Podcast Progress Diary

Week 0

We did an overview of the podcast project and listened to a few podcasts in class.

Week 1

This week we listened to a few podcasts in class and I created a group consisting of Me, Erina, Hugo and Kanna for the podcast project. We discussed and decided to make a podcast about true crime.We created a google form of a survey for people from grade 10-12 to get a better understanding of our target audiences so we can make our podcast as fitting as we can for our target audiences.

The questions in our survey are:

1. Grade
2. Gender
3. How often do you listen to podcast/radio?
4. Do you watch/listen to crime medias? If yes, what is your favorite show/podcast?
5. Do you like modern or old crime cases?
6. Do you like narrator based or narrative based?
7. Do you prefer light or heavy crime cases?
8. Out of 1-5 how graphic are the media you watch/listen to?
9. Do you prefer fictional crime or true crime?
10. Which one do you prefer?
11. Do you like episodic or continuing stories?
12. What's your favorite crime case? (if you have one)

Week 2

This week we finished our survey. I also listened to a few different podcasts, both true crime related and unrelated ones, so I can get a better idea of how our podcast was going to sound like. 

Some good example of podcasts I found that was similar to what my group was thinking was Paracast's Solved Murders: True Crimes Mysteries. Some of my group members preferred narrator based storytelling podcasts and others preferred narrative based storytelling podcasts, and this podcast consists of a mix of narrators telling the story and actors acting some dialogues in the story.

I also researched for some true crime cases from podcasts and youtube videos.

In class we listened to a few podcasts. My group decided that the podcast will be narrator and narrative based. We also planned our podcast's:

• Style

• Structure

• Speakers

• SFX

• Topic

• Name

• Genre

We also have a few different options of crime cases we want to show in our podcast and a few options for our podcast's title.

Week 3

This week we decided to choose Unsolved International as our podcast title. We also chose Jack the Ripper and The Black Dahlia as our crime cases for our podcast. We started researching and gathering information about the cases. Me and Kanna researched about Jack the Ripper and Hugo and Erina researched about The Black Dahlia. We also started writing the scripts for both episodes of the podcast.

We listened to a few different podcast intros in class and analyzed them. We also attempted to make a jingle for our podcast and recorded the intro with garageband. 

Week 4

This week we got introduced to the basics of audio and mics for podcast in class by Mr. Wayan. We also listened to a few podcast sponsors for inspiration. We decided to advertise Warung M23/the orange stall in the canteen of our school. We made the script for the advert and continued our script

Week 5

This week we decided a date for our recording session and started recording the first episode of our podcast. I also researched for our podcast thumbnails and sketched a few ideas for our podcast thumbnail. We talked to our teacher Mr. Nick because I thought that our current title Unsolved International isn't that interesting. He agreed and he told us to research on synonyms or to use Unsolved: ____ as the title.

Week 6

This week my teammate, Erina, finished recording for both episodes of the podcast and I started editing both of the episodes. I searched for non-copyrighted songs on Youtube and Google for our podcast intro song and for the BGM. I decided to use Too Crazy By David Fesliyan as our podcast intro and a few of his other songs and songs by other artists as BGM.

Here are the links of the songs I used for BGM:

https://hypeddit.com/3xms4x
https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/royalty-free-music/downloads-c/detective-music/80
https://www.fesliyanstudios.com/royalty-free-music/download/dark-shadows/992
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viODFLE4zkQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoxxBeH7J3Q

I also found a very good website to find sound effects for our podcast, https://freesound.org. Freesound.org is a platform where people can upload and download non-copyrighted SFX for free just by creating an account and logging in. 

For most of the SFX on our podcast, I took it from freesound.org but for some of the SFX I couldn't find a fitting one so I decided to record them on my own with the recorder app on my Macbook with things I already have in my house.

Week 7

This week I finished editing the first draft of the first episode of our podcast and asked our teacher Mr. Nick to listen to our podcast.

Here are the feedback and suggestions we received from him:

• 1,10 - the time between when you stop speaking and when the music starts is too long.
• the audio in the tape recording sections is a little quiet. 
• 6,18 - "call Manly? for help" Maybe have a dial tone play as background music 
• try a different accent for the recorded voices, especially the man. Maybe experiment with a male voice to see if it works. 
•  the gag about being interrupted breaks with the tone of the show, just go to "And now a word from our sponsor
• For the outro music, I would read out the credits. "Written by ....., edited by.... voice acting by...." Or maybe a teaser for the next weeks episode. 
• Intro. Are you going to have the podcast name at the start of the show?

I then made changes and asked Mr nick to listen to the second draft of the first episode and Mr Nick said that it was excellent and that we just need to move the tone dial SFX a little later, right after erina has finished speaking.

I also started editing the second episode of our podcast and posting more posts in my blog.

Week 8

This week I pitched an idea to my teammates about making a t-shirt merchandise for our podcast and they agreed. I researched on google and found a website https://mockupmark.com/template/white-crew-neck-t-shirt-hanger-white-background-16225 which i used to make a mockup of a t-shirt merchandise with our logo on it. I then handed the mockups to my teammate, Kanna, for her to post it on our Instagram page.

I also helped my teammate, Kanna, to make a preview of the episodes on instagram by editing a video of the dialogue audio with preview cover on it.

I finished editing the first draft of the second episode of the podcast and asked Mr. Nick to listen to it. Here are the feedbacks I received:

• Intro: (while the music is playing). Hugo does a great job outlining the show, can he say the name of the episode as well? eg. “Episode 2: Jack the Ripper” (do this for your first episode, too)
• Charles Cross scream at the beginning: is it possible to find a different sound effect. Maybe a guy confused, “what’s that” (scared) “oh my god”. If not, no worries, keep the scream.
• The teaser for the next episode is Jack the ripper again. Is this a mistake?

I then made changes to both episodes and uploaded the third draft of the first episode and the second draft of the second episode. I finished my critical self reflection and inputed it on prezi.