Suite As

Another long day in the basement, and I’m beginning to feel a bit like a mole. I’ve finally cut my interview with Conor into a rough draft, which is about 4:30. So still about twice as long as it’s meant to be.

Our interview moseyed a bit and went on a number of tangents that could be quite interesting, but I’m getting to the point in the process where I’ve realised I just need to be ruthless.

The style we’re going for is based on Invisibilia, and I knew it was ambitious, but I’m only just realising how difficult it is to edit the stories with the kind of strong narration that they use.

Basically, the way that Invisibilia (as well as Serial and a bunch of other recently released podcasts) is constructed is like an audio essay, with the interview material punctuating as evidence. I really like this approach, because it saves a lot of time – it’s to the point, and it directs the listener in a way that’s way more helpful than listening to a straight few minutes of someone waffling about a topic. They press questions, then use the tape they have to provide answers.

We’re committed to this style now, and I do think it will work but it’s going to take a fair amount of work. I’ve also listened to a lot of All the Best to see if I can get any more inspiration from the ways they narrate their interview tape.

I think ultimately what seems to work for these programs is that they conduct interviews in order to learn about the topic, but then provide the listener with a summarised run down – for example ‘Connor explained that for him, Facebook is the most interesting medium for new writing’ instead of 45 seconds of tape that takes a while to get to the point, and then you can launch straight into what your interviewee actually said.

This kind of sparse and direct narration really appeals to me because it gets to the point (signposting for the listener why what they’re hearing is significant) whilst also adding context that means you can just use snippets of audio that economically convey the interviewee’s point.

Time to do some more scripting, and time to pare down even more from the interview tomorrow!