For my audio story the main thing I wanted to communicate within it is the beauty in the culture abroad. I wanted to show this in two different ways-both in the obvious beauty found in one of the most amazing collections of art in the world, and in the simplicity of observing the way people in Europe live (in this case Italy specifically). I decided to keep this really simple for fear of trying to fit too much into only 2 minutes of content space.
I decided on this concept for the project because when I was in Europe this summer seeing the culture over there, and about halfway through my time alone in Florence it hit me how much I admire everything in their culture and how much they have contributed to modern society and modern culture throughout the world. I think that is one of the, if not the, best parts about traveling is gaining that admiration and awe for another culture and so I wanted to showcase that. My dad is also someone who loves seeing and gaining an appreciation for things that are foreign to him and so when I came up with this idea it seemed only right to have my dad be the other voice in this story.
I got the content for this project by just recording myself and my response to open the story, and then recording my dad and his experience with when he realized his appreciation for the culture he was in.
In the actual process of editing the story together I had to go through the recording I made of my dad’s response to work on cutting it down and fitting it back together. The original response I got from him was about 2:30 long and so a lot of editing had to happen. I started by first going through and cutting out anywhere that he had long pauses in his response when he was thinking, or where he used filler words like “um”. I then went through and had to figure out which parts of his response fit best with the idea I had for this story and ended up being able to keep all but one part of his response to the question I had posed.
I also like that my dad and I are talking about when we realized our appreciation for the same place, but in different moments and experiences and completely different time periods. He was there about 20 years ago, and I was there about 5 months ago. With this story I just really want to be able to show that you can realize your admiration for another culture while traveling, it’s about more than just photo ops.
Cassandra Barnes 
Listening to your audio draft, I really enjoyed the way your dad explained his experience while he was abroad in Italy. The story he told was very eye-opening and left me wanting to hear more about his experience. It is a personal story that keeps listeners attention and also has a mice message behind it as well. The transitions in the audio from where you cut and edited seem seamless as well. Too bad they only allow two-minute stories!! One suggestion I have would be to record and add a bit of a more descriptive introduction for the rest of the audio. I was a little bit confused about what exactly the point of the podcast in the begging. Adding a short intro would help the listeners understand what the purpose and topic of the podcast would be about instead of us trying to piece it together as we listen. Another suggestion would be to possibly play around with adding an appropriate audio track to the begging an ending of the story to also help open and close the story.
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After going back and listening to my audio story draft again I noticed one or two things for me to try out before the final is due. I think I may try to find some light and uplifting music to either have behind the entire draft, with it being louder before I talk and once my dad is finished and then lower while we are both talking. This could be something that takes away from the theme I am trying to present in the audio but I figure there is no harm in trying, and if it works then that adds another layer and element to elevate this project. One of the main critiques I got was setting up more context leading into my dad’s part later in the project so I also plan on looking into that and seeing if there is another way I could introduce his part with more context, while also keeping my own experiences in the story.
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After listening to the post, I thought the overall content and theme were awesome. Culture abroad is a very interesting topic that many people are always excited to hear about because every experience traveling is different for everybody. However, when I first heard the audio, I noticed right away the very dry monotone sound because although the story and experience can be really interesting, if there is no emotion or enthusiasm in the voices, then the audio can often loose the attention of the listener. Along with this I also think that if there could be some ambient sounds found that fit the projects theme then that would add more interest to the project because it can make the listener connect to the story more and understand where the speakers are coming from or talking about. Overall this is a great start to the audio story project, and you are on track to finish this week with a strong project ready to submit.
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