I have enjoyed this project as it allowed me to again focus on something that I love which is football and United. During the process of this assignment I have conducted, a questionnaire for primary research, a script, schedules and looked into the legal constraints. All the while furthering my skills and knowledge in media using applications such as Premiere Pro.
Right from the start of this assignment I had two ideas as to what I wanted to do. My options were either a video film essay or, obviously a filmed podcast. I felt like a video film essay would have been a nice idea however, but due to the fact I’d previously done an audio podcast, so I thought I could massively improving upon what I’d previously done and I know the rough fundamentals of podcasting. Also I really enjoy doing podcasts and talking about things that I love, football and United. Looking back, even though I had a problem with the audio towards the end of the editing, I’m glad with the choice I made.
After I’d made my choice the next step was create a plan for the podcast. For this, I made a spider diagram with all of the different topics and sub-topics. I landed on four different topics and loads of different sub topics coming off of those. Noting that I wanted to spend around 10-15 mins on each topic as I felt that was the perfect amount of time to talk about each topic in depth but at the same time not letting it drag out to the point where its boring and the viewer looses interest. It was at this point that I started to consider two things. One being, to actually film the podcast rather than just audio like I’d done previously. Two, make it me with somebody else rather than it me being on my own. However I chose to hold out until I conducted some primary research to see what my target audience would want from a podcast.
Now it was time to start to seriously construct how I wanted the podcast the go. So for this, I began to write a script. Nothing to in depth, just with the different topics on there along with some links from topic to topic, extra things to discuss and conversation fillers.
The next phase was to do my treatment. This was just to outline what exactly my product was and who it was going to appeal to. The purpose of this was to clearly show what I wanted to create and stating what I needed to create and want to create.
My primary research consisted of creating a questionnaire consisting of questions about the constructions of my podcast, and what they would want from the podcast. So I used Google Forms to make my podcast questionnaire. I asked four questions about run time, editing effects, number of people involved and how it should be filmed. Once the questionnaire had been filled out, I reviewed the results and then placed the into pie charts. What I learnt was that the majority of my target audience was that they would be happier with a run time of 1hr 30mins – 1hr 45mins. This was pleasing to find out as I had already had in my head to make the podcast within that time frame so I didn’t have to adjust anything really there. In terms of the results for how it should be filmed, and as I expected, 70% chose for it to be filmed rather than just audio, like my previous podcast. For the effects question, I was actually quite surprised with this set of results. My target audience were overwhelmingly in favour of using effects for my podcast. Like I have said this did come as a slight surprise as I hadn’t planned to necessarily use effects during the podcast, however I was to be sure to add effects for the intro that I would go on to create. The final results I collected were for the number of people involved. My audience chose for more than two people to be involved with the podcast. I was again shocked at the result, and slightly disappointed as I knew from the off that I would not have been able to feature anymore than two people. It was massively crucial for me to conduct a questionnaire so that I can really understand what it is that my viewers what from me and my content because they’re really the main part of creating any sort of content thats created.
Sticking with research but this time moving on to secondary research. For my secondary research I looked into different podcasts that were already out there, and successful. So for this it was a case of looking through YouTube a looking at popular podcasts and also looking and re-watching podcasts that I have already watched from people that I am currently subscribed to. The podcast that I found that was massively popular was the Joe Rogan podcast. So, again it was a case of watching his podcasts, seeing whats good, what I feel could be improved, the fundamentals of his podcast. Also other thing I did, was look at the comments section to see what his viewers were saying and or suggesting. Another podcast I watched was the Stephen Howson podcast and this was more of what I was looking to create as it is a football podcast. So due to the similarities in term of content, I probably watched his videos & podcast a bit more intensively as I needed to really take it all in as it is an established channel with popular content. Also with Howson being a United fan, and being involved with the most popular United fan channel on YouTube a lot of his viewers and subscribers will be the same audience that I’d be trying to attracted.
Looking into competitors research now. This was done so that I could see what channels were producing already and how their content was perceived by the viewers. So with this again, very similar to my secondary research almost, looking at other peoples content but this time only focusing on channels that are make the same and or very similar content to what I planned to create. It was simple enough to do. Just a search of Man United fan channels and immediately three popular channels appear. Lucky enough for me it was three channels that I was very aware of so it wasn’t really a case of studying their content because I watch them regularly anyways and I already know how their content is taken by the viewers across different social media platforms not just YouTube.
Next up was to complete all the documents side of it, so things like call sheets, location recce’s and risk assessments. This was all done so that I and Harvey (who featured in the podcast) knew when and how long it’d take to complete. I filled out a simple table providing information on everything from, location, purpose and health and safety issues. Staying with health and safety I had also completed a risk assessment before the filming process took place. Admittedly due to the safe location and simpleness of the filming process there was very little to actually cover, however I did also provide a layout of the ‘studio’ if you will, so that it made it more obvious how it would be filmed and to also highlight any potential hiccups.
Another thing I had to consider was the legal constraints, so things like Copyright Law and the Human Rights Act. In terms of Copyright I had to look at elements I’d have to consider when creating my podcast. Although the Copyright aspect would come into play for my intro as I’ve explained previously but I have clearly stated in the videos description on YouTube that no Copyright was intended. Other aspects I’ve looked at was the Defamation Act. I learnt that this is in place to make sure that any content that is produced isn’t to offend people. Relating this back to my podcast, for example say I was talking about a player, theres no problem with having an opinion but I had to make sure that no offence was made. Looking into these aspects did come as very useful as I allows you to really understand where the line is drawn so that you’re not to get in any bother over the content you create.
The filming process itself was a breeze, next to no problems what so ever. However looking back if I was to do this again, I would seriously consider using a proper camera rather than a phone but besides that, I have zero complaints what so ever in terms of filming.
The editing did provided one major problem. Unfortunately, as I’ve said before in another post the audio towards the end of the podcast unfortunately failed leaving me with film without audio. This was a massive disappointment to me as I was really enjoying the editing up to that point, and I was also very excited to watch a finished, well polished product, so like I say when this occurred it was a serious kick in the teeth. But things like this do happen so I couldn’t afford to dwell on it. I apologised during the video for the issues and I just hope that my audience enjoy the podcast up until that point. Another thing looking back, its not something I noticed while editing, only after it was exported I noticed that the audio levels could have done with a slight increase.
Looking back on every element of this assignment I have enjoyed it and for the most part I’m happy with what I’ve produced, however I do look back on certain things with regret but thats all part of the process and you live and learn so I’ll be sure to patch up any similar issues in the future.
Ryan's Media Blog Y2 