Week 1: 22nd January 2018

This week we started the module, we looked at an overview of what we will be doing over the next coming weeks. We participated in a group task where the class was split in two and each group were analysed by one person on how we contributed in a  group. Beth was analysing me and she said that my ideas were creative and that I should speak up a tad more even though I contributed to alot. Beth was extremely good and very good at leading. We came up with initial ideas which we would go away and work on more research for next week. Some of the ideas that came up was theatre / musicals, 100 years since women can vote, gaming, 40 years of disco, sporting, food, harry potter, tv series / Netflix and join in campaign.

Week 2: 29th January 2018

This week we split into small groups and created a pitch to share to the class. These topics would then go head to head to vote and we would get the final theme. The groups were sports, 40 years of disco, gaming and 100 years of women vote. In the end disco and gaming went head to head. Gaming won so that is the theme for our pop up station! After lunch we chose our roles in a fair way and pretty quick. I am presenter of the Retro show which I am very excited about. The audience for the station is 16-35 year olds with a slight male bias and we will be doing three 1 hour shows each week. The first will be a music show presented by Callum, then a debate show presented by Fay and Tony and then the Retro show. We will all be getting a commission for 1 advertisement each to make it fair and I will also be production co ordinator. For next week I will research into gaming a tad more as Adam has gave us some links to look at so I will make sure I have more of a knowledge.

Week 3: 5th February 2018

Today we started Production Week One where the intense work begins. There was a few role changes made so Mark is now my producer and Abbi is my assistant producer. We split off into our teams for the majority of the day and grouped back as a whole to feed back our ideas before lunch and at the end of the day. Me, Mark and Abbi came up with themes for each week of our shows – for the pilot and first live show the theme will be arcade, week 2 PC, week 3 Nintendo and week 4 playstation and xbox. We also spoke about potential feature ideas and delved into the arcade week deeper to prepare for our pilot. I arranged for the group to  meet on Thursday and created a schedule for the meeting, we are going to create a longer list of feature and package ideas as we need to test them out and see if they work. I am also going to look into potential guests and research into youtube gamers because I need to gain some knowledge of the subject area. We are also going to create a rough clock on Thursday when we meet too.

Thursday 8th:
When we met we all decided that the themed weeks just didn’t seen right. This was down to brainstorming ideas and coming up with a rough first show schedule and the ideas wasn’t flowing. Having themed shows restricts us and we felt that changing it to topics would be even better with alot more ideas and package ideas we can create. We spoke to Eliza, Lucy and Adam in our chat and we will explain to them more in person and show them our ideas but this is what we came up with:

TOPICS

• The Evolution of Pac-Man
• Fifa Development
• Fifa vs Pro Evo
• Pokemon on different platforms
• Zelda
• Mario & Sonic rivalry
• Mario family
• Final Fantasy
• Street Fighter Series
• Films into games
• Educational – typing, cooking mama, brain training, professor layton
• GTA
• Metal Gear Solid
• PC Games e.g pinball, solitaire
• Simpson Series
• Snake – Phone games
• Dance Mat
• Sport games at arcade: shooting, motorbike, basketball, hockey, skiing
• Tetris
• SingStar (ps2)
• Super Smash Bros

Having 3/4 topics a show allows us to be more creative with package ideas because the themed programmes seemed forced as we couldn’t think of too many fun ideas. We created a first draft of which topics would go into each weeks.

Pilot and Week 1 Show

TOPICS
The Evolution of Pac-Man
GTA
Dance Dance Revolution/SingStar

FEATURES
Guess the Year
Natalie Plays
Best and Worst Games

PACKAGES
Pac-Man – History of topic, Vox pops of topic, Potential interview, Arcade setting of playing Pac-Man
GTA – History of topic, Vox pops of topic – What is your favourite song from GTA, Potential interview

We will each have a topic to research in depth and the last topic (light hearted one) I as presenter will research more into because that will be the game that I play which will be streamed live on twitch after the show. I am going to be helping out with packages too and the location recording. We are looking to record in a retro arcade for the evolution of Pac-Man.

