Hella Solutions blog: "Document. Share. Inspire."

If you can listen to this audio and not cry then…I don’t what then but…I’ve listened to this story 4 or 5 times today and tear up every time. StoryCorps travels the U.S. collecting stories from everyday folks and they post the best of that on their web site and this is some really touching work here…StoryCorps is a great project and this is a great piece of audio.

“How would you say the diagnosis of your Alzheimer’s has affected us?”
Bob Chew to his wife, Jo Ann.

Listen to it at PRX.org (Registration needed – free)

Listen to it at StoryCorps.org (no reg. needed – free)

audio documentary

Check out this piece from Susan Stone, a recent recipient of a USA Fellowship. What I like about it is the many layers, the creative use of music, audio manipulation and natural sounds and the choice of topic. It’s dark, edgy and yet positive. It’s entertaining. I don’t know where my head has been as this is the first real conscious listening of her work that I’ve had. Sure, I probably heard her work before but, man!, this is awesome! Thank you Susan…you are an inspiration of difference in a world of repetition.

Here There is No Moon
by Susan Stone.

A college student leaps from a bridge, a young mother walks into a lake, a widow clings to a ledge. Impulse. Depression. Illness. Grief.

Here There Is No Moon is a portrait of the suicidal mind from the perspective of those who have survived the bullet, the bottle, the jump; and those who have helped in rescue and intervention. There is the limbo in which some live: Why am I still here? Will I try again? Can I resume the life I almost left? There is relief, for others, in having a second chance at life. And there are the doctors, philosophers, counselors, and poets grappling with suicide as epidemic, violence, and the siren song of suicide landmarks.

(National Suicide Prevention Week: May 3 – 9, 2005)

Listen to it online via KPFA

…

audio documentary

The other week I got word that a radio program was looking for pitches (a concise, flushed out idea for a story) for an upcoming program of theirs on HIV and AIDS among women. The catch was that I had to have it in within a few hours. My gawd, I thought to myself, this is my first pitch to a radio program and I only have a few freakin’ hours?! I have to admit, I guess I also felt lucky because what they were asking for was exactly what my SisterLove documentary project addressed. So, I clicked into high gear and wrote out a pitch and sent it in – not really understanding what a pitch should look like but trusting that my project was what they were looking for. Low and behold they loved it and hired me to produce an eight minute segment to be included in their 29 minute program! YES! I was and remain so excited!!!

So, all you SisterLove: Keeping it Real fans will be able to hear a re-envisioned 8 minute segment on an upcoming installment of the nationally and internationally syndicated program Making Contact with host Tena Rubio. It will broadcast on or around World AIDS Day (December 1st) so stop by the National Radio Project’s web site for a list of the over 200 stations that air their program to find your local station. You can also get Making Contact via a pod-cast or even stream it online. Visit www.radioproject.org for all the info. They are an asset to the radio community and a great program to listen to!

As an independent radio producer I’m asking you to please support projects like Making Contact because they in turn use your donations to support producers like myself that larger entities don’t always do. You can do it now and online! Please do so…

For those interested in the after-hire process here’s a quick synopsis: After receiving word that they wanted me to produce a piece based on my larger project I spent a lot of time crunching my 18 minute piece down to 8 minutes. Then I got word from their editor that they liked my 8 minutes but wanted some structural changes and it needed to be cut down to around 6 or 7 minutes. And this needed to be done by the next day. Holy crap! With the assistance of their editor, I got the structure revamped and the time down to 6 minutes !!! Then, that night, I was told that they actually needed the piece to be back up around 8 minutes — since mine is being played last in the 29 minute segment I guess it is being used to take up any slack left by the others. So, we worked out some ideas on where some time could be added and voila! Okay, it wasn’t exactly that easy but we got it done. And I quite enjoyed the process…really, I learned a lot. So, all you first time producers: Don’t be afraid to submit your pitches (and keep revamping and re-submitting them if they are not accepted the first, second, or even third and fourth times). Also, if you are asked to rework your pieces, don’t be afraid to revamp and re-work; it’s a great learning process!

audio documentary, how to

I just completed some updates to the web site for my SisterLove documentary project. The best of which is that you can now listen to the 2-minute teaser with no sign-up hassles. However, if you want to hear the complete 18-minute version of chapter one then you will have to sign up, albeit free, on PRX.org. Anyway, all of the details and more are now available at www.sisterloveradio.com . Please stop by and pass the link around to your friends!

audio documentary, audio sample

Yes, the rumors are true! I finally was able to get passed my fear of soul crushing criticism and release module one of my fist audio documentary. Okay it wasn’t so much the fear but the fact that since graduating from the Social Documentation program and all the traveling and visiting included with that, my partner and I are moving back up to the San Francisco Bay Area were we’re from (where I’m from at least…she’s from Ohio). Anyway, what you came here for is to get the link to the project and so here it is:

http://www.prx.org/pieces/19856

Here’s the description of my project:

SisterLove: Keeping it Real, Globally! is a creative, non-traditional audio documentary that looks at the local and global activism of a small group of dedicated Atlanta based women and their life’s work – “to eradicate the impacts of HIV and AIDS and other sexual, reproductive health challenges on women and their families.”

