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The 2007 TCF Conference sessions:
General Sessions:
Presenting the 2007 TCF ShortDocs: Dollar Storeys
In Praise of the Sandbox, with Jay Allison
Breakout Sessions:
Documenter and Documentee
Emancipation of Sound
Getting to Yes: Perfecting Your Pitch
Greenberger and Greenberg: On Story and Music
Making a Scene: The Use of Vérité to Show, Not Tell, Your Story
Options and Futures: Teenagers on the Radio
Secrets, Whispers and Lies: Crafting a Personal Documentary
She Launched Channel Zero
The Sounds Inside
Stand Tall
When and How to Sell Out
With a Bird's Eye
The Wonders of Narcissism
Audio Miscellany :
Audio Doctor Sessions
Group [Radio] Therapy
Phonoscopy
Tech Table
Click on images below to see larger versions!
All photos by Stu Mullenberg.
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| General Sessions: |
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Presenting the 2007 TCF ShortDocs:
Dollar Storeys
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(right-click to download)
The TCF announced the Dollar Storeys project in April 2007, inviting seasoned producers and amateur audio fans alike to submit short audio pieces inspired by one of three specific items purchased at a dollar store in Chicago: a 4pk of wooden mousetraps, an old-school bicycle bell and a ceramic mug sporting a pithy saying about feisty women. Four “bucktales” were chosen as the 2007 TCF ShortDocs and will be presented by their producers along with a few other noteworthy submissions.
Dollar Storeys was inspired by Chicago’s Dollar Store Show reading series whose founder, Jonathan Messinger, will be on hand along with TCF Managing Director Julie Shapiro, to lead a conversation about the project's process, the results and the undeniable charm of evocative crap. The two will be joined by ShortDocs producers: Sean Hurley, Jeffrey Letterly, David Maxon and Nina Perry.
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In Praise of the Sandbox
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(right-click to download)
What inspires those who inspire us? In this session, Jay Allison will play work that inspired him a long time ago and inspires him today--work that contains a healthy measure of invention and play, key ingredients of creativity-- even in a serious world. |
| Breakout Sessions (presented both on Friday and Saturday, except where noted) |
Documenter and Documentee
Documenting somebody else's life is one of the hardest challenges producers face in their work. Over an extended period of time relationships intensify, stories often change drastically and the line between personal and too personal blurs easily. Two producers talk with the subjects of their work about the stories they've documented, the struggles they faced together throughout the process, and what they've learned from each other through the experience.
Moderated by Joe Richman, with Mary Beth Kirchner and Rebecca Peterson.
(stream)
(right-click to download)
Moderated by Joe Richman with Michele Norris and Sharon White.
(stream)
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| Emancipation of Sound
(stream)
(right-click to download)
 You'll probably need this transcript to follow along with the German excerpts.
Click to open the PDF or right-click to download and print.
The established elements of Feature productions have been words, music, actualities, and effects. It took almost 50 years of Feature work before we began to understand that in between and all around these elements there is something essential, even if you sometimes cannot hear it : the space, the sound, the breathing of a production, the undiscovered continent of radio which we have undertaken to conquer step by step.
With a Bird's Eye
(stream)
(right-click to download)
You'll probably need this transcript to follow along with the German excerpts.
Click to open the PDF or right-click to download and print.
Flying across the last fifty years of international feature production is like looking out of an aircraft at night. Looking down you see the illuminated cities, the many shining villages but far more than everything else you see the sparkling spots of individual talent. New lights spring up and others slowly disappear. Only some brilliant lighthouses seem to beam forever. Join Peter Leonhard Braun on his night flight crossing feature times from past to present.
With Peter Leonhard Braun, and presented in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Chicago.
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Getting to Yes: Perfecting Your Pitch
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Friday - with Peter Clowney, Jacob Conrad, Jane Feltes
(right-click to download)
(stream)
Saturday - with David Krasnow, Andrea de Leon, Jacquie Gales Webb
(right-click to download)
In collaboration with the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR), this session will address how to successfully pitch your radio stories and series ideas to stations, networks and other acquirers of independent work. To best show the process, about a dozen producers will be invited to sell their story ideas to a panel of "gatekeepers." The panel will explain the elements of a strong story pitch and will offer other strategies for getting your work heard.
With Steve Mencher and guests Peter Clowney (Weekend America), Jacob Conrad (Day to Day) and Jane Feltes (This American Life) on Friday, and David Krasnow (Studio 360), Andrea de Leon (NPR East Coast Editor) and
Jacquie Gales Webb (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) on Saturday.
