This is the first time I’ve listened to a podcast that tells a story in the way films display their stories. I’m intrigued by the layout of this story. Instead of telling the story in time order, it divides the story into 6 scenes (not including the intro and the outro) and allows the listener to deduct the storyline through listening to real life conversation simulation.
The podcast starts with deep and dark classical music, it creates the overall atmosphere for the story, letting the listeners know that the story is a little bit heavy.
Then the first screen starts with a siren, and the protagonist, the woman starts her recording. The podcast was unlike other recordings which present their listeners with clear voices, instead, it tries to return to the original scene by adding noises simulating real-life noises into the audio.
Similar techniques are also used in the second scene where the woman was interviewed by an official from the Department of Defense in a restaurant. We didn’t know directly that the woman works there but we can deduct her current occupation when a waiter tells her that her break time is over. Also in the fourth scene when the woman called her boss the signal was poor and the voice kept breaking and blurring. The language used by her boss was rude but can reflect his haste.
I’m attracted by the sudden stop in the audio when switching between scenes. It indicates clearly that this scene is finished and pulls the minds of the listeners’ back if they slipped away.
The sixth scene was the conversation the woman had with the official, she was asked if she remembered a former soldier, Walter Cruise. In previous scenes, Walter appeared multiple times as part of the woman’s memory, but here, the woman kept silent for a while and finally denied their acquaintance. This leaves suspense for the audience whether the woman actually forgot about Walter or if she’s hiding it from the official. The pause before her denial is something that is left as a blank for the audience to fill in.
Overall, it’s a great entertainment way and the audio settings present this story amazingly.