Thursday, 26 March 2020

Unit 20: P1 - planning and preparation

P1 is all about planning and preparation. It's similar to other P1's you have already done in other units. It's here that you present your research, and other essential documents like recces and risks and hazards. 

Let's go through P1 step by step:

Research 


Create a new slide called 'research' if you do not have one already. It's here that you can put your podcast research that you completed in the last activity, which you can find here. 

If you need to spread this over more slides, just make more slides!

Ideas sheet


Here's a piece of 'scrap paper' where you can jot down all of the ideas you have for this unit. It's good to keep all of your ideas together, just in case you forget them later.

a) Info sheet


This is where you include information about your podcast! Use the following headings:


  • Genre (the one you emailed to me)
  • Style (formal, informal, interview, discussion etc....)
  • Sound (what music are you going to include?)
  • Content (what's going to be in your podcast? Who's going to be talking? Are you going to interview anyone? Are you going to have any phone-ins or competitions?) 


b/M1) sound script


This is where you include a script of what you are going to say in the podcast. This script is just a guideline, and you can go off script as much as you like. Think of it as a guideline rather  Check out the exemplars in the drive for how you can do this. 

c/M1) Asset plan


This is a list of all the assets you will include. These include:

Music
Sound effect
Vox pops (short 'sound bytes' of people talking)


For copyright reasons, you are only allowed to include short (less than ten seconds) bits of commercial music. 


d/M1) Production schedule


A production schedule is a timetable of when you are going to do what. Here's a simple example from one of the exemplar powerpoints:


Here are some examples that you can pop on to your production schedule

Email teacher with final idea for podcast
Produce sound script
Download Audacity and make sure it works
Do microphone check, and upload file on the drive
Download music to use on blog
Complete legal and ethical and risks and hazards documents
Record podcast
Record interview

e) Audition screengrabs and Audacity tutorial 


First of all, most of you will be using Audacity for this project! However, if your computer can run Audition, then it's now been made free in the UK due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Please see emails from IT and the college for how to get it at home.

For these slides, you will be teaching yourself how to use Audacity. If you need to use more than one slide, that's fine, don't try and cram it all on to one slide!


First of all, install Audacity using the link from the last session. It should look a little like this.


Next, hit the red 'record' button and say something stupid in to the mic. If you're lucky, it will work first time. If not, you may have to select your microphone from the drop down menu.

Hit the stop button when you're done.


Next you're going to add a new track. Click track/add new/stereo track. Now you can record a simultaneous track. It's like you can have a conversation with yourself!




In order to move audio around in Audacity, drag to highlight the bit you wish to move and hit Ctrl + X


Then select where you want to place it, and hit Ctrl+V


Next, we are going to add some music. Click file/import/audio, and select a song from your computer


The song will be imported in to a new channel!

 
You can cut (Ctrl+X) and paste (Ctrl+V) to stitch audio together


You can also add effects by clicking and dragging to select the part of the track you want to add an effect to, then clicking effects/fade in, for example

Audacity is simple and straightforward, but you must mess around with it before you record anything properly! Spend some time making stupid recordings and adding stupid effects, and make screenshots to put in your powerpoint!

Unit 20: Research and tech tests

First of all, please be patient with me and this unit. There are a few things that need to be hammered out, including exactly what software we are going to use to edit this. However, and I would like to make this very clear: please do not worry. We are all in exactly the same situation, and allowances will definitely be made for technical issues. We are going to create the very best podcasts we possibly can, on a subject that you love. While I expect you to work hard and to do your very best, this is a strange situation! If you have any questions about this, including questions that have nothing to do with media diploma, please email me and I will do my best to help you out. It's what I am here for. 

Your goal for this unit is to record a 3-5 minute long podcast. We have chosen this unit, as the only equipment you need for this unit is either a phone or a computer with a microphone. We understand that this may not be possible for everyone, but it is the very best we can offer in this situation. Please contact me quickly and I will inform you of contingency measures. I will send you information about free software to edit sound. Most computers come pre-installed with sound editing software anyway. 


0 - Check out the exemplar PowerPoints

You can find three exemplary unit 20 powerpoints in the unit 20 submission folder. Check them out. Look at what the students have done for each slide. You'll notice it's quite a straightforward unit. There will be some changes we will have to make. Not all of you will be using audition. In fact, most of you will be using a MUCH more straightforward program. So that's a relief! This will not affect your mark.

1 - Click the new submission link 

You can find it by checking your emails

As long as you are signed in to your google account, you will be able to access it. We need a new submission link as some people do not have access. 

2 - Email me the subject for your podcast.

In my last email I gave you a big list of possible themes and subjects for your podcast. Please email me telling me what you would like your podcast to be about!

3 - Submit your unit 20 powerpoint, with  six analyses of the podcasts you have listened to so far

Find six podcasts for subjects YOU are interested in, and make notes under the following headings:

  • Genre
  • Style
  • Sound
  • Content

There are podcasts about absolutely everything and anything. So you simply need to google anything you are interested in, followed by the word 'podcast' 

here's a few examples

  • UK hiphop podcast
  • Retro video game podcast
  • Anime podcast
  • Fashion podcast
  • Classic cars podcast 

Please place your notes, including the names of the podcasts under the INFO SHEET slide on the powerpoint workbook, which can again be found in the unit 20 folder of the drive.


4 - Download audacity, and record yourself saying "hey guys, lets record some podcasts"

Audacity is a small and easy tool for recording podcasts. You can download it here. https://www.audacityteam.org/download/

Once it has been set up, hit record, say "hey guys, lets record some podcasts", then hit stop. Next, click file, export, mp3, then save it somewhere good. Then drag and drop the file in to your submissions folder on drive. - Note: for the final project, you can use Audition, but I will email you details on how to achieve this later

Important note: if you have any issues with these tasks, please do not worry! but you must let me know!

Here are a few examples of podcasts to check out if you need some inspiration. Remember: there's no limit on what you want to talk about, so they're very different from each other!







Please remember, no matter how obscure your interests are, you can find a podcast on it by googling '{your interest} podcast'