Evaluation - Preliminary Task to My Radio Final Extract

My understanding and skills in technology have come a long way since I recorded my preliminary task. I feel like I have a level of understanding when it come to the use of sound effects, music and layering on multitrack.

Although my preliminary task is almost completely different to my final radio extract, they share some of the same conventions, such as jingles, presenter, guests and soundbites.
When I recorded my preliminary task, I didn't know what could be achieved by using Adobe Audition, and spent little time planning, scripting and recording and even editing it. I didn't think carefully about representation, as a result of this the extract didn't sound authentic and I wasn't too happy with my final preliminary task. However this process helped my gather an understanding of what can be achieved by through the technology, and how the process of recording and editing works.  When I had finished my preliminary task, I make a note of what I didn't want to include in my real radio extract and thing I did what to include, before I stared scripting my real radio extract. I knew I had to do research and planning to get a better understanding of the different conventions and representations used in existing radio stations.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

One of the most important things I learnt from my preliminary task was how much thought I should put into representation. During my listening task I paid close attention to the different voices I heard and planned carefully who would play who in my radio extract, so that my radio would sound as authentic as possible.

I hope that when you listen to my preliminary task and my finished radio extract (Bright FM), you will be able to hear a significant difference, and how the mistakes I made in my preliminary task, especially regarding representation changed the way I scripted recorded and edited my final radio extract.

Evaluation - Technology

A series of technology has been crucially important not only to recording and editing my radio but also creating a blog, where I have been able to show the details of my research and planning and my evaluation. I have used a variety of software and hardware throughout my AS coursework. The technology has helped me achieve things I didn't think were possible.

Blogger is the software I have used to create a blog, it has meant I can keep a record of my research and planning tasks, with links, images, sound clips and even videos of the planning process, to help bring the information in a format easy to follow. Blogger helped me keep my AS coursework on track and organised.

Soundcloud was another important software, as it allowed me to upload all my audio files before pasting the embeded code into blogger, enabling me to show my sound clips on posts.

While researching and listening to existing radio stations Tunein was helpful, it allowed me to record extract from radio stations then come back to them, so I could listen to them carefully and analyse them.

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This was helpful when I had to listen to 3 radio station news bulletins at the same time on the same day (to see if the news stories were the same). Recording the news bulletin allowed me to go back and listen carefully to each news story and analyse them. This made it easier for me when it came to scripting my own news stories and getting the content, tone of the presenter right.
For the local stations I used BBC iplayer. This was helpful as it let me listen to a radio show, days after it aired.

To record my actors I used the Shure SM58 microphone, I used the mixing desk (mackie 802-BLC) to alter volume levels during both recording and editing. There was only one microphone, so I had to record each part secretly, later editing them together.

On the one hand  it was annoying, as it meant the recording time was longer. On the other hand it meant I had more control over each voice I recorded, making the editing process easier and quicker, as cutting out mistakes and pauses was less of a hassle. While recording I labelled each file carefully, then putting them into different element folders (such as Jingles, News and Adverts) making easier later on to find the file I need. When I had finished recording I made a file of finished elements, so that when I came to putting it all together it would be a simple process that won't take to much time.

The software I used to edit my radio show is Adobe Audition 1.5. It allowed me to add a series effects and certain voices. It also made it possible to layer sounds on multi-track so that I could control the timing of more complicated clips with layers such as adverts, jingles and some sections of my news bulletins.

While recording it was inevitable that the actors would make mistakes (such as stuttering, repeating or reading the script in a tone that wasn't right for the character they were playing. This software Meant that rather than recording things again, every time there was a mistake I could just edit out any mistakes pauses or gaps. This significantly reduced the recording time and meant I had a greater level of control. Below is the first recording of Luisa as a student protesting, with mistakes, repeats and stumbling over words. The second clip is Luisa voice after I have edited out all the mistakes, pauses and gaps. The technology has meant I didn't have to ask Luisa to re-record after making a slight mistake.






When listening to existing radio stations for research, I noticed another popular convention (phone calls, either used in adverts or audiences calling in for an interview or soundbite). I wanted to recreate this convention in my advert for Swift Cabs (a local cab company). I was able to take the recording of Jon's voice and changes the settings on the equaliser, I also lowered the bass and treble, to make the advert and phone call sound more authentic.
Here below is a version of the advert before and after I edited it.





