For our last workshop (yes, last!), Jeremy started with a reminder of the upcoming pitch session for next semester’s studios which will be held on the 8th of June (more info here). He’ll also hold a studio of his own, which will be about a web series, collaborating with students from the creative writing department.

Next, Jeremy explained the basics of Adobe Audition, which I am totally blind about, since I’ve never used them before, so it comes in handy. He covered arranging tracks, putting in effects, exporting (file sizes, types, name and destination) also us some basics on cutting, layering, etc. Before the guests came, we’re asked to prepare some questions to ask for our project regarding:

• Creative Treatment: what can we do with it, how can we make it interesting?
• Clarity: can people understand what we’re trying to get across?
• Structure: where should things go, how do we arrange the pieces?

We also discussed about our other team mate, who’s been unreachable for some time, and he told us to just do it ourselves if we don’t mind, so we’re now on our own. Anyhow, the guests, Catherine and Jon, along with Brian, our course coordinator came at around 4pm. We’re one of the two groups to go first showing our work, and got Catherine our table. After the gears were all set up, everyone at the table put on the headphones to listen to our rough cut, which was just two raw interviews really, since we had just recorded them.

Since our topic was about Female Nudity and Objectification of Women in Media, we interviewed a fashion design student, Jenny, who’s work involves nudity, and a media lecturer in RMIT, Dr Stayci, who did a study on feminism. Having listened to the interviews, Catherine gave us some valuable feedback.

First of all, she suggested we grab the Jenny again if possible and re-conduct an interview because she told us that the questions we asked her, although they were good, were not something of her interest and that shows in the audio. Catherine explained that what she wanted to hear was her story, which of course in order to relate to our topic (nudity), how she draws nude bodies and covers them with fabric, what she feels about that, (since it is not common). We’re recommended to ask specific questions that has a personal connection with her, because if she’s not interested in the questions, we can’t hear her passion in her answer.

Aside from that, she also gave us some ideas on other sounds we can insert to make our audio more impactful. We’re asked to search for excerpts and take the little bits where people talk about the female body or even just record our own voice describing that in soft alluring voice, to be put in the background of the interview audio. She suggested that idea because our audio needs some evocative imagery, as we don’t currently have that.

When we asked her whether or not we can put music in our audio, she told us she always recommends people not to do that, as music often fills in the lack of emotion in an audio piece. Emotion should come from the raw material itself, and not from the music, she said. However, having said that, if we do find a suitable soundtrack (suggested: different style for each person) and it doesn’t overshadow the original material, we can always include them, although she stressed on “the less the better”.

A few other things she suggested includes playing with the panning [descriptive: right (echo), interviewee: left (natural)], introducing the person we interviewed as a narration, making sure to have a clear audio with minimal sound, and cutting up unnecessary parts from the interview.

I feel like the feedback session were really informational and helpful, as she pointed out all the things that we can experiment on, or fix in some cases, she also gave us some ideas that we’ve not thought about before, so it was a very productive session, I reckon. Although it is true that the due date is very close which means there are little time for changes, and also the fact that they were suggestions and we don’t have to go with it, I feel like we do need to tweak some things in order to make it better, and I hope to make the most out of her advice and reflect those in our final audio.