Final Reflective Blog

Speaking at the Charles Parker Day Conference earlier this year, Ben Chesterton from DuckRabbit productions argued that the future for radio feature makers, in light of budget cuts and gross under-funding, was what he called the ‘Photo Film‘, otherwise known as the Audio Slideshow. Although I found it a challenge considering the visual aspect for the first time, working on my individual project has taught me valuable new skills, adapting my radio feature experience to the online industry. Throughout this module, I have gained an insight into the new non-traditional media landscape and amassed new confidence in public speaking. In this period of cross-media convergence and a merging of traditional roles, this module has given me an important insight into alternative career paths going forward.

Analysis of Audio Slideshows and Academic Writing

In order to more clearly understand the medium, I analysed a number of audio slideshow to learn more about industry styles. I analysed The Shoe Connoisseur (New York Times), Waiting for Death (LA Times) and Knobs, Dials and Crackle (BBC On-line). In addition, I read Jonathan Lillie’s article in Journalism Studies entitled ‘How and why journalists create audio slideshows‘.

 The Shoe Connoisseur is part of the New York Times’ 1 in 8 million project. The audio slideshow began in 2009 with the goal of telling the stories of ordinary people living in New York. ’54 individuals in sound and images, ordinary people telling extraordinary stories – of passion and problems, relationships and routines, vocations and obsessions’. The audio sideshow analysed tells the story of Jesse Villanueva, a young man obsessed with trainers. The Shoe Connoisseur is similar to my project in that it tells a human story of obsession through audio, visually balanced by photographs of the inanimate object that is at the heart of the obsession. The images, like the entire series, are back and white, with a dark, kind of Film Noir style. What is interesting about the photographs is that, rather than being portrait shots of the shoes in question, the pictures are mainly landscapes showing piles of shoes and the character in his environment. The audio component is a montage interview with the character, augmented with wild tracks recordings from the store where the character works. Like the entire series, Jesse is extremely passionate about the subject matter and uses descriptive language, referring to his hobby as an ‘obsession’ and an ‘affliction’. From this piece I learned that audio slideshows are not about the objects but about the person behind the objects. I used this logic in the second edit of my audio slideshow, taking out all the zoomed-in portraits of radios in favour of wider shots exposing the characters obsession with radios.

 Waiting for Death  is the most unusual use of an audio slideshow to tell a story that I came across in my research. In this case the audio slideshow medium is used for an Obituary story. It tells the story of Edwin Shneidman, a recently deceased LA social worker, in his final days. Watching this the first time, I wasn’t really sure if it was the most tasteful way to bid farewell to a public figure. The audio is an interview with the character at his home about his life and his philosophies on death and the afterlife. In the interview, the character is depressed and discusses longing for death: ‘I’m ninety and I don’t think I’ll be 91′. The photographs used are of the man in his home and his garden, along with objects from his house. What is unique about the layout of this slideshow is that the photographs are deliberately not the size of the video window and are framed by white borders like traditional printed photographs. In this way the slideshow seperates itself from the video form and highlights the photographs. Although the piece tells a moving story of the characters last days, I am not sure if an obituary should discuss someone’s final moments rather than describing his contribution to the city over his lifetime.

 Knobs, Dials and Crackle  is the least human of all the stories analysed. Unlike the slideshows discussed above, the photographic content that is of inanimate objects is not balanced by a personal story within the audio. This slideshow is about the history of radio sets and is told very much like  standard radio feature with a reporter, actuality and interviewees. The photographs are a mixture of black and white archive shots and portrait shots of old radios in colour. In my view, it failed to tell an interesting story because it had no personal slant and instead was merely about the radio sets. The use of multiple voices, a reporter and interviewees, made it appear more like a radio feature by a Today-programme-style reporter, with some photographs added, rather that a selection of powerful photographs anchored by one voice. I disliked the direct connect between each word being said and a corresponding photograph, which I feel cut out the imagination entirely. One passionate museum curator who was interviewed in the piece and used very descriptive language – likening an old radio set dial to the design of a tube map – could have been used as the single enthused voice. I was positively influenced by the slideshow’s use of radio sound effects, in particular the BBC pips, and I in turn used similar effects to signify the intro and outro of my piece.

In his article, Lillie (2011, pp 357, 359) asserts that audio slideshows are a format born out of the print media desperate steps to create an interesting presence in the competitive online media landscape. ‘Newspaper journalists’ daily tasks are shifting towards multimedia production’ (Ibid.). With the release of user-friendly niche software Soundslides, audio-visual projects are no longer the realm of specialist multimedia staff within the newspaper offices. They have become part of the standard journalist’s workload. Despite an editorial push for the creation of video content, Lillie (Ibid., pp 359–60) argues that print journalists have a marked preference in favour of audio slideshows because they believe it is a more compelling storytelling medium with a shorter production duration. Lillie (2011, p. 350) argues that audio slideshows work best for ‘personal, emotional and quiet stories’; using a ‘single voice of a featured subject or expert’ combined with ‘natural sound’ and photographs. One reporter mentioned in Lillie’s study related this new audio-visual format to the type of radio stories featured on NPR programmes such as This American Life: ‘the stories that have most impact are the ones where the reporter gets out of the way and lets participants tell the story’ (Ibid., p. 357). It is this practice of not using narration that most acutely separates audio slideshows from other journalistic visual media (Ibid.).

Lillie, J. (2011). How and why journalist create audio slideshows. An exploratory study of multimedia adoption. Journalism Studies. 5 (3), pp 350–65.

