Response to Homecoming – Taylah Bland

I really haven’t listened to many podcasts before and I must say I was very impressed with how detailed, informative and captivating Homecoming was. I would love to continue the series and didn’t realize that quite often we don’t need the visuals to understand whats happening in the story. In many ways, the usage of sound can be more effective as it attunes your senses to heighten their sensitivity to whats happening. 

 

I especially liked how sound was manipulated so that even though I wasn’t actually seeing what was going on, I felt as though I had insight and perspective into the surroundings. Special attention was directed to elements such as doors opening and closing, bells chiming or tape recorders clicking on and off as well as signal markers to orientate the listener to be able to immerse themselves in the story. 

 

When speaking to someone on the phone, the background would muffle to transition between both speakers in the foreground and background and I thought that this was a very subtle but extremely effective approach to communicating this message. Even when Heidi was having a conversation, the voice in the distance informing her that her break was almost over sounded distant, as if the two people in the ‘shot’ were isolated and secluded. 

 

In creative writing, we are often told “Show, don’t tell”. This can be difficult to do when you physically can’t see whats happening but the sound and voice queues employed by the producers definitely put me in a position where I was able to see what was happening without being told by the characters what was happening. 

 

In listening to Homecoming, I realized the importance of having very clear sound that clearly articulates what is being said. Without clear dialogue the audience is not able to situate themselves in the story and some meanings can be lost. 

 

Transitions are also important in changing “scenes” as its important to reinforce to the audience the context they are operating in. Homecoming employed a very clear “Woosh” type sound that was held for an extra beat that signaled the scene change. It was very deliberate. Just like all of the decisions made in the production of Homecoming which rendered it a successful podcast, in my opinion.