AUDIO STORY PROJECT 2012
Period 3
Hogan Barnes
Parker Rocco
Clay DeYonker
Annie Boydston
Nick Cancelliere
Charlotte Bunch
Garrett Chapman
Melanie Elam
Bear Jameson
Kaitlin Kahrs
Abby Long
Addison McClaugherty
Anne Torrey McCuean
George Timberlake
Period 4
Bill Bedinger
Hunter Branch
Blair Fisher
Nick Grant
Courtney Graves
Charlie Ingram
Laura Jackson
Jack McGranahan
Burke Martin
Tatiana Nettles
Ty Newberry
Noor Khan
Connor Reynolds
Reid Spiva
Anna White
BASIC REQUIREMENTS/THE ENDGAME
 You will need to have a short prologue that can either be a mini-story or a scripted introduction. You will need to
have a short epilogue that ties things together, offers final reflections, etc. You could also save a mini-story for
here that accomplishes this purpose.
 You will need to have one interview-based story per group member (~10 MINUTES EACH)
 For your interview stories, you will need to have at least ONE source.
Ultimately, each member will turn in:
Individual interview prep sheet and logged interview(s)
Script with tape bits (see example)
Group episode description and breakdown (see “Babysitting”)
Your audio recording in MP3 format for uploading to website
PART 1- STORY DEVELOPMENT
- So what’s the story? Ultimately, your group will need to identify a major THEME for your episode. Take a look at This
American Life titles to get a sense of what I mean…
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Episode 175: BABYSITTING: Stories of babysitting and what goes on when mom and dad are not around…
Episode 357: THE TRUTH WILL OUT: Does the truth always come out? Of course not, though sometimes it
comes out in the most uncomfortable ways imaginable. Stories of concealed truth bubbling to the surface…
Episode 376: WRONG SIDE OF HISTORY: Stories of people with wildly popular or unpopular views at one
moment in time, and how those views stand up years, decades, even centuries later.
Episode 246: MY PEN PAL: Stories of very unusual pen pals…
- Some of the shows have heavier themes, others lighter. But with each episode, the stories are real and often profound
BECAUSE they’re real. They are capturing aspects of life that may be unusual, but are often recognizable. WE may not
have always done the things the people in the stories have done, but we may have known people like them, or we may be at
least be able to identify with the aspects of human nature being exposed, whether it’s desire, frailty, hope, rage, fear…
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So what interests you and your group? What slice of life?
Is there some BELIEF you feel strongly about that you might explore? Think of the “Truth” episode above. Do
you believe the truth always comes out? Or that good things come to those who wait? Or destiny trumps free will?
If so, what stories could you find to prove that? Or what stories could you find to CHALLENGE that belief?
Is there some EXPERIENCE (hopefully universal) that you might capture? (Think of the “Babysitting” episode.)
Are you interested in finding stories about some other experience? Like “First Jobs” or “Heartbreak” or “Outdoor
Adventures”?
- Again, one of the best things to do is think about what aspects of life interest YOU. What do you want to know more
about?
- One possibility is to work backwards. For my story, I heard about Mrs. Switzer getting chickens and decided to interview
her. From there, I decided to a story with different mini-stories about people’s experiences with chickens. And once I got
started, I realized how the chicken stories were all about more than just chickens…
- Once you decide on a THEME, you’ll need to come up with one story per person on that theme. The stories might be:
- REQUIRED: Interview based like mine (with a combination of narration and interview)
Here’s a sample story breakdown from Episode 175: Babysitting
(http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/175/babysitting)
Prologue.
- We listen in on a ritual that happens in millions of families every week: kids getting dropped off at the babysitters. Six-year-old Dylan
and nine-year-old Sarah explain what they can and can't get away with when they have a babysitter. After that, host Ira Glass has a few
words about Mary Poppins, who is the Gold Standard of all fictional babysitters. The movie Mary Poppins contains the classic modern
song about babysitting. We hear several versions of the song over the course of the program. The first is by Chicago girl punk/pop band,
the Dishes. (5 minutes)
- Song: "The Perfect Nanny", The Dishes
Act One. What Big Teeth You Have.
