mollie MENSCH
sounds.
Some people emote, some don't, some do both. Just through listening, we can deepen our engagement with and relatability to one another. Cadence, vocal range, inflection and intonation -- these elements allow us to intuit people's emotional layers (or lack thereof) and process how they express themselves. The ability to hear but not see who's speaking is an opportunity to heighten our auditory senses and invite ambient sounds to become a part of stories. And, of course, audio is also a great medium for the convenience -- we can tune in when we clean, commute, eat an apple (less so a potato chip), exercise, get dressed, run errands, and many more mundane daily activities. We're hungry for stories at all hours, and great audio can satiate our appetite.
For the below story samples, I interviewed people with a Zoom H4n Pro 4-Input / 4-Track Portable Handy Recorder with Onboard X/Y Mic Capsule and edited the tape in Adobe Audition.
Objective
Produce a non-narrated vox pop (audio montage) that is two minutes long.
Challenge(s)
The vox pop technique in audio can deliver a sampling of public opinion with its cascading effect. But, vox pops are usually used in concert with other audio techniques to help inform and propel stories forward. The obstacle for this vox pop was conceiving a thematic idea that could serve as a standalone story and without narration or music. Having a fundamental understanding of narrative frameworks and how they apply to this audio method helped overcome the challenge.
Product
I approached multiple people on the streets of Chicago's downtown and south side areas in the blistering cold winter to find out if, in an era of growing national political divisiveness, we at least share in common who among those closest to us raises our blood pressure.
Objective
Produce an audio news feature that is between four and five minutes.
Challenge(s)
In the case of my audio feature, the challenge was figuring out ahead of committing to delivery whether my idea allowed for scenes full of ambience and voice. Those are two components crucial for tuning in listeners. In general, it can be difficult as listeners to digest audio if narrative analysis is drawn out, falls flat, and sounds like a long-form magazine article. Coming from a writing background, I knew my other challenge for this piece would be spotting long and complicated sentences in the scripting process, and then editing them into short and simple ones without losing a seamless flow.
Product
Inertia is common among the older adult population, yet so is physical activity. I spent a day and went on a ride-along with Hazel McRae, an 80-year-old woman, to learn why and how she stays involved in her many activities even while tending to knee pain. This story was ripe for audio. McRae was already a very engaging person -- to capture a slice of her world through ambient sounds of her at pickleball and physical therapy, and in her car driving, allowed for rich scenes.
Objective
In a team of three, produce a two-part narrative podcast totaling no more than 30 minutes.
Challenge(s)
Narrative podcasting and audio features are two different beasts. For example, ambient sounds are an effective device for transporting listeners to the time and place of any scene, but, topic and style dependent, they're not necessarily essential to narrative podcasting -- plenty of podcasts sustain on meaty conversation among charismatic hosts and lively tape-synced interviews. With this knowledge, my team (Emily Dreibelbis and Liz Vanderau) and I were willing to pursue an idea that offered little in the way of rich scenic sound but had seeming potential for debate and substance through qualitative interviewing.
In the discovery phase, we saw an issue in the media landscape that wasn't yet investigated and came up with a notion (hypothesis) that could narrow the gap. We had a fast turnaround period to deliver two episodes, so were especially methodical and thorough in the explication of our idea.
In the exploratory phase, we conducted a competitive analysis to find the target audience, and then analyzed their demographics and psychographics to help us with persona-building and defining the high-value variables of interest. Based on the insights, we devised the narrative arc, major plot points, and structure of each episode while storyboarding. We also determined what sources (external stakeholders) we would need and the perspectives each could offer.
Even though we were prepared to produce, we faced some challenges. We conducted significant outreach, but majority of sources declined to speak. The feedback was our version of usability testing -- the limited receptivity to requests for interviews signaled to us that we needed to revise our idea (make design changes). My team and I assessed feedback against the resources available to us in relation to the finite amount of time we had left (benchmark testing) to produce the podcast (final product). In our reevaluation, we arrived at another research-backed idea (hypothesis), one that was effective and even evolved through continuous interviewing and listening (iterative testing).
To hear more about the development of our podcast and how we grew from the challenges we encountered, listen on SoundCloud to the discussion, Roundtable: Add to Cart (in order of appearance: Emily Dreibelbis, Mollie Rotmensch, Liz Vanderau).
Product
Supply chain, inflation, generational values all play a role in fashion consumerism trends. One way to tell that story was through people's attitudes toward maintenance of material possessions. Through zoning in on the decline of shoe-shining and rise of thrift and vintage stores, and the firsthand shopping that happens in between, my team and I produced a two-part podcast that explored the business of fast- and slow-fashion, and the economic implications of each regarding sustainability. We spoke to clothing care practitioners, fashion industry experts, historians, and retail consumers.