Unit 19: Planning
and Pitching an Audio Media Product
Introduction
Throughout this Unit I have
listened to and analyzed a variety of different audio products; comparing how
each of their features differ and how they are produced. Their type of distribution,
target audience and frequency of broadcast can explain how these comparisons
differ.
I’ll be focusing on a Podcast, as I
have chosen to create this style of audio product for my Unit 19 Project.
However, I will also cover the Purpose, Form, Content, Meaning, Genre, Target
Audience, Frequency and the production process of a Radio Drama, Jingle,
Music Talk Show and Audiobook.
The shows and audio I have examined
include:
Charlie Sloth’s
Slothpod (Podcast)
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay
(Audiobook)
The Archers (Radio
Drama)
Rooster Teeth
(Podcast)
Travel
Channel (Ident)Hallam FM Theme (Jingle)
Urban Expression
(Music Talk Show)
Club Life First
Hour (Podcast)
Comparison Section
Purpose
The purpose of an audio product is
the reason for which it has been created, for entertainment, instruction,
information etc. Generally, I have selected a range of audio productions that
are created with the intention of entertainment. Charlie Sloth’s Slothpod is a
new music showcase, specifically consisting of informal chat and current grime
music. The other music products I have looked at, Urban Expression and the Club
Life Podcast closely relate to this in the way they have been presented; chunks
of songs separated by periods of informal chat relating their respective
genres. Urban Expression however has a relatively smaller scale purpose being
that it is broadcast on Sheffield Live!, a local radio station. UE is a
community radio show based in Sheffield featuring unsigned artists, shout outs,
worldwide hip hop, underground hip hop, news/ rumors, old and new school artists. The Club Life
First Hour Podcast showcases world star DJ, Tiëstos’
picks of the week based on a selected era and genre. The show is an
entertainment module, providing dance music to accompany the listeners’ weekend
escapades.
In contradiction, I looked at Hallam
FM’s Jingle which has the purpose of ‘reinforcing and promoting the brand’ while giving its audience a generalized
introduction to the music genre listeners can expect to hear on a
typical show.The Rooster Teeth Podcast is a video-game
focused ‘talk show’ that entertains listeners with recent gaming news, new game
reviews and a dose of random chit-chat about the past week’s stories from the
internet. Taken into consideration its content, Rooster Teeth is also
informational, broadcasting to fans of the podcast about the latest video game
announcements. Lastly, The Archers radio drama and Hunger Games Audiobook are
similar in the way they provide their audiences with entertainment via a
narrative. The type of entertainment they each respectively give is opposing as
I explore when comparing their genre. The Archers is a regular show which
entertains its audience through a narrative resembling the daily life of
country and farmer families. The Mockingjay is part of the Hunger Game Trilogy
written by Suzanne Collins and narrated by Carolyn McCormick. Each of the
different products retain unique content governing their form, audience and the
way they are produced.
Form & Style
The
form and style of the product is how it is presented and which medium they
take, being the type of product. The Archers is a
fictional audial tale broadcast daily, 6 times a week on Radio 4; a channel
acclaimed for its spoken word programs covering news, drama. Comedy, science
and history. The show is a very conversational piece and formally performed,
giving instant connotations of the type of demographic that tune in to listen
to this broadcast. In comparison, the other narrative driven audio, the
audiobook of the Mockingjay is voiced neutrally to portray the story, the actor
only making minor changes to her voice when speaking for a character. With this
type of audio product, it is vital that words are pronounced clearly and with a
clean accent so that the story is understood by all its listeners. Urban
Expression is a live 2 hour long music talk show, featuring interviews with
special guests (Local DJ’s, MC’s and Rappers etc.) who converse with the host,
Jose, as well as a selection of tracks like any typical music talk show. The
style in contrast to the Archers for example, is much less formal, the
difference in genres makes this clear. Music Talk Shows are generally informal
and try to relate to their audience through the type and content of
conversation they deliver. Sheffield, Barnsley, Rotherham and
Doncaster’s local radio, Hallam FM, employs
the use of an ident, a short ‘identification’ sequence played
at regular intervals throughout their broadcasts to
give a unique identity and brand reinforcement for the
channels listenersaudience.