The voices of women and people of color are often placed second in “globalization” debates — especially when it comes to finding alternative realities (read: solutions). By documenting the work of the Atlanta-based organization SisterLove, this project seeks to document and give an example of progressive social organizing and more importantly to challenge who it is we look to for answers.

“SisterLove: Keeping It Real, Globally!” puts forward the voices of small group African-American women in seeking to answer the question: How do localized organizations, in the face of globalization and neo-liberalism, move beyond insular and service model structures to effectively integrate regional and global organizing?

This is the first module of a proposed 3-part project that is being wholly produced and edited by first time audio producer Noah Chandler. Module 1 covers the local Atlanta efforts of SisterLove; Module 2 covers SisterLove’s global efforts and follows them to South African where they have purchased a working farm as part of their crusade for reproductive justice; Module 3 will travel back to Atlanta and offer analysis of global organizing and summarizing this issue using SisterLove’s efforts as a focal point.

Stylistically, “SisterLove: Keeping It Real, Globally” seeks to break free of the dominant style of approach found in the majority of work that is out today. Music plays a dominant role and lends a more cinematic feel to the project. A hope with this project is that it may appeal to an audience that “just doesn’t get” other more formally produced pieces.

http://www.prx.org/pieces/19856

audio documentary

If you’ve read my profile you will know that I am currently in the first graduating class of the newly establishing Social Documentation program at the University of California Santa Cruz. We graduate next week and the ’screenings’ of work have begun.

Tonight our cohort had our first ’screening’ of work to a much wider audience than we have had to date. We were all really nervous (for whatever reasons…we couldn’t figure it out). But all of our work was very well received. There are six of us, 4 doing video , 1 creative nonfiction, and myself doing audio. I think the best comment I got was from a woman who works for a Los Angeles radio station that said something to the effect of: “There are 3 rules that I am constantly telling radio producers not to break. 1) never use the Muslim announcement of prayer; 2) never use female gospel singers; 3) never use telephone conversations. Your use of a telephone conversation is the first time in 15 years that I have seen this work…you had me hooked…” Something like that. Anyway, it was quite a nice compliment and after sitting in front of my computer for umpteen hours and umpteen weeks putting this together it’s really great to get some feedback from people listening to it cold. And what kudos, eh?!

If you want to listen to what she’s talking about, head over to PRX and listen to the two minute teaser I have posted there. The url is: http://www.prx.org/pieces/18428.

audio documentary

I guess I’m now an ‘official’ audio documentarian. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration but I am now an official member of the Association of Independents in Radio (A.I.R.). If you are serious about getting into audio documentary and/or doing any formal broadcast audio work I highly suggest joining this group. They offer a lot of crucial resources for beginners and professionals. One of the programs I’m looking at is a mentoring program they have that gets seasoned members together with ‘newbies’ who are trying to better their skills. They also have wonderful articles and listings for learning about funding, pitching your work and all the little things that will help you be successful. You can check’em out over at www.airmedia.org.

Another good resource is Public Radio Exchange (PRX). PRX is good for distribution and they have some resources for producers but they do not compare to A.I.R. if you have to choose between who to join…

audio documentary, audio training

I’ve posted a new teaser for my project “SisterLove: Keeping it Real, Globally” over on the Public Radio Exchange web site. You can listen and/or download it over there:

http://prx.org/pieces/18428

Alright, back to work! FYI, the completed project will likely be available after June 10!!! ciao…

audio documentary, audio sample

I was forwarded a link to a WONDERFUL article on audio. Bringing into the fold ideas and questions like, “how do places speak,” and how do we create ‘place’ with audio; what is ‘place’? In a world over saturated with images and one overly reliant on “image” to relate space, time and place Andrea challenges with a positive assertion that sound can often be used to create these ‘images’ more thoroughly than can photographic representations. The article doesn’t deride image based work but speaks to the idea that knowing, learning, documentary is a ‘multi-lingual’ affair and far too often in our fast-paced, “want it now” society we simply leave out the power of sound. Sound asks us to slow down and listen…as is well articulated in her wonderful article!

Check it out over at JumpCut

audio documentary, documentary studies

I am heading back to Atlanta for some final audio pick-ups and a key interview I was unable to do when I was there last. It’s a fortunate thing to be able to get back there but considering that I’m supposed to have this project finished late-May to early-June…well, getting new material scares me a bit. But over half of what I’ll be getting will be very specific and will likely be plug-n-play when I get it back home. The interview on the other hand will be a bit of a challenge to organize.

One of the key questions I want to explore are the specific differences between organizing among Black women living with HIV/AIDS and those tactics/techniques used with groups of gay white men. This came up during one of my earlier interviews where it was said that SisterLove found that organizing models that worked in other communities (e.g. gay white men) didn’t necessarily translate straight across into the community they worked in. It is a very interesting issue but also an extremely crucial one in terms of combatting the increasing numbers of cases of HIV/AIDS in the African-American community. I believe SisterLove has many answers and I’d like to include those in this project. STAY TUNED.

But while we’re bringing up gay white men, one of the best film documentaries dealing with HIV/AIDS to date is one called “Silverlake Life: The View From Here.” If you don’t have it you can check it out here!. Seriously, this is crucial viewing on the subject of both HIV/AIDS and documentary studies.

audio documentary