‘Her Place Within Pages’ by Ashleigh Field has and excellent use of ambient sound that really helps to effectively illustrate the words of the subject, Brianna Van Zyl. I really liked the way that the piece was introduced with just her voice and then led into the rest of the audio with the sounds of pages being flipped. This effect helped to effectively create a real sense of place and conjured an image in my mind.
Ashleigh Field utilised ambient sound in credibly effectively, and the timing of the combination between ambient and interview was done incredibly well. One part I feel was done exceptionally well was when Brianna mentions the way that books can bring a silence to the sounds of the world around you. Field did an excellent job of layering ambient sounds of traffic and voices and waves crashing on a beach as Brianna listed them in her interview. The sudden cutting of all these sounds helped to further the narrative of the piece as well as perfectly accompanying Brianna’s words.
The underlying musical track, I feel was chosen perfectly for the piece. It has a driving beat and the staccato instrumentation of the piece really pulls the story along. This is especially effective as Brianna talks about how books can take you places and show you the world just by reading them.
Overall I feel that ‘Her Place Within Pages’ by Ashleigh Field was an incredibly well done audio piece. Field utilised ambient and musical tracks incredibly well and helped to fit them perfectly with what her subject was saying.