Valentines day 2013 was an all around bizarre day. That was the day that Oscar Pistorius allegedly murdered his girlfriend, that day the an SWAT team came to Angel Hall, the day that people were going a bit crazy lamenting … Continue reading →

Here are some examples of great audio essays– David Sedaris, “Santaland Diaries” from NPR Sonari Glinton, “Soul Sister” from TAL Benjamin Busch, “Hold the Hellelujah: The Perils of Rifles and … Continue reading →

I found the stories in Radiolab’s “Deception” broadcast really interesting, especially the story of the con-woman Hope.

I spent a lot of time thinking about the style of broadcast that Radiolab used, especially the way they layered sounds and used sound effects in their stories.

For the most part, I find sound effects somewhat effective in radio stories to add to ambiance. But I found myself distracted by the jarring background music sometimes - especially when it was paired with people talking in the background as well. 

There seemed to be a pattern of moving between two or three speakers very quickly, sometimes having them reiterate each other. When coupled with background noise or sound effects, it’s more cacophonous. I thought it was especially distracting with the story of Paul Ekman, which I think is something better told with a visual aide, especially during his description of different expressions. It was really hard to visualize what he was talking about when his discussion was interspersed with the interviewer every other second.

The most effective use of this layering was during the section on pathological liars, when the woman is asked out in the elevator. It gives a sense of claustrophobia, which I think was appropriate for that scene. Other than that, I found their use of sound effects really distracting, especially with some of the more disturbing/erratic sounds they used, like the weird guitar and digital sounds around the 47-minute mark.

I think that Radiolab’s show was well-researched and, content-wise, I really enjoyed it. However, I think that its editing made it harder for me to soak up the information, especially in comparison to the NPR story.

CC Flickr User tq2cute

Something I found interesting about listening to the two radio shows (Radiolab: “Deception” and This American Life: “Valentine’s Day 2013″) one after the other are their stark contrasts. While "Deception"spoke about how people began to lose all trust and faith in mankind after they were exposed to compulsive liars like Hope, "Valentines Day 2013" included an interview about a boy who was completely enamored by a narcotic officer. However, after the officer exposed herself, the boy's trust didn't seem to be phased  by this revelation at all. It is just interesting how both shows contradict each other in that aspect.

In other news, I really enjoyed "Deception." I think it may have been the content that made it more interesting than This American Life's show, but I'm not sure. I also appreciated "Deception's" consistency with style, whereas This American Life had multiple different stories. Radiolab's appeal also had something to do with the jumping introduction about the snake. I was listening to it very late last night while everybody in my house was asleep, and was somewhat creeped out at times. It had a lot of erie music and quick loud noises. They were likely just adding to the strangeness that comes with analyzing pathologic liars, because they are still somewhat of a mystery and are viewed negatively.

At the end of the show, they talked about how liars are happier because they are able to lie to themselves about the realities of life, and the radio hosts made this seem like a positive thing. However, it seemed really selfish to me. I think that life is all about helping other people, especially those in need. Therefore, when people lie to themselves about the deadly reality so many people encounter everyday, something is going wrong. If you are only thinking about yourself and your happiness at all times, then something needs to change. I think we all should sacrifice a bit of our happiness to help make other people happy.

Valentine’s Day 2013 aired on February 8th, 2013.  It starts off with a corny joke about a couple of physicists. They are at a bar, just kidding, at school because they are in training.  However, as the radio show continues … Continue reading →

"CREATE", a photo by theopcm on Flickr.The Daily Create 2.26.13 - spell "create" using interesting materials/objects to form the lettersFor the record I didn't know this border would be so ugly/I really don't like it...so just ignore it.

CC Brent MooreThe Valentines Day episode of This American Life provided a collection of crazy love stories from past shows. The show was edited very well as it cut back and forth between past interviews. I personally did not like the host very muc...

SnowCreate

"Create", a photo by bsosnik on Flickr. “Create”

I found the introduction to the podcast rather interesting and odd, the whole thing with the snake at first made no sense, but I did figure it out.  The snake was acting “dead” just like people are taught when they face dangerous animals.  I thought the transition was also weird, but it kept me wondering ...

Did you eat breakfast this morning??

This week’s audio creates! Two due by the end of the week… Tell the story of a place in one ambient audio recording. (umdst, umdst24) Using your voice as the … Continue reading →

I found the use of sound to be very effective and powerful in this piece. The sound effects added to the content of their discussion and developed a sense of setting. Their discussion made me think of my Biology of Sex class as well as my Psychology class. In Bio of Sex we’ve been learning ...

This week I did the following: Daily Create, Daily Create Last Video Response to Radio On I am sad to end the video unit because I had so much fun with it and wish that it could just continue until the end of the semester. Though I am not as excited for the audio unit, ...

  Response to Radio On

This book was very interested. I really like the way that it was written. Making it a book of diary entries allowed the reader to stay focused. I doubt that one could make a book worth reading just writing about the radio. The way Sarah Vowell described the radio’s role in each day documented was … Continue reading →

Ode to Beddy

Sunday’s Daily Create This was definitely written from the heart. At times, I feel as if I neglect my bed. I hope to spend more time with Beddy over spring break. Friday’s Daily Create It hurt me to type the words that must never be spoken but it had to be done. GO BLUE! Response … Continue reading →

An awesome new course at U-M appears in a mysterious email! It seems like the perfect class…but is it too good to be true?

Opposite Photo, a photo by denardr0016 on Flickr. Opposite Caption: “Go Green, Go White” It destroyed me to type that by the way..ugh!

Homework broadcast for 2/25/2013– For Wednesday– Listen to two radio shows, Radiolab: “Deception” and This American Life: “Valentine’s Day 2013″ Post a blog response to one of the shows Come … Continue reading →

Just a few quick hits, as we get into our vox pop assignment. First, if you haven’t worked with audacity before, check out this screenshot: This is your basic screenshot … Continue reading →

In this book Sarah Vowell records her daily encounters with the radio beginning on December 31, 1995. When reading the introduction, the quote that stuck out was also the one that caught Vowell’s attention. “You will never understand radio by … Continue reading →

Well, look what you have there

Image taken from the Flickr photostream of Sveeta Bogomolova and used under a Creative Commons Licence. Reading this article, I was struck by how nostalgic I felt thinking about sitting around the radio at night with my family, listening in, or laying in bed late at night listening. But those things never happened; I was feeling nostalgic about something I never actually experienced. That's

Looking back at all the videos, what have I learned? A lot of things are actually pretty easy to do in iMovie. Chroma keying (whether blue or green screening) in particular is pretty easy. I even set up my own with some blue fabric my room mate had lying around the apartment. As long as ...

This film is the one I’m least with happy with. I had a precise idea of what I wanted to achieve, and I didn’t get to do it. Not because of issues with filming or animation, but because it was hard to find decent creative commons videos of bird singing, and because I ran out ...

I’m fairly content with how this film turned out compared to the other two. I think it’s because I had a clear idea of what I was going to do to begin with and because I spent the most time on it. At the same time, I think that it doesn’t do a very good ...