It is really interesting to see someone working behind the scenes. When you watch a show or movie, you don’t necessarily think about what you hear, but it is so important. It is nice to hear someone like Jennifer Ralston talking about how this job started just as an interest and she worked more and more on audio until she was being paid as a student.

It’s cool that she worked with Simon, who I find such a great storyteller through watching the Wire. The questions Jennifer brought up as examples during the interview made me realize how much her and Simon had to think about each detail in all of the episodes. It’s also crazy to think of how much audio they probably had to sort through in order to get exactly what they wanted. I did not even think about the background noises, like the traffic example Jennifer suggests. I definitely see the documentary style and narrative sound that Jennifer discussed. She said they tried to make the sound realistic, and while watching this show, I’ve always found it very realistic, but the sound definitely has more of an input than I thought.

Listening to the audio scenes from the Wire was interesting to hear. You really have to pay attention to Jennifer’s work and what she has done. Without the visual aspect, the story is still apparent with only a little more work on the imagination of the listener. You can catch sounds of doors opening, cars, music, people and more. These are little details that I may have heard, but not really listened to while watching the show. The market scene was especially a realistic storytelling, which is depicted through audio the inside/outside of the market. The word ‘subtle’ definitely described the work of Jennifer on the show. The scene with Little Man and Weebay also really showed the subtlety of the scene where Kima is shot. By just listening and not watching this scene, the audience is placed in the same situation as McNulty and the Lt. who are also just hearing what happens to Kima. The confusion and concern is apparent in the turmoil of the noises we hear in this scene. The noise itself creates the visual.

This scene was really complicated and I cannot imagine the work that went into it. You not only get a sense of place with the audio in the show and each scene, but also a sense of character through voice, of setting and what is happening within the small area. I love that a story can be told in so many different ways and that audio alone can do it without even that much dialogue, such as the Bubbles scene shows. Jennifer has a really cool job and the work she does opens up a whole new way of digital storytelling to me.