Immediately after being assigned our group, we held a meeting to discuss potential ideas for the two group pieces – the youth show and the documentary. We decided to base our youth show around the young people and politics – partially because we were aware that local MP Jim Knight was to talk at the university in the next few days and we could attempt to arrange an interview, but also because we could clearly demonstrate our ability to cater for our target audience (16 – 25 years old) by presenting the subject in a manner which made it accessible for young people. We conducted our interviews throughout the week, with questions based around why young people should get involved in politics and the political impact young people have made in the community. We decided to call our youth show “Agenda”, as we felt it was memorable and could easily be implemented in various cheesy puns (“let’s see what’s on the agenda today!”).
On the day of filming, I was assigned as presenter. We filmed introduction credits, which consisted of various outtakes of myself, followed by me pushing the word “Agenda” across the screen. The youth show itself flicked between shots of me filmed “live”, as I queued up each interview and linked them together, and the pre-recorded interviews. We also featured a “60-second news” (presented by Isobel) and ended by reading out the opinions of our viewers taken from our Twitter feed, which we felt was a suitable feature for our technologically in-touch target audience. Overall, I felt the youth show was successful, with my only criticisms being my slightly uncomfortable presenting style and the fact that the Twitter responses were read from a sheet of paper instead of linking a camera feed up to the computer screen to display the responses directly.
We decided to make our documentary on the Bournemouth Folk Club, which is a modest and intimate venue for folk music and singer-songwriters just outside the town centre. I volunteered to conduct all of the filming for this, and brought the camera along to a gig night to film the artists performing and interview a couple of them. I asked questions about why they enjoyed playing at the folk club and their opinions on the venue itself. An interview was also conducted with Paul Burke at his home, Paul helped found the Folk Club originally, so we asked him about his love of folk music and reasons for starting the club in the first place. Isobel and Lauren edited the footage into our 3-minute documentary, interjecting performance footage with interviews with the artists and Paul. Although the quotes from our interviewees provided a reasonably comprehensive insight into the club, I also recorded a voiceover to fill in any gaps. I’m quite satisfied with the final result – despite some poor camerawork and video quality which I am entirely to blame for.
Our final task was the 10-minute news magazine, consisting of news packages created by each group member. My story was about the dormant IMAX cinema. Councillor Ron Whittaker had recently questioned the council on what progress had been made with making use of the IMAX building, so I conducted an interview with him about why he was upset with the council and what action he hoped would be taken. I used this interview footage alongside a piece to camera and GVs of the IMAX. Sam presented the news show on the day (which also featured a news bulletin presented by Lauren) and introduced each package with a short cue. I’m happy with how my package turned out, although another interview may have been necessary in order to flesh the story out.
Sunday 17 January 2010
Wednesday 4 November 2009
6. Writing The Script + Compiling The Package
I booked out the radio studio once more in order to compile my package. I listened back to the interviews I had conducted in order to pick out interesting and relevant quotes. I chose three quotes – one which summarized one of David’s motives for creating music, one which briefly touched on the nature of his lyrics, and one from Baby Dee discussing how the latest Current 93 album was composed. I felt that these quotes did enough to portray David’s personality and provide a brief insight into his music. Using Adobe Audition, I cut out any pauses, stammering and irrelevant information out of these quotes. This would help the whole package run smoothly and ensure that listener interest was sustained.
Using both the quotes to determine the content and my Radio 3 research to create my writing style, I began writing my script. I started by describing the artist intentions and lyrical themes, and conveyed these using adjectives such as “bizarre” and “incomprehensible”. I used my script to cue up quotes from my interviewees, by making a point and using the interview quote to elaborate on it with the interviewee’s personal perspective. This would help to create a smooth flow between my voice and those in my interview quotes. I finished by mentioning where David planned to take his project next. I tried to be formal in my writing style in order to create the professional, authoritative atmosphere that I felt would be appropriate for my target audience.
