Thursday 20th October 2016:
On this day we got put into our groups and we made a decision of which genre our station was going to be. We made a group decision and chose soul/funk which I was really pleased with and excited to get stuck in. As Abbi wasn’t here we didn’t think it was fair to decide on roles however we made a decision to make Eliza ‘Editor’ and Simon ‘Head Of Music’ because as a group we felt they were the best two people for the roles. We set up a Facebook chat to discuss the other roles and talk about when we would next be meeting.

Monday 24th October 2016:
We had our first group meeting at 11am where the majority of us was all there and this was the day where we discussed other peoples roles. It was decided that I will be OB Presenter and Producer with the help of one of the interactive team on the day. I will also be on the advertising team helping them out as it is one of the most time consuming roles. I am over the moon with the decisions as I have produced a few ads in college before which I loved doing as it is so fun and being the OB presenter will be something different which I can’t wait for!

Thursday 3rd November 2016:
This was an important lesson for me especially because it was all about OBs! We had a mock run of what it would be like on the day but obviously not as finessed as it’ll be. In the afternoon I went for a photoshoot with Dan (Interactive Man) to have some pictures taken for the website he is creating. I also emailed some potential OB guests and we set up a massive Google Drive folder for us all to contribute and see everyones work.

Thursday 10th November 2016:
This was classed as our first production day where we got a lot of work done! In the run up to this production day I watched some BBC Radio 1 Live Lounges on a YouTube playlist they’ve created which was really helpful as I saw the style that they use however I am going to look at some different ones so I can compare them as Radio 1’s are very dramatised and ours won’t be as big of production as that! Also as I was doing ad’s I revised all my old college notes and ad’s that I created a few years ago in preparation for this day. We confirmed that Summer Pearl will be our OB guest for the Pilot Show which is very exciting news!
I was working with the ad team which was just me, Bernice and Abbi on this production day. We managed to sort out a lot such as who is doing what ad, list the most important 15 brands and had extra’s, organise our Google Drive section and sort out a plan. Our plan is by Monday 14th November all of the ad scripts need to be done along with sourcing sound effects, casting and briefs complete. A lot of things but we want to have more time to work on making the ad’s sound great. Abbi achieved to one ad today, we took advantage of Simon for having a cold and being bunged up so she used him for a Lemsip ad! We had a discussion about sounds of ad’s so some that we do will be more theatrical and other will be simple and to the point.
Our first promo video was created and our playlist was finalised!

Monday 14th November 2016:
Today, I recorded all of the voices for my advertisements. The companies I am creating ad’s for are McDonalds and Toys R Us. During the week I created my scripts, sourced my sound effects from http://freesound.org and casted my voiceovers so I was all prepared for this day. I spent the whole 2 hours getting the voiceovers making sure they were perfect. 

McDonalds:
SFX: Light running with faint panting and puffing
SFX: Door opening
SFX: Christmas spirit – bells etc (running throughout the conversation)
Mum: Where have you been Liam
Liam: Sorry mum, I went to pick up the new Winter Melt from McDonald’s
Mum: Oh fair enough then
SFX: McDonald’s whistle
Voiceover: Check out our Festive Menu at your nearest McDonalds today

Casting:
Mum: Ellie
Liam: Dan
Voiceover: Me as might not use it

Toys R Us:
SFX: Construction Sounds
SFX: Presents Wrapping
SFX: Machine buttons (All SFX Running Throughout)
Elf 1: Right guys we need to pick up the pace
Elf 2: I can’t go any faster
Elf 3: Santa won’t be very happy if we’re not done in time
Elf 1: Yeah, you’re right. Christmas is fast approaching and Toys R Us have a 50% sale on their Christmas Shop this weekend!
Elf 2: Oh no, even more work
Elf 3: This is one of their biggest sales to date
Voiceover: Don’t leave Christmas until the last minute. Head down to your local Toys R Us before everything goes!

Casting:
Elf 1: Callum
Elf 2: Clare
Elf 3: Abbi
Voiceover: Bernice

Those are my scripts at the moment which may be subject to change depending on how they work.

Thursday 17th November 2016:
Today was a really productive day for all of the group which is great as we are moving along nicely. At the beginning part of the day I got in touch with Summer to ask her different bits and bobs and we found out that her guitarist is not free on the day of the show so she probably won’t be able to do that date. I carried on contacting people as we need back up’s anyway so I done that for a few hours. After that I cracked on with editing ads. I managed to edit both of them fully. Below are the ‘rough cuts’ as I may add to them during the next 2 weeks.

https://soundcloud.com/natalie_malcolm/mcdonalds-ad-mixdown

https://soundcloud.com/natalie_malcolm/toys-r-us-ad

I changed my ‘Toys R Us’ advertisement as it was going to be in a “Santa’s Grotto” style but now I have changed it to an “Elf Meeting” so I will need to change my scripts. Also ‘Toys R Us’ is 29 seconds and ‘McDonalds’ is 18 seconds so I will need to change them so they are 30 seconds and 20 seconds long.

