The pitch session a few weeks ago was the opportunity for me to define my best approach to the media work, which is a podcast that could be seen as a powerful address on the plastic crisis. I was considering between two different approaches: a factual one with speeches that address the nature of the plastic issue, or an artistic one that focuses on the suffering that comes out of the plastic crisis. I gained some valuable feedback from my peers and our guests, but ultimately I could not come up with the best way to use as the foundation of the project. However, after more research and sourcing different materials, I came up with the best way: use both approaches and divide the podcast into two parts.
I started with searching for different sound materials. A very valuable I gained from the speech was to use different types of sound to represent plastic, and the obvious way to go for was to base around the ocean. All audio pieces at this part of the project were sourced via Freesound and were to be used under Creative Commons Zero license. I realised that by using sounds, I could bring a sense of narrative into the whole piece. I thought that I could show the story of a man having a day by the ocean, enjoying a can of soft drink then throwing it directly into the ocean. Some sea creatures would consume this can, and eventually they suffocate as the result.
With that fresh idea in mind, I searched for some sounds of sea waves, and realised that duplicating a few pieces of them would create a suitable background. I have not accessed much using Audition throughout the years but I was not too struggled in mixing these audio pieces together and sourcing them into the order of my liking. I then found pieces of someone drinking, throwing the can away and rolling it into the ocean. I also found some audio files of seagulls and whales, which are two common sea creatures that suffer from plastic waste. After sorting these files together in order, this is what the project looks like at this point:
I then tried to find sound of sea creatures suffering from plastic. But then I realised: wouldn’t it be more impactful if I make it more personal to the people that might listen to this by provoking a sense of ecological grief? I thought that this could certainly be done by a few audio files of people that couldn’t breathe – exactly what sea creatures have to go through by consuming plastic waste. The result looks like this (and I’m not going to lie, this bit sounds quite disturbing but I was prepared to go down this route because I thought it would be more impactful):
I thought this is a good enough stage to move on from the artistic approach. As a constraint I set myself was not to use news audio, I focus on speeches. I have used TED talks in previous projects to base them around, and I still found these to be the most inspiring ways. I found three speeches that were suitable to refine: a talk on why plastic pollution is personal by Natalie Fee; a campaign to ban plastic bags in Bali by two siblings named Melati and Isabel Wijsen; and a conversation on a plan to end plastic waste by Andrew Forrest. In addressing the plastic crisis in South East Asia (which was the whole reason why I looked into plastic as my hyperobject), I luckily found a piece of Malaysian Environmental Minister addressing the issue which was the most convenient piece possible. After sorting them in a suitable order, this is what my final project looks like before exporting:
In the end, I was quite happy with the end result. Of course, there are a few things I thought I could improve, which I will address in the next prompt.
References
Fee, N 2017, Why Plastic Pollution is Personal, YouTube, 19 December, TEDx Talks, viewed 3 June 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJiQt9ASSNg>.
Forrest, A 2019, A radical plan to end plastic waste, YouTube, 1 November, TED, viewed 3 June 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5g9-4fx60A>.
Global News 2019, Malaysia to ship back tonnes of plastic waste to Canada and other nations, YouTube, 29 May, Global News, viewed 3 June 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQHwR6-_bK8>.
Wijsen, I & Wijsen, M 2016, Our campaign to ban plastic bags in Bali, YouTube, 20 February, TED, viewed 3 June 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8GCjrDWWUM>.