1. As for the sponsor of this podcast, I heard the keyword "global tel link".

After some
googling, I found out that they are a telecommunications company based in Reston,
Virginia. They specialize in helping people save money on calls to prisons and inmates
in the United States. Inmates' long distance calls are converted to local calls to save
money. People can prepay, touch-less top up their inmate phone bill and use the
deposited funds to dial phone numbers. This fits the theme of the podcast "THE ALIBI"
very well. The main character, Adnan Syed, is sentenced to prison, and I suppose some
of the story has to take place in prison, so the theme of the story fits the sponsor very
well, which makes it feel appropriate and understated. At 7:10 p.m., Sarah says that she
and Adnan talk on the phone every two weeks. It's not in prison here, but it brought back
memories of the sponsor :)
2. As for the choice of music, I feel that it fits this podcast well. First of all, it can echo the
theme, the theme of the podcast is suspense and disappearance related, which will give
the listener a deeper vicarious experience of the main character. Second, it would set
the mood and make it easier for listeners to immerse themselves in the content. Of
course, when I listened to the music, when I was immediately drawn in, the stop-and-go
tempo worked well to create an exciting mood, but it sounded upbeat. Finally, I noticed
that the music was used for transitions. It was there between the intro sponsors and the
beginning of the content. In particular, the volume of the sound changes, and when the
person starts to speak, the music becomes less loud to emphasize the content. Another
example is when Adnan is introduced and sentenced to prison for murder, the music
becomes very sad. From the title, we know that Adnan was most likely framed, so I think
the author is using it to evoke the listener's emotions and help people really get into the
story.
3. In terms of Sarah's podcasting style, I don't think Sarah is serious, I would describe her
as a "storyteller" Sarah gets casual in the right places. For example, when she gives an
example of "time is hard to count", her tone becomes casual because the examples she
gives are from everyday people's lives, which makes it easier for the listener to find
common ground and get into the story. Sometimes Sarah is serious or "straight" as
when she is arguing with a child about the answer to the question, "What really
happened on Friday? She gets a little serious. I think this is because she is explaining
and she wants the listener to think that this is an important message/point. Anyway,
Sarah's voice and tone is perfect for the podcast, and most of her voice is very soft and
smooth, which I liked.
4. There are a lot of other people's voices in the podcast besides Sarah's. For example,
when Sarah proves that "it's hard for people to remember what happens in a normal
day" by asking the children, many of them share the answer to that question, and Sarah
also shares recordings of other people in the podcast when she needs evidence,
including police officers and lawyers. In addition, Adnan's voice appears several times,
which can lend more credibility to the point Sarah is making or give the listener a better
understanding of the specifics of the crime. I believe that the voices of the people
involved in the story are better able to empathize with the people and present the details
more clearly than a third party's spin.
5. While Sarah does not say anything in the podcast that supports Adnan's innocence, both
the content and the pacing of the podcast communicate Adnan's innocence to the
listener. For example, most of the guest speakers in the podcast clarify what actually
happened at the time. If Sarah thought Adnan was guilty, she might have shared more of
what others had to say about the incident rather than exploring the truth. This can be
confirmed by Sarah's conversation with Adnan afterwards, where Sarah asks for details
from several sources and finally finds Adnan and Asia to ask for the truth about the
incident. So I think Sarah is trying to quietly prove Adnan's innocence with evidence and
details.
6. If I had to find Adnan guilty or not guilty, my conclusion would be to find him not guilty.
Here are my reasons:
- As the story goes into many details, there were no clues at the scene of the
dumping to identify Adnan as the killer, no fingerprints, no hair, no DNA, etc.
- When Jay describes Adnan's crime, his tone and speed of speech are so fluent
that he describes what happened to the police without much thought, which is in
stark contrast to the previous scene where Sarah asks the children, "What
happened on Friday?
- Jay said that the two dug a 6 inch hole together for 20-25 minutes. That's kind of
not enough to convince me that they moved too slowly
- Adnan says Hae Min Lee was the first girl he took seriously and he had no
motive to kill someone he liked. And he sounds very firm. And he provides ample
evidence as to why he borrowed the car, which diverges from Jay's testimony.
- From Adnan's conversation with Sarah, you can hear that he is a very
opinionated and cautious person, and when Sarah asks him, "Are you 100%
sure?" , he answers 99% because he was not sure that his memory only
remembered those things that were good for him. This shows that he is honest
and strict.
- The most important alibi, Asia's Letter.Asia's letter mentions that on the day Hae
Min Lee died, they chatted until 4:40, but according to the coroner's judgment,
she died at 4:43.
7. Compared to other media, I think the biggest advantage of podcasting is convenience.
Podcasts allow you to put on your headphones and immerse yourself in the sound
anytime, anywhere, much like music, and you can listen to a podcast while working out,
waiting for public transportation, or before bed. In terms of the listening experience,
podcasts are more relaxing and engaging, whereas other media such as articles or TV
can be tiring and distracting. Most podcasts require headphones, and podcasts are more
likely to grab people's attention.