Photo by Rachel Kramer Bussel (CC BY 2.0)
Even though there are Ira Glass interviews aplenty, I found this latest one particularly good. In it, he shares the kinds of software, hardware and apps he uses - including the app he used to play and mix audio live during his Australian tour a few years ago. I remember we were wondering about this set up years ago!
I particularly liked how he details his process for structuring an interview 'quickly'. I say this because the process seems slow, which is reassuring to me, because I do something similar but have been using VM's FCP marker trick for a few years now for video stories, using colour coded markers in lieu of asterisks. This helped me see how I can apply a similar method to audio editing, without a handy marker system in Audacity. There are process pictures for his structuring method - exciting!
Having read this, I also believe that I'm a 'noisy introvert' :)
'I'm Ira Glass, Host of This American Life and This is How I Work' - Lifehacker
Great find Sonya, I found this very interesting. Especially Ira's tip on noting everything you remember as a standout moment immediately after recording the interview. I've never been one for transcripts though. One thing I've discovered in my years of editing audio interviews, is that often the less obvious moments turn out to be the best, and you only discover that after a few listens. Meaning can reside in the tone, or the way someone weaves around a point, as much as the words themselves. Interesting the comments underneath, which mainly appear to be from women who find Ira very attractive! For me, when I occasionally worry about how a man in his fifties should behave, I think of Ira, who as a man in his mid-fifties retains the enthusiasm and demeanour of a teenager, and I take comfort in this.
ReplyDeleteI love transcripts! I agree with Sean re the benefit of repeated listenings, and stumbling on things you weren't actually looking for. But having some kind of paper map of what you have to work with is so useful, esp when you're at the torturous 'blank page' stage and are a bit overwhelmed by too much material. I like that Ira doesn't use actual transcripts - way too labour intensive - but just a form of dot point of what was said. You pretty quickly develop an aural memory of what all those dot points represent. Ira's method of marking up his notes into a rough script is really similar to how we worked on the series Homemade History. I would transcribe, the director Robert Herbert would highlight the parts of the interview he wanted to use, and assign a number for the order he wanted to assemble them in. I'd put the assembly together, then editor Nick Meyers would start working from there. Nick wouldn't hesitate to chop and move things around, or go digging for other gems from the interview that had been overlooked. It was a really quick way of getting past first base and into the creative work.
ReplyDeleteIra's lanky frame, thick-frames glasses and penchant for nice notebooks reminds me quite a bit of Australian playwright and director Scott Rankin, another creative hero of mine. And even though their work and their characters are very different, they both have a profound understanding of how to move an audience and bring them with you, as well as an intimidating work ethic.
I've started using Wunderlist after reading this, and so far I really like it as a to-do list maker on my phone. I was also tempted to buy some Muji notebooks, as if they would make me a smarter, more creative person, but I've fallen for that trick enough times to know it doesn't work!! But it was so nice to see that Ira still does a lot of his work with pen and paper.