For this assignment, I chose to listen to the Spooked Podcast, specifically the one titled, How Rage Got Me Through Law School, which basically summaries the premise of this episode. Essentially, the episode follows a young black man throughout his journey in law school and how he employed an internal rage to persevere through the challenges it presented for him. It opens with him describing this list that acts as a ranking system for students, based on their grades. He remarked on how many of his fellow peers doubted his ability to be one of those top students, likely because of his race. Therefore, by what he described as a "bargain with darkness", the rage and anger stemming from his inner voice is employed to help him succeed, and raise above the others. In the end, despite his high ranking and success, the inner voice refuses to stop it's dominance over him, as it believes he is far from down yet.
To fully submerge the listener into the story, the producers employed using several audio storytelling techniques, including sound layering, music, and silence. For instance, at 1:38-1:46, they used sound layering to enhance the burden of his fellow peers mocking him by emphasizing their word choices and tones. In terms of music, it is primarily used as an emotional anchor to help carry the story's plot, as seen throughout the entire episode. In the beginning of the episode, the background music is used to engage the listener into the mystery of the story, yet, as the story progresses, it transitions into a darker, more frightening tone. The moments of silence throughout this episode are used in a similar manner to both emphasize important moments and words that convey the story's emotions. Therefore, all of these choices affected my understanding of audio storytelling techniques and my overall emotional response towards the episode itself.
Generally speaking, this episode from the Spooked Podcast felt very heavy, emotionally, as it carried this underlying burden of fear and anger throughout the entire thing. Many of the moments of silence and sound layering really stood out to me because they emphasized the deeper meaning of the words being said. Along with that, the music being presented in a darker, more fearful tone felt intentional for the story as it enabled it to carry itself as a sadder story. This was purposely not a redemption story for the underdog winning it all, but of a darker, more realistic reality of being in law school, where the stakes are higher for achievement. One moment in particular, when the narrator is mentioning why he must keep pushing despite wanting to leave really stood t o me because of the sound layering techniques used to show how the anger within him was building up. In conclusion, this highly emotional episode, while short in length, was certainly very powerful.