When we visit people we use a mix of methods to capture their reality.
In recent projects we’ve used a blend of the following inputs:
DSLR photography
Smartphone photography
Smartphone audio
Lapel/ lavelier microphones
Shotgun microphones
GoPro video recording
Professional video cameras
360° film and photography
The human ear and the human eye!
Each of them brings something different to the projects, and of course they all have their pros and cons.
Trying to work out the suitable blend of the above inputs is part of the thought process for every single brief and whilst the kit may not differ, how they interplay together does.
VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR
Audio is arguably a format that has taken a bit of a battering in recent times. From photography in the early 1800s, to moving image in the late 1800s - audio has been persistent but dare we say not as ‘sexy’ as visual mediums.
But it’s an incredibly powerful medium, and one that can deliver reality in really interesting ways.
THE POWER OF AUDIO
Take these clips below. They’re clips of my experiences of two supermarkets at the weekend.
When you listen - try and close your eyes and hear the sounds, the volumes, the energy, and be conscious of the words that pop into your head.
Supermarket A:
The metallic rhythmic rattling at the beginning was the trolley going over the rough surface outside, yet 17 seconds in you enter the store and immediately the energy changes.
You enter an echoey space and are immediately greeted with a beep. It’s clinical in its coldness. (Please excuse my mumbling - I didn’t even realise I was doing it! A learning in itself for the ‘Shop Alone Convenience Visit’ no doubt.)
Then for 15 seconds (33-48) you hear an assortment of beeps and sirens. In this particular supermarket you enter and the stationery and books are close to the entrance (so I was looking for a white marker). That means it’s quite a quiet, cavernous space to enter to (with a lack of rustling of packaging around you).
Now - compare that to Supermarket B:
In Supermarket B I didn’t pick up a trolley as I only wanted one or two items (this is my ‘top up’ store - so my journey through it is different and means my audio experience is different).
You can hear me entering at 14 seconds in, and you’re immediately confronted with multiple, rhythmic beeping sounds.
It’s a smaller store, that doesn’t have ‘scan as you shop’ therefore all customers go through the checkouts manned by humans. And that beeping is dictated by their speed of getting people through.
Those beeps are omni-present when you’re in the front of the supermarket as it’s a smaller store so they carry more.
However, around 25 seconds in you hear the underlying hum of the chillers masking the beeps. This store has its chilled goods close to the entrance. So you enter the store, feel a chill on your skin and hear a hum that you can’t avoid.
And what about human interaction?
Well - there’s nothing scientific about this - they were just the two places I visited over the weekend - like I would any other weekend.
In Supermarket A I typically ‘scan as you shop’ - I usually have a podcast on, headphones in and actively avoid human contact. Because I can - I’m carrying out all parts of the shopping myself (including the payment).
Sometimes in Supermarket A they check I haven’t stolen anything (which is disruptive because I’ve packed in a certain way), and sometimes they need to check I’m over 18 as I’m buying alcohol. Very flattering. But typically - those two interactions are the only interactions I’ll have with human beings.
Supermarket B doesn’t have a ‘scan as you shop’ offering, and because it’s more compact and with less space, I tend to feel more conscious about my presence so I tend to take my headphones out. Which makes it a little less enjoyable.
And of course then there’s the unavoidable human interaction of the checkouts… where there’s usually a queue…
… and as I only use this store as my ‘top up’ store, I’m invariably holding one or two items behind someone else doing their larger shop.
This clip is my experience of me approaching the checkout with someone in front of me unpacking a full trolley:
The rhythmic beeping persists like an electronic device in a hospital, but my first human interaction is someone offering to let me go in front of them as they noticed I only have one item.
After that I’m to the checkout, with my single item, and seamlessly pass through - an enjoyable experience but only due to two key factors that have nothing to do with the supermarket brand in question: 1) The other customer letting me go in front of them; 2) Only having one item so the stress of having to pack quickly is negated.
It’s been proven that hearing improves with people living with visual impairments, and the how I’ve delivered the audio here is intentionally stark - with no imagery. To try and force you to focus on the audio itself.
And because of that, your experience of it and how you decode it is slightly different.
Another sound exploration is coming at some point.