Once the script was complete, I began to produce my package in Adobe Audition. The package begins with a Current 93 track fading in and David Tibet expressing how his view of the world provides a motive for making music. It’s quite a profound, thought-provoking quote which I feel would appeal to the older listener. I timed the quote to end just as the vocals enter on the song, and faded the music up at this point. A strong dynamic contrast is created between David’s calm interview response and his vocal performance, which has an angry, cathartic quality to it, and this helps capture listener interest. I included several of my own voiceovers, which summarized the points made by my interviewees and linked up the interview quotes seamlessly. Because the music of Current 93 was more intense than the music found on Verity Sharp’s “Late Junction”, I decided that it would be best if my package were broadcast earlier in the day, which meant that I could afford to be more dynamic and enthusiastic in my presenting style. Halfway through the package, I switched to a different Current 93 track in order to demonstrate the diversity of David’s music. The feature ends with a fade out, which gives it a satisfying sense of closure for the listener.
Using both the quotes to determine the content and my Radio 3 research to create my writing style, I began writing my script. I started by describing the artist intentions and lyrical themes, and conveyed these using adjectives such as “bizarre” and “incomprehensible”. I used my script to cue up quotes from my interviewees, by making a point and using the interview quote to elaborate on it with the interviewee’s personal perspective. This would help to create a smooth flow between my voice and those in my interview quotes. I finished by mentioning where David planned to take his project next. I tried to be formal in my writing style in order to create the professional, authoritative atmosphere that I felt would be appropriate for my target audience.
Once the script was complete, I began to produce my package in Adobe Audition. The package begins with a Current 93 track fading in and David Tibet expressing how his view of the world provides a motive for making music. It’s quite a profound, thought-provoking quote which I feel would appeal to the older listener. I timed the quote to end just as the vocals enter on the song, and faded the music up at this point. A strong dynamic contrast is created between David’s calm interview response and his vocal performance, which has an angry, cathartic quality to it, and this helps capture listener interest. I included several of my own voiceovers, which summarized the points made by my interviewees and linked up the interview quotes seamlessly. Because the music of Current 93 was more intense than the music found on Verity Sharp’s “Late Junction”, I decided that it would be best if my package were broadcast earlier in the day, which meant that I could afford to be more dynamic and enthusiastic in my presenting style. Halfway through the package, I switched to a different Current 93 track in order to demonstrate the diversity of David’s music. The feature ends with a fade out, which gives it a satisfying sense of closure for the listener.
5. Package Audience
Only once I had gathered my interviews did I decide on the audience and radio station my feature would be appropriate for. I felt that, because of the “left-field” nature of his music and the complex lyrical and ideological themes David Tibet addressed in the interview, my package would be more appropriate for a middle-aged audience who have an interest in the more expressive, artistic side of music. My package would potentially fit into a station such as BBC Radio 3, which has featured Current 93 before and regularly delves into experimental music on shows such as Verity Sharp’s “Late Junction”.
I listened to several editions of “Late Junction” before writing my script and compiling my package. This would help to accustom myself to the presentational style and writing style that would be appropriate for my audience. I found Verity Sharp to be very composed and soft in her speaking tone, with very deliberate and clear pronunciation. One reason for this could be that the show is broadcast late at night, when listener most likely desire something more delicate and soothing to the ears – potentially something to fall asleep to. It could also be to appeal to the target audience; to help produce a calm atmosphere so that radio can fulfill its contemplative, “down time” function that it may have for older listeners. Her choice of language was relatively formal and conservative, with only a couple of rhetorical questions used to address the audience directly and inject some informality (“Remember this? This was how Radiohead sounded in 2002.”). The music featured on the playlist was relatively varied, although tended heavily towards the more niche genres such as folk, classical and ambient noise. Because of the "avant garde" nature of David Tibet's music, I am confident that my package would be a fitting addition to a programme such as this one.
In fact, compiling this package made me realise how versatile radio is as a medium - able to attract both the passive listeners who strive for the immediacy and instant impact of mainstream radio, as well as the more active listeners who seek out harder programmes that tap in to their niche interests. My package would be unlikely to find a place on television, which tends to focus on the interests of the mainstream. Additionally, translating my feature into a print article would have meant losing the evocative use of music and the "personal" element achieved by hearing the voices of the artists themselves. Radio is the perfect medium for a feature piece of this style.
