I love the challenge of storytelling through something as narrow as
audio only. When it is limited to one form of media you have to be very
creative and utilize that platform in a way that the audience doesn't feel
shortchanged or lost. I think a form of
storytelling we don’t automatically think to put in this category is song. With only some lyrics and notes you can tell
a story. You can evoke emotion. As we sit at church, so many can testify of
feeling the Spirit through music. A
great example is the song Come Come Ye Saints;
it tells the powerful story of the courageous saints who trekked west. Every word and note is important to the song;
it makes us feel grateful for the power they had and the blessings that we can
enjoy because of their courage. The
Routines videos by Mercadante were also able to convey their message with a
small platform. Of course, it incorporated audio and video. However, the audio
was kept to a minimum so the main focus, the video, told the story. How each
video was presented, everything from the form, to camera placement and color
was intentional. You have to be when you are relying heavily on one means of
storytelling. In our process piece, when left to audio only, the sounds we used
were very intentional. Originally we were going to have the narrative told from
the perspective of an onlooker actually describing what was happening. But
another student, Melissa Lee, suggested we take that narrative out and let the
audio tell the story. We tried this and it worked out rather well so we went
with it. We start with an establishing ambiance noise to place the audience in
the middle of the road. We also made the
conscious decision not use any other voices besides our main characters as to
not get our audience confused. By making these decisions and using other elements
that went into making our piece, we hoped that the sounds we used provided adequate
and unambiguous imagery.
- Rebecca Viazzo and Ty Griffiths
