About this Podcast

The Academy, or the Oscars, has long been considered a boys’ club. This sentiment still seems to remain true, despite the fact that women are now able to be nominated for Academy Awards. Despite a growing argument that there is a lack of originality in films, the Academy rarely recognizes an entire demographic of storytellers. Why does the Academy, year after year, fail to recognize female directors?

About Sydney

Sydney is a student at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. She’s a Film 1 student, after switching to the Film elective at Freestyle following her Junior year in Design. Sydney has an insatiable love for film; there is nothing that she loves more than connecting to the stories and intricacies of the medium. Next year, Sydney will be attending Northeastern University as an Undeclared student, working towards a dual degree in Film Studies and Journalism.

Introduction

Podcasting in the past few years has exploded as a medium. It’s easy to access, easy to understand, and is a unique storytelling experience. The goal of this project is to be able to communicate a story using only audio. 

My main inspirations were the New York Times Modern Love Podcast and the Gus and Eddy Podcast. Modern Love was inspiring for me because the actors that read the stories add a lot of depth and dimension to the show. I am inspired by the Gus and Eddy Podcast because of the laid-back style of their show, which makes the viewer feel relaxed and like they are having a conversation with friends.

Process

Below is the podcast that I edited on ProTools. After recording everything I normalized the audio and added music that would match with what I was talking about.

Reflection

What I really valued from this project is that we had the freedom to discuss whatever we wanted to discuss. Doing this allowed me to talk about a really timely issue, considering that the 92nd Academy Awards just passed. I also really valued continuing to practice using ProTools, because using that application is really difficult for me.