WEEK 2

TOPICS
Fifa Development
Super Smash Bros
Simpsons Games

FEATURES
Guess the Year
Natalie Plays
Best and Worst

PACKAGES
Fifa – History of topic, Vox pops of topic, Potential interview
Simpson Games

WEEK 3

TOPICS
Phone/Computer games
Films into games
Mario family

FEATURES
Guess the Year
Natalie Plays
Best and worst games

We concentrated more on the first week but outlined the basics for first three weeks. Mark is going to be looking into potential guests so that Monday we can show the team and start to contact them. We are going to be looking at retro collectors and YouTubers but also funny people with personalities as this show is light hearted and funny. The changed short synopsis will also be written for the remit and on Monday we can talk to Matt about final branding, Dan and James about making twitch work and create a show clock as we will deeply research into the pilot show. Over the weekend I am going to be researching YouTubers and watching gaming commentary on YouTube to expand my knowledge.

Week 4: 12th February 2018

This was Production Week 2 – myself, Mark and Abbi started off by coming up with in depth ideas for the packages. This is something that Mark and Abbi are going to continue with during the week as I have set a deadline for next Thursday to have the majority of the content for in order for Mark and Abbi to get me in the studio doing run throughs. For our first topic of the show Pac-Man Revolution we are looking into interviewing Billy Mitchell who was the first person to complete Pac-Man, he is based in America but would be good to do a fun phone interview. Mark is going to be contacting potential interviewees throughout the week. Today we also had an in depth meeting with Eliza, Lucy, Adam, Dan and James about the feature ‘Natalie Play’s’ which is scheduled at the end and will stream on TWITCH afterwards. We have come up with an idea of having a ‘STIG’ character which will be called ‘The Gamer’ who will be played by Adam. It will hopefully add a fun element to it as he is good at games and I am the rubbish one however with the games we have chosen anyone could be in for a chance. ‘The Gamer’ will have pre recorded automated lines which James has a pad that they will be inputted to and fired out at the right times of the game process. We spoke to Dan and James to talk about the technicalities of the feature afterwards and gave them a list of potential consoles and games we will be using so that they can work out the logistics and how it will work.
Matt came round as ‘Head Of Branding’ to talk to us about what show idents and feature idents we would like, he gave us his vision and we liked the idea of having 8bit music as beds and we also asked if we could have trails made too. We are going to catch up with him next week to see what he has created which will be exciting.

We had a meeting with Matthew before lunch which I took notes for as Production Manager:

There was alot of progress that each group has made so lots of things were discussed and advice from Matthew was really helpful. I liked the suggestion of having first years come in to the pilot to listen in groups to each show and see what they think and get feedback from real listeners. I also looked at the ‘Radio Lola’ folder and noted down all of the paperwork that needs to be done. After that I created a spreadsheet for everyone to fill out when they have done some paperwork so I can keep a check on what needs to be done.

More will be added to the spreadsheet as time goes on but that is a basic spreadsheet for now to fill out and see where we are at. As Head Of Accounts, nothing has been purchased apart from the website domain at £31 so I have made a deadline for Wednesday 21st for people to buy any items they will need for the pilot show in order for them to come in time.

I have been asked by Sam to create an advertisement for ‘Blueprint World’ which is a clothing company and also the company that ‘Play Again’ will be giving away a retro themed t shirt. I am going to be creating my script this week and get it voiced on Friday in order to meet the deadline of 23rd to have it completed.

For ‘Play Again’ I created a production schedule just like Eliza’s ‘Unlocked Schedule’, for us to set deadlines and work from:

Within the next week, I will have completed my research on ‘YouTube Gamers’ and have started to write the scripts with Abbi and Mark. We are trying to arrange a morning or evening that we are all free to get me in the studio (when packages are done after Thursday) to have run throughs and make sure I am confident before the pilot. The hardest thing is being free on the same day!

Friday 18th:
I created a script for my advertisement and got someone to voice the narrated part at the end. Next week I am going to get two males to voice the other part and edit it together with the sound effects I have sourced. The deadline is next Friday but that will be a first draft as I will use different voices for the real advertisement. I also added more to the ‘Play Again’ schedule and discussed with Mark and Abbi what needs to be done on Monday as time is ticking.