I listened to several editions of “Late Junction” before writing my script and compiling my package. This would help to accustom myself to the presentational style and writing style that would be appropriate for my audience. I found Verity Sharp to be very composed and soft in her speaking tone, with very deliberate and clear pronunciation. One reason for this could be that the show is broadcast late at night, when listener most likely desire something more delicate and soothing to the ears – potentially something to fall asleep to. It could also be to appeal to the target audience; to help produce a calm atmosphere so that radio can fulfill its contemplative, “down time” function that it may have for older listeners. Her choice of language was relatively formal and conservative, with only a couple of rhetorical questions used to address the audience directly and inject some informality (“Remember this? This was how Radiohead sounded in 2002.”). The music featured on the playlist was relatively varied, although tended heavily towards the more niche genres such as folk, classical and ambient noise. Because of the "avant garde" nature of David Tibet's music, I am confident that my package would be a fitting addition to a programme such as this one.
In fact, compiling this package made me realise how versatile radio is as a medium - able to attract both the passive listeners who strive for the immediacy and instant impact of mainstream radio, as well as the more active listeners who seek out harder programmes that tap in to their niche interests. My package would be unlikely to find a place on television, which tends to focus on the interests of the mainstream. Additionally, translating my feature into a print article would have meant losing the evocative use of music and the "personal" element achieved by hearing the voices of the artists themselves. Radio is the perfect medium for a feature piece of this style.
Tuesday 3 November 2009
4. Radio Package - Preparation
I decided to make my feature package about a musician I’m interested in. This would minimize the required background research for interviews and scriptwriting, as I would already be aware of most of the relevant information needed, and would also ensure that I was enthusiastic about the project from start to finish, and doubly keen to create a polished, professional-sounding piece of radio.
I started by emailing various musicians – either directly or through their record labels. I deemed it important to feature interviews with the artists themselves in my package, particularly due to the very personal, expressive nature of the musicians I am interested in - the personal insight of the artist into their musical motives and influences was vital. All of the email addresses were found on the artists’ official homepages. Although the email was a template that I wrote, copied and pasted, I personalized each one slightly in order to imply a genuine personal interest in that particular artist. I did this by mentioning particular albums or events in that artist's career that I wished to talk about. This is the template email I sent:
“Hi (Artist Name),
I'm Jack Chuter - a University student from Bournemouth, England. I'm on my second year of my Journalism degree, and have been asked to construct a short feature package designed for radio. As a massive fan of your work, I would love the opportunity to make my package about your music, and conduct a phone interview with you.
The package would, with your permission, feature short clips of your work, interjected with interview clips and a brief biography. It would not be broadcast, but would be submitted to the exam board as part of my coursework.
If you're able to take part in this for me, that would be fantastic - please do write back to me soon.
Cheers,
Jack”
Two musicians got back to me. The first was Steve Roach – a hugely influential ambient/electronic composer from Arizona, who creates lengthy pieces designed for background and subconscious listening. The second was David Tibet, who is based in Hastings and writes music spanning a wide range of styles with his Current 93 project. Both were happy to conduct a phone interview with me. I began to prepare questions on both artists by researching their respective back catalogues, their influences and personal ideologies.
I arranged to interview Steve on Tuesday 20th October at noon. However, because of the expense of the long-distance call and the time difference constricting the interview to the evening, I was unable to book out the radio studio for the required time. I still carried the interview out by calling him from home and using the Skype internet calling application. I managed to find a free program that enabled me to record Skype calls and recorded the interview this way. The questions I asked revolved around his latest releases, his recent festival in Colorado and his compositional approach. Although he was an excellent interviewee and provided me with lengthy, elaborative answers, the audio quality of the interview was poor and unfit for radio. I decided to focus on my interview with David Tibet, which I had arranged for Thursday 22nd and had managed to book the radio studio for.