Monday 21st November 2016:
Today our meeting consisted of cracking on with what our roles were. So today I changed my advertisements and continued with OB producing. I organised a to do list on the google drive and spoke to Summer about more arrangements. We got an email from Matthew with advice for my advertisements which helped so much as I can take on all his advice. Aswell as that I watched ‘Live Sessions’ to help with the pilot and real assessed show:

Radio 1 Live Lounge: Kano – ‘T- Shirt Weather In The Manor’- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpb7VWntWSA&index=16&list=PL1CA6335E0D3699B6
This live lounge had a big setup for a rapper. Radio 1 always do big productions for their live lounges compared to radio 2 and other live music sessions. As Kano is a rapper it was quite intimate at times but the big production distracted it from being intimate as I don’t see rappers with massive productions like this for a live session so it was very different, I’m not sure if I liked it as much as I would.

Visualization is key and Radio 1 do this well on their live lounges. In this one the shots consists of them panning around all the instruments but then focusing on Kano himself, zooming in and up and down which worked really well. It defiantly makes you feel more engaged as a listener that you can watch it aswell. It creates more of an intimacy as for example it was nice to see Kano change the levels himself – sounds stupid but it created a nice feel for me to see that.

Radio 1 Live Lounge: Kurupt FM – ‘Oh No’ and ‘Shut Up’ (Stormzy Cover)’ –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3MMflJkoFI&index=33&list=PL1CA6335E0D3699B6
There were 2 rappers this time and I preferred this production a lot more. Visually they were in a circle which was nice to look at as the camera kept panning around but also on the 2 rappers as it was very engaging. In the background you could see Clara Amfo (the presenter) enjoying herself aswell as the band which was so nice to see. Kururpt FM are quite jokey so it was really funny and engaging to watch – they shouted out their band and done bits of ad lib which was nice but made it even better to watch. I much preferred the production on this one as it was incredible to see how talented the man on the keyboard was and it sounded amazing. They done a cover which is well know on music sessions but put their own spin on it which was great to hear.

Radio 1 Live Lounge – Foals – What Kind Of Man (Florence and The Machine Cover) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frBoMj0SsXw&index=38&list=PL1CA6335E0D3699B6
This session was a different genre completely which was good to watch and listen to as the artists were all playing their own instruments. They were set up in a circle which the camera kept panning to but then focused on the lead singer and panned up and down on him. I like when the camera would zoom into the instruments as that gave it a nice engaging feel to it. The session looked incredible as it felt so real and very natural – just like they would be on a gig but was in a combined space. It was a lot more bigger production etc due to the genre of music which was nice to compare to the others.

Radio 2 Live At Elton Johns Piano – Tom Odell – Constellations – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKxtQnNktog
This sessions was a whole lot more intimate as you couldn’t see no big production it was just Tom and the piano. The shots were all on him and the piano which made it really nice. The sound was just the same as Radio 1 but it was more focused on the artist rather than all the big production. I think I personally preferred the Radio 1 Live Lounge as it is nice to see the production if it is done correctly.

Live At The Chris Evans Breakfast Show – Blur – Parklife – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD8P8NtqruA
This live session was a lot different because it was in the same studio as Chris was presenting in. Personally, I thought it had a nice feel to it but I didn’t like it. You could see all of Chris’s guests sitting there and the staff behind the window, which I thought, made it look messy and untidy. Also you could see loads of chairs in the background etc which just didn’t look right to me – it has got a funny feel to it but personally I didn’t like the setup. The sound was good though.

VHS Sessions – Furnsss – Roll With It- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_R73h2sRgE
I love the style to the VHS Sessions videos as it’s really cool and really natural. You can see footage before (how they set up, what they did) which makes it really personal and fun to watch. It engages with the audience, there’s no high tech production or visualization which makes it very simple but effective.

Tuesday 22nd November:

Today I looked at Matthew’s advice and re casted the ‘mum’ of the McDonald’s from Ellie to Aasiya, I need to re cast Dan to someone younger so I went on star call and voiceovers.co.uk to look for a younger voiceover. However, this is becoming quite hard as there are very few children and none of them do it for free as I have had various conversations on the phone with people.

