Anatomy of the Road

Anatomy of the Road was written and produced by Ellie Gordon-Moershel, and stars Allison Hogg, Tricia Black, and features Claire Whitehead.  It's a fictional story about a woman getting an unusual opportunity to re-experience a nostalgic family road trip.

Ellie says: 

I was driving down the 401 which I normally find to be very uninspiring, but then I was thinking about all the breakthrough moments I've had in cars, whether its been me alone thinking of something and coming to a conclusion, or being on a road trip with someone else and us having our first real bonding moment or big fight. And I was thinking about how that's kind of like therapy.

So I was wondering if there was a way to spatially re-create the sounds of being in a car using binaural microphones and whether I could capture that mood and weirdness and giddiness and intensity that comes from being in such a small space with another person.

What's inspiring her in the world of radio:

The Strange Case of Starship Iris by Jessica Best. Audio fiction can be very hard to do without having a lot of cringey expositional dialogue. In Starship Iris the plot moves along beautifully by leaning on carefully constructed (and charming!) character dynamics as well as clever scene reveals. I'm also a big fan of Alice Isn't Dead by Joseph Fink. I love the writing, of course, but also the smooth delivery by Jasika Nicole.  

Inspiration outside of audio: 

Kids animation. It's a bleak time and I take refuge in the heartfelt, subversive, complex and queer storytelling coming out of shows like Steven Universe, OK K.O!, and Legend of Korra. That, and the Reductress essay, "I Didn't Come to this Corn Maze to Make Friends." Gotta have balance. 

Constellations says:

We're thrilled to feature Anatomy of the Road as Constellations' first foray into the realm of radio drama. We're inspired by Ellie's play with space throughout this piece, both conceptually and technically - using binaural microphones and recording through her car speakers (!!). This piece is funny and weird and taps into the all too real potential for VR as a tool for therapy / empathy.