Week 8: Trial and Error — Examing the Viability of Video and Audio Storytelling

Continuing on the outcomes of last week's workshop production, this week we focuses on examining the viability of conducting interviews using auditory narrative rather than video storytelling through practical experience.

I had the privilege of conducting a short interview with Dr. Bronwyn Isaacs, which was the most creative and interesting part of the production without doubt. She is a Senior Lecturer in the field of Anthropology at the University of Waikato, who holds a profound academic history and thoughtful insights within this topic.

We anchored our discussion around the main theme “The Reason Behind Why We Still Study Anthropology”. As a Chinese student studying abroad, anthropology is often a subject filled with controversy and criticism, as it touches upon many sensitive topics and can even lead to numerous obstacles in research, which further demonstrates the difficulty and value of persistence in the study of anthropology. The chosen topic closely corresponds to my personal project, as both focus on why contemporary audiences still need to maintain persistence towards certain cultural values within specific social contexts.

During the interview, I gained a profound awareness of the limitations and impracticality imposed by technology. Within our constrained environment, we lack sufficient time and space to set up visual equipments, and professors typically lack the patience to allow such a large-scale operation in their offices, which is totally reasonable and understandable. The challenge lies in finding the optimal approach to minimise disruption of the interviewees' daily work while ensuring maximum effectiveness.

This further reinforces the practical viability of audio-based storytelling as a more flexible and accessible medium, allowing the audience to engage more deeply with the individual narrative to establish emotional connections, while offering guests a safe and comfortable space to focus on the in-depth expression, which directly benefits one of the main outputs.

Next week, we will be recording the first episode of Unseen Curtain Podcast. Please stay tuned for more updates on our progress and our original creative materials.

Reference:

1. Isaacs, B. (2026). Bronwyn Isaacs About. University of Waikato. https://profiles.waikato.ac.nz/bronwyn.isaacs