My Final Project

Unfortunately, due to technical issues, it has not been possible to embed the youtube video into the blog.

However by clicking here, you can view the 3 minute audio slideshow…

This project has been a big part of my semester so I hope you take something from it. I will give my analysis of how I think it has gone in the critical report that will be appearing on this blog within the next few days.

Further slideshow research

After completing my audio slideshow research in February, I feel like I am already in quite a good position to get going with the project.

I once again looked into the 5 common mistakes article, to refresh the things I should be trying to avoid while recording my audio tomorrow. Most of the issues they list are during the post production/editing phase.

I have made a rough plan of the questions I will ask my interviewee and adapt them as I go if I feel that this different questions will get better responses. I have found from most audio slideshows that I have watched, the interviewee does very little (if any talking). I will probably record an introduction to the piece, but other than that, I will encourage my interviewee to say the questions in his answers to make the editing process easier.

I have found very few audio slideshows that are based around sport, so I look forward to trying to create something quite unique.

My idea for the production piece

After narrowing the ideas for my final project down to three last week, I have decided to opt for the audio slideshow of the football fan talking about his passion for following his team.

I picked this as my final idea for a few reasons. Firstly, it satisfied my desire to work closely with audio. Seeing as I enjoyed the audacity training Tim gave us, I felt this would be one of my strongest suits. The subject matter also really appeals to me. Given the fact that I am also passionate about football, this will be a subject I enjoy researching and making.

The contact I have, is a student who is extremely passionate about football. I am hoping to elicit some good responses from him, seeing as it is a subject that he cares a lot about.

There are a few potential issues I could face with this project. Firstly, the only camera I have access to is by no means industry quality. I am relying on the pictures that I take, and ones from similar quality cameras (which my interview subject is kindly providing for me) to illustrate my piece. I hope these are good enough quality for the piece.

Another potential issue is the comfort of my interviewee. He is a confident individual, but may not be totally in his comfort zone. Hopefully I can use either good interviewing techniques or good editing skills to overcome this potential issue.

 

Initial ideas for online project

Since completing the pitch assessment, I have turned my attention to creating an idea to fit the brief for the production piece. Where the brief is quite open, this gives me a chance to explore my creativity. I have decided that I would quite like to work with audio in some way, as I believe that the way online media outlets use audio is intriguing. My initial ideas are:

1. Create a flash-based info-graphic and podcast for BBC’s Test Match Special. Directly spinning off my pitch, it would be nice to be able to bring the ideas that I pitched to life. This info-graphic would include statistical analysis of a days play from an England match and would be narrated in the style of BBC’s Test Match Special to give great statistical coverage. This would be a great idea to bring to life, however it may be difficult accessing the technology, such as Hawkeye, meaning the project may incur some difficulties. I will investigate whether this idea is possible.

2. A podcast/ blogging project. I am yet to confirm any details, but it would be quite nice to make a challenge blog, where I utilise social media, such as Twitter and Facebook to be challenged to write something, making the podcast while I complete the challenge. I will try a test of this project and report whether I think the idea has potential

3. Audio Slideshow. As I am a big sports fan, in particular football, I feel that if I could make an audio slideshow on this topic, it could potentially be a success. I happen to have a contact who has followed his football team for an entire season, despite being a student. I could interview him about what motivates him, why he loves football and how he affords it. This interview, coupled with some interesting images, could potentially make an interesting piece.

These are my initial three ideas, each have their positives and their drawbacks. I will further research into each of these three ideas and come back with my findings next week, where I will hopefully have my final project idea decided upon.

Final changes to pitch document

Having given my presentation to Jim and David, I feel that I conveyed the idea behind my project quite well. Having explained the app, what it does and why it would interest the audience, Jim and David questioned some of the more financial aspects of the app.

Jim was critical of the use of the ‘Hawk-eye’ technology utilised by Sky in the television coverage, questioning whether they would have exclusive rights to the use of the technology. Seeing as this was the pivotal technology, I used their website to see if any company owned exclusive rights. Seeing as ‘Hawk-eye’ is used around the world, and Sky doesn’t cover cricket all around the world, it is safe to assume that Sky do not own worldwide rights. However, they may hold the rights for the UK. I have put this potential issue into my final pitch document.

I also updated the pitch document regarding my target audience. I profiled my target audience much more specifically for the final pitch document. This will make it easier for a potential investor to see the benefits of the product.

Overall, I felt that very little needed to be changed to the product overall. However, the financial pitfalls of the product are the biggest issues I have addressed in the pitch document.

Pitch Idea

After meeting with Jim today, I have an almost definite idea for the pitch. Looking at the BBC’s coverage of cricket, I have found that despite excellent radio coverage during the live game, the post-match content isn’t as comprehensive as it could be. The only post match coverage offered by BBC’s Test Match Special is a podcast, where Jonathan Agnew and Geoffrey Boycott dissect the action from the day’s play.

