Below I have included all the information for the first live show we did in December which was on the subject of a Night out in Lincoln
Audio
Pictures from the day
Paperwork
All relevant paperwork for the show including Cue sheets, consent forms, running orders and scripts can be found in the zip file below:
Week Plan
Week 1
This week was a slow start to the year as we had a lecture on what we were going to be doing this year so, we got into our groups and Dylan wanted us to talk about what sort of live show we were planning to do come week 10. During the workshop, Dylan went through the desk again as well as getting us to mix with each other as an ice breaker kinda thing.
Week 2
This week was a free week, as Dylan was ill and Zara was only there for the lecture, this weeks lecture was on the brief and she showed us examples of shows that have been done in the last few years, ranging from space to Geek culture, which helped to finalise some ideas that we wanted to pitch to our teammates. The workshop this week was free as I said, so the team members that turned up Me, James, Joe and Joe were in radio studio 1 and we talked about some leads that we had which ranged from Christmas show to food to drink etc, we settled on Clubs and a good night out as it would be best to get an audience and a following for the show. During this week I learnt what everyone wanted to do in the live show and that some people (Joe, Joe, James and myself) were going to be the hardest workers as we were the only people to really turn up to the workshop this week.
Week 3
This week was the experimental week with a soundscape, with Dylan, this was because we missed it last week and he needed to cram two weeks into one. During the lecture, we had Dylan talking about experimental forms of sound and we had a listen to a show that the first years did in the second week with a poem which was layered on top of weird sound to make it seem like a trance. During the workshop we went out with different mics that we had a crash course on like contact mics and aqua mics that James and I had, and he sent us out to record the sound effects in and around Lincoln, James and I recorded as much water as we could because we wanted to hear what that would sound like, we got the Brayford and water in a glass sounds as we could and took them back, the audio came out weird but Dylan liked it so… This week I learnt a lot about my team as this was a great chance to act as an ice breaker again with all the members of the team laughing at each other and having fun, i also learnt that sound effects are all around us and we just need a day to record them and then we can make a sound base for a lifetime. We had our first meeting outside of the class which only the main four turned up to, so we decided to create a separate group char for the people who actually did everything cause we wanted to get things done quickly as possible, we discussed the logistics of the show like an interviewee and the plans for the show.
Week 4
This week was a trip to the Lincs FM Group and Lincoln City (Community Radio) during the workshop time. During the lecture, Zara talked to us about the opportunities that will arise if we go to places of media like radio studios, she also talked to us about the plan for the workshop as we were going to go to Lincs Fm studio as that we could meet the team and ask questions about the industry. I missed the workshop as I was very ill and didn’t sleep very well, which really annoyed me but there was nothing I could do. This week I learnt a bit more about the editing software we were going to be using as I was editing some clips of me talking which we were going to be using for the stings for the live show, we also split the roles out this week so Joe and I were presenting, James as BA and Joe Hance as the director, as we needed to get some structure in place as quickly as we could as the weeks were running down quick.
Week 5
This week was the Masterclass with Hana Walker-Brown on creative story-telling. During the lecture, Zara talked to us about the Charles Parker Prize that we should do to help project our careers in radio, as also talked to us about creating packages that we could use in our show to pad out the hour run time rather than having the presenter talking for the entire time. In the workshop those who turned up had a chance to listen to Hana’s ballads that show did for the BBC, and the one that stuck with me was the homeless group you got to live in an old embassy and managed to get the squatting right for the building, it stuck with me because it was a very moving story and was really well done with news reports as well as a strong interview too. I learnt a lot from her during that meeting but not this year, but I’m sure that this will help me with the audio Ballard we will be doing next year. We had another meeting this week as we needed to split the rest of the roles up, we gained two new team members which were really annoying as Jack (Mitchell) and Ikenna weren’t the most helpful of teammates, but they still had the stuff to do like editing and getting packages as well as being the ob for the show.