They can vary depending on the
music genre of the current programme; reflecting that through its
style, for example in the style of Pop, R ‘n’
B, Acoustic and Rock.The two podcasts I have
evaluated share very similar form and style as they are both musical showcases
with some element of direct audience interaction. As I will explore further in
Production process, there is a distinct contrast between the two; the Slothpod,
based on Charlie Sloth’s Radio 1Xtra slot is a lot more relatable to a live
radio music show
whereas Tiëstos’ First Hour has a much more
prepared ‘showcase’ form.
Content
Urban Expression like any typical
music talk show features a selection of tracks separated by periods of
conversation. Listeners identify the program, likewise with other, more popular
music talk shows via unique jingles and the content structure of the show.
Urban Expression's Jingle is the voice of the presenter Jose, imitating a short
clip from a typical rap. Due to Sheffield Live! being a community radio
station, it cannot run for profit and furthermore advertising and sponsorship
on the channel is limited to account for less than half of its generated
income. This means that for maximum reach potential, adverts are played during
peak listening times throughout the daytime and so are not heard throughout
this program.
Every
week the content of the Rooster Teeth show is based on the presenters'
experience playing a recent release video-game as well as general discussion
about odd stories from the past week; on the #290th edition of the Podcast, the
show is opened with conversation about Destiny, Bungies’ latest blockbuster
title. On this show, the hosts talked about everything from their drunk
experiences to Harry Potter scenes; its popularity stems from how random this
show can get.
Hallam’s idents are
all associated, as they all feature the
brands’ slogan, ‘Your Station, Your Music’.
Listeners are introduced to the Archers
with a popular classical theme tune, namely Barwick Green, instantly connoting
a target audience of an older and upper class generation as we associate
classical music with a more 'experienced' population. The conversation in the
show tells me what the content denotes by analysing its dialogue and accent;
the characters talk with Received Pronunciation, we associate this with a
wealthy/posh person. There are also characters that speak with a strong
'farmer' accent and therefore portrays two sides of the class ‘spectrum’,
effectively generating appeal for a wider audience range. Artificial 'wild
sounds' are used as an ambient background track to denote what location the
characters are in during a particular scene. The Slothpod is a music
driven show; genres of which are played include Urban, Hip Hop, R&B, Drum
and Bass, Dancehall and Garage Music. Regular tracks are featured alongside related talk and
interviews from artists. For example the 5/9/14 Slothpod features the rappers
Ty Dolla $ign, Ghetts and Stormzy.
Meaning
The Radio Drama Show intends
to portray a rural setting to its listeners as they may be able to relate to
its lifelike rural narrative or want to be involved with the countryside if
they are otherwise unable to access it. From which, this tells us that the
Archers; audience may majorly consist of older people, who listen to the
program for entertainment. The storyline presents to the audience familiar and
relatable scenarios like family life, work and children studying for exams.
I think that the TV idents
convey an influence to its audience to 'get out' and experience what the world
has to offer; giving a brief taste of that in the 10 second clips. The lack of
spoken words maximises the combined effect of the audio and visuals, a clean
natural soundtrack provides powerful simplicity which creates an iconic ident
that consumers definitely remember.
The Slothpod intends to get the party mood going for the weekend
by showcasing brand new tracks and entertaining listeners. Its frequency
connotes this; the show is produced for release by 5pm each Friday, where
listeners will be finishing work for the week and access the show during drive
time.
Genre
The content of these set of idents’ indicate that the Travel
Channel features active, outdoor and ‘travel’ associated programs. This is
denoted by the content of programs on the channel, such as Best of the Road
which takes viewers on a road trip around the USA finding the most desirable
places to visit.
The gaming podcast is largely comedic
commentary on the popular culture of the week, including video games, recent
news, website features, sports and upcoming projects as well as highlighting
fan-made projects. This is connoted by the seemingly random list of topics that
they move onto branching from planned features. For example, in the broadcast I
have viewed, the hosts are talking about Manga television leading onto actors
and then to bad acting; targeting the supposedly comically bad acting in Harry
Potter.
The Slothpod is an Underground Grime Talk Show; this is connoted
by the use of casual language and the types of music played.
This episode of the Club Life First Hour,
as stated in the content segment features
massive 90’s
dance tracks. Typically
this show spotlights Tiëstos favourite
House music, covering all sub-genres, old and new
which each show specialising in one genre.