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Greenberger and Greenberg: On Story and Music
(stream)
(right-click to download)
Beyond being atmospheric and scene setting, music can play an active role in audio pieces. David Greenberger has worked with a wide range of musicians and composers for his radio monologues, which are adapted from conversations he has with the elderly. Chicago musician Mark Greenberg recently collaborated with Greenberger and will also be on hand to talk about the process from a musician's perspective. |
Making a Scene: The Use of Verite to Show, Not Tell, Your Story
(stream)
(right-click to download)
A well-crafted scene, heard on the radio, opens a window onto a new world and allows the listener to fly right in. Claire Schoen will explore the process of creating scenes -- showing real people living their lives -- for an audio documentary. Recording a single scene may require spending days with a subject. Back in the studio, bits and pieces of audio are layered in multiple tracks to reconstruct a place and time. The result is an experience that relays information on a visceral and emotional level. |
Options and Futures: Teenagers on the Radio
Hear a survey of the latest and greatest work being created by teen producers around the country. These coast-to-coast stories come with bonus features – teen producers will also play some sounds they love to listen to, with commentary on why, and tape that didn’t make the final cut in production, with commentary on why not.
Tatiana Harrison and youth producers from around the country.
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Friday
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Saturday
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Secrets, Whispers and Lies: Crafting a Personal Documentary
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(right-click to download)
Everyone’s telling their story these days – in blogs, podcasts, on YouTube. But what makes one story a yawn or self-indulgent and another one compelling? How do you tell a personal story as a radio documentary? Outfront’s Neil Sandell will explain how to drill deep to find the real story, how to tell it with tape, the challenges of midwifing someone else’s story, and making the listener care. He’ll also discuss some of the ethical dilemmas of exploitation, privacy and voyeurism. |
She Launched Channel Zero
(stream)
(right-click to download)
In a time when commercial interests continue to stake a claim to audiences’ attentions on the Internet, artists continue to explore the narrowcast as a vehicle for simultaneously cultivating an audience and developing a body of work. Sound artists/storytellers Mendi + Keith Obadike will discuss the advantages and challenges of making audio work that lives between and among the genres of transmission arts, documentary, music, sound installation, and internet art. |
The Sounds Inside
(stream)
(right-click to download)
In certain radio stories, sounds exist only in the mind of the storyteller and can't be physically recorded - like dreams, memories and predictions. How do you create a soundscape that brings "the sounds inside" to life? When ambient tape or archival tape just won't do, it's time to employ your own production imagination. Kara Oehler and Ann Heppermann will discuss using interviews and ambient sound as springboards for interpreting these supposedly 'nonexistent sounds,' while staying true to the story itself. |
Stand Tall
(stream)
(right-click to download)
The best 'real time' radio sounds live and spontaneous, but requires forethought and structure. This session focuses on how to do "stand up" in the field - what works and what doesn't. With examples of many pitfalls and a few successes, longtime NPR correspondent Elizabeth Arnold shares what she's learned about the practical realities of putting yourself in your piece. |
When and How to Sell Out
(stream)
(right-click to download)
It’s hard enough to pitch a story to a public radio show - are you willing to risk rejection from a whole new set of people? In this session Daniel Sternberg will talk about taking all of your talents, training, and neuroses and applying them to the world of podcasting. You will often be blazing new trails for your clients and will have to spend much of your time helping them understand what it is that you do. Mostly, you'll be applying the things that you are best at - the things that you love - for a whole new market full of challenges, opportunity, and fun. |
The Wonders of Narcissism
(stream)
(right-click to download)
Let's face it. You're funny and cunning and smart and insightful -- disarming, direct and hopelessly attractive. Why not give the people what they want? More you! Sure you're not what the story is about. But that doesn't mean you can't acknowledge that you're the one telling it. And doing so can be a key to more memorable moments (aka "The 3 M's") and a more propulsive narrative. So include yourself asking a questions on tape! Interview friends and SAY they're your friends! And above all... be you! All in favor... say "I." With Sean Cole. |
| Audio Miscellany : |
Audio Doctor Sessions
By now a TCF tradition, once again a limited number of conference attendees will have the opportunity to bring their work (completed or in progress) and receive a 20 minute, private counseling session with accomplished producers and editors:
Ira Glass Lloyd King
Mary Beth Kirchner Andrea Seabrook
Ben Shapiro Carolyn Warren |
Group [Radio] Therapy
Wishing you could play some of your own work for a small group of sympathetic yet discriminating fellow producers? Or maybe you'd rather hone your critical listening skills in a group context. Here's a chance to do both. Cate Cahan will lead the group, as producers listen to each other's work and constructively discuss each piece. Participation limited to 20 per group. Sign up on-site. |
Phonoscopy installation
Do you suffer from acoustic ennui? Are you unable to drown out the echoes of modern life and absorb the sensual palette of the everyday?
Put some luster in your step, try phonoscopy. Brooklyn sound artist and filmmaker Kevin T. Allen's custom built phonoscopes will be on display throughout the conference: "Phonoscope Gowanus," exploring the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, and "Phonoscope Bibliotek," navigating the three New York City library branches.
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Tech Table
Can¹t get your Pro Tools mixes to sound quite right? Suspect that you might have the wrong mic, or are using it incorrectly? Been thinking about buying a new field recorder, but don¹t know which one¹s right for you? Drop by the Tech Table in the lobby and confer with Transom.org Tools Editor Jeff Towne. Make a 10-minute appointment to work out a particular problem, or eavesdrop on someone else¹s questions. Bring some sound that¹s been bothering you, listen to some mics, press some buttons on some flash recorders, or just stop by and pick Jeff¹s brain. |
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