Week 5: 19th February 2018

Today was Production Week 3, the week before the pilot which is very stressful. We had various meetings at start of the day with Eliza and Lucy and towards the end of the day to catch up and see our progress. We also had a meeting with Tom which was very positive and made me feel abit more confident. As a group we got alot done today because I had to stress to the others that things need to be finalised today and production needs to start. Abbi had already wrote a script for her package which she recorded and is underway with production and Mark did the same today too so we are aiming to have them completed by Thursday latest. As a group we sourced some beds to use for the show which are 8bit versions of songs which Tom liked the idea of having popular songs and then making it a non feature in itself where the listener guesses the well known song. Today we had a chat with Dan and James to discuss ‘Natalie Plays’ which we are trailing tomorrow and we also decided to get rid of ‘Speedrun’ as a feature on my show and move it to online where you can see the leaderboard etc and the videos of people playing the game, the presenters can get involved and that way if we get a guest pull out it is not in consistent. We would like to add a text line to get more audience interaction on my show and so I can ring people back. We finalised a rough clock today for the pilot show and had some guests reply to Mark to say they are interested. Ideally I would like guests in the studio rather than over the phone. I have decided that I would like Mark to operate the desk whilst I am on air as he is being involved as “Producer Mark” too. Today we also spoke to music about songs we potentially want but we are going to talk about on Thursday for them to put the tracks in. I also voiced the trail that Matt has created for the first weeks show which sounds really good! I got to have a go on VR Experience which was amazing, it is so surreal and really interesting – digital team got content for online where I was very scared as they put a zombie game on so I wasn’t the best. I got Simon and Mark to voice the script part of my advertisement – I realised that Simon is OB presenter but it is just for the pilot as I am contacting voice over artists for the real thing. I am now in the process of editing it and sourcing more sound effects. We have decided to scrap the competition idea and focus on the Insomnia competition as it is a big prize that we have 2 tickets per show. Lucy had the idea of announcing the winner in my show at the end with the Twitch live stream to keep people still listening. As head of budgeting I sourced the games and consoles for the 5 weeks of shows and I will make sure that those popped bring them in, we just need to buy the games tomorrow. I also went around asking if anyone needs any expenses and the majority of people said no, OB are looking to go to Nottingham which will be £75 and I am filling out the expenses form for Adam who came in today for the VR Experience. Tomorrow I am coming in for shoot day with the digital team for the website to do presenter videos and headshots and I am also trialing ‘Natalie Plays’. Wednesday I am coming in the studio to practice over beds with Abbi and Mark and hopefully go through the script. The script is in production, I just need to finish it off for Wednesday.

Tuesday 20th:
Today I was scheduled by James and Dan at 9:45 for our presenters shoot. It was so much fun and really well thought out / produced. We had some pictures taken of us and then we had a video for the audience to get to know us more. We has a serious of questions and then a trivia which I was useless out. I’m very excited to see the footage:

I met up with Adam, Dan, Lucy and Abbi to trial “Natalie Plays”. Dan kindly brought his PS2 in and I played on GTA for the first time in a while to get a feel for what it is going to be like. The trial wasn’t too successful when Adam arrived as we had a multiplayer game LEGO: Starwars as we had to communicate but there was a few points to come out the session. Adam helped me alot with how to structure the time with talking about aim of the game, whats going on for the listener and rating the game for graphics, how fun, difficulty rating etc which really helped. Every morning of the show we will trial that weeks game together.

Wednesday 21st:
AM: Today I arranged to have a run through however because certain people haven’t done they’re jobs and I have be trying to do it for them I’m not sure if it will happen. I have took on alot of the production side of this show to show however it is getting way too much for me as I have to concentrate on being presenter, making an ad, head of admin and budgets. If I leave it I am in the stress of it will not get done until last minute which is not how I work so I feel like I have to do it but then I over stress myself and it is getting too much for me. I have spoken to Lucy and Eliza and they are aware, it is just very frustrating for me as thinking forward to the pilot I am completely unprepared and feel sick about it as nothing is getting done.

PM: Tonight I got to listen to the branding of my show which Simon’s friend produced and I am a tad disappointed as Simon’s friend didn’t get briefed correctly because my show is apparently called “Replay”, so I’m not sure what went wrong along the line. I also went in the studio with Mark and went over the script which took a while because it wasn’t done which is what I would have liked before the run through. Due to this we stayed in the studio until late writing the script and have arranged to go in the studio Friday now when it should be finished.

Thursday 22nd:
I edited my advertisement today this is what the rough cut sounds like:

I know in my feedback I will get told not to use Simon as he is a presenter however with the time constraints I am under, he was the only person free for me to record. For the real show I am going to be using voiceover artists which I am currently searching for now. I sent a studio access email to Matthew.

