De-constructing Goa Nara

I was recently a part of the Goa-Nara one day cross-cultural interaction (cum digital storytelling workshop) in Goa. I used the event to further my dabblings in multimedia by covering the proceedings with still images and audio.

The result can be viewed on my website.

Here I will try to de-construct the audio presentation:

I realised just how much of a hassle it can be, specially for beginners like myself, to balance between audio and photography. Both require just as much thought and attention! For each scene, I made sure I got my images first. I then put down the camera and began recording the audio. But in many instances I found that I needed to capture audio and simultaneously also get a still image. Those were time when I had the mic in one hand and framed shots with the other. A good experience!

Following advice from great teachers like Cyndy Green and Angela Grant (if these are not already on your daily reading list, I strongly recommend you have them), I have begun my multimedia work with a strong emphasis on audio. So, besides making sure I got my shots as I normally would in photojournalism, I also ensured I had good audio for all scenes.

Back home, I edited my audio recordings (using Audacity) down to the clips I thought I could use. Then came the task of sequencing the audio. For this, I used the two interviews I did on location as a rough backbone to go through the timeline (I did mix the interviews around, taking portions from one spot and moving them to another - before or after).

Next, I selected the good live audio from the scenes and inserted them between the interview clips. Finally, I recorded my voiceover to tie together the various segments. I kept voiceover down to the minimum, using it only where absolutely required.

Reading Cyndy and Angela, I realised how important it is, for us photojournalists, to get the audio track right. My endeavour is to try and get an audio that could even go as a standalone piece - perhaps on radio a la NPR (any potential buyers :-) ?). Not sure how much I succeeded towards this end.

Anyway, I finally got down to picture selection and editing. (Note: I more or less had a pretty good idea about the images I had, before I began the production). I then sequenced them and got the images and audio into SoundSlides. Here I had to adjust the timings for each image to match audio and images and the result is what you see.

One key point is background music. I've used music by gurdonark, under the CC license from ccmixter.org/. This is a must have site on your list for production. Under the license, music is free to re-use and distribute with attribution to the creator.

View the Presentation