ATS1286 - Podcast Exegesis This page is part of the collection 'Media Assessments '.

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