Welcome back to the Podcast Academy blog, where we'll be narrating the journey of our six projects. Each week, our seven participants will engage with industry professionals, Production Lab mentors, and one another to produce their own narrative, episodic podcasts. The ultimate goal of these workshops is a trailer and first episode presented during Podcast Academy’s Live Pitch Event (September 26th), where our participants will pitch their podcasts to a live audience and industry professionals in hopes of getting picked up for further development. With that, let’s roll into our recap of Week 3’s first session.
An Intro to Audio Fiction Writing
We started off the first half of the session with a lesson from Gabriel Urbina, Sarah Shachat, and Zach Valenti of Wolf 359 and Time•Bombs, two audio fiction podcasts from recent years. The trio discussed their approach to audio fiction storytelling, dispelling common misconceptions of the format and introducing the Academy to their two pronged strategy - “Remember the Toolbox” and “Remember to Walk the Tightrope.”
Major Takeaways from the Exercise:
I) Like all media formats, audio maintains its own arsenal of tools that define action and amplify ideas/emotions for the listener - human voice, sound effects, music, and silence.
II) Silence can function as an indicator of forward motion, providing time to process information and divide segments.
III) Audio fiction is not talk podcasts, storytime, or audiobooks. It is an immersive, scripted experience.
IV) Audiofiction must maintain a balance between imagination, in which the listener creates their own experience and interpretation, and clarity, in which the podcaster must include guideposts to enhance the experience and maintain plot.
V) While reiteration can help maintain clarity, be sure to inflect repetition to add dimension to your story rather than just a hand holding mechanism.
An Intro to Nonfiction Audio Writing
The second half of the session was facilitated by Jocelyn Gonzalez, an adjunct professor (and former student) at NYU who is now part of Studio360. Jocelyn’s sessions was focused on nonfiction audio storytelling, and how best to approach the format. Jocelyn started off the discussion with an intro, similar to the trio’s, defining podcasts from radio and introducing her method into nonfiction storytelling.
Major Takeaways from the Exercise:
I) Nonfiction storytelling needs to have ethical guidelines, like journalism, to maintain integrity.
II) A podcast’s voice is composed of its plot, style, sound design, and music.
III) A great way to structure episodes is to define what question you are trying to answer with this story.
IV) What a podcast is “about” encompasses the thematic and emotional journey while “what happens” is plot and action oriented.
V) When casting, consider how different characteristics like accents, gender, and even race, could provide understanding and clarity for the listener.
Thanks for joining us in this process as we go throughout the weeks. Please continue to follow our blog for a glimpse into how to produce your own independent podcast. Remember to pay close attention to our blog because there may be a special prize given out during our Live Pitch Event for those of you who followed our journey and learned with us along the way! We hope to see you again here at NYU’s Podcast Academy!