Audio Unit // Podcast (Final Group Piece)

For one of my group pieces, I got together with Jess and discussed the idea of a mystery/crime podcast. We listen/watch this type of stuff in our spare time, so we know the basics of what it's like. We brainstormed ideas like talking about news stories, 999 calls, conspiracy theories, crime podcasts. There are certain shows we like, such as Making a Murderer, Rob Dyke's youtube videos, and Buzzfeed's Unsolved Mysteries.

We listening to some podcasts and shows, and made notes on things we liked and didn't, to see what we could include in our own podcast:

In the first podcast, I like how he talks about a few different topics. This keeps the audiences attention. In Buzzfeed's, I liked how they set it out, with one person telling the other about the topic, and them finding out for the first time. Jess and I decided to include these elements. We would go away and research one story each, then tell each other them on the podcast. This way, it gives a more real reaction, which was shown in Buzzfeed's which we liked. We want it to be really natural, so we haven't scripted this one. We just have point to talk about the stories we have researched.
I looked at the incident at Dyatlov Pass, where 9 hikers were found dead in the Russian mountains. Here are the notes I made to bring in to the recording:

  I want it to be structured, but not seem like I am reading it out.


Jess and I discussed a little bit about how we wanted to start our podcast off. We would say something like 'Hello, welcome to this weeks podcast.' This is because we want to seem confident like we do this all the time. We also discussed our aims. This is both factual and entertaining, as it informs the audience about topics, but also might have a few jokes.


This is the final recording. 


We didn't do any rehearsals due to the nature of the on the spot recording we wanted to do (which would basically defeat the purpose). When it came to recording, I think it went quite well. We went over the time we had expected, because it flowed quite well. We also included a lot of our own thoughts and humour into the podcast, which made it easier to do, because it just felt like I was just talking to my friend (albeit with a microphone in my face). Because it was a 'live' piece, it was a bit daunting going in to, but once we did get into it, it seemed very smooth. I told my story first, and then Jess told hers, with both of our commentary's in between. We would think this to be entertaining for an audience, because this is the type of thing we would listen to. It was also easy not to move papers around, because there wasn't really any, just the note sheet which I would occasionally look at. We had to make sure we weren't speaking too loudly, as that can be quite difficult to listen to, but also not too quiet as that isn't the type of recording we want. We didn't have any awkward pauses which is really good. We made sure to both be an equal difference away from the mic, as it would be unprofessional if one of our voices was louder than the others. I also found myself talking in a stereotypical present kind of way, which wasn't planned. There were moments where it was dramatic, like when we were explaining the unsolved cases. But also humour, like when I tried explaining what a yeti was, so I think it was pretty diverse. I also think we did quite a good job of not talking over each other too much, as this was something we were worried about, and had talked about to make sure this wouldn't happen.
If we were to do it again, I would maybe write prompt questions to get the conversation flowing with Jess more. Also when I first started, I felt a bit on the spot, so maybe plan it out more, but again it defeats the object. It sounds a bit echo-y, so I would find ways to reduce this.