Train at King’s Cross Station
Title: “Train at King’s Cross”
Description of Style: Narrative and Conversational.
Description of Piece: Two passengers argue over a seat on the train.
Description of three sounds: “Mind the Gap,” train chug/whistle, “Blimey.”
Running time: 2 minutes, 30 seconds
Artist Credits:
The “Mind the Gap” sound, titled “MindTheGap”, is attributed to the freesounds user “acclivity”, and the URL is http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=14904
The train sound, titled “ChugChugWooHoo” is attributed to the freesounds user “”acclivity”, and the URL is http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=31626
I would also like to thank Jenna Johnson and James Stoker for assisting me in my project and allowing me to record their voices.
Link to my podcast:
December 3rd, 2007 at 12:44 pm
Here is my evaluation:
The idea for my podcast came to my mind right away when I learned of the constraint of the “pre-recorded voice.” After living and studying in England for a semester, I heard countless times the voice of the woman cautioning travelers to “Mind the Gap” whenever I took the train or underground tube, and her warning has been forever ingrained in my memory. It is a unique pre-recording (at least to Americans), and I was glad to incorporate something from my time abroad into one of my classes, as quirky as what I included may be.
I feel I was successful in conveying my effects, and they all fit together nicely in my England-based theme. In the conversation between the two characters, I included English jargon that I learned abroad, some of which I learned in the tubes and trains. Even the Oulipion stipulation of the “exclamation” was part of the British theme, as it is a word that Americans (or other countries, at least to my knowledge) never use.
If I were to continue this project (and I am taking “continue” to mean expanding the project) I would likely expand the conversation to include even more words specific to the English, and since the audience is primarily American, I would try to give cues for what those words mean. I would probably also include other sounds, such as a conductor announcing the departure or a pre-recorded voice announcing the next stop. Perhaps I would include the hum of other passengers’ talking or shuffling newspapers. I felt that it was difficult to include some things, such as noises of other passengers, because there is no visual aspect to this podcast. Had this been a video podcast, it would have been much easier to convey and incorporate those effects. The time restraint also limited effects since I had little time to integrate material as well as give meaning to it.
Although this project had specific guidelines, it still allowed a large degree of freedom. The constraints were not as stifling as I expected because, though we were forewarned to choose our sounds before creating our story, it was easy to find anything I needed, thanks to Creative Commons. In fact, for everything I searched, not only was I able to find what I needed, but I had several choices to choose from.
Before I began my podcast, my one concern was that everyone having the same opener; this is because I thought everyone might have the same argument between a couple or the typical break-up situation. However, after listening to others’ podcasts on the Third Coast Festival’s website, I found that hardly anyone used that scenario—I found everything from a parent-to-child relationship to how a cat feels about her owner’s new boyfriend! I’m interested to see the angles and directions everyone in our class took this assignment.
Despite my one worry, which proved to not be so cumbersome anyway, I found the constraints enjoyable. Everyone has a different idea of what to include and interpretation for what can “count” for the constraints. I learned from Creative Commons that almost everything is available, and what is not can be requested. It was amazing to me that people were willing to help others in their search for sounds. When one person requested a train noise, another user actually went out and recorded one and reported back to the person who requested it. I was pleased and impressed with this comradeship, and I’m also thankful because, through helping someone else, those people also helped me with my project. I like the Oulipian style, and after creating one, I think that it would be easy to invent another since the constraints, rather than inhibiting you, help you to spread your wings in your creativity.
December 6th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Lily,
A great narrative with a fun twist that sends the listener back to reinterpret the “begin” of “To begin with, they never got along.” Suddenly we realize how far back that begin might actually be.
Also a fabulous job with the dialogue–you obviously are very good at picking up mannerisms when you travel.
I like the idea of incorporating background voices to add the “visual” element that a film would simply supply. Audacity would certainly allow that without increasing the length of the actual podcast. I’m not so sure I’d want you to explain any of the British colloquialisms. You’ve done a great job in the narrative of conveying meaning without any unnecessary explanation–one of the things a 2 1/2 min constraint will force one to do.
Finally, it’s interesting that you stumbled upon the collaboration of folks using Creative Commons since that is in fact what the organization’s founders hoped for, and it illustrates one of the aspects of the Web that we’ve been considering and that people like Wesch consider new and essential to the Internet.
Fine job.