“The Other Stories” is a podcast based on narrating thriller, horror, and science fiction stories. The podcast is called “The Other Stories” because “these are not the stories that your mother told you” as a young child. I have chosen to start on the first season which is called “Alien”. One unique thing about this podcast is that the four men who are the main narrators chose one specific topic to base all of their stories off of for the entire season. Since this season is called “Alien”, all of the episodes in this season will include horror, thriller, and science fiction stories about aliens.
Each story is written by one of the main four narrators. In particular, the first episode is written by Matt Butcher and is narrated by Steve Conlin. It is a short story about a man who is standing in his field and is looking up at the sky, only to see a bright orange ball hurtling towards him. He immediately thinks that it is a meteor and decides to not tell anyone about it. After watching the bright, glowing, orange ball in the sky for some time he notices that the ball has turned into a disk. As he watches in amazement, the disk hits the ground and not being able to contain his curiosity the man in the field goes up to the disk to see what is inside, only to come face to face with a strange creature from another planet or even universe.
One thing that drew me into this podcast was how short each episode wass. Since short stories are being narrated, there is not a single episode over 15 minutes, most falling around 10 minutes. This is a great way, for me personally, to stay focused on the story without getting lost of bored. These men who are writing the short story are able to fill it with vivid description and suspense even in the short amount of time that they are given. The narrator on the other hand, reads the story with a very suspenseful tone, making you sit on the edge of your seat waiting to hear what is going to happen next.
Although there are four main narrators in this podcast, every episode only has one narrator. This helps you follow the story easily since you do not get confused as to who is talking and why they are talking. Another very useful thing that the narrators do is add music to certain parts of the story. For example, when the man in the field goes up to the flying disk and encounters the creature, suspenseful music starts to play in the background. When the story reaches the climax, suspenseful music is quietly played in the background which helps you follow and understand where in the story you are. They add small sound effects and quiet music is specific places so that your experience as the listener is heightened since the music and sound effects add to the drama and suspense of the story.
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Hi, Emily!
“The Other Stories” seems very interesting! I think I would love to listen to this podcast. I love how you mentioned in your post that one of its pros is that it is not too long, and I totally agree with that statement. If a podcast goes for far too long, it is possible to zone out and miss certain details that may be crucial for later into the podcast. However, with podcasts that are around 10 minutes long, it is much easier to stay on task, not zone out, and clearly remember what the host was/is talking about.
The podcast that I was listening to was non-fictional, and it would be interesting to listen to yours to get a gist on how different effects are applied in cases where the podcast is in a fictional setting. For instance, I would assume that the sound effects/editing would be much more crucial in the case of fictional podcasts rather than non-fictional podcasts (such as mine). I would say that in the podcast I listened to, which was “Heavyweight,” the most crucial element of the podcast was the narration and the narrative style. However, in fictional podcasts, I would assume that music would play a heavy role/the biggest effect in the production of the podcast (as it adds to the eerieness and suspensefulness).
In scenarios of podcasts, I normally find it more intriguing when 2 hosts are talking and narrating together. I found these to be more pulling and intriguing because as one narrates and the other inputs small commentaries, it allows for the podcast to have more clarity and more awareness (however, at the same time, I’ve only listened to non-fictional podcasts). I can see why and how having one narrator, in your podcast, would be beneficial. For instance, when looking at audiobooks, the majority of the time, there is only 1 reader. This enables the story to have more unison and not be as confusing with all the different voices. Moreover, because the podcast you’ve listened to is in 3rd person, I would also say that there is probably no need to have more than 1 narrator. I haven’t really looked at fictional podcasts yet, so your post was very informative. Thanks!
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