Listening Journal - "Live? Die? Kill?"

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"Family" was one of the most common answers
to Mill's questions. (Picture by Austin Evan)

Title: "Live? Die? Kill?"
Producer/narration/reporting: Karen Mill
Length: 14 min 14 sec
Link: Third Coast International Audio Festival

For this documentary, independent radio producer Karen Mill, traveled around her neighborhood and asked people three questions: What do you live for? What would you die for? And what would you kill for? Mill interviews around 100 people for this feature and uses what she considered the best answers for her piece. To find those people she visits an art gallery, a Baptist Church, a farmers market, a senior center and a winery.

The documentary has a very promising title. After all, these are three questions that sound so simple and are yet so hard to answer. However, the documentary wasn't particularly interesting. I feel, Mill went a little bit overboard and should have maybe only concentrated on one of the groups that she visited. The most interesting part of the documentary is her visit to the senior center... I know this might sound cruel but, who would think, that people this old still have so much will to live?

The quality of the narrators voice was ok. In parts of her interview, I could barely make out what she was saying but other than that, the narration itself was fine. However, I have to admit that when I first listened to the piece, I thought the narrator was a man for the first five minutes. Whether that is a good or a bad thing is yet to be determined.

The length of the documentary was ok. At times I thought, it was a little boring and repetitive though. It's 14 minutes long, but I feel with a little bit more of an angle and more focus, it could have been done in a much more compelling way in maybe 5-7 minutes.

All in all, this feature is alright. It's a little bit frustrating to know that this could've been made so much more compelling, if Mill only narrowed down her interviewee group. There is one more thing that I noticed and that really irritated me: Mill often starts sentences with her narration and has them finished by her interviewee. I just feel that is really cheap and that this should only be done, if the quality of the soundbite is really bad. Why not let the interviewee say the whole thing?

At the end of the day, the idea to this feature is great but the realization is mediocre.