The tracks played on the show informs me that the genre of Urban
Expression is present and past hip hop as well as related news updates on new
album releases and upcoming artists. This plays influence to the contents of
the play server, which the presenters use to select and order the tracks played
on the show.
The Archers is a contemporary Drama, due to its content being real
situations and conversation that one may expect to hear from residents of rural
settings.
The Hunger Games is a Dystopian
Action thriller, which is thoroughly connoted by its storyline; the synopsis
reads ' Katniss Everdeen has survived the hunger games twice, but she's still
not safe. A revolution is unfolding, and everyone, it seems has had a hand in
the carefully laid plans everyone except Katniss, and yet she must play the
most vital part in the final battle. Katniss must become their Mockingjay’.
Target Audience
Typical Consumers of Charlie Sloth’s podcast are aged between 15
and 30 generally males as well. Its audience share totals 0.5%. {This is data
from the RAJAR profile of Radio 1 Xtra, as specific data for the Slothpod is
not available; however these figures will be very similar}
Not too dissimilar to the target audience of the previous audio
product, Urban Expression owns a fan base with members that share related
interests to people who tune into the Slothpod; which is due to their
respective genres being alike. Specifically
those who reside within and around
Sheffield with an interest in the underground rap and
hip hop scene locally and nationwide tune into this show. In contrast, UE has
only a very limited range of broadcast, meaning the show is only able target
local listeners during a live show. To extend its potential reach, the station
makes this program available to those who don’t live locally by releasing it as
a downloadable ‘podcast’, after its live broadcasts. On the 30/09/14 show, the
presenter mentioned that they have had people tuning in from all over the world
including the USA, Africa, Uruguay and even the North Pole.
The introduction to the Club Life Podcast proudly states that its
listeners are part of a global community, a following that transcends age,
race, colour or creed. This definitive speech connotes to me that the First
Hour show targets all audiences. This audio product accessible via YouTube,
each episode is tuned into by over 100,000 people.
Rooster Teeth’s audience mainly consist of fans who
share interests in videogames as well as associated sub-cultures,
such as comic books, anime,
comedy and film. In my opinion the target demographic for this podcast is generally
quite young as connoted by the content and ‘immature’
demeanour of the show hosts, who freely use profanity and sexual references.
Over 5 million people tune into The Archers on BBC Radio 4 with
another million accessing the show online, typically by an older audience. This
is denoted by its content, the characters within program suitably reflect those
who listen to it. The RAJAR figures for BBC Radio 4, the channel that
broadcasts this program, states that roughly 10,528,000 people tune into this
channel.
The viewer profile of the Travel Channel tells us a little about the demographic that accesses this channel and
will have therefore seen the channels' identification. The majority of their
audience are middle aged adults; who may be looking for holiday destinations or
places to visit with their family, from which the Travel Channel can provide
information on. Exact data for this audience shows viewers are a median age of
46, tending to be slightly more males than females (54%) and more than half
have good financial stability, retaining a household income of over $50K. This
would place these specific audience members in the upper bracket of the NRS
social Grades, ABC1 profile; citizens within this range retain the most
disposable income which is beneficial to the channel as they can promote its
product to viewers who can invest.
The Hunger Games targets the young
adult age range and above, 12-18+
Frequency
Urban Expression is broadcast live every Tuesday between 9 and 11 pm; although
this is past the watershed, the show keeps explicit language to a minimum
through song censorship in consideration of listeners who might take offense to
certain words. This is important because the channel is community driven so the
presenters must cater for the entire audience. Sheffield Live! is a massively
varied show with the intention of providing something for everyone; in total
there are just short of 60 programs that have a weekly slot on the channel.
The length of the Rooster Teeth
Podcast and the frequency of which it is released informs me that a lot
preparation and effort goes into the making of the show.
The Travel Channel Idents are
played twice every ad break, which occur every 15 minutes and lasts for 10
seconds. This reinforces the brand to those who watch the channel, providing a
familiar welcome to its regular viewers.
The Archers soap opera runs for 12 minutes and is released 6 times per week. This connotes
and reinforces how popular this Radio Drama is, which has been running for over
53 years.
