Task Allocation 10

Production Week 10

 

Evaluation

Production Journey

When I had first started my production, I wanted to familiarise myself with all the resources I was going to use when I was going to record my radio drama. This included; starting up GarageBand, understanding how to use the microphones and understand how to record other sounds on my iPhone. When I started to record other sounds from my iPhone, I had wanted to know how to do it, so that it would become easier throughout my production. When starting up GarageBand, I had saw different areas which showed different sections of recording which was specific to the type of sound. This was incredibly useful, as I was able to ensure that if I had wanted to record dialogue, I was able to chose the voice area. This had allowed me to ensure that the audio was nice and clear and good quality. 

When recording different sounds in my production, I wanted to ensure I was able to get them myself. This was because I wanted to ensure that I do not get copyrighted from others. I had then decided it would be best to record the audio I needed on a Sony sound recorder and my iPhone. This helped a lot as I was able to go to different locations to record and be able to get the sounds I had wanted. 

To ensure that I was able to stick to my idea as much as possible, I was able to print out all of my pre-production material. This had ensured that everything was sticking to the idea as much as possible and saved time from going back to my blogger to look at what else I had needed to film. Furthermore, when I was using the equipment, I was able to bring it outside school with the permission of my teachers. This had allowed me to record all of the audio tracks I had needed instead of going to YouTube and extracting the files from there.  

After I had completed my focus group, and analysed my feedback, I then needed to go and record some extra audio. This was because when I was discussing everything with my peers, they had mentioned that the audio was really low compared to other audio tracks that were played. As a result of this, I had to use the equipment to go and record more audio. This had included the cars on the highway, the train departing from the train station and some of the actors voices. This had allowed me to replace the files I had in my first edit and made changes to them as much as possible. However, during that weekend, I wasn't able to use the equipment due to me being busy with other personal matters. However, I was able to still continue to work and rerecord some of my audio and add them to the final draft. This had allowed me to finish off my final edit and meet the deadline that was set by my teacher. 

When I was collecting feedback, one of my peers had spoken to me and said to make my edit better, to add a music track for the beginning and the end. I had thought about this and I had decided that it would be a good idea to do this as this will get more of the audience engaged with the story. Due to me thinking of using a music track, I thought it would be a smart idea to use the BBC Radio 4 theme music. This is because everyone knows BBC Radio 4 and it would be able to increase the overall audience. However, one problem was that I had to ensure that it was copyrighted music. This was because I wanted to ensure that I didn't get in trouble. So for that reason, I had went to my teacher and asked him. He was incredibly helpful and helped me find a wild track that could be used in my radio programme. 

When editing my edits for my radio programme, I wanted to ensure that everything was done to a good standard. In order for that to happen, I had decided to ensure that I would cut clips and ensured that they all made sense and linked together. This was so that any audio and sounds I didn't want can be deleted so that I can use the rest for the edits. 

When coming to upload both of the drafts, I had exported the file using an AIFF format. This was because I felt it was most suitable to use as I was editing on an Apple iMac. This had allowed the sound to have really high quality and didn't damaged or lower the rest of the other sounds in the process. 

When looking at the sounds of the audio tracks, I had to ensure that everything was loud and clear for the audience to understand. This had meant that I had to lower down the volume on certain sound effects to ensure that it was heard clearly. As a result of doing this, I was able to click on the clips and was able to adjust the sound to the correct volume. This was incredibly useful when putting together my final edit for my radio programme. 

After everything in the production stage was completed, I was able to upload it to Final cut and placed it onto YouTube. I was able to add a background and create a screen recording to show to the audience what the radio show was about and how far they were in the video. This is shown on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlMmqELfZHk 

Final edit

 

Audio assets

 

Audio Assets	Description of audio assets
Dialogue	There will be dialogue throughout the entire radio programme which is voiced by the actors.
Sound of the train	When Harleen and Fajar are talking at the beginning, they are leaving the train station and there will be the sound of the train departing.
Sound of the automatic doors	When Yunus, Harleen and Fajar are walking into the school, the doors will start to open.
Sounds of crowd chatter	There will be a lot of crowd chatter from the beginning of the radio drama as its set in the train station and in the school.
Sounds of the Phone ringing	This will be when Yunus gets his phone out and tries to get Harleen and Fajar’s numbers.
Sounds of the cars on the highway	When Yunus, Harleen and Fajar are walking to the school, there will be the sounds of the cars passing by on the highway.
Sounds of the office phone ringing	This will be when Yunus presses the button to get the office people's attention to gain access to the school.