Friday 23rd:
Our clock, script, running order and production running order has been created which has relaxed me a lot more. I am editing the script, doing more research and bullet pointing things to make it a lot more easier for myself. I have no had a run through yet which I am a tad angry and upset about because I am very scared for Monday and would have liked one. However I have suggested coming in at 8 on the day of the pilot.

I have been briefed by Dan about studio changeovers for ‘Natalie Plays’ and I have been told that I will receive a call sheet on Monday for the following Monday in terms of digital as me and Dan have decided of more content for the website. As I am going to be playing fun energetic games we have decided to have footage of me playing “lad type games” like Fifa, GTA, COD etc that I can refer to on my show. In terms of digital, James has created an amazing facebook banner as a video with us all pointing to our show name and Dan is in the process of editing our videos to go online to get the audience to know more about us as presenters. Lucy has created a competition brief, which has been added to the script and I had a meeting with Lucy, Mark and Adam where the topics of the show got changed. Mark made a good point that they are all fun but not varied there needs to be a different type in there so it took about an hour but these are the new games for Natalie Plays:

PILOT / WEEK 1: Street Fighter

WEEK 2: Fifa Street

WEEK 3: Crash Bash

WEEK 4: Mario & Sonic at Olympic Games

As Adam mentioned we need a different console every week in the ‘Natalie Play’s’ feature so we have now included Xbox. Adam is going to be called ‘The Hacker’ and we recorded his phrases for it today, Abbi is in the process of editing them. Before the meeting we were just going to have a pad of phrases and just fire them out but now we have more of a structure to it as we need to focus on we are looking back at retro games and there needs to be a structure in terms on what I say e.g aim, narration, console, compatibility, rating etc. I have appointed Adam as co producer of the feature so he can focus on it as he is really interested and good at gaming. Me and him are going to have a meeting once a week about each week and we will trial the game the morning of the show just to get a feel for it. I created a schedule for Matt so he can keep up to date with branded and so that Eliza and Heads of Music know what is and what isn’t in myriad. Mark sent Iona our tracks that we want played in the show to be inputted into myriad. I also created a to do list spreadsheet for Branding so Matt can keep track of it Eliza has listened and what has been inputted into Myriad.

On Monday I aim to get to uni a tad earlier so I can go into the studio. We currently have no beds or feature jingles made for the show and we have chased them up but wont be done in time for the pilot which is a shame. I sent a studio access email to Matthew.

Week 6: 26th February 2018
Today was the day of the pilot show, I got in at 8am to originally go for a run through of my show with my producer and assistant producer however I ended up chasing people who had not done there advertisements on the group chat and my assistant producer did not come in until 10 which was annoying but I got on with it and ran through the show with my producer. We had a meeting with Matthew at the beginning and then each show met with him individually. Matthew gave some amazing help for our show which we took on board and changed half of the running order to incorporate that into our show. Here was the running order for the pilot show (we added more columns into it after our meeting with Matthew):

I re wrote parts of my script before the show to cater to the new items we added into this (which is different tot the images above).

The pilot show went better than I thought it would however we got some very good feedback which we will take on board. Personally I feel that because our beds wasn’t made from branding that let us down as Mark was tech opping the studio and he couldn’t use Spotify, my mic, myriad all at once which was understandable so it was all over and he was doing timings and instructing me in song breaks.

The feedback we had was:

• Technical problem with beds  
• Audio worked really well for packages
• Why are we talking about them doesn’t add up – needs more of a hook and then where does it go next – sets it up but then what – all fails, callers – fill it out give it another element
• Competition – as you heard on callums show – set up the link like that
• Split the competitions apart as too confusing with best of the year and Insomnia
• Have alot of material – drop a disk if needs be
• GTA glitches – could do another voice needs alot more production – mini package
• GTA – Mark delivery needs to slow down
• At end was too many things need to keep it more straightforward
• Music – what is difference from callums show to your show – needs selling in more
• Natalie Plays – didn’t work on radio – change to the coach – adam comes in the middle of the show here are 3 tips sfx and play at end off air – live stream to facebook and embed on website – each show drive traffic to website build something up
• Music – needs to be more retro sounds like callums if not

I have created an advertisement for this show and I got this feedback:

• Too generic and sound samey a script dropped over a bed. Overwhelmed by male voices
• Blueprint clothing – girls can wear them too scrap
• All more creativity and more varied

We are going to take all of these points on board for the live show.