Before my interview with David, I listened to an audio interview conducted by WFMU radio in 2006 to find out more about him – both from the actual content of his answers and the way he behaved. I ensured that I went into the studio fifteen minutes before the arranged interview time, in order to re-familiarize myself with the mixing desk and the Burli software. The interview itself went smoothly, and he provided me with more than enough material to work with. I asked him questions on his recent festival in Rome, the influences on his lyrics and his work as a visual artist. At the end of the interview I requested his permission to use two of his tracks in my package, which he was perfectly happy with. I also asked if he would be able to put me in touch with any of his musical collaborators. He agreed to do so, and I arranged a further phone interview with singer and multi-instrumentalist Baby Dee.
I asked Dee about her contribution to the latest Current 93 album, and gained her perspective on David’s compositional process. This would provide a more comprehensive insight and alternative view on his thought process when composing music, as well as ensuring that my package features a variety of different voices in order to sustain listener interest. This was only a short interview – lasting only seven minutes in contrast to the half an hour spent talking to David - due to focusing my questions on one specific topic.
I started by emailing various musicians – either directly or through their record labels. I deemed it important to feature interviews with the artists themselves in my package, particularly due to the very personal, expressive nature of the musicians I am interested in - the personal insight of the artist into their musical motives and influences was vital. All of the email addresses were found on the artists’ official homepages. Although the email was a template that I wrote, copied and pasted, I personalized each one slightly in order to imply a genuine personal interest in that particular artist. I did this by mentioning particular albums or events in that artist's career that I wished to talk about. This is the template email I sent:
“Hi (Artist Name),
I'm Jack Chuter - a University student from Bournemouth, England. I'm on my second year of my Journalism degree, and have been asked to construct a short feature package designed for radio. As a massive fan of your work, I would love the opportunity to make my package about your music, and conduct a phone interview with you.
The package would, with your permission, feature short clips of your work, interjected with interview clips and a brief biography. It would not be broadcast, but would be submitted to the exam board as part of my coursework.
If you're able to take part in this for me, that would be fantastic - please do write back to me soon.
Cheers,
Jack”
Two musicians got back to me. The first was Steve Roach – a hugely influential ambient/electronic composer from Arizona, who creates lengthy pieces designed for background and subconscious listening. The second was David Tibet, who is based in Hastings and writes music spanning a wide range of styles with his Current 93 project. Both were happy to conduct a phone interview with me. I began to prepare questions on both artists by researching their respective back catalogues, their influences and personal ideologies.
I arranged to interview Steve on Tuesday 20th October at noon. However, because of the expense of the long-distance call and the time difference constricting the interview to the evening, I was unable to book out the radio studio for the required time. I still carried the interview out by calling him from home and using the Skype internet calling application. I managed to find a free program that enabled me to record Skype calls and recorded the interview this way. The questions I asked revolved around his latest releases, his recent festival in Colorado and his compositional approach. Although he was an excellent interviewee and provided me with lengthy, elaborative answers, the audio quality of the interview was poor and unfit for radio. I decided to focus on my interview with David Tibet, which I had arranged for Thursday 22nd and had managed to book the radio studio for.
Before my interview with David, I listened to an audio interview conducted by WFMU radio in 2006 to find out more about him – both from the actual content of his answers and the way he behaved. I ensured that I went into the studio fifteen minutes before the arranged interview time, in order to re-familiarize myself with the mixing desk and the Burli software. The interview itself went smoothly, and he provided me with more than enough material to work with. I asked him questions on his recent festival in Rome, the influences on his lyrics and his work as a visual artist. At the end of the interview I requested his permission to use two of his tracks in my package, which he was perfectly happy with. I also asked if he would be able to put me in touch with any of his musical collaborators. He agreed to do so, and I arranged a further phone interview with singer and multi-instrumentalist Baby Dee.
I asked Dee about her contribution to the latest Current 93 album, and gained her perspective on David’s compositional process. This would provide a more comprehensive insight and alternative view on his thought process when composing music, as well as ensuring that my package features a variety of different voices in order to sustain listener interest. This was only a short interview – lasting only seven minutes in contrast to the half an hour spent talking to David - due to focusing my questions on one specific topic.
3. Second Assessment
For our second assessment, we were required to work for “Talbot FM”, which targeted a much younger audience (16yrs – 30yrs) and was only broadcast in Dorset. After the success of the first week, we retained the same roles, with Lauren taking on the task of producing the pre-recorded Entertainment news that was required for our bulletins.
