The first story I listened to was titled “The Men Who Fed America“. It’s told from the perspective of Johnny Itliong, a man who grew up in the 60s working in various California grape fields. His father, Larry Itliong, was a fellow worker in the fields, and was responsible for leading multiple successful labor strikes in that industry. The story opens with some context presented in the form of text, with background music headlined with horns and a drum beat. Once the text disappears, as does the background music, with the narrator replacing it. With no other audio distractions present, the audience is persuaded to listen intently to the narrator. During his narration, you can hear the microphone pick up some sighs and other breathing noises during emotional moments, which helps convey the weight of what he’s talking about to the audience. Towards the end, soft music begins to fade in led by a string instrument, signalling a peaceful ending. Once the narrator completes his story, the music picks up in volume and takes us through the credits before fading out once more.
The next story I listened to was titled “Two Friends Look Back on Y2K and The Apocalypse That Never Was“. I chose to listen to this story as the very concept of the Y2K scare intrigues me, especially as someone who didn’t live through it. The story follows two people who were in their early ~20s at the time who had decided to retreat to a cabin in the woods to ride out the forthcoming apocalypse. The story immediately opens with the two narrators talking with each other, with no interviewer audio involved. The story is presented in a conversational, casual format where the two are basically reminiscing on the events of that day. A minute or two in, they mention checking the news for reports of technological failures. During this, a news report slowly fades in while the narrators are tuned out. After a few seconds, the narrators return as the report slowly fades out. As the story begins to end, background music slowly fades in to replace the narrators, signalling the end of the story. Interestingly enough, this music plays for a solid 30 seconds before the video cuts off. During this time, there is no narration or any other audio present. If I had the chance to talk to the producers of this piece, I’d love to know why they had the music play on for so long, as there was quite literally no other content present during that music break. Regardless, the rest of the piece is well edited and produced.