Sound formats

Sound formats

When recording audio, there are different types of file formats that are stored on your computer. The reason for this is that sound formats are used for different purposes.  These formats could be used for web distribution to a playlist for music and production. Some of these examples are: 

• WAV

WAV for Waveform Audio. This is an audio format that is used to store any audio bitstream on your personal computer. This file is lossless, high quality and has an uncompressed format. One advanatge of using WAV audio files is that since it is lossless, it allows the file to be close to the original audio. This can then be converted into other files such as AIFF and MP3. Despite this one disadvantage of using this is that it has a big memory space.  

• AIFF

An AIFF audio was made by Apple. This format is also lossless. This is very similar to the WAV format. Since the AIFF is lossless, it produces very high quality sound. However, this audio does take up a lot of space on your systems. 

• MP3

MP3 is the compressing and downloading of files. An MP3 is a common a lossy format. This means that there is more space available and can be supported by a range of different devices. However, one disadvantage of using MP3 is that the sound quality is reduced significantly compared to a lossless file. 

• WMA

WMA stands for Windows Media Audio. This sound format is used as an audio file container and could be served as an audio codec too. One advantage of using this is that it is an efficient audio file format. This means that it will take less storage from your computer compared to a lossless sound format. One disadvantage is that you can only use this format if you have a Windows computer as this was made by Microsoft. 

Storage

When storing audio files, it can be saved on digital drives and hard drives. When producing audio it is vital that you back it up incase the files get lost or corroded. When saving and importing your audio files it is vital that you save it in the same folder as the raw audio to prevent audio files from not placing. Some of the drives that you can save your files on are:

• Flash drive/USB 

A flash drive/USB is a small rectangular device that is placed into devices to help store files and data. Also using a flash drive allows the transfer of files from one device to another. One advantage of using a flash drive/USB is that it is portable. This means that you are able to carry this with you and be able to save everything in one place. However, one disadvantage of using the flash drive/USB is that it has limited storage. This means that there is only a limit on how much a flash drive/USB can store before running out of space. 

• Hard drive 

A hard drive is different from a flash drive/USB. Although they have the same purpose of storing files and data, hard drives are built into a computer. This means that you can only access the hard drive on a specific computer. This is a disadvantage as if there is a problem with the computer, the end user will not be able to access the files and data.  Despite this, hard drives have the advantage of having more capacity than a flash drive/USB. This means that you can save more on the computer. 

• Cloud backup services 

A cloud drive is a web-based service that holds storage online on an online server. One advantage of using a cloud drive is that it can be accessed anywhere on any device. This is useful as you can use it to save specific files and get them from another device. However, one disadvantage is that it requires an internet connection. This means that you cannot access the files without a connection which can bring a delay to projects. 

Compression 

Compression is reducing sounds that are above a certain threshold. There are different types of compressions. They are:

• DRC 

DRC stands for Dynamic Range compression. This allows the volume of loud sounds to be reduced or increases the quiet sounds. 

• Downward compression

Downward compression reduces the volume of loud sounds above a certain threshold. 

• Upward compression 

Upward compression focuses on increasing quieter sounds that fall below a certain threshold. 

Size versus quality 

• Lossy - This is where the file is compressed and the quality of the sound is reduced permanently due to some of the elements being eliminated. 
• Lossless - This is where the file is compressed and every single piece of data is still there. This shows that there is no loss of quality from the original recording. 
• Bit rates - Are a measurement of the amount of data that is processed per second. 
• File size - This is showing how big the file is on any device. There a different file sizes depending on the amount of recording it has.

