In a media moment dominated by video and quick-turn content, director Shaun Michael Colón is making a case for slowing down and listening. His latest documentary is "Age of Audio," a history of podcasting and especially audio documentary storytelling. The film makes its Rhode Island premiere Thursday, April 23 at AS220 in Providence.
Speaking with Mareva Lindo for this edition of Weekend 401, he reflects on the art of audio storytelling and why podcasting remains one of the most accessible and creative mediums today.
Interview highlights
On the film’s focus of audio storytelling: ‘It can become an art form’
Sean Michael Colón: The film is about podcasting, but really it's a focus on audio storytelling as a medium. I think podcasting is very broad. It can be a lot of different things, but audio storytelling is that theater of the mind that we try to focus on the film and the potential, if not lost, but downgrading of that in the podcast space, as things have moved more toward cheaper to produce, more chat-type podcasts, which I do love and listen to. So no shade at those, as well. But I felt like that type of audio storytelling was something that needed to be elevated and show that podcasting can be more than just two people talking. It can become an art form.
On how audio storytelling invokes the ‘theater of the mind’
Colón: There's things that you can do in audio that … when you introduce the video element, you're telling someone or showing someone what they should be seeing. And I think when it's two people talking, it's maybe nice to see their faces. But if you're doing an audio documentary, and you're doing something where you're really invoking the theater of the mind, showing is going to solidify what you want them to see; whereas in audio storytelling, it's individualized to who's listening to it. And if it's done in a skilled way, people are seeing in their own mind what their brain is coming up with.
On the democratic appeal of podcasting as a medium
Colón: One of the things that I think is also amazing about podcasting is the technical thing, the RSS feed, which we dive into a little bit in the film, but basically it's what enabled podcasts to be distributed through the internet. It's a piece of code, and it makes podcasting one of the only mediums where you can reach a mass amount of people that's not controlled by a company. You can reach a lot of people on YouTube. You can reach a lot of people on Tiktok and other platforms. But podcasting is one of the only mediums that is not controlled by money and cannot change based on the whims of a new CEO coming in or a new investment opportunity coming in. So I think that's something that's valuable, as well.
“Age of Audio” makes its Rhode Island debut with a special, one-time screening Thursday, April 23, at AS220's black box theater. Director Shaun Michael Colón will be doing a live Q&A after the screening. There will also be a panel discussion on independent podcasting, moderated by filimmaker and podcaster Chuck Staton, featuring Audrey Mardavich, Executive Director of Radiotopia; Carl Byrd of Codex Podcast (Rhode Island’s Longest running Podcast); John Balleste, a.k.a. JMACK of The JAMCK Experience; and Christina Sev of The Spark Up Podcast.
Details: https://as220.org/calendar/age-of-audio-screening-a-documentary-about-podcasts
From Newport stages to Woonsocket sounds: Weekend 401
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