One genre of podcast that I find intriguing for various nostalgic and inexplicably self-punitive reasons, is that which explores the eeriness of the world, reminiscent in ways of old-time horror radio shows. “Mabel” is a fictional narrative podcast written and produced by Becca De La Rosa that follows the mysterious experiences of Anna Limon, the in-home caregiver of Sally Martin, an elderly woman living in the remote countryside. In the first episode of “Mabel,” “The Letters,” Anna tries to get in contact with Sally’s estranged granddaughter, Mabel, after finding a box of unopened letters in the attic that sends the elderly woman into a fit of terror. “Sword and Scale” is a non-fiction narrative podcast hosted by Mike Boudet in which each …show more content…
The episode introduces listeners to the story world, characters, and plot while simultaneously leaving out certain details, enticing them to continue listening as the mysteries continue to unfold. For example, the reason that Anna is leaving voicemail messages for Mabel (her discovery of the letters) is not revealed until the very end of the episode. Even though the podcast features a single narrative extending over multiple episodes, I feel as though the main focus of the series, Anna’s encounters with strangeness, is successfully captured in “The …show more content…
In likeness to the beginning of “The Letters,” Boudet’s account of Bruce’s case begins with unsettling music, which is a common motif that continues throughout the episode. On the other hand, however, when he is recounting the night of the murders from the perspective of a neighbour, Boudet includes a cheesy gunshot sound effect that takes away from the gravity of the moment. There are also a number of moments where unsettling music is played for a significant period of time, around 15-20 seconds, after Boudet reveals a key part of the story that in my opinion, felt awkwardly lengthy. While I found the music itself to be effective in evoking feelings of unease, the timing of certain musical elements and sound effects was not quite right and thus distracting at
The same applies to a dramatic scene where the music may be deep and frantic to convey to the audience the feeling of anticipation. A scene i would like to focus on is the scene in which Garry and his father have a final ‘showdown’, if you will, at the front of the house. The scene consists of the father imposing himself on Garry and proceeding to continually beat him down time after time only for Garry to rise up and face his father on each occasion. This scene evoked a feeling of pride and admiration from the audience as to Garry’s courage and determination to convey the message to his father that he is ready to stand on his own two feet and defy him. This is a very powerful scene within the movie which initiated powerful emotions within the audience. All of this was accomplished with the notable absence of music of any form. The omission of music in this scene created an atmosphere in which the dramatic affect was amplified due to the silence.
The music throughout the film plays a big role in the way it is perceived and the overall tone and message. The directors and producers used background noise and music very wisely in order to convey the emotions of a scene. In the movie, it reaches a certain point where it almost looks as though things are looking up for education. It is when the documentary starts describing the “new acting chancellor of the district of columbia schools”, during this scene the makers want you to really pay attention and become almost shocked by this turn of events. However, they do not only grab your attention by the words and clips shown, but also by the loud, upbeat music that is suddenly played while she is being announced. Also, later in the movie they use this same
Upbeat moments such as the film’s opening are appropriately coupled with orchestrations that complement the scene as expected, but there are some moments that feature compositions that don’t truly fit the tone of the film. For example, right before Buddy and his cousin begin counting their change, the music inelegantly changes from and calm and well composed tune to an unsettling and overactive bridge that doesn’t match the scene at all. This part sounds more as if some sort of unfortunate event were about I take place, but instead, the duo begins a simple conversation about a contest they had recently entered.
This means that you only have a certain amount of time to tell a cohesive story. Basically, by the end of the episode, you need to have drawn some sort of conclusion from your original subject. This narrative is as important as chapters are to the organization of a book. To make the narrative have flow effectively, you need to link quotes from interviews together with narration. Transitions between concepts can be done most effectively via well written narration or background music. The narration is most efficient if it either summarize or adds insight to ideas, and the music is most effective if it sets the emotional tone of the upcoming discussion. Both the interviews, like the narrative, must progress the story. For example, in the “This American Life” episode “Switched at Birth”, the podcast first discusses the experiences of the two women who were switched at birth, and then the experiences of the mothers whose daughters were switched. The interviews built on each other. The audience doesn’t want to learn about the experiences of auxiliary characters before hearing from the protagonist; it just doesn’t doesn’t logically
Radiolab presented a very compelling story of a lady by the name of Diane became witness to the lives of a young couple in their somewhat private domain. Diane shared her story of her intimate, but very one-sided interaction with her new neighbors across the way, whom never shut their curtains, with one Radiolab’s producers, Briana Breen. During their conversation, Diane breaks down as to what drove her to do the things that she had done and how she felt in the time of this interaction. Like many other listeners to this podcast, as well as the storyteller Diane, I will explain as to why her actions are justifiable.
