One in a billion: A boy’s life, a medical mystery uses a combination of text, video and audio to create a compelling message to the viewer. Often times text seems very distant to the viewer, it is easy to read over words without letting them sink in. By using audio and video, the viewer is able to match the words to images and sounds, which captures the reader’s interest and brings the text to life.
Audio: Nicolas Volker: A young boy whose mysterious disease is marked by holes that develop between his intestine and skin
The authors used audio of Nicolas Volker to enrich the story through bringing the main character of the story to life. The entire series is about a sick little boy named Nicolas Volker. It is very easy for viewer to forget that Volker is just like any other 4-year-old boy. However the audio successfully characterizes him and reminds viewers that he is still an innocent child.
In the audio, Volker is laughing about batman. His light and cheerful demeanor is inspiring because of his painful illness. His words also connect to the text where the author wrote; “Nicholas Volker is a short, blue-eyed 4-year-old who loves Batman and squirt gun fights and steak – on the rare occasions when he’s not restricted to a feeding tube.” By combining the text that states his love for batman with Volker’s voice explaining his love for batman, the characterization of Volker is improved and the story overall is enriched.
As a potential media writer this passage taught me the importance of using multi-media. Multi-media can help enrich the story through pairing images, video and audio to the text. An image can illustrate the sunset, the sound of a boy laughing can characterize a little boy, and a video of a riot can explain the urgency of the issue. If used correctly, multi-media can capture the interest viewers by bring a story to life.
Media Writes 2011 