Link to the SHORT AUDIO FEATURE: https://soundcloud.com/s3752046/experience-of-almost-losing-an-important-family-member

Reflection:
In this assignment, we were asked to record an audio interview which can capture a specific emotion. Regarding the content to choose, I had many plans at the beginning, some are happy and some are sad. After thinking about it, I think the story of my friend’s cousin who almost died suddenly due to Cardiac arrest has the strongest emotions. But then I recalled that Rosenthal’s article(2019) mentioned that deliberately making tear jerkers is despicable, and it is also disrespectful to the people in the story. Therefore, in this audio interview, I guided the interviewee to talk more about her happy mood after her cousin survived. I think this kind of emotional transition from suppressing to rising can enrich the interview, and while having a good ending, it is also a respect for the interviewee and her cousin. In the article by Wen(2015), it is mentioned that tension in a story can make people feel stressed, and lead to their bodies releasing the hormone and neurotransmitter oxytocin which increase their empathy to the story. Therefore, in this interview audio, this is the reason why her cousin entered the ICU was not explained at the beginning. Hope this will make the audience feel nervous and empathize.
During the recording process, I used two recording devices to record the interview, they are iphone and usb microphone. I originally thought that the effect of the usb microphone would be much better than that of the iphone, but the result was the opposite. Although the human voice recorded with the usb microphone will be a little clearer than the iPhone, the room tone is much bigger. This may be because the environment is not quiet enough, or the microphone setting is not appropriate, I will make more adequate preparations in this regard in future attempts.
In the use of music, because my story has an emotional turn, I added two pieces of music with completely different emotions. In the documentary production I studied before, adding long pieces of music will weaken the effect of music, so I only added music to the part where the mood is about to climax, and added the fade effect. But I didn’t notice that the sudden disappearance of the music would make the audience feel embarrassed. After listening to Heather’s advice, I added some hospital voices which are not very strong, This not only fits the interview more closely, but also makes the music disappear more naturally. And adding a longer pause to the turning point gives the audience time to think and makes the emotional turning more natural.
In the interview, emotional expression is a very important part. This assignment taught me how to enhance the expression of emotion through sound. It will definitely be of great help to my future media making.

Rosenthal, R., 2019. Interviewing For Emotions. [online] Transom.org. Available at:

Wen, T., 2015. Inside The Podcast Brain: Why Do Audio Stories Captivate?. [online] The Atlantic. Available at:

After I entered RMIT to study media, I found that sound has always been a very important part of the world. Like Dizon mentioned in his article(2008), oral tradition is important to society due to it’s function of spreading cultural, history and experience. When I did this assignment 1, I also discovered the importance of oral speaking. Through interviews, we can learn about things we have never experienced before and increase our knowledge from them. You can also get a new perspective to look at the problem. By making it a podcast, more people can have the opportunity to learn new things. So I think podcast may not be as entertaining as video, but it has more information than video. In the article by Mchugh(2011), she compares the interview with written notes and gets the conclusion that sound is much more infectious than written words in storytelling. I strongly agree with her point of view, I even think that the voice is more infectious than visible videos. When watching a video, we will be attracted by the combination of sound and image in the video. Especially in horror movies, the sound brings us more tension than the videos. As a result, I think the sound is the most infectious media even compare with video.
When making interviews, I think improvisation is a way to make the whole interview more authentic. For the interviewer, it is very difficult to ask the next relevant question and guide the entire interview while listening to the interviewer’s answer. Therefore, in order to get a good interview, I would need to interview multiple targets. I believed that such a rich experience will greatly help me to become a good media maker in the future.

Reference
Dizon, M., 2008. Podcasting: Oral Tradition Reloaded. [online] Law, technology and society. Available at:

Mchugh, S., 2011. The Power of Voice. [online] Transom.org. Available at: