Comparative Analysis Of Podcasts On Investigation The Disappearance Of Two Separate Events
Last Seen by Kelly Horan and reporting by Jack Rodolico is a podcast about 13 pieces of extremely valuable artworks that were stolen from the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum, on March 18th, 1990. The artwork was taken by two thieves who dressed up and pretended to be cops in order to enter the museum. Then in under eighty-five minutes, the two thieves had brought the guards into the basement and handcuffed them to a drain pipe and stole 13 different pieces of artwork valued at more than $200million dollars. It has almost been 2 decades since this event has occurred and not one piece of artwork has been found. Will this go down as one of the greatest art heists in all of history? Or will someone uncover the missing artwork?
The other podcast is Someone Knows Something by Michelle DaSilva and hosted by David Ridgen it is about a 5-year-old boy named Adrien McNaughton who disappeared on June 12, 1972. The young boy was on a fishing trip with his father in Arnprior, Ontario and sources say that Adrien's father, Muarry McNaughton “turned his back for 15 minutes” and Adrien went up a hill and was never to be seen again. With no lead on the case in over 30 years, people wonder if they will ever know what happened to Adrien McNaughton or if it will be just another unsolved case. Both podcasts were created to analyze and investigate the disappearance of two separate events. Although the podcast Last Seen is more effective then the podcast Someone Knows Something because Last Seen entices listeners due to the hosts modulated tone and the way the host creates suspense by leaving listeners wanting more and ending the podcast on a cliffhanger. There is also a strong use of audio clips and sounds to help support the ideas of the host and build suspense unlike the podcast Someone Knows Something.
The hosts of the two podcasts both express two different tones of voice. In the podcast Someone Knows Something David Ridgen the hosts voice is monotonous as it does change pitch during the podcast. Even though the podcast is about a serious event the host should express a bit more emotion, for a example at 2:29 “At weak points or build on our vision telescoped so we find not the truth but what we want to believe” at this point he should be trying to convince listeners about what he just said, although his voice is very monotone which makes it hard for listeners to agree with what he is saying. However In the podcast Last Seen, there are two hosts, Kelly Horan, and Jack Rodolico, which both hosts have a modulated tone. The modulated tone of the hosts is pleasant to listen to which makes listeners toon back each week to listen to their podcast. The two hosts voices are very calm although they both seem extremely interested in learning and talking about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Musuem, and the thieves that stole the 13 pieces of irreplaceable artwork.
At 2:21 in the podcast Kelly Horan says two simple words “oh wow” when she says that you can hear the emotion in her voice as she is lost for words as she looks at all that is left in a empty frame for the reason that the artwork was removed from the frame and taken by the thieves. The voice of the host is important due to the fact that if the host's voice is unpleasant to listen to it is highly likely that people with stop listening to the podcast based on the host voice alone. Both podcasts create suspense in a similar way, for instance, they both end on a cliffhanger, creating supsence for listeners which also keeps them hooked on listening to the podcast series week after week. Although Last Seen does a higher quality job creating suspense unlike Someone Knows Something.
The podcast Someone Knows Something creates suspense when one of the guests on the podcast says “There something not right about that case I think that someone is involved, the father is a likely suspect”. At that moment most listeners would likely not expect the father to have anything to do with his son vanishing, due to the fact that most parents want to protect their children and make sure that their children are never put into any danger. The podcast also creates suspense by leaving listeners on a cliffhanger, by asking questions like “Where did Adrien go?”. This example is not a strong use of suspense but people do want answers, they do want to know exactly what happens to him and if they will ever find him or any more clues on his dissapearance. Although the podcast Last Seen also has a strong use in creating suspense within the podcast. For example, at 11:55 one of the news clips by TV4 Eyewitness News says “Despite the confidence of museum officials that the precious artworks will be recovered, experts say they could disappear for years, perhaps forever”. After hearing this news clips the audience is left wondering if they are close to finding the thieves and where they have hidden the paintings. Similarly to Someone Knows Something the podcast Last Seen also ends on Cliff Hanger by asking a few questions, “Is it possible the thieves didn't steal “Chez Tortoni” from the Blue Room? And if so, who did? Next time: Was the Gardner heist an inside job?”. By asking multiple questions and not giving the audience any answers it leaves listeners wanting more. Both podcasts includes suspense within there podcast although Last Seen does a stronger job in creating suspense and leaving listeners wanting more.
In order to keep people interested in listening to there podcast adding audio clips and sound effects can positively affect the podcast. During the podcast, Someone Knows Something there is a substantial lack of audio clips and only a few sounds included. One of the only noticeable audio clips was a wrap-up song that played at 21:30 till the end of the podcast. There were also a few sounds effects that were included, such as at 0:03 you can hear a car door shut and at 0:53 you can hear the host knocking on the door of the McNaughton. However, Last Seen does an exceptional job including a strong use of audio clips and sound effects in their podcast unlike Someone Know Something. Last Seen used several different audio clips such as at 10:48 Irish music starts playing for about 10 seconds, right before Jack Rodolico says “In the early hours of March 18, 1990, the city of Boston was still celebrating St. Patrick's Day. ”
By playing music it allows listeners to obsorb the information provided and by playing Irish music it connects to the next point which is that the paintings were stolen on St. Patricks day which is a Irish holiday celebrated by many people around the world. Also Last Seen uses several real news clips which were from 1990 right when the major art heist happened. By using the news clips it helps support the ideas of the host. The first news clipped was to inform the public that there had been extremely valuable art that had just been stolen and it mentioned in the podcast at 11:19 “Good evening, I'm Kasey Kaufman and here's what's happening. A priceless collection of artwork was stolen early this morning from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum”. This is an example of 1 of the 7 news clips included in the podcast. Also at 19:10 in the podcast the host talks about the guards saying “Randy spent the next eight hours shackled on the basement floor, terrified the entire time that the thieves would return to kill him. ” After the host says that there is about a 5-second pause as dramatic music places which creates suspense and allows listeners to process the information just received. Lastly at 34:42 a wrap-up song played for about 15 seconds so listeners know that the podcast is over. After decades and decades of investigating these two cases, there is still no strong lead on either of these cases, and it is unclear to know if the cases will ever be solved.
Both podcasts Last Seen and Someone Knows Something do a superb job in gathering more evidence and learning more about the two separate crimes, although the podcast Last Seen has a stronger use of the elements of a podcast. By comparing the hosts’ tone, the use of suspense in the podcast and the audio clips and sounds effects you are able to see how Last Seen has a stronger use of these elements within there podcast.
