Short Little Narrative

So for this assignment, I decided I'd head down to the Irving gas station and compile a little segment about filling up. It's something that everybody (well, every driver) does on a regular basis, it pertains to current events (gas prices, "going green", hybrids...), and it's a good source for ambient sound. Cars starting their engines, doors opening and closing, horns, truck motors idling, motorcycles exploding to a start, and just passing conversations are all nice little pieces of sound to describe something as simple as filling up your gas tank. The photos are here.
As for Don's visit, I thought it was pretty good. He showed us that photos and sound, but not video, can be extremely powerful in telling a story. The slideshow he showed us in class about the water birth was indeed quite powerful. Don said that if the same story were told on video, it would not have been as effective, which I can understand. He also taught us the importance of audio to any story. People tend to be turned off or turned on by audio, so it's important to always make sure that you have good audio. Five minutes of crap is still crap, right? Furthermore, Don stressed the importance of always having headphones on when recording sound, and when possible, have an external microphone as well. Although we do not have our own microphones, we can use techniques Don taught us in class to enhance our recording experiences without them.