In class this week we were doing Vox Pops although at first I thought they were called Voc Spots. But Voc Pops are interviewing the public on topics. Our in class exercise was to interview students on campus about something affecting them on campus. I chose to go into Eat Central and ask what students thought about it.
Here is the finished product with intro and outro music and a bed for the interviews:
https://soundcloud.com/benjamin-martin-eagle/vox-pop-practice-no1
I was a little nervous at first going to interview people. Mainly because I was on my own in the exercise, with the rest of the class partnering up with each other. I also didn't mean very confident going into the cafeteria with all the equipment and looking a bit silly going round. I think if I was getting paid to do it, I wouldn't care half as much.
When interviewing people, I did find it hard at first as I'd usually forget the questions or have a hard time asking the questions to people and not following up and being lost to pursue the answer they had given me. I think as well, if I was going to do this exercise again, I would not choose somewhere like Eat Central as this is where pretty much everyone goes there to eat so I was interrupting people with their meals and most were in groups not alone, so it made it a bit more nerve wracking doing it that way. Another point is that, although it may sound political correct, I think I'd choose to mainly just ask mainly just people of English speaking descent. I did try to ask people of Asian descent but I was brushed off with "My English is not good" and other such things. Which seems strange to me that in a majority speaking English country, you wouldn't know English that well. This also meant that rejection was more prevalent and it made me more nervous.
In regards to the reading homework, we have been given, "Speech Packages (Radio in context), I did enjoy this week's reading. I felt it gave a good, well informed view of what radio interviews are all about and how to approach them. Examples being the "Finding the angle" where it would be good to draw a mind map of what to cover and and who to ask. And then how you're going to record. For example, in a studio, over the telephone or out on the street. I believe this will help a lot for the final interview we have to do.
For this week's listening I have chosen a podcast I'm well familiarised with. However I will choose one next week where I'm not, for example, Radio 3 or 4. But I have chosen the "Yogpod" by The Yogscast.
Link to the podcast I have chosen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9tlMGwbv00
The basis of the show is that it is two guys from a Youtube channel called "The Yogscast", initially talked about and added extra audio content that wasn't on their Youtube channel. It then later divulged into them talking about other stuff and it becoming a show in itself. From the beginning, there's no set thing that they're going to talk about and regularly go on tangents. One of the host's may have a plan but it often does not go to plan. So comparing this to something like "The Jeremy Vine Show" on Radio 2 which is highly structured and conforms to a time limit, it is the complete opposite of it.
Again, comparing it to live radio, this podcast may be recorded live but it is heavily edited, sometimes even having hours or days between different talk segments. Another noticeable sound difference between this podcast and a professionally produced show is the quality of the sound. For example, radio shows are produced in expensive studios with the best equipment. This podcast is two guys with headsets talking over Skype. Although to me, it is perfectly fine to listen to as there is nothing major that puts you off about it, but it might not be fit for radio broadcast.
Again, a lot of radio shows have intro and outro jingles that have been professionally produced by experts whereas this podcast uses jingles sent in by fans. Something I feel this podcast had over radio was the way they were able to interact with their audiences. They would answer their questions about their personal lives or things that were happening with the Youtube channel and have fan submissions or donations talked about on air. This couldn't really happen on radio as there are too many listeners or they've got to keep their personal lives separate.
For this week's homework, we had to go into Brighton and interview members of the public about a topic. I have chosen to do the topic on the mouth and have interviewed people. I will edit it and include it in a new blog post.
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