Adobe Audition allowed me to layer different sound clips on the multitrack, so that I could record things separately, them mix the parts together. An excellent example of this is my news segment, which is made up of a number of different parts, including the news presenter (Jade), a series of voxpops and soundbites and the show Jingle. Below are clips of all the parts that made up the news before they were edited and put together and a clip of the final news segment, where the parts are edited together.











I added effects to almost every separate section of my radio, including the jingles, adverts, correspondent, voxpops and soundbites. Below is a clip of a student protester before I added the sound effects and a clip of when I had added the sound effects. I used a number of different sound effects including Hight Street in a town, Main road, city traffic and general chanting, these sound effects help make my news sound more authentic. I also used the equaliser to distinguish that Rahul (student protester) was recorded outside.





To make my radio sound more authentic there were three steps. The first being recording, with the mistakes and pauses. The second is using Adobe Audition to take out the pauses, mistake, stutters and repeats. The final step is adding the sound effects and compression. Here below are clips of the tree steps.

Evaluation - Audience

I did a number of tasks in my research and planning on audience. Including a questionnaire to get an understanding of audience listening habits and looking at existing radio stations and Ofcom.

Audience
Questionnaire
Target Audiences and Websites 
OFCOM

Doing this research and planning helped be get a better idea of who my audience was, and the conventions radio stations use to target their audiences (through adverts, jingles, guest, songs and even news bulletins).

My radio station Bright FM is a local radio station targeting audience in and around Brighton.
The majority of my radio content is aimed at local audiences targeting them directly. Here are some of examples of what you would expect a local radio station based in Brighton to have; News stories (that have taken place in or around Brighton or involving someone from Brighton), weather specifically for the region and Jingles (that make it clear to audiences that Bright FM is based in Brighton). In my research and planning I looked at and analysed different local radio stations, giving me an idea of the elements local radio has and what conventions they use to target a local audience.

Local News - Business
Local News - Health
Comparing National and Local News Bulletin








  I have made certain elements on my radio to target my audience, based on the research I have done on a local audience that listen to 70's/80's music. One of the adverts I have scripted (Swift Cabs)  I thought would target a local audience, the other advert (David Bowies Jukebox) I thought would target my audience as it is an album of music my audience listen to.

I also included news stories that are based in or around Brighton, directly targeting a local audience.

Potential Adverts to Indicate Target Audience

Another convention I used to target my audience was through the songs I played and the tone in which the presenter spoke (which is relaxed, calm, excited and mature, as he introduces songs and guests, that will appear throughout the show).

Evaluation - Institution

Bright FM is a local radio set in Brighton, aimed at local audiences. This is made clear through the name Bright FM and other elements throughout the radio show such as  jingles, weather and even adverts. I created an entirely new radio station, rather than creating a particular show for an existing radio station. This meant I had more of a choice when it came to what style/genre of music I wanted to play.

Another element that helps determine if a radio station is local are adverts, thats why I though it would
be crucial to include adverts. One of m adverts immediately indicates to the audience that it is a local company based around Brighton, where Bright FM is.



My show on Bright FM is a late morning show, commonly found on any type of radio station. I listened to a number of radio stations similar to Bright FM, to help me make the show sound more authentic.

Evaluation - Representation

For part of my research and planning I had to think carefully about representation when listening to existing radio stations. I listened to similar style stations to Bright FM to get an idea of how the presenters and news presenters spoke, what kind of language they used and their tone of voice to see how they were targeting a particular audience.

News Presenters - Representation

Whilst scripting my preliminary task I didn't give much though on how I wanted the characters to sound and I definitely didn't think about representation. After listening to a number of radio show, news bulletins that included voxpops, soundbites and adverts, I realised how crucial it is to think carefully about representation when choosing your actors.

When I had finished scripting my show, I went about choosing actors to play each characters, varying from the show presenter, news presenter, voxpops, adverts and jingles. I gave a lot of consideration while choosing the actors and thought a lot about representation.

Choosing Voices - Representation

When researching I notice similar stations to Bright FM had a mature and relaxed voice. For my presenter I wanted a male,calm, laid back and soothing voice to help reflect the stye/genre of my radio show. I chose Chris the photography/art teacher at college, as I felt he had a mature yet laid back voice.



