Soundscapes and Audio Remediation

Taking a story beyond mere words is the art of audio theater.

The most famous example of painting a soundscape so realistic that the listening audience is completely immersed in the story...is Orson Welles' radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds." The broadcast was heard by more than 6 million Americans on the CBS Radio network...and taken as a real report of a Martian invasion by many of those listening.

ORSON WELLES: War of the Worlds


A compelling narrative must have a strong plot, interesting characters, and a compelling story arc. Stories shared orally can create a sense of place and time, and develop characters...through SOUND as well as dialogue. Note how the modern master Garrison Keillor and his fellow characters use music and vocal tone to create a sense of place and to develop character.

A Prairie Home Companion: "Guy Noir"


Beyond music and vocal tone, there's another level of audio storytelling - the soundscape which captures the sound of the setting and of the action. Note how many supporting sounds are added to the spoken story performed by the radio company of A Prairie Home Companion.

PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION: "Rhubarb"

Audio Project: Tips and Resources

Now that you are well into writing and planning your Audio remediation scripts, I wanted to alert you to some recording resources here at WSU-V.

Jeanette Altman has recorders and microphones that can be checked out. She is in fine arts, a lab technician / graphic designer; Jeanette Altman 360-546-9491, or altman@vancouver.wsu.edu.

Also, there is a recording studio in the Fine Arts room next door to VMMC111.

Regarding the scripts themselves, here are two things to keep in mind as you edit your drafts:

1. When in doubt, cut it out! An effective accoustic experience eliminates wasted words, and unnecessary dialogue. So once you have your story narrative worked out, the actual-beginning-middle-end, loop back and apply this filter to all your dialogue:

Does this dialogue a) develop character, b) reveal story details needed by the listener, and/or c) advance the plot? If a line or sequence does neither, CUT IT OUT

The other thing I've noticed: Make sure you are investing creative thought into the AUDIO remediation, not only the script/story writing. Remember your story unfolds to a listener who does not have visual cues, or access to companion text, they will experience the story as an ACOUSTIC experience. So edit your drafts with a LISTENING audience in mind, and look for ways to enrich the spoken narrative with an “acoustic space” of sounds, settings that enhance the experience beyond merely Spoken Words.

One other important reminder, please note per the Project Assignment description the audio file is due at 9 a.m. on 12/7, not at 6 p.m. (enabling me to load all projects onto the class website).

Augmented Reality (AR)

In the innovative transmedia film The Matrix (1999), Morpheus poses the question to Neo: "What is 'real'...?"



















Innovators in Augmented Reality (AR) are using new digital technologies to blur the conventional boundaries between what is 'real' and what is 'virtual'.


Augmented play:


Augmented shopping:


Remember the Terminator?


Science Fiction...becomes reality with StarkVision?!


The future: Reality...except more so.


How is "reality" different when it is..."augmented"? [Articulated Naturality]

Immersion, Avatars and Virtual Worlds

New digital media permit users to fulfill the ages-old wish to escape and immerse in fantasy worlds, but in a new and more participatory way, Janet Murrow notes in Hamlet on the Holodeck (1997, p. 98).

Whereas 18th-century readers immersed themselves in the fantasy world of novels, today users can escape into participatory augmented and virtual reality spaces.

Second Life is one of the earliest, best known, and most popular virtual worlds.



Creating a personal AVATAR, a digital representation of one's virtual self, is the beginning step in navigating virtual worlds. In the virtual world, through the Avatar, you can be whoever you want to be. What happens to identity in a world populated with self-constructed avatars?

Do You Want to Date My Avatar? (The Guild)


And this humorous remix response:
I'm Too Busy to Date Your Avatar


And this digital to analog remediation: Humans playing Avatars!



What does it mean for society that we can escape into these immersive environments? Are we at risk of blurring the line between virtual and real?

IBM: Avatars


And what about relationships? Does the ability to be whoever we want to be in the virtual world reduce our ability to have real relationships and make real connections in the real world.

Coke: Avatars


What makes immersive worlds seem "real"? Here are some interesting insights from James Cameron, director of AVATAR, about his own question to make the immersive world of that movie believable to the audience.

Avatar: The Movie (Discover Networks)

11-11-11: Visual-mapping of Tweets

Tweets mentioning 11-11-11 on the day.

Philosophy and The Matrix

The Matrix is much more ambitious than a traditional movie, attempting to combine explorations of religious, philosophical, and political themes across multiple platforms, all while still delivering an action-adventure thriller that worls within each 'screen.'

Here's a remarkable documentary detailing the philosophical themes woven within the Matrix.
Philosophy and The Matrix

And of course, any transmedia storytelling effort with such grand ambitions will elecit parodies, and perhaps none was more detailed (and star-packed) than this from the opening of the MTV Movie Awards in 2003.

Audio Remediation: Student Project Examples

"iPod of Discord," by Todd Hartsfield, Alyssa Blanton, Erin Kelley, Sarah Robison-Mathes, and Laura Velarde

Hansel and Gretel, by Dom Ramunno-Johnson, Joshua Lovejoy, Anaya Martella, Joshua Roberts and Lindsey Esch

Lisa Strata, by Jennifer Wheeler, Heather Martin, Chad McClure and Alan Olson.

"Three Pigs," by Mary Liu, Jacob Burton, Sandi Oja, Zak Steltz and Cassie Watson.

"A Predicament"
by Nic Wilson, Erik Cummings, Terri Mason and Eduard Nagornyy.

"The Importance of Being Earnest"
by Alyssa Andersen, Andrew Rajigah, Rick Fisher and Geoffrey Wallace.

"A Christmas Carol"
By Ashley Gonder, Cathy Manwell, Rebecca Fraser and Ernie LeDuc.

"The Scarf"
by Henry Ortega, Jon Perry, Aida Koric and Elena Mahrt.

Audio Remediation: Resources and Examples

Here are a list of helpful resources and examples related to audio theater and audio remediation.

Audiotheater.com

Crazy Dog Audio Theater
(Including this helpful piece on the basics of writing for audio theater)

Chatterbox

Radio Drama Revival

The largest broadcasting company in the world, The BBC, still invests heavily in audio theater. Some of the best modern pieces are coming from here. There are three channels producing this kind of work:

BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 generally offer drama and more serious fare.

While BBC Radio 7 offers sci-fi and comedy as well as other miscellaneous programs.

The Wireless Theatre Company

Example 1 from WTC (banter, character development and sound effects, including silence): The Importance of Shoes

Example 2 from WTC (language and communication): Laying Ghosts

Example 3 from WTC (framing): The Fun Tom Menace

L.A. Theatre Works (We heard a clip from its version of "Pygmalion")

Many samples of L.A. Theatre Works plays on this site, including the Tony Award-winning play "Art" by Yasmina Reza.

The Mercury Theatre (Orson Welles's troupe, which created the infamous "War of the Worlds" broadcast

From the Rick Emerson side project, "A.Z.," an action piece about when zombies take over the world,

Episode 6: "No Mercy"

And a big list of all sorts of radio theater on the Web