Week 6: “The Alibi” – Jikai Zheng

With the season one Serial podcast, “The Alibi,” I was intrigued by the storytelling and audio elements of the recording. As soon as I was listening, I was able to be immersed in the story but it’s frequent use of sound effects and audio choices. For example, one small subtle sound effect was the creaking of the door, in a situation when this occurrence was called for. I also realized that the music had to be timed exactly so that it flowed with the rest of the storytelling, which in this case, was completely real and nonfiction. Right after the narrator spoke the words, “figure out who”, the music cascaded into the audio track and helped transition the story into another segment. This way, it made the audio more dramatic, more abrasive to the listener, and allowed the listener to become continuously submerged into the story. The effect is very lovely, and should be a technique employed for our own audio projects.

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