Introduction
The use of audio slides to tell stories points to the opportunities, which have been made possible through the digital technology. However, there is a threat of underutilising the new digital formats due to our attachment to older formats such as books and radio.
Pedro Monteiro states that space constraints and graphic layout of books have made the narrative flow a broken one. Monteiro also highlights the major advantage of digital story telling because of its quality of having multiple layers of information.
The audio slideshow narrative can be regarded as the epitome of convergence, as it brings together the aspects of the radio, television and the computer.
Hence this study of audio slideshow narrative was achieved by borrowing some radio and video narrative principles. It is imperative to be aware of the following narrative elements when constructing an audio slide sequence.
Structure
The basic structure of any story has a beginning, middle and an end. However, William Miller in his book Screenwriting for the narrative and Film and Television states that a narrative can have a more complex structure, with sub plots running along. The two examples explored in this blog The Neglected” street children of Ukraine and The private life of Clotide show how simple or complex an audio slideshow narrative can be.
The important point is that the beginning should grab the viewer’s attention and the end should have some sort of resolution.
Emotional Devices
A story needs emotional devices to sustain the attention of the audience, and the obvious ones are tension, suspense, anxiety and conflict. These are integral to any narrative, irrespective of format. Annie Caulfield in the book Writing for Radio: A Practical Guide, page 33, says ‘creating tension and anxiety within each scene as you go along is the way to keep an audience with you’.
Length
If the subject is not capable of sustaining the viewer’s attention for a long time the story needs to be shorter and vice versa. The length will also determine the complexity of the storyline; this is seen in “The Neglected” street children of Ukraine” which at 8:32 minutes is one of the longest audio slideshows with a complex plot made up of multiple subplots.
Tone
Tone simply refers to the global mood of the story. Although audio slideshows tend to be associated with sad and sombre subjects they also can be lively and titillating.
Characters
Some narratives are just about the character, as seen in Louise Nicholas: The Jury Clerk. The story’s main narrative is a day in the life of a jury clerk, yet there is an additional narrative which is about the person of Louise Nicholas, her poise, her sense of humour, passion and authority.
The subject
The subject is probably the pre-eminent component of any narrative. Probably the most critical consideration is how relevant the subject is to your intended audience and how much they know about the subject already.
Setting
The setting comes with its own presupposed narrative, which has to be combined with the new narrative to deliver a coherent story. For instance the mere mention of Somalia evokes a tale of instability and danger.
Audio
The audio elements of an audio slideshow are an integral part of the narrative. A conscientious producer listens for the different sounds, which will advance the sequence of events; these include speech, the environmental audio and specific sound effects such as the opening of the door.
Unexpected sounds can confuse the flow of the story; therefore the standard advice is to record the main audio in a quiet environment and to record the other audio elements separately, which are then mixed in postproduction.
As seen in the movies, a sound track can be introduced to direct the story; this is classically seen in The Neglected” street children of Ukraine.
Photography
Photography is also an integral part of the audio slide. The different shots come with their own narrative, it is therefore the whole preoccupation with audio slideshows to bring together the different narratives in the different photographs to tell a coherent story. For instance, one photograph can be an establishing shot, which tells us about the setting, and some could be detail shots which give us a near tactile experience.
Visual Elements
The advantage of the audio slide is the ability to include other visual elements such as graphics and text to enhance the story. It may include the visual elements in the artefact or on the website context.
The title of the story also contributes to the story; a badly composed title can cause disaffection or confusion.
The subtitles are used to either provide interpretation or clarity. There are critical decisions that the producer has to make when writing the subtitles. For instance, when I was writing subtitles for the ‘Garden of Eden’ story I had to decide whether to include the speaker’s Patwa (Jamaican English) expressions or to modify them. The decision was based on whether doing either can harm or advance the narrative.
Pace
William Miller states that pace refers to the speed and tempo of the sequence of events. He also states that a fast pace is associated with vigour excitement and drive, while a slower pace is associated with thoughtfulness, tenderness and oppressiveness.
Silence
The use of silence is also a strong component of the narrative. According to Shaun McLoughlin in his book Writing for Radio, “How long you hold a pause, how long you fade in and out of scenes, how long you give the listener to digest a thought or feeling or to anticipate the next scene, can be very important”.
Transitions
The transitions are used to connect one photograph with next. The default transition is a straight cut where the sequence simply jumps to next photo instance. The main transition categories are the cross fades, wipes and dissolves.
According to George Alger transitions must be as simple as possible and not call attention to themselves.
The choice of transitions is determined by the flow of the narrative, e.g change of scene or the pace of the action in the story; ie slow or quick succession of events.