Radio Broadcast Report
Project title:
Look to the Skies: Into Space and Close Encounters
The idea:
The broadcast idea came from my wish to create a calming product that matches the themes of space. An initial idea was to have the broadcast be more cheerful and jumpy, narrated by younger children. I decided against this as it went against the tone previously established. However, I did want to make the broadcast slightly comedic, but I went about it in a more subtle way. Just because it isn't overly energetic doesn't mean it's all doom and gloom.
Research:
Target Audience:
The age rating I want to cater to is people around 13-18 years old who are either interested in astronomy or who want to learn more about space.
Actual final idea:
On a rather quiet evening, the Apollo radio station goes live. This channel, situated in Norfolk, is dedicated to keeping listeners in the know about any space-related news. The radio host greets his viewers in his trademark calm voice, but shortly after starting, he gets a call. A young man nervously reports a sighting of flashing blue lights near his home. The host, eager to hear more, urges the caller to give more information. The caller agrees and tries to speak, but just as quickly as he begins, a faint whisper is heard through the phone. The caller informs the host that the lights actually came from an ambulance and hangs up embarassed. A promoter's voices tells the audience that they should visit the National Space Centre if unsure about what they see in the sky, as informative exhibits and staff are always willing to teach visitors more.
Final script:
Audio pre-production paperwork:
Before filming I prepared a shot list on sounds I planned to record. These included all the soud effects needed, the music I planned to use and the voiceovers in whatever order they were recorded.
Audio production:
Since I couldn't record straight away, I decided to focus on music and sound effects first.
After assembling all of my sound effects and music, I went to record the actual voice-over. I played the part of the radio DJ, while Sam was the panicked caller. We used the microphone in the sound booth to record and saved it to a USB drive.
Audio post-production:
For post-production I used both Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition. I placed the clips into the timeline where they needed to be.
Since I didn't rename the recorded voice-over files anything before editing, it was quite tricky sifting through those files to see where they needed to go.
I also tried placing the files in Audition first and working from there, but the downloaded files were somehow incompatible with the recorded ones.
But the jump from Audition to Premiere Pro worked out in my favour: not only is it a software that I am used to and able to work with easily, but the issue of files not working with each other wasn't prevelant at all.
The biggest hurdle was perhaps finding out what I had to with the whisper sound effect. To be more specific, the only decent sound effect I could find of a person whispering (that didn't come from one of those weird ASMR videos) was of a man talking. I knew I wanted to make it inaudible, but was unsure how to go about it. In the end, I cut a small fraction of the clip (the one in which the speaker talks the loudest), reversed it and lowered the pitch.
On the subject of tampering with audio files, I also messed around with the caller's lines. I added an effect to Sam's voice that made him sound like he was talking over the phone.
Upload onto youtube with a cover photo taken from your video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxWeU8VaY8w
Testing of the story in situ:
People praised my broadcast for its premise being interesting and humour being slightly cheesy, in a "so-bad-it's-good" kind of way. They also said that the music was very ambient and calm, and fit the broadcast well. The greatest negative criticism I received was that the delivery of some lines was a bit poor.
Evaluation:
Overall, I think the project went quite well. I was quite enthusiastic to do this project after coming up with a solid idea for it. I do agree with the comments made about the voice-over quality, however. Due to the sound booth being used a lot on other days, I had to my recording near the last minute. Because of this, I didn't think much of second takes or the like as I was in such a rush to finish. Couple that with the fact that I'm not too keen on hearing my voice on record, and it leads to my own personal realization that I could have had more authority over how the lines were delivered.
Look to the Skies: Into Space and Close Encounters
The idea:
The broadcast idea came from my wish to create a calming product that matches the themes of space. An initial idea was to have the broadcast be more cheerful and jumpy, narrated by younger children. I decided against this as it went against the tone previously established. However, I did want to make the broadcast slightly comedic, but I went about it in a more subtle way. Just because it isn't overly energetic doesn't mean it's all doom and gloom.
Research:
- A big inspiration that I conveniently looked into prior to even planning the broadcast was a TV series named "The Kirlian Frequency" (https://netflix.com/title/81045308). In the show, a lone radio DJ runs a station called The Kirlian Frequency. This radio show reports on supernatural happenings around the sleepy fictional town of Kirlian, a town which no one knows even exists except for its inhabitants. There's not much correlation between this show and space (bar a comment from the DJ at the end of episode 1 in which he mentions sightings of mysterious lights over the town's sky) but the DJ's calming voice and manner and the idea of a local radio station reporting on supernatural cases set off a spark in my brain.
- I listen to the radio every morning in the car before reaching my bus stop. This may be considered research as I quickly found out some the mannerisms of a radio host. This was important information to have since I played the role of the radio DJ in my fake radio show.
Target Audience:
The age rating I want to cater to is people around 13-18 years old who are either interested in astronomy or who want to learn more about space.