- Lots of babysitting is done by family members. Hillary Frank reports on what can happen when a teenaged son is put in charge of his
younger brothers. It's not pretty. (14 minutes)
- Song: "The Perfect Nanny", from Mary Poppins, covered by Jon Langford, with John Rice on mandolin
Act Two. In The Event Of An Emergency, Put Your Sister In An Upright Position.
- The story of several huge companies that accidentally got put into the babysitting business in a big, big way because of snow on
December 26, 1988. Every year on the day after Christmas, divorced kids all over America fly from one parent to the other. In 1988, lots
of them got snowed in at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. Susan Burton and her little sister were among them. (9 minutes)
- Song: "Minimum Wage Nanny", The Simpsons
Act Three. Yes There Is A Baby.
- Myron Jones and his sister Carol Bove explain what happened when they were teenagers, and they ended up babysitting children who
didn't exist. (25 minutes)
- Song: "The Perfect Nanny", Louie Prima and Gia Malone
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The Challenge will be to find stories that will serve your theme well.
- What do you know already? Are there any stories/people that pop right into your mind that fit your theme?
- Start asking around for suggestions…friends, teachers, parents, spiritual leaders, coaches, etc. You need to be bold
(as I will often say) and make use of the people in your lives. They will often have suggestions.
- Your stories should somehow illustrate or challenge the ideas at the heart of your theme. They don’t have to be
perfect matches. The point is to enlighten, to enrich a person’s understanding of the theme, to remind them of a
truth they already kinda know, to show them something they might only have had a partial understanding of, to
show them something totally new.
- Gather a number of story possibilities for your theme. You’ll want to be able to pick and choose from a list. In
some cases you might be able to combine story ideas.
- Ultimately you’ll be producing one story per group member with a Prologue and Epilogue
INTERVIEW BASED STORIES (REQUIRED)
- An interview-based story must involve, whaddayaknow, interviews. It is more journalistic in nature. You will have a
narrator who guides the listener through your taped interview segments, and who comments on the interview, but the
foundation of the interview-based story will be the key chosen segments from your interview(s).
- An interview-based story might focus on one person exclusively. That can be simpler, of course.
- Or for one story, you might interview a few people on the same topic who have similar or different viewpoints or
perspectives. I did this with my Chicken story and it made things interesting but complicated when it came to writing the
script. Of course, you could also think of my four Chicken subjects as separate 10 minute mini-stories as opposed to one 37
minute story.
- You might even interview a few people who have similar or different perspectives on THE EXACT SAME experience
(friends, brothers, teacher and student, parent and child, etc.). BUT…YOU DON’T WANT THIS BE A CHAPEL TYPE
VIDEO STORY WHERE YOU GET 15 PEOPLE TO SAY ONE LINE ABOUT YOUR TOPIC. THE IDEA IS TO GO
IN-DEPTH ON ONE PERSON OR A FEW PEOPLE.
PERSONAL NARRATIVES (IF WE HAVE TIME)
- A personal narrative/essay is a first-person story that is an accounting of an experience (or set of experiences) you’ve had,
your observations, reflections, connections, etc. It’s just what you’d do on paper, but in this case you’ll be
reading/performing for people to hear.
- For your personal narrative, who in your group has had an interesting, funny, or profound experience that relates to your
theme? If more than one of you has, you could do a joint piece, or perhaps each do your own piece to intersperse
throughout your show.
STORY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHEET
Period _________
GROUP MEMBERS:
__________________ ___________________ ____________________ ____________________
POSSIBLE THEMES (and possible stories connected to those themes) (include themes you like from TAL episodes and
ones you came up with entirely on your own)…
WORKING THEME AND WHY WE’RE GOING WITH IT: (a paragraph…pretend your pitching this to Ira Glass who
will decide whether he will fund your story development and production)…
MY STORY POSSIBILITIES/WHO I CAN TALK TO & WHY…
MY STORY/ WHY IT MATTERS/ WHO I AM GOING TO INTERVIEW FOR SURE & WHY I’M GOING TO
INTERVIEW THEM (a paragraph…again imagine you are pitching this to someone who might end up airing your story)