Blog Post 1

This module allows me to demonstrate the skills I have learnt throughout the course so far, and allows me to produce something that interests me.  With this in mind, I set out to look for businesses that may want to commission audio made by myself. I thoroughly enjoyed the Clerkenwell walk, this gave me some inspiration to look into walking tours and whether I would be able to produce something that sounds as professional as the ones found on Detour. I decided to think about my employers, and how I could target them.

DICE

DICE is a modern start-up that sells tickets for gigs primarily via an app. They pride themselves on live music discovery and see the app as a place where music fans can discover new bands, and see them live for the cheapest price possible. All smaller gigs on the app are hand-picked and there’s believe that the bands will go on to bigger things. This gave me the idea of a walking tour around a famous music scene in London, preferably Camden. It could take the listener on a journey of the streets, from one venue to another. As the listener walks, they hear facts about the venue, the iconic artists that have played there, and clips from gigs.

UWSU 

Working for the Students’ Union allows me to get involved with the various campaigns that target students throughout the academic year. These campaigns lend themselves to plenty of media content, with several short videos produced for each campaign. Obviously, there’s potential to create something alongside these campaigns. However, UWSU works to help new students students settle into London upon their arrival. I believe a guided walk between Marylebone, Cavendish, and Regents campus could take students around sights, student eateries, and cultural highlights.

Blog Post 2

I’ve been very indecisive over the past few weeks, I’ve tried to cement my plan of a Camden walking tour – coming up with ideas for the different segments, and heading over to the area to plan a route. However, I’ve been very convinced that the idea is very basic, and doesn’t allow me much room for creativity. As much as I’m obsessed with the London music scene, it’s not something that I feel like I could put passion into the project, therefore, I’ve wanted to change the idea.

I’ve wanted to focus on something a bit closer to home, and something that allows me to start with something basic, and bringing it to life with plenty of colour. My next idea was to focus on Chapel Market, an everyday general market in Islington. However, after going to the market on two occasions, I discovered that the market didn’t allow me any form of creativity, purely because there was nothing that stood out from the market to make it worthwhile for listeners to attend.

Across the road is Camden Passage. An antiques market with plenty of history attached to it, allowing for a fascinating walking tour focusing on history, promoting the area. Having finally decided, I had to find a commission. The initial options were the quirky London websites, such as TimeOut and Londonist. After research, I discovered that there was a website dedicated to Camden Passage, perfect for the piece to fit.

Blog Post 3

I’ve been chasing a commission for the past two weeks, but seem to finding it very difficult. TimeOut wouldn’t give me a contact on the phone, but gave me email addresses which never responded. Londonist took a long time to reply, but eventually said they’ll get back to me ASAP. camdenpassageislington.com looked to be my best hope. After waiting for an email response from them for a while, I called the number for stall enquiries and spoke to someone who effectively told me that he wasn’t interested. I’ve contacted angel.london and the Islington Gazette – and hope that I can get a commission ASAP.

I’ve started to come up with a rough plan alongside a pitch for the walk. Ideas so far include a stop in the pub, history of Chapel Market, and getting a professional dealer to explain how it works. Hopefully I get commissioned by an organisation that this would appeal to. I’m finding it hard to plan without knowing my target audience.

I know that I’d like to divide the walk into five sections of four minutes, with each section focussing on a different section of the area – featuring interviews.

Blog Post 4 

The last two weeks have opened up the opportunity to start creating the walk – finally! Jackie from angel.london was thrilled with the chance to take on the walk – and commissioned the walk instantly. She was willing to help me out with contacting potential contributors too, which would help massively.

I split my five sections into – Welcome, Camden Passage history, Antiques Market, The Camden Head, and shopping.

I felt like the sections differed and allowed for a lot of variety of the production of the walk – giving me a chance to showcase my production skills. I sent my plans to Jackie once they were finalised and she was pleased with them. I then had to create a list of potential contributors. I knew that I wanted a dealer, a buyer, a shop owner, a historian, and the pub owner.

I’m frustrated with the amount of time it’s taken me to gain a commission, because it’s delayed the process of getting contributors.

I’ve been over to the Passage a few times to start planning the route and what will work and I’m meeting the pub manager early next week. Hopefully, in two weeks, I can have some audio cemented and start editing.

Blog Post 5

I met up with the owner of the pub, however – she told me that there was no one at the pub that would be able to explain the history of the pub. I used the time over there to chat to people in ten different shops to keep my options open regarding interviews. Annie from Annie’s stood out, and I managed to chat to her a few days ago. She explained the history of her shop and explained a few pieces of decoration on the wall. As well as this, Frederick’s has a fantastic exterior that I would like to use as a stop in the walk. I emailed the manager there and should hopefully be chatting to him next week.

I’ve started to write my script – and the walk is beginning to take shape. Aasiya urged me to move away from the idea of ‘4 x 5 minute blocks’ and start to work on it using what I have. I’ve been in contact with Alan Dein, who may be willing to chat about the history of the passage – he’d be a great addition to the walk – I don’t feel as if I my voice would suit talking about the 17th century – it needs to sound more authentic and passionate.

He also mentioned that he has a cousin that used to ran a cafe in the Passage, and I should hopefully be chatting to her next week. I think that she will make up the absence of a stallowner if I don’t manage to get one – they aren’t very helpful!

Blog Post 6

I managed to get all of the recording that I needed done by Thursday last week – just waiting for Alan to send over his history piece – however, I’ve told him exactly how it’s going to slot into the walk, so I’m confident he’ll make it work. His cousin, Caitlin, was great to talk to – and Matt from Frederick’s also gave an excellent account.

This left me a good amount of time to get my scripts written, recorded and edited. I spent a lot of time getting beds ready, and thinking about SFX.

The mixing was an extremely long process, and I found editing down the interviews extremely difficult – especially because they often gave me vital information.