Unit 5 Research

The story is called Serial and it's about a murder that took place in Baltimore in 1999. The podcast details the events of the murder of Hae Min Lee and how her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was accused of killing her. Serial has had mixed reviews, the guardian calling it "one of the greatest murder mysteries you will ever hear" whilst the Telegraph labelled it "rubbish". The main target audience of Serial is mainly adults that are interested in crime. The podcast uses lengthy pauses between moments of important information to draw the audience in. From this point, an atmosphere of tension is created which helps the audience to become part of the story. By being immersive, the podcast allows the audience to assume the role of an investigative journalist and become more attached to the story as more information is made available. The podcast slows down at some points to help add to the tension but give the listeners a chance to go over their information.

One of the main ways in which the podcast draws people in is through the use of characters. The desire to find out if Adnan is innocent or not helps to feed listener curiosity, compelling them to listen more than usual. No sound effects have been added to the podcast but an ominous, quiet score plays in the background. At informative points within the podcast the score fades in, adding to the information by making it more impactful. The score adds to the sinister but mysterious tone of the story. The story has been constructed in such a way to keep the audience hooked through the use of gradual information giving. From this I can learn that in my story I will have to keep some facts discreet so that the audience won't get bored. Also, I can use this to help support the audience in creating their own interpretations and predictions of the events that take place in the story.

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