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After a long hiatus, due to the pandemic, I’ve recently started going to the cinema again, and it feels great. There’s something about seeing a film in a festival, actually in person, that feels extravagant…even if you have to still wear a mask.

Because, when you’re at a festival, you get to see the filmmakers in person, and often the actors or subjects too. It’s just exciting. You feel like you’re part of something.

The most recent film I got to see was at the Hot Docs International Film Festival, and it’s called Nalvany. It’s a documentary that was following Nalvany, if you don’t know, the unofficial opposition leader to Russia…a politician who might be able to beat Putin, if he was given a chance, perhaps if he was let out of jail. 

The film  is amazing, and you should totally find it. And I’m not going to spoil it for you, in case you don’t read the news. But it is a shocking, exciting film.

After seeing this film, I felt inspired all over again. And it got me thinking about how to tell a great story. What kinds of secret sauce goes into collecting of these kinds of stories that we all love to hear.

Now because you’re here, and we’re having this conversation, I’m going to let you in on a couple secrets about making documentaries. 

There are a few Golden Rules that we follow. And these rules work for both filmmakers and audio storytellers, podcasters, like me....and one of these rules is: Always Be Recording. ABR.

What that means, on a practical level, is that you turn on whatever recording recording device you’re working with, so sound, or video, you turn it on well before the thing that you’re actually are going to record, if it’s an event or an interview. . 

So whatever that thing is that you’re about to capture, if it has an actual moment, like an event, or even an interview, you turn the tape before you open the door, before you start the phone call, before you go and meet the person. Down the road and around the corner, kind of thing. No where near the story. Always Be Recording.

And then, that means that you capture the doorbell ringing, the door opening, the sound of voices greeting each other. The footsteps walking in or out. The sound the phone makes when it hangs up or picks up. The words that you say just before and just after…those words might seem unimportant, but dollars to donuts, the often make it in the final thing.

It this feels awkward, push through.

In the end, what you get is both a blessing and a curse...it racks up to hours upon hours of footage. But stick with it.

When I came back from Antarctica, I had over 100 hours of raw tape. And that boiled down to just over two hours and a bit hours of finished story.

At first glance, you could think that most of it was useless stuff...there were days upon days when I recorded everything, which seemed very interesting in the moment, but not so much after after.

But then later, you find yourself needing a scene to establish in the story, you need to start somewhere, you need to get the ball rolling and have a moment of pause before the moment begin. 

Because there’s something about un-produced sound effects feel much more real: An actual door opening, the beep of an elevator, the sound of shoes scuffing a hotel carpet floor. These details are so small that they are almost invisible. 

They can be the magic that pulls people into a story. Because, it’s real. It happened. And you were there. That’s the proof, it’s right there.  

And using this sound helps people see the things. Even when it's on radio.

So this story you’re about to listen to, Always Be Recording, was recorded when I met up with Alice Rhuweza at a hotel in Washington DC.  It was a follow-up interview, after we had returned from our trip.

And you can decide if this is this a story about nothing...A Seinfeld moment, or whether this set up, this scene, leaves you very curious for what happens next? Because now, you feel you’re in the room too. 

This story first appeared in my newsletter, Audio Love. 

To subscribe, follow the link in the show notes. Or google: Audio Love Newsletter.

Thanks for listening. I’m Samantha Hodder.