Despite this being interesting content, it is quite dry. It could potentially get boring for those who are not the biggest cricket fans, but want to enjoy the content. There is potential for a reform of this podcast to a more interactive audio-visual slideshow, where the user gets a more enhanced highlights package. Post-match content is extremely important for a sport like cricket, as the game is so long that it is difficult for fans to follow constantly throughout the day. Even as a student, I still find it difficult to follow the game from start to finish. Playing all over the world, in many different time zones, also adds to the difficulty of following the game.

Cricket fans are mad about statistics, and the current BBC post-match coverage provides very little statistical coverage of the game. With the lack of visuals to back up the audio, even when stats are presented, it is difficult for the listener to fully take it in. If these stats were to be backed with info-graphics and tables. The content will also be improved by the use of technology used by Sky Sports in their cricket coverage. Sky use hawk-eye ball tracker to track the path of the ball in relation to the batsman. This creates an excellent mapping system of every ball bowled by a bowler, evry ball a batsman faces and the result of that ball (dot ball, runs, boundaries and wicket).

If this in-depth statistical analysis is combined with the excellent commentary provided by BBC’s TMS team, this will be the optimal post-match cricket coverage for the fans of TMS.

New uses for media online

Jim gave a talk at the start of the workshop about using different types of media online to tell a story. He spoke about live blogging, Audio Slideshows, new video content, Interactive maps, timelines, explainers and much much more.

We moved on to practice using Google Maps to tell a story. After Reza showed us the basics of Google Maps, we went away and tried to use the maps to tell a story. For starters, we all mapped gig spots of London for this weekend. After completing a quick map, I moved on to making a map of my journey to university. I marked all the interesting points on my route and gave a brief description of what I see, hear and feel. This could be an idea for my production piece. It would be boring if I didn’t include audio and visual content to the piece. If I were to use a map, I would follow a more interesting route to walk down.

I think the idea of mapping a story is one that could prove to be successful, and not too difficult to design technically. Adding the location element to a story would give much more depth and, therefore, make the story better for the reader. I am yet to think of a story that can be mapped, but given the importance of London as a city, news-wise, culturally and historically, it should be easy to identify a story.

Audio slideshows

As part of today’s workshop for Advanced Online Media, we looked at how audio slideshows could be used as part of the production piece. We began the session by Jim showing us examples of audio slideshows that are currently available online. I will crtique these audio slideshows and will use this as a research tool. This will help me avoid some mistakes that have been made in the past and allow me to make a better slideshow.

We were shown a slideshow by Bill Cunningham from the New York Times. He took photographs of tourists in New York, as they try to navigate the snow-melt. I liked this audio slide show, as Cunningham perfectly described all of his pictures with charisma and energy. This, coupled with his impressive pictures of tourist jumping, made the piece extremely interesting.

Another audio slide show we were shown was from the Guardian. This was a profile of Cyra, a teenage girl who has spent time in care. I found that the topic of the piece was extremely emotive and the girl was extremely powerful with what she had to say. However, I felt it was let down by the music of the piece. It was over the top and detracted from the power of the speech from the young girl. The pictures were also not overly interesting.

I will use my analysis into these, and other, audio slide shows to increase my knowledge of the genre and hopefully create a better final product in the production piece. I have also thoroughly read the top five mistakes on audio slide shows, as listed by 10,000 words.

Hopefully my research can lead to me creating an effective product.

 

Initial idea

After the audio workshop and Jim’s lecture on the first project, I began thinking about things I could do for either of the main projects. I had an idea this afternoon that, with more research, could possibly work for both the pitch project and the final creative piece.

As you may or may not know, I am a big cricket fan. I follow the England cricket team as regularly as I can, but similarly to most cricket fans, I struggle to watch all of the action from a day of a test match. Seeing as the game lasts 5 days and is on for about 7 hours each day, it is near impossible for big cricket fans to consume all the action.

When I live at home, I am able to watch all the action I can on Sky. Since moving to university, I have struggled to follow the action as intently. I listen to as much as I can on BBC’s excellent radio programme Test Match Special but, as most my age, I get too distracted without the visuals to back up the action. Since the BBC don’t have rights to broadcast live cricket on television, those without Sky are left with just the Channel 5 highlights.

My idea stems from BBC’s Test Match Special commentary. This excellent commentary is as good as any and would fit perfectly in an audio slide show. If it were to be combined with pictures of the days play, it would couple together the dramatic images of the cricket with the excellent commentary to make a great highlights package.

This is by no means a set plan, but I plan on continuing my research into the idea…

Audio editing

During today’s workshop, we were given a tutorial on the audio editing software Audactiy. I had some experience at using Audacity from Multimedia journalism last year, but found it beneficial for Tim Heffer to take us through the fine points of putting together an audio package.

First, Tim took us through audio editing an interview, using the selection tool to “de-um” the piece and make it sound a higher quality. This basic editing was helpful as a recap on using the software. After completing that task, we were set to create an audio package using a script. This was more of a challenge, teaching me how to fade the audio and follow a script closely. I think I took on the challenge quite well, finishing with time to upload my editing practice to my soundcloud. Click here to listen to the package.

The ease with which I picked up the audio editing has lead me to want to encompass audio into my final project for the module and has got me thinking about new ways I could use audio for the pitch project.