PREPARING, INTERVIEWING, AND EDITING
Having created a storyboard and having some idea as to how I would execute my podcast, it was time to take the next step. I had to prepare questions for my interviews and write a script that I would use to introduce, conclude, and link together my mom and Claire's comments. Though I looked to Ira Glass' This American Life to help guide me, the process proved more difficult than I anticipated. How could I ask questions without leading my interviewees to answers that simply corroborated my own ideas? How could I frame the discussion in a way that was engaging and informative but not trite?
Ultimately, after listing a few questions I wanted to make sure to ask each interviewee, I decided I would converse freely with each woman, asking impromptu questions based on their comments. Most of my questions, therefore, were improvised and not planned beforehand.
My speaking segments, however, were devised in advance (prior to conducting either of my interviews) and went as follows:
After recording my own speaking sections, I arranged to meet with my mom and Claire and interview each separately.
The interviews went very well. They lasted about 30-45 minutes, and I felt that by the end of each I had more than enough material to create a short segment featuring each woman.
I wasn't wrong to think that I had plenty of material for my podcast. Actually, it became a bit difficult to reduce everything each interviewee had said into a short, cohesive and powerful segment. I listened to each interview again, taking note of the sections I thought might be worth including, and then set to breaking each of them down. Using Garage Band, a program with which I had no prior experience, I was able to cut sections that weren't necessary and then connect the remaining portions of the interviews into a continuous track. Garage Band also allowed me to bring in external sounds, like clips of Hillary Clinton speaking and a section of "Hail to the Chief," which were incorporated into the podcast.
The resultant product, which took about 15 hours to edit, is an 18 minute podcast in which I feature two distinct perspectives about Hillary Clinton. The piece is not perfect—I wish transitions between segments of the podcast sounded less abrupt—but I'm please with my effort as a whole. This was the first experience I had with creating any sort of audio project, and I think the podcast reflects my increasing versatility as a writer.
More sticky note planning, this time for my interviews.
Ready to hear the completed
re-mediation piece?
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I became very familiar with this screen during the editing process.