Repurposing Radio into Animation
One of the many blogs I follow pointed me to this series, which some American readers may already know: StoryCorps. For the past seven years, the indie, non-profit series has recorded 30,000 interviews from Americans who wish to share their story.
The series is a great multiplatform story with podcasts, email subscription, a few books, an iPhone app, a Twitter account – and they travel across the U.S. to help people record their stories.
Recently, some of the most popular stories have been turned into original animated shorts. I really enjoyed watching the Danny & Annie animation unfold because it captured raw emotion. Then again, this was the first time I heard the story – and it’s fantastically told.
Earlier this year when I tried to watch The Ricky Gervais Show, which is animated episodes of his hilarious podcast, I found my eyes wandering away from the screen. I had listened to the audio beforehand and created an image that didn’t necessarily correspond with the animators vision.
Repurposed content doesn’t have to match a vision perfectly in order for something to grab my attention, but I felt disappointed – like when you go see a movie based on your favourite book. The animation didn’t add anything to the story.
So, I did an experiment – I listened to StoryCorps next animated short – Q & A – without watching the video… only audio. Afterwards, I watched the animation to see how it affected my enjoyment of the story.
Do me a favour. Do the same. And if you want, tell me what experience you had. Is it like listening to your favourite song and then watching a disappointing video? Or did the animation make you listen to certain elements you may have missed in your original listen?
Ah! A cliffhanger. Be sure to let us know what you thought at some point.
LOL. I’ve got to keep ‘em coming back for more!
To me, the animations did make me pay more attention to certain elements of the Q & A story, and the style of animation pays homage to the organic, rough-around-the-edges feel of these stories. I think a lot could be learned from this interpretation for future animators who want to tackle the same kind of repurposed content.
@storycorps pointed me to an article on Twitter with some background at the New York Times which was great because it explains the resistance to repurposing something that already works. It’s a particular challenge because there are people who have emotionally invested in the original. It’s like when a movie does a fine job of reinterpreting a beloved book – its success is even greater because they managed to get buy-in from the fans.
In other words, you and your brother did a great job, in my opinion…