What Love Sounded Like

This short film created by Rowena Crowe takes us behind the scenes as she researches domestic audio recordings from the 1890s to the present day, many held by the NFSA. Rowena is a filmmaker and 2012 NFSA Scholar and Artist in Residence (SAR) and this is a creative and highly engaging interpretation of her experience with the recordings she found in the national audiovisual collection. "My research project was for What Love Sounded Like, an online interactive documentary I am developing. I was looking for audio voice recordings to become the backbone for this short online animation series that not only explores these fragmented personal histories but also explores changing audio technology." "In my time at NFSA I listened to over 11 hrs of audio recordings and transcribed over 15,000 words into a document to allow me to start thinking about the possibilities in the narrative for this project. Impressions starting to emerge at this stage in my research are that the early recordings are quite performative and playful. When people were separated because of war and also because global travel became cheaper, the more intimate and personal the recordings become." "If you have a recording you think may fit the project please contact me at [email protected]" To find out more about the NFSA's SAR Fellowship program see www.nfsa.gov.au/research/fellowships-internships/research-fellowships/research-fellows-2012/ Rowena would like to thank everyone at the NFSA who helped with her fellowship. Also, Will Prentice from The British Library and Shirley Smith who gave permission to use her husband's recordings and photos which appear in the film, and Catherine Crowe.