Considerations

When putting all of these files together in school, I will be using the apple iMacs. This means that when exporting this, I will be using an AIFF sound format. This is because Apple has ownership of this format, making it easier and more suitable for us. This also has the feature of lossless. This means that when using this it will copy the original sound and be easier to hear everything compared to using other formats. 

When looking at the sound files and where I am going to store it, I am going to save it on my cloud account on the iMac. Cloud drive is a remote server which is wen-based. This will help me as I will be able to access the files from anywhere as long as I have an internet connection. Since the accounts we have desktop folders, it will be easier for me to drop and drag files between the cloud server and the local server. 

Finally I will be using upward compression. This allows me to ensure that I can make other sounds quieter to ensure that other sounds that be heard when producing the first and final edit. Therefore this will be incredibly useful for all audiences as they will be able to hear a variety of sounds throughout my radio programme. 

Funding

When looking into funding there are many different ways that this can be done. This is because funding can come from a variety of different sources. Some of these sources are:

• Grants

A grant is where the government or the local council looks at your ideas and projects and decides whether to give you the money to fund the idea. This is a useful source of funding as the receiving the grant means that it doesn't need to be paid back. This is useful for companies as they don't need to give the money back to the governments or local council. 

• Advertising 

Advertising is a way of sending messages to people to receive funding for their projects. The ASA regulate all of the adverts. This means that when advertising the idea, the ASA will need to look at the content of the programme that is going to be shown around social media before it is released to the public. 

• Sponsorship 

A sponsorship is different from a grant and advertising. Sponsorships are when the company commits to paying money or giving resources to a program in exchange for the companies promotion. This allows the business to get the funding from other companies but have to give the companies promotional benefits. 

When looking into the funding for my idea, I would like to have advertising on this. This is because social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat are strong platforms that majority of people use. By getting help from these platforms will help me fund my overall radio programme. Furthermore with the help of these platforms I will be able to increase the awareness of my radio programme by the features of publishing this on stories and reels. 

Feedback Analysis

After conducting my focus group, I was able to collect feedback about my overall first draft. The main points that were made were:

• There was a lot of static when the actors were speaking 

I agree when hearing my first draft again that there was a lot of static when the actors were speaking. After speaking to the technician, I had found out the reason for this is that the equipment that we were using to record were quite old. Due to this the quality of the sound from the actors wasn't the best. However, from looking and finding out this information, the teacher had told me that there is a way to reduce the audio, which I will carry out in my final draft. 

• Some of the audio files were higher than others making hard to hear what was happening 

This was shown to me at the beginning of the short film. When looking at this I could understand where the students were coming from as there were a lot of sounds that was used to get the effect of the actors leaving the train station. Now thinking about it and what one of the students said, I can understand that, however the scene is taking place in the train station. In order to make the student happy, I will increase the volume of the audio so that I can ensure that the audio can be heard more clearly. But I will not decrease the other sounds as it will not be identified by the students watching the radio programme.

• Could you add the sound track that is used on the radio shows to make it link it all together?

I loved this idea. This is because it will allow the audience to know where this show is from and where to find it. In my focus group one of the students disagreed with this idea due to me potentially getting copyrighted but also because he did not think it was necessary. But I have decided to place this in my final draft as I believe this feature is a good idea to put in. 

• The teacher who was in it made the radio show more funny 

This was good news to hear when conducing my focus group. This is because I had asked the teacher to put on an accent and therefore I was taking a big risk. Luckily the audience was happy with this and loved the fact that I had a teacher who placed comedy in my radio programme. I am going to keep this in my final draft but may add a bit more sound effects to make it more entertaining for the audience. 

SWOT Analysis on first draft

Focus group

 

First edit

Offline edit

 

Setup reflection

When filming my radio programme, I had to set up different types of equipment. This is shown in the pictures below. 

When looking at these pictures, I had to set up GarageBand. This allowed me to record the dialogue I needed for my radio show. I had also set up the microphones to ensure that I can get more clearer audio. Finally I had used a Sony sound recorder to ensure that I was able to record other sounds and export it to my computer.