A Very Spidery Audio Drama-Part 2

On Tuesday, 9/27, I listened to the second broadcast of Anansi Boys. As before, it was pretty easy to listen and tweet along, and I enjoyed it just as much as the first time! It was actually even easier this time around, as I got used to typing quicker and trying to pick up on background audio and other things that aren’t just the plot. I will say, the action really picked up this time around, and wow, there was some surprises!

This time around, I really noticed two other things. First, I really noticed how the animal gods talked. They weren’t in the first live “tweet-along”, so it was a new thing introduced. I wouldn’t call it an accent what was going on. The voice actors just spoke in a way, with or without the help of digital editing I don’t know, that reflect what animal they were. For example, the tiger god had a growly voice and roared occasionally. As I said in my tweet, he said human, but also distinctly feline. It’s harder to describe the bird god’s voice, but she sounded extremely birdlike with almost a cluck to her voice. For both, even without saying what type of animal they were, the listener would be able to tell by the voice (at the very least, the tiger god would sound feline, though he might be mistaken for a lion!). It really helps build the characterization and feel of the  character, especially since on film, the characters would be wearing costumes to signify their animals. Here all they have is voice, so they have to use its fullest capability, and I think they do! In my opinion, it’s the mark of good voice-acting if they can portray the attributes of their character even before the dialogue mentions what they are. What’s interesting is that Anansi, in what we’ve heard if him, doesn’t sound particularly spidery to me. Perhaps its to give the allusion of normalcy, before all of the gods stuff is introduced. It also helps to separate him from the rest of the gods, as he clearly is not liked by any of them.

Speaking of Anansi, another thing I noticed was the lack of singing and lack of lyrical music. In the first broadcast, Anansi sings a lot, which helps add to his character and gives the story a unique feel. It adds to whatever mood the audio is trying to create. In this broadcast, I didn’t any singing. Instead, background music, without lyrics, was more apparent, and did the same job. It was also often tied to other sounds. For example, the music at the beginning was slow, and with the water and nature sounds, it created a peaceful atmosphere. This lulled the audience into a false sense of peace, as immediately afterwards there was an argument and then a heart attack! Not only did it help to create the mood, but it helped add to the surprise of the moment. In addition, there were moments when the music was fast and dramatic, such as during the scenes with the Detective, as well as when Charlie was trying to find a way to get rid of Spider. The music helped to make the scenes more exciting, and show how the characters were on a mission. Finally, there was the mysterious music during the seance and the scenes with the bird god that helped to tell the audience that they were unusual, dangerous, tense scenes. Overall, the live “tweet-along” showed how even without lyrics, music can add so much to a scene.

As before, my tweets are in a thread to make it easier to find them. Click on this tweet to find them all:

Since I have the time, I might as well tune in for this night of #ds106radio too! #ds106

— Francesca Maisano (@FCMaisano) September 26, 2018

This is where my Featured image is from. Again, I hate spiders, so this is another picture that I can actually stand to look at!

https://torange.biz/clipart-halloween-spider-40486