12:30 min
Scope & Design of an Audio Walk
- Genre
- Audience
- Compelling Proposition
- Duration – shelf life
- Voice
- Site
00:02 Welcome to module 4. This module explores some of the considerations around building a sound trial before you actually start. So assuming- So the first thing you have a sight in mind, these are some of the things that you might want to think about.
00:15 These are not givens, they’re just really suggestions as to ways you might want to think through what you’re doing. And- and things to really factor into accounts hopefully so that- that saves you time in the long run.
00:29 So the first thing we would suggest you think about is the genre or the theme of- your trail. Is it a fictitious- a fictitious story?
00:38 Is it a comedy? Is it a play? Is it a cultural history piece of a place? Is it more documentary format?
00:45 Real people? Real place? Conversely, is it a nature walk? An important conservation area? There’s so many different ways that you can approach this idea of theme or genre.
00:57 You could even explore things like gaming or a treasure hunt or a detective story or even a horror story. It’s really up to you, but we just want to point out, that it is good to think this through before you start.
01:11 Another thing that you might want to think about is the audience. Again, there might be many audiences, but it’s just something that’s worthwhile bearing in mind.
01:20 Are the audience is the audience, Are they local? Are they festival goers? Are they scientists? Archaeologists? Are they UFO space geeks?
01:30 Are they architects? Are they history buffs? Maybe they’re there at a conference and you’ve got the, ,prail running during a conference?
01:40 Are they social or cultural heritage folk? Or are they just simply plain visitors? So no big deal, but if you are doing a sound trail and you’re speaking to people who are archaeologists and they’re at a conference, then you just might want to bear in mind what sort of language you’re using and the
01:59 terminology you’re using and, pitch it accordingly. Just something to bear in mind. Another thing that we would suggest is important to think about is this idea of your trail being a proposition.
02:13 You’re asking people to walk, from A to B and there’s potentially there’s something that you think is worthwhile for them to do.
02:25 So what is it that is your proposition? Is it that it’s a famous site? You know, have people come here from a long way away to visit the site because they want to know more about the site and they’ve downloaded your sound.
02:40 So people could be very hungry for something to do on the site. Maybe also the proposition might be around this idea of a famous person who’s narrating the sound trail.
02:51 It could be a media personality or an actor. So you might use someone like that as part of the the app- heel for what you’re offering.
03:02 The site could also be an important festival site or a cultural heritage site. And maybe once a year they run a, a quite a famous event.
03:14 But what you might offer is the trail. That brings to life that festival event outside of that, that festival time.
03:22 And so people get a sense or a taste of what’s going on. So again, we’ve got this idea of a proposition.
03:29 We’ve got this idea of bringing people in and, and sort of, I guess selling an idea. And I think part of that is, is putting it up front.
03:39 What are we kind of getting here when we come in and we start listening to your sound trail? What’s expected of us?
03:46 How far are we going to walk? And and why are we doing it? You know, why is it exciting? Now, another thing that we think is pretty important here is this idea of shelf life of your, trail.
04:02 Some of you might put a lot of work into a sound trail and it might be all over and done with pretty quickly.
04:10 This would probably be geared around things like a festival or maybe an event that’s just on, one night. There’s many ways to play this but you might possibly not need to put in any work with things like onsite signage.
04:25 If it is running through something like a festival then perhaps a lot of the marketing would be through social media or would be through the actual festival organises themselves.
04:38 So we’d call this a kind of a one, off quick, fast and furious sort of sound trail. Conversely, you might be looking at a sound trail which is going to really last the test of time.
04:49 So this is I guess a legacy piece which we feel like we’ve got quite a few of these on the sound trails platform at the moment.
04:56 And these often will come with onsite signage. We will have relationships with the community where the sound trail runs. And we’ll often to try to stay away from building stories or hotspots in relation to sites which we know are going to disappear.
05:14 So we often don’t mention or reference. For instance, businesses which are going to close or buildings which are going to be knocked down.
05:23 So we’re quite conscious that if we do build a sound trail, what we build, we want to be good for many years to come.
05:31 So that’s this idea of the legacy whether it’s a quick turnaround or whether it’s a longer duration. So another thing.
05:39 Which we think is really important to think about is this idea of voice. Now there’s quite a lot involved in this.
05:48 So when we talk about voice, we’re referring to this idea that while sound trails is an audio platform at some place, even if you might have a range of different voices.
06:01 You’re going to probably have to have some sort of principal voice or narrator who is meeting us, who is welcoming us, who’s, who’s telling us what’s going on at this particular site.
