09 May WORKBOOK – AUDIO PACKAGE
February 5th – We started off our introduction to broadcast journalism by being introduced to the iPod kits. Sam gave us a mini ‘tutorial’ on on what was in the kit and how we can use them appropriately.
He started off with the iPod touch itself, informing us what the code for the iPod is. As well as which are the main apps we will be using.
Moving onto the microphones, there are three different types. They all connect to the apps that we were shown previously. The first being the standard microphone. This came with an additional wire and plug that connects the microphone to the iPod. Next up was the wind-protecting microphone. This is mainly used for close range and is fluffy in order to cancel out the sound of the wind. The last microphone was the clip on microphone, which would be very appropriate for presenters. As well as if the speaker has to do anything practical as they don’t have to hold anything.
After going over all the equipment, we were put into our VT package groups and were given a short assignment. We had to walk around the London Road building and find people to interview about university. Done in order to practice using each of the microphones, my group used all three which was great practice.
Interview with a previous LSBU student.
Interviewing a current LSBU student.
Discussions on a personal uni experience.
For the short assignment, I used the regular microphone to interview a previous LSBU student. Matt interviewed a current LSBU student and Craig spoke about his personal university experience. Alessia did all the filming and recording. Pictures shown above.
When we got back we ended the class by going through ‘SiSo’ which is where we can book out the kit and other equipment. Sam gave us another quick tutorial, showing us how to find what we need and how to fill out the risk assessment form.
March 19th – Starting off the morning session, we had to open this week’s Moodle presentation and follow along with Rebecca. We began by going over our homework, starting with the homework of having to watch the news. We discussed what the news went over and compared the channels to one another. After going over this we went over the homework of having to edit our interview clips together.
Moving onto the lecture presentation we started to compare news interviews and profile interviews. We were shown an interview done by The Guardian with Daniel Radcliff as an example of a profile interview. After watching and discussing this we watched a bunch of the classes videos that they had edited, we were given questions that we had to answer about the videos.
We moved onto practicing ‘Vox Pops’, we watched a few examples. Learning that they are framed left to right and right to left and that they always come in groups of threes. Finding a relevant location in order to find opinionated people is important, the answers should be short and to the point and the background location should change as it will link the three Vox pops together smoothly. In order to properly understand this, we were given an assignment to go and film ‘Vox pops’, my group decided to relate our question to the recent celebrity suicides that have been going on, from this we derived the question ‘why do you think people should be nicer on social media?’.
For the afternoon session with Michael we focused on script writing. However as always, we started the class by discussing the homework, which was to pitch our ideas for the audio packages. We discussed these thoroughly, going deeply into each idea, being provided with a lot of feedback.
Using the audio file that we had created on the day we took a trip to Westminster and using an online program called headliner we edited this audio file. We could add pictures, a transcript, title pages and wavelengths. We spend a while just editing these pieces in class. After finishing this we went over a script writing guide: opinions don’t matter, having a discipline and fair report, keeping it short and simple as well as always making sure to introduce the audio.
Moving onto story telling features: the general story structure is called ‘Flatline’ and is very common however can be quite boring. A more interesting structure would be ‘Introduce an Arc’, done by adding a question to drive listeners through, promising an answer to this question. Another structure is ‘divide in acts’, generally being divided in three separate acts (beginning, middle and end). One of the last examples given were ‘Signpost’ which is telling the audience why they should keep watching, explanation of why you are doing what you are doing, small reminders. We listened to some examples of these story structures.
Michael ended the class with one final tip: MAKE IT SPECIAL, done by adding interesting elements, surprises and interaction.
March 27th – Had a meeting with Michael where I explained my overall idea and we discussed who I could use for the interviews and the type of layout I should do. Michael messaged someone for my who would have good contacts for me. He also provided me with a few ideas, giving me names of websites.
March 28th – Michael sent me the response for the message he sent to his friend, where he provided me with three contacts. Chief executive Nic Durston. Jennifer Durston who writes up about Southbank events and Rachel Dinsdale head of marketing at Southbank employers’ group.
April 8th – Starting writing the script and creating a sort of layout which showed where I would place my interviews, my music and my sounds.
April 16th à I wrote the lead in and back announcement, also checked the presentations on Moodle to see the layout for the pot cuts.
April 22nd – I went out to Southbank, visiting the Southbank Centre, where I got an interview with a disabled staff member who needed to remain anonymous because of Southbank Centre’s rules. I then went to the Southbank Centre food market and interviewed someone working at one of the food stalls. I finished off by going to the Southbank Open Skate Space and interviewed a skater.
From the skate space; Guglielmo Cheso: 07476334030 guglielmo@cheso.it
From the food market; Shaquille Mayers: 07921855507 shaquillemayers@gmail.com
April 23rd – Wrote the rest of the script, editing what I had already wrote. I practiced recording my parts on my phone to see how I would pronounce it and change my voice for different parts.
April 28th – Had a meeting with Michael where I showed him the audio file that I roughly recorded on my phone. He gave me good feedback on what to change.
May 1st – Practiced in the radio room with Vanessa, we had a voice training session and afterwards I stayed in the room for a bit longer and practiced reading my script out in different ways.
May 2nd – Edited the script again, according to the feedback that was given to me by Michael and Vanessa. I practiced on my phone again, using the timing of the interviews as well to see if it would all play out well.
May 7th – Recorded all my parts on my phone, using a microphone. Wanted to use the radio room but it was being used the whole day.
May 8th – Edited all of the audio together to create the audio file, finished everything off.
By GEORGINA BLACKWELL
