FAVORITE SCENES: Inside Jaws - USS Indianapolis

​The story of the USS Indianapolis was the centerpiece of JAWS in Robert Shaw's unforgettable monologue aboard the Orca in the film. It was also the only story Steven Spielberg wanted to tell when asked if he'd return to direct JAWS II.

USS Indianpolis via: Wikipedia

For Inside Jaws we tell the story of USS Indianapolis across 2 episodes (Eps 5 & 6)

Part 1 covers the sinking of the vessel.

Part 2 covers the shark attacks in the aftermath and eventual rescue of survivors.

I've put the segments together for the first time into a single file below.

The Inside Series has a reputation for aiming to be more than mere behind the scenes "making of" film trivia and these sequences are evidence of that. They also demonstrate how powerful and cinematic audio only story-telling can be.

They're ambitious in scope and include a personal story of one soldier that has a poignant payoff. Just as Steven might do.

Take a listen.

Some sound things to note: I love to change "camera" position with sound throughout these sequences.

Notice how the sound cuts and places you in different places: we're outside - then inside - then on the bridge - then back in the sea while the ship sinks, etc... And in the rescue sequence - starting in the sea, then on the plane, then in the sea and then back on the plane as it lands. This wasn’t done merely for effect, but to communicate scale and scope - a large event impacts many perspectives - and they all add up to give us a sense of how devastating it is

None of these shifts were specifically called for in the writing or the narration. But the writing and the narration imply them by leaving room for me to interpret these scenes and where to "put the camera". From where is the best emotional place for "us" to experience this is the question I’d ask myself.

These scenes are what I would consider a great example of "writing for sound".

For example, the narration isn’t telling us “everything”. If it did, that would reduce the sound to only an echo of the narration. Instead it was written anticipating sound would carry much of the narrative load. It leverages what we’re hearing to free itself from the burden of explaining too many details.

Lots more scenes from Inside Jaws to share and chat about in future posts!

Lemme know if there are any you’d like to learn more about.

FAVORITE SCENES: Imagined Life - The Commoner

Imagined Life is a different kind of show. It’s an audio biography of famous people at it’s core, but it’s told in second person placing YOU firmly in the experience of that person. It also withholds the identity of who YOU are until the very end thus creating a kind of immersive guessing game.

Top notch writing with terrific narration from Robbie Daymond and Virgina Madsen demand an equally high level approach to the audio design.

There are many great scenes across the 18 episodes I produced - here is one of my favorites. It’s from the cold open to The Commoner - no spoilers in this clip so pop on some headphones and give this 3 minutes of attention.

One of the more creative parts of the series for me as an audio designer is the constant opportunity to filter the sonic world through the subject’s perception.

The ability to move between objective and subjective points of view is filled creative possibilities for audio only media - and I think it’s one of the form’s greatest strengths.

The key for me early on was realizing that while the story is told in second person - for the listener it should be a first person experience.

“Audio Design” in my use of the phrase is the artful combination of Music and Sound Design elements to illustrate not only what the person is hearing - but HOW they are hearing it, how it changes based on their experiences and how they feel about it. The purpose of Audio Design in Imagined Life is in placing the listener inside the subject life and experiences.

I think this section of the Commoner demonstrates these ideas as well as any other I’ve designed from the series. I’ll be sharing more from this series and others in upcoming posts.

Take a listen and let me me know what you think!

—jeff

SNEAK LISTEN: FEAR

In development in partnership with Mark Ramsey comes FEAR an 8 episode audio thriller anthology.

Here’s the cold open to an episode titled JINN - about a soldier in Afghanistan blinded by suicide bomber who now must escape and eventually confront the deadly Arabian demon.

The series currently has an outline for 8 episodes, with 2 already produced and ready to join a suitable publishing partner looking for a great Fall seasonal series.

Reach out if you’d like to learn more!

FAVORITE SCENES: Dr. Death E3 Occam's Razor

Dr. Death dominated the podcast world in 2018 and was the most downloaded new show for the year according to podtrac. Across the series the tone is dark and atmospheric. A great many listeners called the best horror, not horror audio series they’ve heard. I’ll be sharing several scenes from the series in future posts - but let’s start with the cold open to episode 3.

This sequence is a perfect example why I prefer to call my work “Audio Design” rather than sound design.

While there are sound effects cut into this sequence - all the energy, mood and power comes from music selection, editing and production where we start with a description of a nice person and end with the ranting of a seemingly deranged neurosurgeon.