Is it real or is it Memorex?

[zvi]

I'm curious what everyone thinks about podfic's status as a fanactivity. Do you think about it as an independent work of art itself, or is it a way of offering additional accessibility for fanfiction? How does it compare to other fanactivity which depends on other fanactivity like recs, archiving, challenge-running, com or listmodding? How does it compare to other fanactivity which can work with just canon [or even be totally original], like art, icons, vids, fanfiction, or costuming?

Comments

[copracat]

I think this is an interesting question because it never occufred to me to question that it is both. It is, of course, accessibility and I like that fandom is making that happen just as a matter of course, whether or not the particular reader making the podfic is aware of that aspect.

But yes art, too. I think it would be super keen if fan writers sometimes wrote in the radio play style and that these stories were produced with different voices and sound effects. I think this already happens with podfics? But to write FOR podficcing is a different kind of art. The desire for fan-made TV came up recently in discussion somewhere but why not fan-made radio/podcasting as well? The barriers to production are much, much lower ie we are already doing it.

[melannen]

I once attempted to write an entire episode of "A Pegasus Home Companion". Complete with episodes of "Ronon Dex, Private Dick" and "Lives of the Air Force" and "The News from Cheyenne Mountain" but I got distracted trying to figure out how to handle the musical guests, so I think the only part ever published was the ketchup advisory board.

By which I mean, I support this idea and wish to subscribe to you newsletter! I think the general horror of script fic (which I've never really understood) is part of what keeps people from *writing* in that format, but if there were performers already lined up...

(Wasn't there a John/Rodney audio a few years ago? A WWII AU I think? I don't remember if it used fan voices or remixed clips from the show, though.)

[lian]

actually, a couple of podficcing people already expressed interest in a ..."podplay", for lack of a better word. I thought of maybe initiating a challenge/project, pairing with artists/writers who'd produce a script specifically for podficcing?*flaps hands* some day! when I've come to better terms with podfic. (strained relationship, right now.)

[zvi]

Hmmm. I have to say that, as a listener, a podplay wouldn't fulfill the same entertainment niche that a podfic does. But I'm also the sort of weirdo fan who likes written stories more than tv. Podplays would seem more like television than like novels, to me.

[lian]

Yes, I agree that this is definitely out of podfic territory and another genre (category?) entirely.

And -- OT -- I don't think it's weird to prefer written stories at all! I don't even watch TV. I mean, I must love a series VERY VERY VERY much/fandom pull must be enormous in order to even give it a try (sorry, Merlin and Being Human...) I've only got through one season of due South yet even though I love it like WHOA. 'S just preference.

[avendya]

Audio plays are a big deal in non-LJ Doctor Who fandom - I can think of five or six different groups doing them - and I'd like to see them in LJ-based Doctor Who fandom as well.

[par_avion]

(Missed the Saturday Dance by zoetrope is probably what you are thinking of?)

[lydiabell]

But yes art, too. I think it would be super keen if fan writers sometimes wrote in the radio play style and that these stories were produced with different voices and sound effects.

OMG, I would love this.

[lian]

Heh. Podfic is actually a lot less accessible to me than the written word. I listen to it as an art form, and as another tangible expression of fannish diversity, in a way. (no, really. I'm always psyched to discover more voices.)

[zvi]

I personally don't think of it as enhancing accessibility (for one thing, I am most inclined to d/l stories I've already read, or, if I start a fic and like it, to turn off the download and go read the fic), but I've heard the sentiment expressed several times.

What I like is that it (a) puts women front and center in the production of fanactivity and (b) it gives new interpretations to stories I already know, it's another argument for how the story should be understood.

[jesse_the_k]

And a-sub-1, it personalizes women's* presence -- it puts women's words in a woman's voice inside my head.

Because of (b), I'd say podficcing is definitely fanac: by the time the reader has prepped, recorded, and edited the fic, it's become something more than the written source.


* yes, some men write fic and some men record fic and some people of other genders do both.

[fleurrochard]

Yes, it's way less accessible for me as well - reading is much easier for me. I also tend to mentally drift away far more while listening to something than while reading something. But that's just me! (And it might be different if I'd listen to German podfic. That's possible.)
So yes, for me it's an art form (but I totally understand that for other people it's more accessible that way).

[winkingstar]

I really think it comes down to the attitude of the listener (and the reader, actually). For some people, podfic is entirely derivative, a secondary way to enjoy a favourite story. For others, it's an art unto itself. There are people who have favourite readers and will listen to anything they record, whether or not they've read the fic and/or know anything about the relevant fandom. I have the same split when it comes to my own recording, too. Most of what I record is someone else's fic, which means that for me, the podfic is its own self-contained production. But when I record my own fic, the podfic is a secondary production. But then again, there are some instances when a reader approaches the podfic as a primary work, as with toft_froggy and thingswithwings's [productions of each other's stories], which were released as podfic first and only later as text.

I think podfic is quite a schizophrenic thing! ;)

[zvi]

Hmm, I think it's really interesting that the approach to podfic can have multiple meanings for the same reader. (And I hadn't heard about toft and tww releasing stories as podfic first, that's v. cool. I may download and listen.)

P.S. Podfic is not schizophrenic. Schizophrenia is a medical condition. Using it as a metaphor for multivalent is ablist.

[winkingstar]

My apologies. Thank you for correcting me.

[zvi]

You're welcome.

[wychwood]

I think of it as derivative rather than original, definitely - more like setting up websites / archives or running challenges than creating something independent. Which is not to say "not valuable", and there's definitely levels of interpretation and creativity involved, but... it's still all about the original story for me.

I think that's probably the majority view, as well, based on discussions I've seen about feedback; I have the impression that if people like a given podfic they are more likely to leave feedback for the author than the reader, in the same way that people comment on challenge fics more than to the challenge organisers.

Here from metafandom

[yourlibrarian]

Hmm, interesting point about who receives the feedback. I would have said derivative and accessibility were my view because I never knowingly download podfic for something I've already read. In fact, I realized the other day I see podfic as a form of reccing, because no one's going to take the time to record something they didn't really enjoy.

However, on the occasions where the downloading/listening experiences haven't been so distant that I remember to feedback, I always provide it to both.

[brimtoast]

I basically think of podfic as very similar to acting. When an actor gives a good performance, you know there is a good script behind it, but you don't give all the credit to the script. The actor is definitely putting some of themself into it and making it more than it would have been if you had just sat down and read the script alone.

I don't know if that is too obvious to be helpful, but I do think of podficcing as very like theatre, except that only your voice is getting transmitted to the audience, and so that's where the focus is.

Modding and challenge-running seem different because while there is a lot of creativity and style there, it's not what I'd think of as an art form. I have only run one thing, which was a sort of fanfic book club deal in a livejournal community, and to me that felt very different in that it was more concrete and about strategizing and making things run smoothly, more about bringing other people together and less about my own artistic expression. Podfic gets to be much more self-indulgent, in that way. You get to sit down and just focus on yourself and your own art more.

But you're right that it requires having a fanmade text to read. And that fanart and fanfiction and vidding and icons all rely on canon but do not rely on another fanwork the way podficcing does. So it has elements of both sets. But I think it's closer to the second list than the first.