After listening to number of news bulletins I realised that news presenters are often have a sense of authority and are more serious and formal than the shows presenter, the correspondent and the voxpops. So I chose Jade the English teacher at college, as I felt she had a mature, sophisticated and serious voice.



I chose Alex the media/film teacher at college for my Jingles. I wanted to use the same voice throughout my show, so the show would have a recognisable identity. I felt that Alex had a sense of authority and I wanted to have a formal, serious voice but at the same time laid back and relaxed voice. Here below is a clip of all the Jingles, after the mistakes and pauses were edited out but before I added sound effects and added compression.



For my voxpops I wanted people to sound informal and unofficial, as they were representing member of the public. I stitches the actors carefully, but when editing I didn't take out the pauses making it sound more authentic. I chose young students as the news story is about students protesting.






For another news story I chose older more formal and serious voices, as the news story was aimed at an older audience and would not have involved younger members of the public.






The clips below show how carefully I though about representation. The first one is in the advert for swift cabs. I wanted the voice to age so I got Louise the Drama teacher at college to do two different voices one as a middle aged woman and one as an old lady. The second one if for an album. This advert is specifically targeted at the type of audience that would listen to Bright FM. I wanted the voice to be upbeat, light hearted and enthusiastic, which not only helps represent the type of music will be on the album but also helps the advert sound more authentic.

Evaluation - Using Conventions of Real Media Products - News

The main feature if my radio show is a news bulletin so I did lot of research on The 5Ws, News Values and the way news is presented in newspapers, online and on Radio, so that when I scripted recorded and edited my News Bulletin it would sound as authentic as possible.

The 5Ws

News Values

I then analysed a few different new stories, local and international to see the similarities and differences of news values. This was significant as I wanted my radio to sound like an authentic local radios station.

National News - Politics

Local News - Politics

Comparing National and Local News

I listened to number of different radio station news bulletins (both Nation and Local) to see if the types of stories mentioned depended on the style/genre of the radio station and the target audience. 

This helped me script my news bulletin, using news stories that are appropriate for my target audience and deciding what order the news stories should go in. 

News Bulletin - Radio 2

News Bulletin - Capital

New Bulletin - Magic

Comparing News Bulletins on Local Radio

I researched other elements that are found in New Bulletins, such as archive clips, voxpops soundbite, outside broadcast, correspondents and expert guests, so I could include them in my news stories. 

Here below are a few voxpops from a news story about a student protest in Brighton. The voxpops are of young students expressing their anger and the reason why they are protesting. 

Other Conventions of Radio News

Here below is a soundbite from a news story about a contest winner giver money to here former school.

Evaluation - Using Conventions of Real Media Products - Adverts

To make my radio sound a realistic as possible, I did some research on adverts. I found that there are two different types of adverts on the radio, one with a narrative and one without a narrative. I also found that the products advertised on a radio are chosen carefully, as it reflects the target audience.

RadioVille
Potential Products to Advertise

Some adverts have a narrative like my Swift Cabs advert. I created a scenario where a woman is waiting a long time for a cab, so long that see forgets. This part is there to emphasising having to wait for a cab. Suggesting you should order online with Swift Cabs.
Here below is the final edit of the advert for Swift Cabs. I have used conventions I heard while researching adverts such as voiceovers, sound effects creating an atmosphere where the advert takes place and the name of the company repeated frequently throughout the advert.



Other adverts simply outline the product they are selling and where/when it is available. I chose one of my adverts to be a release advert of a David Bowie inspiration tracks. Which I though would be ideal for my target audience, as the album is sure to have songs my target audience will like. I included conventions I heard while researching similar kinds of adverts, such as a voiceover telling the audience the song featured on the album and the realise date, extracts from songs that are featured on the album and the name of the product and the beginning and end of the advert.

 

While listening to different radio stations for research I noticed adverts are a very important convention of radio. I also noticed adverts often appear before or after news bulletins, so I though it would be essential to include adverts on my radio to make it sound more authentic.
To make the adverts sound more realistic I used a number of different song and sound effects, also showing that I understand the conventions of adverts.