paranormal nation - THE INTERVIEWS

Today saw the launch of the first Paranormal Nation spin off – The Interviews.

Now, considering that the Paranormal Nation series hasn’t launched yet that might seem a little strange.

The idea for The Interviews came after scripting the first three episodes of Paranormal Nation and well into the recording of the second episode. I decided to scrip and produce a series of short interviews featuring in each episode one member of the main cast and an ‘experiencer’. These ‘shorts’ were to be released as a runup to the main series. They would introduce both the main cast characters and also the general theme of the main audio drama to come. The Paranormal Nation series is as much about the individual characters as it is about spooky happenings, and I thought that it would be nice to start this journey with solo appearances by the main characters.

Of course, things never go to plan, even when the plan is a simple one. On editing together the first ‘interview’ I realised that the episode was going to run around 25 minutes all on its own. Having already written the second in the series of shorts I knew that the second interview would also run at least 25 minutes. The third I am writing as I make this update.

To go off on a tangent for a moment or two, there is also now a third series in production which will be releasing under something like ‘Decent into Madness’. More about this will follow later, with the first episode potentially releasing in the next couple of weeks.

Back to the Paranormal Nation Interviews.

The thing is - scripting, sound designing, editing and producing a full audio drama series takes a lot of time. It is a slow process from final script edits to getting voice acting recordings back, to creating the music, sound design and then editing and the final production. The Interviews hit a mid-way point for me. The scripts are shorter, the VA potentially quicker on the turn around and the editing is far easier than the full-length audio drama. I am very aware of long gaps in releases, and The Interviews gave me an opportunity to some extent to ‘fix’ this.

Between writing and creating the music, sound design and editing and production I would estimate that no more than twenty hours has gone into the first episode. This shorter turn around helps a lot as everything I create is made outside or work hours. It does however come with some concerns for me. In the main series there are a several scenes in an episode and in this ‘movement’ from scene to scene I feel it is easier to keep momentum going and hopefully the listeners interest in the story. The Interviews are a single scene and with only two characters. While this makes for a much easier time editing and production wise it does mean that the script needs to work harder. As I am not a seasoned or even possibly competent script writer this does put the pressure on and only time will tell if my writing holds the muster.

An extremely fun part of the endeavour however is the music and non-diegetic sound bed production.

Once I have the speech cut in, the process moves onto creating the sound bed and this has found me as an old-time pianist at a silent movie presentation would have, listening and playing along to the audio in real time.

It takes several runs, sometimes I don’t feel that the music or sound bed I am creating is quite right and other times the run throughs are to add more layers and instrument to the final piece.

The first episode is now available, the second is in production and the third is being written. These releases are also the first where I do not have to credit anyone else for music as Paranormal Nation, The Interviews and ‘Descent into Madness’ are entirely in-house (meaning me) productions.

I am interested to see where this leads and how these series are received.

If you do listen, then please drop a comment on the podcast platform of get in touch with me from here.

.

If you are interest in talking about sound design and music requirement for a project, please contact me at blackcreekpodcasts@gmail.com

Free to use music and soundbeds can be found on my SoundCloud Artistspage.