Approval from the best, CNN iReport

Earlier today I posted my final project on CNN iReport, purely as a means of video hosting, not expecting any response. But then…

and then, when I replied, she commented on my iReport page, quoting my email…

I can’t help but be excited by receiving positive feedback on my advanced online media project from a CNN producer. You can view my page on CNN iReport by clicking on this link.

Editing Phase Day 2 & 3

Channeling the 1 in 8 project:

In my second and third day of editing, I moved on to the visual aspect of the project. Soundslides plus, the software I used to put my slide show together, is a purpose-built programme recommended in PetaPixel’s very helpful blog entry How to make an audio slideshow by Jessica Lum. The programme gives you a timeline dictated by the length of the audio you upload to the programme; a slides window which allows you to upload images, add transitions, apply effects and adjust the order of your images; a visual window to monitor your project’s progress; and it exports finished product in flash and mp4 formats. To create the slide show you drag images down to the audio timeline and then edit as desired. Although it has less functions than Final Cut and Adobe premier, it provides exactly what a journalist would need for a slide show project without doing everything for you and layering on the Ken Burns effect like iMovie.

Interesting article here about photo-journalist Joe Weiss who designed the software.

Yesterday, like so many editing experiences, I decided to scrap my original slide show in favor of a 1 in 8 million styled, black and white look. Because audio slide shows are a relatively new medium, they don’t come with the traditional guidelines and conventions like radio features. Therefore, I based a lot of my editing and visual decisions on the  1 in 8 million New York Times project; using those slide shows as a comparison or guide for my own. Hence the black and white  finish on my images, albeit slightly lighter and more old-fashioned looking than the modern 1 in 8 style.

Editing Phase Day 1

Having gathered all my archive audio, sound effects, key interview and brightened up my photos using Photoshop, I began the  task of putting it all together. I began by editing the audio into a radio feature style piece using Adobe Audition.

What is unusual about editing an audio piece for an audio slide show package is that, while the style is relatively similar to a montage style radio feature, it requires the producer to consider extra elements such as the narrative links with picture throughout and the use of rhythmic elements to allow for paced photo transitions. For the intro to my production I used BBC’s legendary ‘Pips’, that play at the beginning of news broadcasts. This sound effect allowed me to have a quick preview of my images at the beginning of the piece, transitioning in time with each beep.

In order to layout the photographs, I edited the feature into sections: Introduction to the character and his obsession; this history of Ham Radio in connection with the museum building; the characters memories of listening to old-time radio; and finally, his opinions on new media, DAB radio and the internet. I plan to divide the photos into these themes i.e. Ham Radio pictures for that section, pictures of the house for the introduction, pictures of 1930-40s radio for his memories, etc.

The next phase of my editing is matching and laying out the photographs to the audio recording. Perhaps because I am a student of radio, I have decided to let the audio be the overarching narrator as opposed to some slide shows with are governed by the photographs and the audio is merely music or a bed of actuality. Having researched programs, I have invested in Journalist/industry recommended  software Soundslides Plus for the project.

More tomorrow…

Editing Phase

Individual Project Checklist

Story/Content idea:

Slideshow One: Audio slideshow combining photos taken around the British Vintage Wireless and Television (House) Museum and an interview with Gerry Wells, the 83 year old owner of the museum who speaks about his early life and a lifelong obsession with radios and all things electronic.

Why is this a good idea to do now?

Digital switch-over: In this period of new media, digitisation of media, and personal technology overload, this slideshow will use this new technology to look at a time when radio was simple, the technology was simple but perhaps sounded better and was of more value to ordinary people.
Interesting personal story: Gerry Wells is an old man who’s lifelong dedication to the collection of radio sets has largely gone unnoticed. He no longer advertises his museum or likes to have visitors due to his ill health. This slideshow will also allow viewers to travel around the museum virtually and lear of a very interesting, uniquely British, life story.

This story is perfectly suited to an audio slideshow approach. A video about a radio museum would not be appropriate, but the addition of photos, to what essentially is a radio feature about a life story, underlines the character’s dedication to collecting radio’s.

Actions so far and outstanding:
Conducted interview with Gerry Wells.
Took 130 plus photographs, 76 of them I consider useable.

Professional example:

Jesse Villanueva: The Sneaker Connoisseur. Part of the New York Times’ One in eight million collection.

Components:
Audio Interview.
Actuality of the character working.
Photograph’s of the character and his shoes.
Black and white treatment of photographs, conforming to the One in eight million collection’s style.

The slideshow is very similar to the angle that I want to take with my project. The interview, as with my interview, is about one man’s love, indeed obsession, with inanimate objects, namely shoes. For my slideshow, my interviewee discusses a similar obsession but with radios.

The style of the photographs make the shoes look similar to displays in a museum, backlit and centre stage. In addition to photograph’s of the shoes, there are also photograph’s of the character shot at odd angles to put the focus on the shoes he is wearing, echoing his own personal focus.

I think the project consisted of two interviews. One in a quiet space at his home and the other at his place of work. These were also the locations for the photographs, although the audio and picture locations do not always match throughout the slideshow. The photographs of the character in the sideshow are really interesting. Unfortunately, due to my characters rather disheveled appearance when I went to visit him, I decided it would be unfair to take a photograph of him as I don’t think he would have appreciated it.

Interview with Gerry Wells. Unedited Audio.

76 Useable Photos.

These photos were taken at the British Vintage Wireless and Television (House) Museum, West Dulwich, London on Friday the 23rd of March, 2010.

Radio Slideshow Research