Yesterday, we introduced the audio postcard format to the interns. What's an audio postcard? It's like a paper postcard, only with sound. It's short, colorful, and brightens your day. And how do you make one? Kayla Sargent, a Weekday High intern last year, wrote this instruction manual:
How to make an audio postcard by Kayla Sargent
Writing an audio postcard is the same as writing a paper postcard. Except when you send an audio postcard, you don’t need to pay for postage.
When you're sifting through your mail, and you see a postcard, the first thing you look at is the picture on the front. The picture draws you in, and gives you a visual of the place the postcard is from. The first sound of your postcard should do just that. Get sounds from the setting that will enable people to visualize where you are. That sound should be first, just like the picture on the front of a postcard.
If you were going to send a postcard from Hawaii, it would have a picture of a tropical beach on the front. To give the listener that beautiful blue watered beach, record the ambient noise of the beach like waves, seagulls, etc.
Then, you flip over the postcard, and read the letter. The first sentence is usually along the lines of “Hello ____! (Place where you are) is fabulous! Find a way to let the listener know exactly where you are, and what it’s like there. In the postcard from Hawaii, a news report of the weather would serve this purpose, “it’s 77 degrees today in Hawaii.”
Then you go on to tell your friend about all the fabulous activities you are doing. Put in the sounds of those activities. In the Hawaiian postcard, sounds of people playing on the beach, and of a tour guide’s spiel would be good.
Then find a nice way to end the postcard. This is the part that says ‘See you soon,” or “Wish you were here.” To end the Hawaii postcard, native Hawaiian music that slowly faded out would do the trick.
When making an Audio Postcard, don’t limit the sounds you use. Conversations, music, ambient noise, machinery, etc., anything that will take the listener from where they are, to where the postcard is from is good to use. If the place you are visiting doesn’t lend itself as easily a Hawaii, just remember that an audio postcard should tell the listener where you are, what it’s like, and what you are doing there.
Kayla knows what she's talking about. Her audio postcard from the basketball courts at Green Lake (
listen to it here; it starts at around 2:50) was featured on
NPR's YouthCast last year. It won an award. Kayla even got a free tote bag.
NPR has a more authoritative guide to audio postcards, but it's written by an adult.
This summer's interns will have audio postcards from other areas around Seattle, starting next week.
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