06:13 This could be someone who’s complete anonymous narrator. It could be someone who’s got an ancestral connection to the site, which we find is often a very powerful way of really bringing people.
06:24 In connecting them to the stories could also be something like a celebrity, a person who’s got some cache or conversely could be a ghost who’s narrating this.
06:38 It could be a poet. It could be an artist. It could be a mix of any of the above. So with this idea of.
06:45 Voice on the ration. This is where it really becomes very creative and a lot of fun. But there’s also quite a lot in this.
06:53 And if you think it through. Then you might want to make friends with some good script writers or some voice artists.
07:00 Because this is where these skills can come in very handy. So now what we’re going to do is we’re going to play you.
07:08 A couple of examples of some opening narrations from two, two sound trails. This first one is from. This first one is from Portland.
07:21 Portland is. A small industrial town to the north of Lithgow in the Blue Mountains area in New South Wales, Australia.
07:30 Portland is an industrial town from the 1900s. It’s now the industry is no longer there. And we brought to life the stories around the the, the old manufacturing of cement and the voice.
07:45 And the stories from the town. So I’m going to now play you the beginning of this piece. Here we go.
07:53 Welcome travelers to the Portland Sound Trail on this walk. You’ll discover how Portland became the town that built Sydney. That’s the phrase that still comes to mind for this place.
08:08 Which, being situated just off the main highway to the New South Wales West, has been a little overlooked. You’ll encounter the plant here, of course, as if it alone animated the town and bestowed upon it its meaning and worth.
08:26 But most important, other people. These are the voices of the men and women of Portland that join you today on this walk.
08:33 Yeah, I was born and bred in there. In the volumes of a diary written by a pioneering woman in the 1940s and 50s, Portland comes to life.
08:43 As well as a bigger vision for ordinary people and Australia. Some of these people left their mark on the town and arguably even on Australian history.
08:54 So you can hear what’s going on here is this idea of sitting out. The proposition and also giving the listeners a taste of what they’re going to hear.
09:06 Okay, so. So the second Inigo of course for the person. Sollo. The second opening script or opening narration for the soundtrack is the Miles Sound Trail.
09:22 Miles is a small town, original town in western Queensland. Very different brief than Portland. And we were very lucky in miles that while we were building a cultural heritage walk, we came across a woman called Merlin Coates Freeman.
09:37 Who at six years old had been in a drowning accident, which saw her mother killed, three other people killed, and she herself was brought up as the town orphan.
09:47 So here again, like Portland, we’ve got an anonymous narrator, but we’re also weaving in basically some of the stories that we’re going to experience with with miles.
09:59 And in particular, the story of Merlin Coates Freeman. Here we go. Hi, welcome to the Miles Sound Trail. You’re standing outside the old bank at the side of the Warrigo Highway on what was formerly known as Train Street.
10:16 A lot of, people have passed by here over the years from the Barangam who walked east of here to the Banya Festival to Ludwig Lycard who passed by here on his second expedition in the 1840s to the sleeper cutters, shepherds and stockmen and the miners and feedlot.
10:37 This east west corridor from Brisbane to Charleville was initially a common co-root. Then it was replaced by the railway line just over there to the south. 10:46 It was thought the neighbouring town of Khon- One-Dame was going to be the main port of Kaul, but that proved too expensive.
10:54 If today there are questions about its reason for being here hanging over the town of Miles, it doesn’t bother the locals.
11:03 I can’t remember that fire down the street. Take Merlincoats Freeman, our tireless local historian. I can show you photos of the town.
11:11 I can show you photos of me too, but I don’t know why you want to look at me. Born in 1934 from German stock, Merlin was the- town’s very own blonde-haired blue-eyed beauty.
11:21 Have a look at your screen. Pretty, wasn’t she? So, before we finish module 4, we’d just encourage you to think also too about the site that you’ve got in question.
11:36 Every site’s going to have its own opportunities and challenges. And we’d ask you to think before you start about, Things like accessibility permissions if you need permissions to be able to go in if it’s on private land or public land.
11:52 And to try to get a little bit of clarity about this. So we’re going to go into more about that in the next few modules.
11:59 But we would just encourage you to think about that as well. So hopefully here what you’ve got is a range of kind of things to consider.
12:06 But before you weigh in and get stuck in. So in finishing, we would suggest you think about writing some opening script for an orator for your sound trail.
12:17 Think about what it will be about, who it’s for in terms of the proposition. Make it engaging. So listeners will be itching to head off and hear more.
12:26 That’s it for module 4. Thank you so much.
Write some opening script for a narrator for your Soundtrail.
Think about what it will be about and who it is for.
Make it engaging, so listeners will be itching to head off and hear more.
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