Soundscape: The Next Day

This piece was created using SoundscapePro, and it evolved greatly from my initial conception.  Originally I wanted to make a commentary on gossip and how painful it can be to those it centers around.  While I carried this theme through the versions of my piece, the way in which I did so evolved.

Upon creating my first version, I thought that my main character, a woman, was walking through a crowded hallway shortly after the death of her husband.  As she walks through, she hears people whispering about her and her pace quickens and when she finally gets to the end of the hallway she breaks out into tears.

However, I decided that this version did not convey the triviality of gossip.  With such a serious reason for everyone to be discussing this women, and with a genuine cause for her to be suffering aside from the gossip, I believe it takes away from the message I was trying to send about how gossip creates unnecessary pain.  As such, I added in some laugh tracks and then realized that my character was being laughed at and made fun of because she had exited the bathroom with the back of her skirt tucked into her tights.  At first she doesn't notice anything but after she starts to hear some slight giggles, she figures out that something is wrong and word spreads through the crowd as she is humiliated.

I eventually strayed from this version as well, because I wanted the "gossipers" to be criticizing her character more than a silly mistake, which would create a greater reason for her to be so upset.  I eventually realized the story that I had been creating all along.  As it turns out, this woman had been intimate with a man the night before.  In fact, she is a college student and the hallway she is walking down is the hallway to her school cafeteria.  It is the next night and word has spread about how she slept with this boy the night before and everyone is talking about her.  Nobody knows the details of what happened, and the stories have inflated to ridiculous proportions.  When she finally escapes the room she just breaks into tears, realizing the full extent of her mistake.  It is raining out and she is standing on the side of the road.  An oncoming truck honks at her to get out of the way, and it is all just too much for her to take.

People get hurt too often by the words and lies of others.