Again, I was responsible for producing the stings. I chose “Destroy Everything You Touch” by Ladytron for the intro and outro, as I felt that its energetic dance beat was appropriate for the younger audience. For entertainment, we were required to create a bed that ran throughout the entire section. I used “Eple” by Royksopp, which I believed to be minimal and “chilled out” enough to avoid being a distraction to the news itself. I made sure that it dipped sufficiently in volume once Lauren started talking, so as not to drown her out, as well as using fades at the beginning and end to give it a smooth, professional sound.
We ensured that our stories were relevant to our audience, and covered topics such as university tuition fees and sexual health, as well as avoiding the more complex political stories and lexis, in order to demonstrate an understanding and empathy with the younger listener. Light-hearted, trivial stories were included to ensure that the bulletin was balanced in mood. As with the first assessment, we retrieved our own interviews and vox pops. For example, one of our general reporters was sent out to Boscombe surf reef to obtain the views of surfers themselves. This would help demonstrate to our audience that the station was committed to, and concerned with, the opinions of the local people and its listeners.
The writing style and story content was more informal and chatty than South Coast Radio. We included rhetorical questions that addressed the listener directly (“Are you feeling grumpy today?”), and subtle alliteration (“The most talked about twins are back”), as a way of engaging and relating to younger listeners. A perfect example of our “tapping in” to the target audience was the inclusion of an interview byte from former X-Factor singer Chico, who had no relevance to the story but would arouse listener interest with his “celebrity” status.
Unfortunately, a couple of production issues arose shortly before the first bulletin was due on air, which meant that we were unable to rehearse. As a result, I was nervous and unfamiliar with the script and did little to inject the vibrancy and energy into my presentation required to stimulate a younger audience. Thankfully, everything ran smoothly for the second bulletin – I had time to rehearse, and was able to concentrate on making my execution more lively and interesting.
Again, I was responsible for producing the stings. I chose “Destroy Everything You Touch” by Ladytron for the intro and outro, as I felt that its energetic dance beat was appropriate for the younger audience. For entertainment, we were required to create a bed that ran throughout the entire section. I used “Eple” by Royksopp, which I believed to be minimal and “chilled out” enough to avoid being a distraction to the news itself. I made sure that it dipped sufficiently in volume once Lauren started talking, so as not to drown her out, as well as using fades at the beginning and end to give it a smooth, professional sound.
We ensured that our stories were relevant to our audience, and covered topics such as university tuition fees and sexual health, as well as avoiding the more complex political stories and lexis, in order to demonstrate an understanding and empathy with the younger listener. Light-hearted, trivial stories were included to ensure that the bulletin was balanced in mood. As with the first assessment, we retrieved our own interviews and vox pops. For example, one of our general reporters was sent out to Boscombe surf reef to obtain the views of surfers themselves. This would help demonstrate to our audience that the station was committed to, and concerned with, the opinions of the local people and its listeners.
The writing style and story content was more informal and chatty than South Coast Radio. We included rhetorical questions that addressed the listener directly (“Are you feeling grumpy today?”), and subtle alliteration (“The most talked about twins are back”), as a way of engaging and relating to younger listeners. A perfect example of our “tapping in” to the target audience was the inclusion of an interview byte from former X-Factor singer Chico, who had no relevance to the story but would arouse listener interest with his “celebrity” status.
Unfortunately, a couple of production issues arose shortly before the first bulletin was due on air, which meant that we were unable to rehearse. As a result, I was nervous and unfamiliar with the script and did little to inject the vibrancy and energy into my presentation required to stimulate a younger audience. Thankfully, everything ran smoothly for the second bulletin – I had time to rehearse, and was able to concentrate on making my execution more lively and interesting.
2. First Assessment
On the first assessed news day, we worked for “South Coast Radio”, which was aimed towards a middle-aged audience and covered not only Dorset, but also Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. We tried to ensure that our story choice reflected the tone and target audience of this station, by focusing on issues that were of interest to the intended audience, and also including a sufficient amount of local content to make our bulletin directly relevant and interesting to those in within the broadcast area.