Week 6
This week was about desk training on Siren and Myriad. We had Ryan come into the lecture this week and talk to us about siren in more depth as we were unaware of how wide the reach of the station was, he also talked to us about the plan for the live show as we were going to be in the smaller studio, rather than the main studio which is what we thought we were going to be in. During the workshop, we talked to Zara about possible audio Ballard we wanted to do, which in my case was something to do do with my parents as they are really interesting as well as I took inspiration from Zara’s Dad and her talks with him. We also had a chance to talk in our groups a bit more as we hadn’t talked for a little while about the show since last week, we talked about where the rest of the team was at because they were doing packages and the idents for the show, Jack (Mitchell) slept the entire time and really hasn’t helped at all for the whole fo the show. The other Jack too all his work as well as the producer’s work which was really helpful for us as we needed someone to organise the who show as we hadn’t had one for a while.
Week 7
This week was; First hour – Programme Teams to meet and discuss progress and shows. Group tutorial with ZH on show and content and work on interview skills. During the lecture we had Dylan talk to us about the interviewing of a subject, where he talked to us about his on a boat talking to them about fishing whilst being 5 miles out to see, he also talked about eh sort of questions we should ask as well as the amount of research we should do on the interview. During the workshop we had Zara talking to us about the progress on the show as we were 3 weeks away from the show and this was the time to talk about what all the members are doing or lack of work they are doing, we had a problem with attendance from half of the team, which was really annoying because we didn’t know how far we were, which was the problem for the show planned show, communication. However we did have the base of the show done but the running order for the show was still in the air because we didn’t know when we’re going to have our live interview, with Ikenna, which showed when we were trying to do a run through because he had to pretend to have an interview despite not knowing where in the show they were going to be.
Week 8
This week was an Independent work week, we didn’t have a lecture this week because the teachers wanted to get the groups to meet up a much as possible, because we were 2 weeks from the live show, so we had a meeting to get all the items that we needed to get done for the show, we also talked in the chat as well which was a great start but it was a little late, as Ikenna still hasn’t used the OB kit for a show, and we haven’t practised the patching into the desk too, we also went into siren for the first time for a practise as we were in one of the radio studios which was great. Joe and I have some great presenting vibes with each other which will really help with the show. The core of the team is really strong as we were working very well together because we didn’t miss any of the sessions or rehearsals as Ikenna, Jack and Jack just turned up when they wanted.
Week 9
This week was about, Production workshop for the live shows will be checked by tutors – if it’s not approved, it can’t go on air. Again no lecture, because this week was all about the prep for the show as it is next week, so the group wanted to get two practise sessions in before we went on air, the only problems we ran into this week was we didn’t have a package from Jack (Mitchell) which was really annoying, but Ikenna stepped up and took it off him and got it done for the weekend, and we got all the clips onto myriad, after Dylan heard all of the clips on Wednesday. He did offer some advice for the show which was to limit the drinking talk as we can’t be endorsing that on live radio, however, Joe (Hance) said it was too late to change the show, despite Joe (Newlove) and I said we should change as we didn’t want any problems with the show, but Joe (Hance) said we would be fine so… This week we finally worked a team which was nice, the only problem was Ikenna still hadn’t used the i-rig which was a big problem which will hurt us for the show so we will have to hope he knows what he is doing.
Week 10
The lecture this week as about History of Audio Drama, listening to audio/drama on demand, binaural, VR and where it is in 2018, which didn’t really help the show at all so ill move on. We went live on Siren. Overall the show was a mild success as I will talk in my review of it but all the elements went ok, however, there was a big problem with Ikenna’s inteview as he made it too commercialised which was really annoying as we told him to watch out for the interview, but he said he got it so… Overall Joe and I did ok and the show was ok, but I got the impression Dylan wasn’t happy with the drunk stories that we were talking about despite us not really talking about anything bad or wrong, only fancy dress nights out and our night out plans, which I felt was ok to included and our director cleared too.
My critique of the live show
Live show- Semester A
Sounds like a good night out in Lincoln was a really fun show to be a part of, and I learnt a lot from the whole experience, during this critical review I will explore the areas that I did well and reflect on the things that didn’t go so well during the pre-show and the live show we did on siren. I will compare the live show we did to professional shows that mainstream companies have done and see how we could make ours more industry standard, for example, shows like “Boys Night Out Radio Show Podcast on Spotify” and “Up All Night” as the basis for my critique.