Audiobooks are generally one
version productions per language; due to the popularity of this franchise, they
have made the spoken version of the Mockingjay available in the following
languages: German, Italian, French, Japanese and English. This further denotes
the targeted audience for this story, as people access this book worldwide.
Charlie Sloth’s Slothpod is a
30-60 minute podcast produced weekly for BBC Radio 1Xtra, released every Friday
at 5pm. This is significant because it heralds the start of the weekend; it
brings about anticipation for its listeners who have finished
work for the week and get
Saturday and Sunday off.
Tiëstos
First Hour Podcast is released as an hour long show once per week every
Saturday, which in comparison with the Slothpod is similar for many reasons..
Production Process
The
process and method needed to produce these audio products vary depending on its
type and audience reach; i.e. Commercial or Community. Pre-Production
materials such as show budgeting, voice scripts, guest
interviews and general content
structure are planned
in meetings between
producers and presenters prior
to any content production
especially focused on commercial productions. In
contrast, planning meetings may be
different for community radio in pre-production as they
are generally ran by a smaller cohort of volunteers
who produce for a smaller niche
audience.
Furthermore,
this governs the regulations that a recorded piece of audio have to abide by in
order to deem it acceptable for broadcast. The British Broadcasting Corporation
enforces legal and ethical guidelines via Ofcom which all of its shows must
comply with. For example, shows must abstain from using racism, profanity,
sexism or anything that may be found offensive by its potential audience before
9pm. This time is considered the watershed which makes sure that younger
audiences don’t have access or are exposed to these themes throughout the
daytime. If
a programme was to contain offensive themes then the
production company may face legal action.
The
Slothpod is produced during the Radio 1Xtra Show, a commercially produced show commissioned
by the BBC. The show is recorded live, so the process of production relies
heavily on preliminary materials such as Scripting and Cart Wall selection. Listeners can ‘subscribe’ to the broadcast, by
downloading the program from iTunes and Zune, made available every Friday at
5pm.
Likewise,
The Archers is produced for the BBC and therefore has to factor in the
regulations it must follow in order to be acceptable for transmission. All
recording is in-studio, all Background noises are in fact recorded live during
the show called Foley Sounds. These can be for example horse's hooves clopping
along road interpreted by coconut shells. This program is pre-recorded and
therefore depends heavily on pre-production due to the necessity of a set
script. The Archers is broadcast every weekday as well as Saturday at 19:02 on
BBC Radio 4; the show is also made available for catch up on the BBC Radio 4
website.
Music
Talk Shows such as Urban Expression require attention to aspects of production
such as Cartwall and Play Server preparation prior to the show, then sticking
to a script and operation of mixing consoles during recording. The show can be
listened to on Sheffield Live! 93.2 FM between 9 and 11 pm on Tuesdays. 60
minutes after the broadcast, the show can be downloaded in podcast form from
the Sheffield Live website.
This
identification sequence focuses more on post production in order to hone the
final product; video and sound editing software for example will be used to
tweak any recorded content. This ident can be seen during any ad-break on the
Travel Channel. Individual Idents can be viewed on YouTube as well.
This
audiobook is unabridged, meaning the entire story is compiled into one audio
file. The recording of the narrators’ voice takes place within a studio,
relying on well prepared pre-production. The recorded audio will have not been
produced within one session but over many days to keep the narrators voice
fresh and constant throughout the reading of the whole book. Afterwards, this
audio along with other sounds such as the introductory music can be edited and
stitched together using software such as Adobe Audition. This particular
Audiobook has been made available for free listening via YouTube, but can also
be purchased online for portable use via a digital book gadget.
The
Gaming podcast is recorded live and unscripted; there is a list of topics that
the presenters may want to chat about during the broadcast yet it is
improvised, which reinforces how informal the show is. The process focuses more
on post production, editing in overlay graphics and advertisements for sponsors
which support the show. The show can be accessed via YouTube as a raw uncut
video podcast or downloaded for free from iTunes as an audio file to listen to
on the go.
Club
Life
brings an hours’
worth of
tracks
to its listeners each week, between 13 and 15
songs which are played in one continuous mix created by the podcasts host, Tiësto. This involves
ordering and selecting his preferred tracks prior
to the broadcast and live
mixed during the First Hour.