I was assigned as presenter, having taken the role the week before and been well received by the rest of my team. As I was only needed as presenter just prior to the bulletin for rehearsal and for the on-air bulletin itself, I spent the rest of my time accomplishing other tasks.
Firstly, I created stings for the intro, outro and sport. For the intro and outro, I used “Beautiful Day” by U2, which I felt was dramatic enough to attract listener attention and to indicate the excitement and urgency of the news. Twenty seconds of the intro was to be used under the headlines, so I ensured that the music dipped in volume and intensity for this duration, before rising up again slightly to round off the introduction. The outro consisted of the same song to bring consistency of tone to the bulletin. The sports sting was a short burst of orchestra, which I felt implied the emotion and drama involved in sport. I decided to use another team member to provide the voiceover for these stings, after initially using my own voice. I realized that voicing both the stings and presenting the news would sound slightly ridiculous and even arrogant. By creating these stings myself, I was able to familiarize myself with their durations, which helped during pacing my headlines and coming in quickly at the end of the sting. This contributed to our requirement to use primarily user-generated material, too.
I also aided in finding stories and deciding on the running order. Keeping in touch with the progress of the stories and the running order meant that I was already well acquainted with the material by the time I had to rehearse it, which boosted my confidence during reading and minimized faltering.
Additionally, I helped with the production of the bulletin by adding clips to the bulletin in-queue. Preparing the clips myself ensured that no one would forget to do so prior to the bulletin going on air.
The other members of my team took roles which, after the practice days, they discovered themselves to be most comfortable in. As a result, the team itself worked efficiently and coherently, with the editor providing good instruction and communication between all of the members. Two reporters were sent out during the day to obtain interviews and vox pops relating to major local stories. This helped us flesh out our stories with interesting angles and opinions, and also emphasized the “local” nature of the station by getting feedback from people likely to be listening, and implying that the station considers the opinions and welfare of its audience. It also meant we could avoid resorting to second-hand vox pops from Burli, which would have looked lazy and amateur to the listener. We also were required to perform a live two-way, which would help to elaborate on a news story with additional information from an “expert”. Both the questions and answers were prepared beforehand.
The bulletins themselves ran smoothly, with only a few small falters in my script reading, including a couple of minor issues with the two-way in the 1 o’clock bulletin due to a number of difficult words in the script.
For the three o’clock bulletin, we wrote several new stories that had emerged since the one o’clock bulletin. Any stories we retained from the first bulletin were either trimmed and pushed down the running order, or fleshed out with a story update or new audio clip. We tried to ensure that this bulletin had more of an “afternoon vibe”, in both story content and presentation style, by making it more of a relaxed news summary, in contrast to the urgent atmosphere of the one o’clock bulletin. I feel our second bulletin was an improvement on the first, as we were able to assess what improvements and adjustments we could make to our approach based on how the first bulletin turned out.
I was assigned as presenter, having taken the role the week before and been well received by the rest of my team. As I was only needed as presenter just prior to the bulletin for rehearsal and for the on-air bulletin itself, I spent the rest of my time accomplishing other tasks.
Firstly, I created stings for the intro, outro and sport. For the intro and outro, I used “Beautiful Day” by U2, which I felt was dramatic enough to attract listener attention and to indicate the excitement and urgency of the news. Twenty seconds of the intro was to be used under the headlines, so I ensured that the music dipped in volume and intensity for this duration, before rising up again slightly to round off the introduction. The outro consisted of the same song to bring consistency of tone to the bulletin. The sports sting was a short burst of orchestra, which I felt implied the emotion and drama involved in sport. I decided to use another team member to provide the voiceover for these stings, after initially using my own voice. I realized that voicing both the stings and presenting the news would sound slightly ridiculous and even arrogant. By creating these stings myself, I was able to familiarize myself with their durations, which helped during pacing my headlines and coming in quickly at the end of the sting. This contributed to our requirement to use primarily user-generated material, too.
I also aided in finding stories and deciding on the running order. Keeping in touch with the progress of the stories and the running order meant that I was already well acquainted with the material by the time I had to rehearse it, which boosted my confidence during reading and minimized faltering.
