Voices & Stories

How can you best tell someone else’s story so it retains their voice? Behold, recordable media.

With advancements in technology we are now able to easily share recorded media of events to provide coverage of a news story using nothing but unedited footage, but sometimes this can require context for the footage to be understood.

Take a look at how the propaganda service and news agency, RFE/RL combines stories, voices and traditional music of Kiev to paint a picture of German resettlement (January 14, 2022).

Sometimes, content needs to engage a certain audience which is moderately displaced from better understanding current news due to a variety of factors of which poor media consumption is just one. The addition of musical compositions can help create a whole new piece altogether. As the example below featuring Olivia Rodrigo, Diplo & Glass Animals, along with the original piece from above shows, a transdisciplinary approach allows for news to connect to people across the globe through an audio-video-mediated process which asks the viewer to question the ideas presented critically and form independent opinions. News which connects reliable and important information to audiences is a valuable way to inform a community and provides an educational value to society.

Try it:

Taking a queue from the cast above, try it yourself and see if you can find connections. Taking a transdisciplinary approach requires you to weave a tale using other news, to help inform a perspective not present in the original piece. Using the pieces found on radiofree.org (as well as your own news libraries) use a video editor to combine multiple documents into a new story, which gives your own perspective without using your voice.

We’ve compiled all the tools you need (just bring your own flash drive and have access to a computer). Download ORCHID and install Open Shot video editor to get started editing video.

Olivia Rodrigo is signed to Geffen Records a division of Universal Music Group (2220 Colorado Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90404 (310) 865-4000). Olivia’s albums are streamed on Spotify, Vevo, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Culture and YouTube. Music performed by the Soroki Folklore Ensemble of Rudichny, Kirov.