Actual final idea:
On a rather quiet evening, the Apollo radio station goes live. This channel, situated in Norfolk, is dedicated to keeping listeners in the know about any space-related news. The radio host greets his viewers in his trademark calm voice, but shortly after starting, he gets a call. A young man nervously reports a sighting of flashing blue lights near his home. The host, eager to hear more, urges the caller to give more information. The caller agrees and tries to speak, but just as quickly as he begins, a faint whisper is heard through the phone. The caller informs the host that the lights actually came from an ambulance and hangs up embarassed. A promoter's voices tells the audience that they should visit the National Space Centre if unsure about what they see in the sky, as informative exhibits and staff are always willing to teach visitors more.
Final script:
(Ambient music opens the scene as a
radio host’s voice calm voice is heard.)
RADIO HOST: Good < evening,
Leicester! You’ve tuned into Apollo FM, the number one space-themed radio
station in the known galaxy. It is nine o’clock at night and the stars are
shining bright in the sky. We have a lot to talk to you about tonight on
the show and a great selection of songs to play, so sit back, relax, and-
(The host is interrupted by the
phone ringing.)
RADIO HOST: Will you look at that!
Our first caller and we’ve only just started.
(The music cuts off as the radio
host picks up the phone.)
RADIO HOST: You’re through to the
Apollo radio station, what do you have for us tonight?
(The caller speaks in a slightly
nervous tone.)
CALLER (D): Yes, hello, um… / so I
just looked out the kitchen window and all I can see is blinking lights in the
sky. I / think it might be aliens!
(The host’s chair squeaks as he
leans back in excitement.)
RADIO HOST: Oh-ho! A sighting,
already! A lucky day for our listeners indeed! Please, tell us more.
CALLER (D): Well, you see, it’s-
(The caller is interrupted by a few
seconds of muffled whispering.)
CALLER (D): What’s that? / It… it’s
what? / Oh… / Um, never mind. There’s just an ambulance outside nearby. Oops.
(The caller hangs up. A promoter
begins to speak.)
PROMOTER: Worried about what you
see in the sky at night? No need to be paranoid: visit the National Space
Centre. Informative exhibits and helpful staff will teach you all you need
to know about the great beyond, so you don’t have to panic. Book your
tickets now.
END
Audio pre-production paperwork:
Before filming I prepared a shot list on sounds I planned to record. These included all the soud effects needed, the music I planned to use and the voiceovers in whatever order they were recorded.
Audio production:
Since I couldn't record straight away, I decided to focus on music and sound effects first.
- My choice of music for the radio broadcast was "Cylinder Seven" by Chris Zabriskie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbC4-Sl_dq0). Sci-fi / Astonomy YouTuber John Michael Godier uses this track and others from Zabriskie in his videos, which is how I found this track in the first place. Zabriskie's music is extremely ambient and dream-like, and for a project based on space, it works wonders.
- The sound of the telephone ringing and hanging up come from videos "Telephone Ringing Sound Effect" by Mark Ernst (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK92DUyyngc) and "Telephone Hanging Up Sound Effect" by Lolly the Kitten (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is-5m74zmik) respectively.
- The whispering sound effect is a heavily altered clip from the video "a quick whisper" by ZZYZR (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXvSSM_5ve8&t=98s)
After assembling all of my sound effects and music, I went to record the actual voice-over. I played the part of the radio DJ, while Sam was the panicked caller. We used the microphone in the sound booth to record and saved it to a USB drive.
Audio post-production:
For post-production I used both Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Audition. I placed the clips into the timeline where they needed to be.
Since I didn't rename the recorded voice-over files anything before editing, it was quite tricky sifting through those files to see where they needed to go.
I also tried placing the files in Audition first and working from there, but the downloaded files were somehow incompatible with the recorded ones.
But the jump from Audition to Premiere Pro worked out in my favour: not only is it a software that I am used to and able to work with easily, but the issue of files not working with each other wasn't prevelant at all.
The biggest hurdle was perhaps finding out what I had to with the whisper sound effect. To be more specific, the only decent sound effect I could find of a person whispering (that didn't come from one of those weird ASMR videos) was of a man talking. I knew I wanted to make it inaudible, but was unsure how to go about it. In the end, I cut a small fraction of the clip (the one in which the speaker talks the loudest), reversed it and lowered the pitch.
On the subject of tampering with audio files, I also messed around with the caller's lines. I added an effect to Sam's voice that made him sound like he was talking over the phone.
Upload onto youtube with a cover photo taken from your video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxWeU8VaY8w
Testing of the story in situ:
People praised my broadcast for its premise being interesting and humour being slightly cheesy, in a "so-bad-it's-good" kind of way. They also said that the music was very ambient and calm, and fit the broadcast well. The greatest negative criticism I received was that the delivery of some lines was a bit poor.
Evaluation:
Overall, I think the project went quite well. I was quite enthusiastic to do this project after coming up with a solid idea for it. I do agree with the comments made about the voice-over quality, however. Due to the sound booth being used a lot on other days, I had to my recording near the last minute. Because of this, I didn't think much of second takes or the like as I was in such a rush to finish. Couple that with the fact that I'm not too keen on hearing my voice on record, and it leads to my own personal realization that I could have had more authority over how the lines were delivered.
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