How to record and produce audio slideshows

自报纸早期以来，记者就陪伴了他们的故事，但数字革命带来了一个全新的趋势 - 将静止图像与音频幻灯片中的声音结合在一起。越来越多的媒体要求具有优势的精心制作和精心策划的内容。音频幻灯片可以提供。
Here I’ll guide you through the dos and don’ts, from collecting material to how you put it together.

为什么要进行音频幻灯片？

When should you use an audio slideshow and not written, video, audio, or radio journalism? Good question. An audio slideshow is not a medium for when you could not find your video camera, nor is it a way to just jazz up audio. Rather, it conveys special qualities that video, audio or print alone cannot.

制作音频幻灯片以增加故事的深度：当视觉主题是美丽或戏剧性的时，音频令人惊叹，氛围，深度和距离变化。音频幻灯片需要暂停和时间进行反思的故事，让环境噪音和图像持续着重于强调。视频可以为您提供其中的一些结果，但是音频幻灯片提供了进一步的重点，细节和与主题的亲密关系。

Recording interviews

An audio slideshow starts to lose impact after four minutes. So limit the interviewees to three or four. And leave room for the ambient noise, sound effects and music that will let the final piece ‘breathe’ (read more in the ‘Recording other sounds’ section).

In general, collect only about 40 minutes of material for four interviews, excluding ambient noise and sound effects. This should give plenty to choose from, leaving unused but interesting material for other features or as stand-alone interviews.

Try to find equipment that records in .wav format. Most small recorders will, and makes such as TASCAM and Marantz are generally easy to use. Avoid very cheap recorders — some will only record in .mp3 format. That may sound fine on your smart phone and headset, but when uploaded to a website the results can be poor.

重要的是，受访者的回答是清楚的，背景噪声不会干扰。这不是视频 - 贡献者的嘴不会移动，因此不会为声音差提供补偿。遵循录制音频的常规规则：确保答案清晰可理解，即使这需要许多尝试，并要求贡献者解释观众无法理解的要点（请参阅我如何为广播制作科学新闻报道？for more tips).

叙述不多

The ideal slideshow doesn’t have narration. Its essence is that images and audio work with each other, conveying a wonderful sense of space, shifting time and place, and atmosphere. It is not easy, but it is good to aim for.

要在没有叙述的情况下工作，需要在一定程度上进行排练，并要求将问题作为答案的一部分。您将不得不相当紧张地管理他们的回答，并解释说，他们应该在“ Soundbites”中说话。受访者应该为自己说话，说自己是谁，他们的职业，然后提出贡献。

最初，您可能必须在叙述中填补理解方面的空白。如果是这样，请保持简短自然的声音。如果您塞满太多的叙述，那么面试的空间就很少。

记录其他声音

A good audio slideshow makes extensive use of sound effects. They can explain what is happening. Look around, see and hear the local circumstances. If the sounds are relevant, use them as a deliberate feature. In a forest, for example, you might use the sounds of moving through the trees. While recording, try to make a mental note of what you are likely to include in the final piece — you will learn to recognise which sounds and soundbites best suit the story.

Nearly every sound recorder will record audio in stereo — exploit this as much as you can. Expensive microphones will offer little benefit if you do not make good use of simple atmosphere changes. For example, if your story involves moving from inside to outside, record this transition and exploit the sense of change and movement, for example by recording doors opening and capturing the differences in background (ambient) noise.

在位置时，总是会有一些背景声音。这可能是办公室的嗡嗡声或嘈杂的街道场景。确保您录制了很多，even if you do not think you need it.编辑时，您将需要一些额外的环境噪声来帮助各部分之间的平滑过渡，或者改善最终片段的步伐。

但是，如有必要，有一些方法可以解决这个问题。英国广播公司的保罗·克利（Paul Kerley）在编译时无法获得环境或背景噪音this slideshowfrom a studio interview and stock shots. He used sound effects from CDs and music as alternatives, with great effect.

如果您的组织加入了必要的许可组织，例如MCP或PRS，则应声明您在其提供的表格上使用的任何商业音乐。在线上有各种“无权”音乐来源，但请仔细检查它们确实是“无权”的。他们可能未获得第三方联合组织的许可。音乐与creative commons许可证是一个很好的起点。

图片

阅读了很多有关音频的信息后，您可以原谅您认为它决定了成品。但是成功的幻灯片同等地取决于好图片。两者确实必须一起工作（并且没有关于您首先收集的规则）。

There is surprisingly little to say about the type of camera to use: any modern digital camera or even smart phone can take very good images.

