The theatre of the mind

To see a story is one thing, but to be able to collapse onto the bed of your own imagination is another.

I always thought that we needed to work with both of our most powerful senses in order to gain a full experience of what a story has to offer. Being able to see the motions and moods of a character as well as being able to hear the sounds and music behind every step was the only way that I knew. This was because I grew up in a world where the idea of audio dramas were almost non-existent.

Being a visual learner myself, I never would have thought that by closing my eyes on a story it would turn into a whole new world of storytelling. Audio is one of the most intimate forms of media. This is because as you listen you are constantly building your own images of the story in your mind. Like reading, listening to audio allows

people to create their own versions of characters and scenes in the story.

Its like a theatre of the mind. An inside look into your unconscious.

As soon as you place the intimate device of headphones into your ears or simply sit back and listen to a story, your mind is transported to a different world.

Listen to this:

One of the first inspiring audio dramas that exemplifies this is called the Virtual Barber Shop. With a play on headphones, the sounds and atmosphere allow the listener to feel as if they are inside a real life barber shop.

Creating something that feels authentic is the best way to connect your listener and it doesn’t even have to be something that’s true; it just has to do with something that feels true to them. Therefore in order to make compelling fiction, you first need to understand authenticity. When you paint these images in people’s minds you allow listeners to make up impossible things that become possible through sound. Even if people know something they are listening to isn’t real, they want it to sound true.

Listen to this:

In 1938, on Halloween eve, an example of a radio broadcast that conveyed the idea of authenticity was called “The War of the Worlds”. A dramatisation of the science-fiction novel that aired on CBS radio caused a nationwide panic as the speaker, Orson Welles, conducts a story to their night time listeners about an alien invasion.

There are numerous ways in which we can create a space to ensure that the act of storytelling sounds ‘real’. The first is through a monologue. A monologue is a tool in which both the director and the listener get a chance to form and understand there characters. Every story needs characters in order to make a script and without the visual aspect of seeing, it is important to make sure that the characters we do create are minimal. Human beings tend to have short attention spans which is why most visual productions are packed with moving objects and short cut scenes. With minimal characters in your story it makes it easier for your listeners to focus and helps the director grab the audiences’ full attention. This is why voicing and casting within your scripts are crucial.

The next way to make an audio drama sound ‘real’ is through your dialogue. The dialogue that holds your story together is everything. It allows your character to grow and develop as well as extend the story-line. It informs the listener about what is going on, it captures the attitude and gives the character momentum throughout the piece.

The most powerful way in which an audio drama sounds ‘real’ is by using sound environments or spot effects. These are specific sounds introduced to accentuate activities taking place within the story. For example in the Virtual Barber shop the sounds of walking steps, scissors cutting or the plastic bag are just little things that make the story come to life. However because we cannot physically see a person walk on and off the screen for example, we need to be creative with transitions. Transitions allow us to form a method of creating that ability to end one scene and begin another. We can transition stories by adding cuts, fading sounds or having music drifting in and out. We can even create bridges of silence for dramatic effect.

These are just some of the things that a storyteller can take away from an audio drama. Humans are emotional creatures that need to feel and connect with each other. This is why we need storytelling so that we can help people relate to one another and sometimes even heal. An audio drama allows us to do this internally. All we have to do is listen.