Additionally, I helped with the production of the bulletin by adding clips to the bulletin in-queue. Preparing the clips myself ensured that no one would forget to do so prior to the bulletin going on air.
The other members of my team took roles which, after the practice days, they discovered themselves to be most comfortable in. As a result, the team itself worked efficiently and coherently, with the editor providing good instruction and communication between all of the members. Two reporters were sent out during the day to obtain interviews and vox pops relating to major local stories. This helped us flesh out our stories with interesting angles and opinions, and also emphasized the “local” nature of the station by getting feedback from people likely to be listening, and implying that the station considers the opinions and welfare of its audience. It also meant we could avoid resorting to second-hand vox pops from Burli, which would have looked lazy and amateur to the listener. We also were required to perform a live two-way, which would help to elaborate on a news story with additional information from an “expert”. Both the questions and answers were prepared beforehand.
The bulletins themselves ran smoothly, with only a few small falters in my script reading, including a couple of minor issues with the two-way in the 1 o’clock bulletin due to a number of difficult words in the script.
For the three o’clock bulletin, we wrote several new stories that had emerged since the one o’clock bulletin. Any stories we retained from the first bulletin were either trimmed and pushed down the running order, or fleshed out with a story update or new audio clip. We tried to ensure that this bulletin had more of an “afternoon vibe”, in both story content and presentation style, by making it more of a relaxed news summary, in contrast to the urgent atmosphere of the one o’clock bulletin. I feel our second bulletin was an improvement on the first, as we were able to assess what improvements and adjustments we could make to our approach based on how the first bulletin turned out.
Wednesday 28 October 2009
1. Practise Days
Prior to our assessment, we were given two practice days in which we could refine our bulletin-producing skills and become more familiar with the other members of the team. During these days, we all attempted different roles in order to evaluate our personal strengths and help establish who should handle what role come the assessment days. This involved taking on the role in which we felt least comfortable, in order to expand our experience in the field of radio and to ensure that any one of us could adopt a role if someone were to be absent. We also experimented with different news sources – including the BBC website, the Dorset Echo website and even social networking website Twitter – to discover which ones provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive news. Additionally, we used these practice days to accustom ourselves with the Burli and ENPS software to avoid running into unnecessary hindrances upon assessment. On each day, we were given a different station to work for, and therefore a different audience to target – as a result, our writing style, story choice, running order and presenter tone needed to be adjusted to cater for the audience we were aiming for.
One of our main discoveries on the practice days was that a producer was not really necessary. None of the team had a particularly encyclopedic knowledge of radio production, and we didn’t feel that the amount of production work that needed to be done justified the existence of a producer position. Therefore, on the assessment days, we decided to abolish the producer role and simply disperse the work amongst ourselves. We thought that this worked well – we had one more person available for general reporting and story-writing.
We also became aware that leaving ourselves time to rehearse the bulletin was very important. It allowed the presenter to familiarize his/herself with the script (including any unusual pronunciations or grammatical structures), and permitted time for any last-minute changes which might be needed – either to prevent over/under-running, or to include a major news story that might have just surfaced. On the first practice day, the presenter didn’t have any spare time to read through the script prior to the actual bulletin, and was unprepared for the various ambiguous pronunciations and hand-written story altercations that occurred throughout the script.
One of our main discoveries on the practice days was that a producer was not really necessary. None of the team had a particularly encyclopedic knowledge of radio production, and we didn’t feel that the amount of production work that needed to be done justified the existence of a producer position. Therefore, on the assessment days, we decided to abolish the producer role and simply disperse the work amongst ourselves. We thought that this worked well – we had one more person available for general reporting and story-writing.
We also became aware that leaving ourselves time to rehearse the bulletin was very important. It allowed the presenter to familiarize his/herself with the script (including any unusual pronunciations or grammatical structures), and permitted time for any last-minute changes which might be needed – either to prevent over/under-running, or to include a major news story that might have just surfaced. On the first practice day, the presenter didn’t have any spare time to read through the script prior to the actual bulletin, and was unprepared for the various ambiguous pronunciations and hand-written story altercations that occurred throughout the script.
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