Initial ideas & Research (10-17th May)

• Current Working Title & Elevator Pitch

Outwith Time: Deriving methods for adapting narratives into sonic experiences

In this project I aim to derive a set of transferrable and repeatable methods for adapting a narrative text into a sonic experience in order to understand it’s boundaries as a standalone format and its potential as an entertainment and/or educational tool. I am adapting Jorge Luis Borges’ Emma Zunz (1948)

• Initial working title(s)

Ambisonic Storytelling: designing an immersive narrative format through surround sound.

• Elevator Pitch: Topic (what?) – Question (why) – Significance (so what?)

In this project I design a set of immersive audio-stories based on literary short stories _topic to explore the possibilities and limitations of sound as a narrative format in its own right _question in order to understand it’s potential as an entertainment and/or educational tool _significance

• Working abstract? – The role of sound as a narrative tool has been increasingly explored and continues to expand in fixed and interactive media. Surround sound techniques have been available for decades and are stepping back into the spotlight with new developments in VR. Although sound artists and experimental composers have explored abstract sound, opportunities arise to consider sound as a storytelling format in its own right. The aim of this project is to explore the boundaries of an audio-only narrative format  by designing a Sonic Narrative adapted from a short story and decoded for binaural using the Ambisonics Toolkit (ATK) for Reaper

• Areas I want to consider:
  • Ambisonic Sound Design (3D sound / VR)
  • Soundscape analysis
  • Auditory Scene Anaylsis & Creating an Auditory Scene
  • Auditory Displays & Sonic Interaction Design
  • Audio film
  • Sound for fixed media
  • Sound for interactive media
  • Sound Poetry
  • Auditory spatial perception/awareness in visually impaired people

• Things to remember / consider:
  • Consider POV/POA. Can this change? This can help support emotions (breathing, acoustics of space, utterances?
  • How much meaning can be conveyed through sound alone?
  • How can Ambisonic/Surround further carry the narrative in a way that mono/stereo cannot?
  • What are the KEY moments, twists, turning points in the story?
  • Perhaps using IRs/Convolution reverb for spaces whenever possible? Consider the acoustic characteristics of the few spaces in which the story takes place.
  • What Keynote sounds define a space / takes the listener back to the space?
  • Could sounds also act as leitmotifs?