Some students from SALT Institute interviewed me for a project and they asked me questions on storytelling, multimedia, and video. It was a really fun to chat with them about the world of being a professional storyteller. The final question I was asked was, “if you could give one piece of advice about storytelling in multimedia/video what would it be?”
The answer was easy: You need good sound. Your story is only as good as the sound you have on it.
Sound is fifty percent (if not more) of your project. It is the glue that holds the story together. If you have beautiful footage and terrible audio your piece is going to sink. If you have not so good footage and pristine audio, nine times out of ten people won’t notice the shortcomings. Why?
We live in a world of resonance.
Sound is always there whether we take the time to notice it or not. From the tonality of your voice, to subtle hum of a refrigerator, to the beating of your heart … we live in a sonic world. To forget this when crafting a story is a huge mistake I see many people make. I think it is a mix of not understanding the importance and being intimidated by the process of having to execute highly on two levels (visual & audio). I also think people are generally lazy and don’t take the time to learn the craft. If you are going to learn how to shoot video you also have to learn how to capture & craft sound. Nothing can ruin a project like bad sound. A hiss, a pop, a poorly recorded interview… all of those things will show your inexperience. Sound informs our subconscious and in the end will make or break the story you are trying to tell.
I shot this footage is 2010 on a two month trip to Asia. It took two years to edit and put it together in which time the drive I was storing it on crashed and I almost lost all of it. This two minutes almost made me come undone many times. I am so happy to be finished It’s been a long time coming. Jesse did an amazing job on the sound design. Thank you sir.
I first went to Varanasi in 2005 on a trip to visit my family in India. I fell in love with the place and swore to go back. In 2010 I did just that. Here is the companion piece to my photographs (www.simonbiswas.com).
Rickie Fowler won his first PGA Championship yesterday at The Wells Fargo Championship. This is a piece I shot for Cobra Puma Golf this past winter as he was starting off his 2012 season. Congrats Rickie!