For a slideshow lasting between two and four minutes you should be aiming to collect 25-30 interesting images, even if you end up using significantly fewer.

图像应该很简单 - 您可能会完全理解您的主题，但是观看您的作品的人可能完全不熟悉。不可能有时间拍摄具有喜怒无常的照明和戏剧性效果的高度风格化图像，因此请保持简单。确保主题的大部分位于框架的中央，直接摄像机直接，并在有时间的情况下尝试“ Arty”拍摄作为额外的镜头。值得陈述显而易见的事情 - 保持关注的焦点！这一切都是为了拍摄好，简单地拍摄，以明显的方式讲述您的故事。

您可能不会拍照像这些，但是请看它们的简单性及其影响，并了解它们如何与音频合作。

If you are taking pictures of people, always ask permission. Keep them in close up or mid-frame — the fundamental objective is to see people clearly. The same goes for objects or anything you want to feature.

For example if your subject is wild animals you’ll need some detailed images. A slideshow made up of distant landscape shots with the animals far off would be difficult to follow and would lack impact. Conversely if所有your images were in close-up, the slideshow could become tiresome to watch. Ensure there is variety. If you are at a conference don’t use lots of images of panellists sitting in a row. Instead, take close ups of participants’ gestures, or perhaps shots of journalists taking notes — anything to widen the approach.

Audio slideshows are great for bringing archive material alive, such as documents and collections of old images. Close-ups work really well with written documents if you crop very tightly to key passages.

此音频幻灯片shows very good use of images, close up treatments and subtle movement.

回到办公室

有许多奥迪o slideshow software packages, from free ones such as MemoriesOnWeb and Picasa to paid-for ones like Soundslides. The latter is, in my experience, the most flexible.

不要将您的录音单词转录。这不是有效的，建议您真的不知道自己刚刚记录了什么。我建议您在将其转移到编辑软件中时通过您的材料聆听，并简要说明良好的声音和访谈中可能的剪辑。尝试交替的声音，并散布着环境声音，声音效果或音乐。

The best picture size for an audio slideshow is 976×549 pixels, which corresponds to the normal aspect ratio for monitors. Crop your images to this size, but if you cannot then it is best to use the original format (here too, try to be consistent). Crop top and bottom if the original is too narrow, or if it is far too wide find one focus of attention and crop accordingly.

生产技术

借助Soundslides之类的软件，您可以通过切割或在它们之间溶解来从一个幻灯片过渡到另一个幻灯片。您也可以随时淡入黑色 - 尽管通常这是为了开始和结束。您可以放大进出，或者向左或向右放置。

您可以设置这些动作的持续时间，尽管经验会表明快速变焦或锅为不愉快而业余的外观。您可能会觉得自己正在通过快速放大来注入能量，但是如果您一遍又一遍地这样做，那将成为一种烦恼和分心。非常小的动作更加有效，也避免图片“ Qudger”或摇晃。

在这两个示例中，我们在生产办公室和麦克风中看到了BBC世界服务部门的生活简短描述，以帮助您可视化好和坏实践的某些方面。

The first video shows inconsistent cropping, very fast pans and zooms, erratic pacing (where some important shots are rushed through, and less important ‘filler’ images such as the files and clocks are held too long), and images that do not change at logical places, for example in time with the music.

This second video is much better. It shows completely consistent cropping (no black lines or gaps), and minimal pans and zooms so you can really see the images. The most significant pictures are held for longer than the incidental ‘filler’ images, and the images change on the beat of the music. If people were speaking, the images would also change at a logical place in keeping with the words.

五个关键问题

这些示例非常简短，仅包含音乐作为配乐，但是您可以看到音频幻灯片演出的基础知识。其余的取决于您，我建议您进行实验。在工作或考虑使用音频幻灯片时问自己五个问题：

1. Is my story suitable for an audio slideshow?
2. 我的访谈有明确的演讲和良好的技术质量吗？
3. 我的图像很好，独特且足够明显吗？
4. 我的图像和音频可以很好地工作吗？
5. 锅，变焦和图片是否与故事相关？

如果您可以回答这些问题，那就开始了。祝你好运！

约翰·埃斯科姆（John Escolme）is a broadcast journalist at BBC History providing content forHistory of the BBC。他于1992年完成了研究生新闻文凭，并在BBC和商业新闻编辑室工作。他的角色包括广播和电视制作，以及电视上的连续性呈递作品。

Scidev.net上选定的音频幻灯片：

Energy in mid-air
困境路：陷阱和发展的可能性
巴西的雨林
传达尼泊尔的气候变化