The whole process of making the show went through many different plans and many different shows were thrown into the pile for us as a team to talk about, however I think this is where I went wrong, when pitching the shows I kept quiet as I didn’t want to make my team dislike me on the first day, and they ended up picking a show I thought wouldn’t be the best to present because it had some topic that shouldn’t have been talked about before the watershed time (9 pm). Furthermore i feel that the show would have been better planned and organised if we would have had a slightly smaller team as seven was a little too much to keep control on, as we gave some members stuff to do and we didn’t hear back from them until a little later, which wasn’t the most helpful of tasks for us to right. However there were elements to the show that was positive, I felt that as a core team of 4 (Me, James and both Joes) we worked very well to get the show planned and get the team to try and communicate with each other, I felt that I did a fair amount to get the team moving as it felt like they were single members of the team and I help to get people back on track by bringing up conversations that needed to happen as well as arrange meetings and picking up cues and the running order when they were needed.
Constructing the show from nothing would normally be quite hard, but as a core team we managed to get the idea pinned down relatively early as well as distribute the roles very quickly too, with myself and Joe (Newlove) being the presenters, we did a small 15 show to try and see if Joe and myself sounded alright together, this was because a good dynamic between the hosts is key as they are the show that the audience hear on their radio. I felt Joe and I was very good together as Joe had a strong radio voice and I had a calming and more relaxed voice which balanced the two of us well together. The core team was another strength to the show as we all got along, and equally split the ideas between all of us, a problem arose when we had two more team members join our team, as this led to us giving them items to get hold of I.e. packages and the interview outside for the studio, which is where we had problems, I will talk about this later. My role in the construction of the show was to act as the assistant director and oversee all the elements of the show, James and I talked about bringing a member of vigilantes in as a live interview in the studio, and as he had a connection with the lead signer we got Curley in, I also helped to construct the running order for the show with both Joes as we wanted to get it all planned out as soon as possible so we could get into the radio studio and practise as quickly as we could. I felt that I was a valued member of the team because my involvement was equal to the directors’, however I do feel that I could have helped a little more when it came to the paperwork that we were having to get done a few days before the live show, I felt that I could and should have done more research into Curley as well as complete the cue sheets to a much higher standard as they were lacking key information that we were going to discuss in the show.
During the 30 minutes before the live show, Joe and I ran through ques to make sure that we knew who was saying what as well as making sure we were prepared for Curley who was going to be in the studio within the first 15 minutes of the hour show, I feel that Joe and myself were a great presenting team as we worked off each other’s strengths and weaknesses were as limited as possible. During the live show we encountered some small problems, for example the running order went a little wrong as sections we thought we had more time with just went, which wasn’t helped by the director and the BA telling us that we were over and then five minutes before the end we needed to throw a song we hadn’t got a queue for in just to limit the talking at the end of the show. The timing was the biggest failure I had as the presenter who could see the time I should have controlled the presenter talk sections better rather than having the director talking in my ear to speed up. Professional practise was also a little weak as when Curley came in for his interview I started it with something that wasn’t true, however I do feel that I did recover very well from that, as I changed the subject really well and even caught him out with something that I read about the festival they hadn’t told people they were playing at which I felt was a great recovery. We also ran into problems with Ikenna’s outside broadcast, as the live show was the first time any of us had heard what he was going to be talking to the club owner about, and we ran into some problems as the OB was far too commercialised to be played on radio, which led to our show being pulled off the siren online archive, therefore our show couldn’t be re-listened to and this really affected the show. However I feel that my role wasn’t all that bad, I felt that the presenter talking that Joe and myself had felt really natural, and when listening back I feel that it does sound like we have been friends for a while and we leave an engaging atmosphere for the audience to be a part of the show. I have learnt a lot form this show, and I will definitely take on-board what Dylan said about the presenting style we had, as well as making sure that we cue all the packages and items correctly for the next show, as I fell this was a weakness in the show we did, finally I have learnt that being over-prepared for the show isn’t a bad thing and I will try and make sure the next show Is planned to the finest detail.