Author: Jack (Page 100 of 188)

Born to Teachers and Amateur Audio Enthusiasts in the small rural community of Belwood, Jack's first love was stories- writing, reading, telling, and singing. He developed his acting skills through High School, University, and through film and community theatre.
Jack writes the lion's share of Sonic Cinema Production's (previously Electric Vicuna) Audio Drama scripts and has his own writing site at www.jackjward.com. Jack also is the middle of book writing, screenplay production, and is the CEO of the Mutual Audio Network- where he and the best people in the world Listen & Imagine, Together!.
He's thrilled to co-host the Sonic Society with his wonderful, talented, friend David Ault as they enter their second decade in the medium!

Someone Sonic

January 9, 2017 / Jack / 0 Comments

I’ve been a listener of CBC Radio all my life. I miss the heady days of Peter Gzowski, Vicki Gabereau, Michael Enright and Alan Maitland duo and Lister Sinclair‘s dulcet voice and gentle hand on the wheel.

CBC has gone through a lot of changes, some of them great, some not so. The not so great has been the loss of radio drama which has been stellar through out the years. But maybe some forms of podficts are coming back. Thanks to NPR’s famous Serial, CBC has started a couple more innovative story telling shows. The latest is Someone Knows Something. This documentary first person style series- like Serial- follows a tale all season about a missing person- unsolved cases. The first season it was Adrien McNaughton. Season two it’s the story of the disappearance Sheryl Sheppard.

The episodes are compelling like only crime mysteries can be. That they are true, brings out the very iciness in the veins. Let’s hope that someone does know something and these mysteries can be solved.

The Progression of Learning

January 5, 2017 / Jack / 0 Comments

One of the benefits of being a teacher and introducing audio drama to my students, is to see how it engages them in ways that no other media does. Students in the 21st century are programmed to respond visually, but that often means not responding as critically or creatively.

Will Anderson from Central Michigan University uses his knowledge of creating radio drama to help audio drama kids with Autism. He’s not the only one. Craig Robotham from Weird World Studios has a long history of helping teachers with autistic students discover the world of radio drama.

Check out this CMU Public Radio News Article on the great things Professor Anderson is doing!

Episode 498- Sonic Survivors

January 3, 2017 / Jack / 0 Comments

Starting of this New Year of 2017 we’re proud to present another promotional release from Big Finish with SURVIVORS! (Special thanks again to Michael Hudson!)

Run, don’t walk to Big Finish and reserve your own copy of the series today! Tell them The Sonic Society sent you ?

It’s Audio Drama Time!

Steven’s Sound Life

January 1, 2017 / Jack / 0 Comments

Origin Stori blog provided an excellent interview with Steven Jay Cohen– audiobook narrator, educator, actor, professional creator, software innovator and master refiner of sounds.

Catch the interview in its hour-long-goodness today!

Casual Coral Saturdays

December 31, 2016 / Jack / 1 Comment

Looking for some new audio to listen? One of the things Jeffrey Adams from Icebox Radio used to speak about was the casual way radio drama had an appointment with its listeners. With podcasting and other audio on demand, the days of must listening times have come to an end. Or have they? Sound Stages Radio and now Coral Island Adventures are some of the must listen radio for your ear. Get a chance to sneak in an episode of new Coral Island Adventures each Saturday at these locations.

Netflix of Spoken Word

December 28, 2016 / Jack / 2 Comments

Whether you’re a fan of Moonlight Audio or Audioflix one thing is certain, audio plays and stories are on the rise. In this article from The Conversation, BBC has declared its intention to target the world as the new “netflix” of audio. The question is, who will eventually reign as king?

BBC Radio has declared its intention of targeting an international audience with a “Netflix of the spoken word” with the intention of finding ways to better exploit it’s vast archive of professionally produced audio.

By George We’ll Miss You!

December 27, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

Chances are the name George S. Irving isn’t rolling off the top of your brain as quickly as George Michael but one day after the Wham! star passed, a giant in the area of character acting took his own last bow. And it was grand life on film, screen, stage and through voice work. Winner of Tony Award in 1973 for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, you might remember him best however as the voice of the embittered Heat Miser, in a Year Without Santa Claus animation.

Go check out the Playbill for a more detailed list of his long accomplishments.

Episode 497- Radio People

December 27, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

Brian Bacon provides us with the very best from the hilarious Radio People as tonight’s Sonic Society feature.

IT’S AUDIO DRAMA TIME!

There Is a Great Disturbance in the Force…

December 27, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

If you grew up in the seventies or eighties, you couldn’t avoid the iconic presence of Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Star Wars. Many post modernist reviews of perhaps the first modern blockbuster series in movie history dwell on the dearth of women in the original trilogy. The fact was, it would have been hard to share screen time with Fisher who commanded the screen despite her inexperience beside veteran actors Harrison Ford and Sir Alec Guinness.

Princess Leia was, perhaps, for many kids growing up the first truly strong female character who was also a sex symbol solidifying the understanding that women were as capable as men in driving the story and holding their own.

She died today, ostensibly from a heart attack that occurred a few days previously. The world mourns her loss, but not just as Princess Leia, but as a powerfully established novelist and screenwriter. Her book Postcards from the Edge became a hit movie of its own, and her battles with addiction and depression echo the human struggle. A struggle that has now sadly ended.

I’m going to go for a walk and listen to The Princess Diarist, something I’ve put off for far too long. And while she’s not featured in it, I’m going to relisten to The NPR Star Wars because I’ll always see Princess Leia- my princess- when I’m hearing the series. Just as I would watching it.

May the Force be with you… all.

Good Acting from Bad

December 26, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

I’ve been telling many actors that audio acting is pretty unique. Unless you’re acting for comic effect, you’re not playing large like you would on the stage. I remember Grace Lee Whitney talking about her cameo on Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. She explained how Leonard Nimoy was describing to her what was happening on the blue screen so he could get her initial reactions. When he explained how badly beaten up the Enterprise was after the battle with Khan her response was as large as she would have used on the stage. She needed another take to pull back the emotion. Audio Drama is like that. You can hear someone smile over the microphone. Don’t believe me? Go try it yourself sometime. I don’t understand quite what the difference is in the facial features, but it’s true.

This article by Christopher Hooton and the Independent does a good job of looking at Academy Award winning actors and their approaches to acting. Good audio actors are precious gems. I can only think of about a score that I consider stand outs in the public domain field. Who are your favourites and why?