One particular element of this podcast series that was prevalent throughout all the episodes that helped linked them together was their consistent structure. Each episode started out with the same introduction music and with the narrator briefly summarizing the main parts that occurred in the previous episode and reminding listeners to check out the previous episodes to catch up on the story. This predictable introduction not only neatly segue ways into the new episode by kindly providing a synopsis of the previous episode, but it also, in a way, continually hooks the listeners from coming back to the podcast to listen to it. By using the same introduction scheme, the creators of the podcast are able to create a nostalgic and familiar feel for their audience and one that they are comfortable with and able to recognize.
After the introduction, the narrator tends to have a brief conversation with her producer before diving into another ‘Black Tape’. In doing so, she gives a more humanistic touch to the podcast that contrasts with the seemingly scripted and fictional storyline. By adding this part within each episode, the creators are able to make the podcast more realistic and, therefore, more enticing and suspenseful than if it were blatantly fake.
Soon after this part of the podcast, the narrator dives straight into another ‘Black Tape’. By quickly jumping into the action soon after the start of an episode, the podcast gives something for its audience to look forward to. Furthermore, it creates a reliable, orderly structure that allows listeners to recognize and trust that the main part of the episode, what they were waiting for, is coming up soon.
A third of the way into an episode, the narrator briefly announces that “I’m Alex Reagan, and you’re listening to The Black Tapes podcast. Stay with us.” This short phrase helps develop a consistent identity among the episodes, even though it may not be one of their hallmarks. It also provides the audience a short intermission during which they can do as they please.
After this intermission, Alex Reagan begins from where she left off and then about two thirds of the way into the episode there is another short intermission during which she gives a brief advertisement for a certain company. Soon after, she finishes the story and then the outro starts playing.
Although there are certain defined sections of the podcast, other aspects are prevalent among different episodes that help create a consistent identity. For one, the narrator always cuts away from the scene to provide essential backstories in order to help the listeners more clearly understand the situation. Another element is the ominous and eerie background music and sound effects that is heard within each episode. These auditory elements not only cue suspense in certain scenes, but they also trigger the listeners’ attention and remind them that something intense is or has happened.
By using the same template for their episodes, the podcast is able to develop a consistent identity that their audience is able to rely on and look forward to from episode to episode. Furthermore, with the integration of quick snippets of backstories and suspenseful musical effects, the podcast creates an atmosphere that is familiar yet eerie and captures the listeners’ attention, causing them to come back to listen to more.
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Hi Josh, I really enjoyed your analysis of the narrative elements displayed in The Black Tapes. I think that the structure of taking a few minutes at the beginning of the episode to give a brief synopsis of what occurred previously, and what will occur in the current episode is a great way of gasping the listener’s attention and keeping them intrigued for what’s to come. Furthermore, I think that this strategy is particularly strong in encouraging the listener to come back and keep listening to more episodes of the podcast since not too much memory of previous events may be required.
I think that in our own podcast episodes, it may be a bit difficult to keep this recurring “familiarity” that you talk about since we don’t necessarily have 5-10 episodes of podcasts that we are making. In our short 2-3 podcast series it may become overly repetitive if we give a synopsis at the beginning of every episode. That being said, I think it is still very beneficial to keep the same intro music, and background music because like you said it maintains a certain “feel” to the podcast that the listener may find comforting to have as a constant throughout our series.
The other interesting component that I saw in your blog post was when Alex Reagan says, “stay with us”. I think in our short Sherlock podcast series, adding this short phrase at the end of the first episode can serve as a great segue way into the second and third episodes since it provides a less abrupt ending of one episode and beginning of another episode!
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