As the class lay on the ground, the lights were flicked off and everyone closed their eyes as they listened to a podcast. A podcast about Howard Dully’s experience with a transorbital lobotomy, titled ‘My Lobotomy‘. Though the topic and content of the podcast was utterly interesting, the use of sound design helped to guide the story and kept the class engaged as it progressed.
Throughout the 20-or-so-minute podcast, there were many layers and textures of sound which added to the depth of the Howard Dully’s story. The podcast began with a montage of voices about the process of the transorbital lobotomy in which Dully received by the infamous Walter Freeman. This has created the effect of many expressing their horror, dislike and discomfort towards the procedure, which also emphasises the amount of people in which Freeman has operated on.
Archival footage of Freeman is also used, creating an eerie atmosphere from the fact that he did exist and did do the ‘ice pick’ procedure on people. His voice is overlapped with Howard Dully introducing himself, explaining that he had been operated on this man at 12 years of age. The archival footage of Freeman’s voice continues on in the background as Dully talks about his lobotomy, which creates the emphasis that what Freeman did to Dully will always be with him, as it is apart of him.
Sound design is used creatively to structure and direct the story that Dully is telling, whether it be transitional music to create atmosphere and change in subject, to a stopwatch ticking to emphasise a point being made. Though, one must think creatively and strategically as to where to place certain audio pieces, what to emphasise, and how to structure the story overall, which I imagine will prove to be challenging when creating my group and I create our own in Project Brief 4 (PB4).
This was a great example to look at, as it contained both an interesting story and engaging sound design. Picking apart the audio layers and textures used in this podcast helped to understand why they were used, which was really valuable in relation to creating PB4. It has given me a greater understanding of how to transition topics, create atmosphere, emphasise imagery, create in-depth meaning and emphasise certain points that are being made – which has made me think about how I can incorporate this into the audio piece my group and I are to create.
Deconstructing the podcast was a very useful exercise to partake in, as it assisted us to generate skills in understanding the deeper meaning. This is an important skill to have, even in my other classes when deconstructing the makings on a film or literature. No matter what it is, it is important to deconstruct content and look at how it was put together to create the overall image/product and meaning.
