For my audio essay I wanted to paint a picture of what my hometown was like. I didn't have a story or experience that I could share so I wanted to share what my home is like so people can get an idea of where I come from. Knowing that other people will listen to my audio essay is a little weird for, not because I don't want people to know the story, but because they have no idea what I look like so they have to put a face to the voice. I struggled with making sure the music and background sounds reflected with what I was saying at the time and I was unsure if they added to the story or took away from it.
Approaching the audio essay I was unsure how I wanted to tackle it. I decided that the best way for me to do it was to stick with the "I Am From" poem format and expand upon it since we had already done some work with it. The format was familiar and easy, if I had had to start from scratch I don't know if I would've gotten the same results that I did with the format I used. I'm content with the way my audio essay turned out, but after listening to a few other essays I wish I had spent more time playing around with sound and music. I feel I could've been more creative if I had explored more beyond than what I used. Another thing I struggled with was making sure my pace was even throughout the audio essay and making sure to speak clearly. I had to record a couple different times and I still wasn't totally happy with the end result.
Looking toward the refugee project I am going to spend more time making sure music and background noise fit the narrative. I'm excited to be working with a group on this project since I know some of my group members have experience in editing audio and will be able to show me better how to edit the audio clips. It's also good to have multiple voices about what will sound good in the refugee audio clip and which parts to use in the final clip.