Thursday 24th November:

Today, I worked on the Toys R Us advertisement however it is not complete as I need to change the ending. I re casted Callum to Tommy as Callum’s recording was distorted. On top of this I created a set list, floor plan, running order, brief and tech requirement list for the OB and spoke to Summer as I am in the process of writing her cue and questions so I wanted to know abit more about her.

Monday 28th November:
Today we met our group at 11am as usual and had a group meeting clarifying that we know what we need to finalise before the pilot on Thursday! We potentially have a OB guest for the real show now, she just has to check her work schedule – fingers crossed she is available as she does such a good cover of Frank Oceans song which is very soulful! I finalised all my paper work today and finished the cue and questions for Summer on Thursday. Over the weekend I had been talking to summer a lot and arranged times to meet her etc.

This is the call sheet for the OB:

Running Order:

and brief / set list:

Brief

Summer Pearl will be performing 2 songs (1 original, 1 cover) as part of the ‘Funk Factory’ on ‘The Groove’ 2-4 on Mi-Soul. This feature will include an interview after the performances with a live audience.

Summer Set List:

Summers Song: Fake Reality  – 3 mins

Summers Cover: “A Long Walk” By Jill Scott – 4 mins 30

Today I also got in contact with people to voice my ads to improve them so hopefully by Thursday I will have the material I need. I know that for the McDonalds ad I won’t have because the teenager I am going to use I can’t get hold of until the weekend but for Toys R Us I cut the song out at the end and made minor changes to it.

Tuesday 29th November:
I analysed ‘Toys R Us’ and ‘McDonalds’ advertisements today, I couldn’t find any that had been on the radio just the TV commercials however I still thought it would be good to analyse them:

Toys R Us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qpEVl-Q-Ks
Listening to just the audio they have used a catchy song to draw in the listeners as it makes you feel magical and Christmassy. Also the song has a story to it about going to a ‘magical place’ which happens to be Toys R Us which is really cleverly done.
In there latest one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHEOrW_cbx8 – they have used the exact same song as the original just different visuals which will make the advertisement familiar to everyone, a good technique.

McDonalds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaIrlots3hU
This advertisement is the latest one for the new winter menu which is what I am promoting. It is short, sweet and simple which works effectively in this particular ad as it just simply tells us whats on in the menu and has it’s signature tune at the end. That is all the audience need to hear because they will instantly recognise what the advertisement is for.

Thursday 1st December 2016:
The day of the pilot!! We had a set back as we didn’t start on time due to technical issues however we judged the timings well considering and everything else went to plan. It was good to have a pilot to get a feel for what it will be like next week. I feel more confident after doing the pilot because I know what to expect, there’s so much more room for improvement although for a first shot I feel we did a good job!

[mixcloud https://beta.mixcloud.com/natalie_malcolm/ob-pilot-session/ width=100% height=120 hide_cover=1 light=1]

This was my OB session, I will hold the mic closer to the interviewee next time as she was very quiet and also I have double checked that Josie (who we have for next week) isn’t playing a song with swear words in it as this one did which I was unaware of. I know I have a lot to work on to make it much better such as letting the listen know more and setting the scene which I will incorporate into the show next week.

Monday 5th December 2016:
We had some unfortunate news that Josie our OB guest had something come up so she can’t make the show which stressed me out a lot as we were frantically looking for people with no luck. However fingers crossed we have managed to secure Emmanuel Nwamadi – a finalist from The Voice in series 4. I spent Monday and Tuesday (6th) filling out call sheets, briefs, running orders and creating a script.

Tuesday 6th December 2016:
I finalised my advertisements (McDonalds and Toys R Us) by making all the levels the same and making sure everything I smooth. I took Matthews advise on board by changing the voiceover of the Toys R Us ad and I got a child to record the McDonalds ad however it just didn’t go with Aasiya’s accent so unfortunately I couldn’t use it.

Thursday 8th December 2016:
Today was the day of the live show!! I was very nervous drawing nearer to the time but Emmanuel was all set to go for later on so I just finished the producer paperwork such as running order, set list etc. When the other group had finished I went straight into the OB room to set up the lights and prepare for the Facebook live session. Emmanuel didn’t come until 3 as he was busy so we had 20 minutes to do a sound check, little rehearsal and Facebook live.
I think the OB performance was great, he was such an amazing singer! I defiantly thought that I improved as I set the scene more in the script and engaged more with Emmanuel throughout the session. I was really pleased with how it went and I would defiantly love to do something similar again! Overall I think we all done amazingly and I’m really proud of our group as we worked so well as a team and produced a really good show!