Telling Stories with Audio & Visuals (for UT Tyler)

My photo/audio story is about 'Ping' - an unassuming 'true American patriot.' A seed is planted while writing on her calendar, "Mission: Possible" and after an abrupt break (following a brief ad placement,) she receives her true calling... "Agent Ping" is called to save the American people. Given her urgent mission by the (2025) American commander-in-chief... Ping accepts the orders with great haste. While frantically preparing the 25% tariffed stew, things begin to sound out-of-place... until she can register that the sounds are her alarm going off. Back in reality, Ying gets out her dream journal and documents her dream (as most recent in a string of American/presidential related dreams...) Ping lovingly sighs as her fondness for America is kindled.

Originally, the concept involved multiple actors, but it proved difficult to find any other actors (except my wife) because I'm 34 and don't have any family (except my wife and 2 year old son...) and my ONE friend is a homeless man that works full-time. That being said, finding assistance for roles in productions is more difficult than I'd like...

I digress.

The concept originated through an overnight meditation on the production, and (the next day) a 10 minute sit-down (to gather the nebulous, overnight imaginings.) My wife is a legal resident (for 1 year now) so the content was almost a satire. I tried to implement dramatic lighting during the first half to signify her in a dream-state, but the lighting was proving difficult (for such tight quarters) so I relaxed on that.

All-in-all I am satisfied with the project, but if I were to do anything differently, I would have taken more photos to break up the images and to create more movement.

Music and sound draw out emotion and help invigorate scenes. While music is not necessary for storytelling, it helps propel the story... If the production was a 'boat,' the music would be the 'waves.'

The sounds (soundbytes, grunts, water boiling, chopping, etc.) were like little sprinkles of immersion, to bring the viewer into the moments a little more.