大象传媒

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• What are Pod Plays?

  Pod Plays are a unique collection of short-form audio drama stories. Each one tells a different story by a different writer but what makes them special is the way they are recorded. In fact, that鈥檚 why we decided to make them鈥�

  Catherine Robinson, a sound engineer at 大象传媒 Wales, has been doing a lot of work with our R&D team on the potential for VR and 360掳 sound. She felt that audio drama would lend itself well to an experiment in 鈥渁ugmented reality sound鈥�. By this, she meant that we could create dramas specially designed to be heard in specific locations and then we would conjure a story made in 3-D sound set in those locations 鈥� so that the listener鈥檚 experience of being part of the drama would be extra enhanced. A kind of 鈥渞eality 鈥� plus鈥�, if you like.

  So we got together a team of interested producers and writers and spent some time listening to (and watching) examples of 3-D and VR storytelling and discussing ways in which we might apply the methods to our own work. 聽Of course, we鈥檝e been making drama in binaural sound for many years, on and off, but now that so many listeners use headphones as a matter of course, it means we can exploit the technology much more readily. Drama listeners are all familiar with the way audio drama transports you into the story, but we felt that 360掳 sound which surrounds the listener would make this effect even more convincing and compelling. And because it鈥檚 on headphones, it鈥檚 even more effective than cinema surround sound systems 鈥� because it comes directly into your head.

  The challenge was then for the writers to create stories set in specific locations in which listeners might regularly listen anyway, and then transform those locations from the ordinary into an extraordinary experience.聽 The places we鈥檝e ended up with include the bedroom, the bathroom, the pub and the living room 鈥� but the journeys we鈥檒l take you on are bizarre, funny, touching, scary and literally out of this ordinary world.

  The five stories are all separate, so you can listen to all or some of them and in any order. And you don鈥檛 have to listen in the same location that they are set, but it might be worth a try for some of them if you can.聽 So put on your headphones, close your eyes and let鈥檚 begin鈥�.

  Alison Hindell, Head of Audio Drama, 大象传媒