Browsing Radio Shows

I'm thinking about from which direction to approach my project. The first things I know are the form and the "aboutness". But I'm wondering now how to justify the form that I chose. Why a radio play and not a movie? What must the story and the style be so that I am justified in doing it this way? But I think this is the wrong way to approach it. I can use my need for sound as inspiration, but I should not use it to throw away ideas. As the line between life and art is thin, I'm finding what I hope this project will do for me. I need to work on confidence and plowing through. I am not confident in my ideas. When I have ideas, they are not concrete, they are abstract. They often go back to "aboutness" rather than pure content. So starting this project will be key. I need to get something concrete, so I will have to approach it in a different way. I've been writing poems to get a flow, and to get something concrete to look at, but I will have to move faster. I spent today listening to several radio episodes, most notably Radiolab. Radiolab uses sound differently from the episode I was originally inspired by. It is audibly interesting. A story is told by multiple voices, and I enjoyed the way the voices interacted. There was a mixture of conversational and narrative speaking. I could hear that each reaction "hmm" and "ah, yes" was considered, and played a role in setting the tone. Music and sound effects were also utilized. So this tells me that it doesn't matter how I use sound or if sound is the center of the story. Rather, I can come up with my story and then bring in sound and use the need for sound as inspiration and a tool for changing it around. So I can stop trying to think of how to incorporate answering machines and voice recorders. Aside from the way Radiolab used sound, I was also gripped by the story itself. It was about a scientist who learned from his mentor to be objective when trying to make sense out of his subjects, crickets, and their actions. When that mentor was shot and killed in a senseless act by a man who was never caught, the scientist could not find a way to look at the case objectively. He couldn't understand how someone could harm another human being that way. The most understanding that came was when a Vietnam veteran explained that he and the woman who'd been with his mentor could never understand. It was a beautiful story beautifully done. My 4 envy came out when I heard it! Hopefully I can use it as motivation and not a reason to quit.