“And the band started playing one of those really slow songs, like “Stairway to Heaven” or “Freebird” that probably have really great lyrics or something but the song itself just is awful-just awful. Then this real phony guy, with the hair all slicked back on the top of his head stood up with the Sax and did a solo. I almost died. I mean, almost completely died right there. It had to be the cheesiest solo I had ever heard. I mean he was swaying back and forth and he closed his eyes like he was really getting into it and all, but it was the fakest thing you ever heard. It was like something out of a bad Howard Johnson’s. I swear, he must record Muzak for a living or drive
Music has proven to be one of the most effective tools to aid films by helping the story flow and create emotional impacts within an audience. Hitchcock’s unorthodox and unique use of music is what creates the uneasy atmosphere of the film at the very beginning and it cues the audience to prepare for the upcoming scary scenes. The music is what arguably what holds the film together, without it the film would not hold up and there would not be as much suspense in this dramatic and psychological thriller. It’s the creepy music that makes Psycho such a memorable
In her article, Magdalena Kay brings up the idea that students feel the need to go to college in order to obtain a job that makes enough money to support the lifestyle that they want (3). These students want to go to universities to earn their degree so that they can achieve their blissful little life with a gratifying job, but for students, it is not always possible to make it to a university right away as planned. Frequently universities cost too much, people are not mature enough, their grades are not satisfactory, or they need to work and do not have the time for classes; this is where community colleges come into play. They can be a great option for people who are unable to go straight to a four-year college and they allow students to get most of their general classes out of the way and help them work towards a bachelor 's degree. A majority of students transfer to a four-year college from community colleges by virtue of the benefits of it, but through the process over 50 percent of students lose some portion of their credits and this sets them back on their path to earning a degree. While transferring has copious benefits for students, there are not a multitude of options for paths between colleges to transfer.
In fact, news segments such as Oliver’s have found new life and power in social media where clips proliferate via sharing. Thus, not only has Murrow’s technique survived, it has gained traction due to its institutionalized nature and by taking advantage of technological developments and media’s increasing surveillance to piece together well-supported audiovisual theses that successfully synthesize and analyze the proliferation of data presented today to effectively inform and entertain the
In this scene the music becomes eerier, darker, and more suspenseful. The music choice mirrors and helps emphasize the town's feelings towards
In this world, there are two sides to everything. Whether it may be a message, a film or a novel, each platform of literature has two different windows. The first being the depiction of the author and the second being the interpretation of the audience. This concept is evident within both works this essay seeks to explore. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest, a charismatic criminal, Randle P. McMurphy is admitted to a state asylum due to his will of serving out of prison sentence in a mental hospital rather than the penitentiary. McMurphy brings in the outside world to the admitted patients after being legally declared insane through a condensed interview with a psychiatrist. He symbolizes freedom, life and the power of an
For this week’s post I listened to Orson Welles and The Mercury Theater’s ‘War of the Worlds’ radio broadcast. The broadcast is one hour – long and what seems to be about an alien invasion in New Jersey. My first reaction to this post even before listening to the broadcast or reading articles was a little uneasy. You can say that I was a little anxious about this post due to my personal beliefs of not speaking about the unknown; however I will not be getting an F any time sooner. Anyways, I don’t listen to the radio unless it’s music related so you can surely understand why I would not be interested in a radio adaptation of a novel, especially one related with alien invasions. This broadcast, however left me wanting more even after being scared
Another example is when Arbogaust gets killed and when Norman is taking his mother downstairs, we watch over this scene from the top corner, as the birds do in Norman's office this implies that Norman is haunted by something watching over him. These examples foreshadow the ending of the film and the real situation between Norman and Mother. The music builds a lot of tension and suspense in psycho, it tells us that something is going to happen very soon and we get prepared for it, the lack of music can make a scene seem calm and normal, which then contrasts with the loud scary music that starts quickly as the scary part happens. The audience are unprepared and scared.
However, unlike her memoir, the show does not resign itself to telling Piper’s ultimately extremely boring story. Instead the show uses her experience as a jumping point to expand into the lives of each of the women around her. It is these stories, so often ignored by mainstream media, which ultimately give the show the richness that has catapulted it to such success.
(Mulvey, Nov. 2, 2017) Our society today is engrossed in the visualization of gore, horror, and violence. In the infamous scene where the murderer is unveiled, an orchestra plays a staccato melody that rises in tempo. “Incorporating music into your own films can not only make your final cut more interesting, but it also allows the audience the ability to connect emotionally to your characters and their situation, and you, the filmmaker, to reinforce your story and/or message.” (Bell, Nov. 2, 2017). Nevertheless, this would explain why a viewer's interest would peak at the moment of each murder. The music being played pre murder builds suspense and creates the feeling that the viewer knows what is going to happen before it even happens. For example, a creepy tune plays every time the mysterious murders carriage drives around the town. The viewer is left to assume that a murder is about to occur, but is left at the edge of their seat wondering if their assumption is a correct inclination of where the plot is going. Music not only builds suspense by allowing the viewer to have freedom of their own foreshadowed outcomes, but it keeps their interest as well.