Tuesday 27th – Friday 2nd March:

The last few days alot of changes have been made to the show in order to make it clear what the show is about:

• A tagline for the show has been created: Taking you back to the greatest era in gaming. Looking on gaming chat forums the pre 2000s was voted as the best era for gaming which suits my show
• Branding has been created for the show which I am happy about, I do feel like it is a tad more newsy than I would have liked
• Natalie Plays is now branded as Adam being a coach called the ‘Gaming Guru’ and he will come in half way through the show and brief me on 3 top tips for the game we are playing each week. This concept works better as Adam is able to talk during it and it will be more informative to the audience
• The new clock, running order and packages have been created
• Mark re voiced the Pac-Man package so that it is consistent every week and has ‘producer Mark’ voicing them.

I have re made my advertisement by scripting it again and casting professional voiceovers to voice it. Here it is:

I have finished my script and will be running through in the studio all day Sunday.

I also wrote my script for the run through on Sunday and I watched some Pac-Man cartoons in preparation for this weeks show so that I could talk about it and have a laugh as they was quite funny. I also played 3d Pac-Man on my laptop to get a feel for the game as I want to talk about how Pac-Man has progressed and the technology behind it.

Sunday 4th:

Today I did run throughs all day which was amazing, I have been suffering all weekend from alot of illness but this made me feel so much more confident in what I was saying. Having a proper run through with all the content available and beds made it more useful as we was practicing like it was the real thing. Lucy came in all day aswell to help and have a listen and she very much helped more than my producers as they wasn’t focused. It took a few goes to get into it and have natural pauses but here is a snippet below:

Week 7: 5th March 2018 – LIVE SHOW 1 –

The day of the live show and I felt quite good surprisingly, there was elements of nerves but I was more exited down to the fact the show was kicking off and because of good run throughs yesterday I felt some confidence. I got in at 8am and sat down with Adam to discuss bullet points to talk about in ‘Natalie Plays’. As Adam is the coach, he is going to be the one with the information on the console, game and franchise and I will be narrating what I am doing and how I find it etc. 9AM – 10AM we had another run through in studio 6 which went very good so I was hoping it’s not too good to be true. From 11-12 I took a de stress and wanted to have time to myself to gather my thoughts and not over stress over everything. I know that I had prepared alot for this show and I know what I am doing so there was no need for me to sit there and do work, I printed off my script and just had my lunch. From 12 I listened to ‘State Of Play’ and the time flew by.

Personal thoughts: For the first show, I thought that it went better than expected. In terms of me, I did everything that I could and I feel that my hardworking paid off. At the beginning I was very nervous not sure if that was shown in my voice but I know that next week I can work on that. I thought ‘Natalie Plays’ went better than I expected too and having Adam read the facts and me commenting on whats going on worked really well, it was very fun and I won too to make it better!

We got feedback after ‘Natalie Plays’ and our show was positive, the comments on the levels was down to my producer and assistant producer so I take that on board but that is out of my hands. The comment on more of my experience and talk about what games the songs are from is frustrating because I had a previous script which included more of my experiences and more of what games they were from however I got told to cut down talking about me and shouldn’t say what every song is from. So now this feedback has been said, I am able to go back to what I originally wanted to do which is good.

Tuesday 6th:

We discussed the feedback in the chat with myself, Mark and Abbi and I also spoke to Lucy about her personal thoughts of my performance and if she has anything to add. We all know now what needs to be improved for next weeks show and I looked at the plan for next weeks show aswell as the to do list which Mark has created. I listened back to myself from yesterday and wrote personal things I need to work on.

Wednesday 7th:

Today the music was finalised and I am very happy as I can relate to alot of the tracks and the songs are all from games which is what we needed to have. Adam has worked on ‘Fifa Street’ facts and his top 3 tips for ‘Natalie Plays’ so we will catch up on Sunday to create another mini plan as we want it to sound natural but need a structure again. This weeks topics are Pokemon and Films in Games which we have secured 2 interviews for! Someone from America who is a games journalist to talk about films in games and someone from the Pokemon society is going to talk about Pokemon. I have received an update that there will be some live-streaming during my show on Monday and the last show my show could potentially be live streamed which sounds amazing, it would make the show even more fun if these elements worked. I listened back to my show and made notes on how I can improve, I feel that I need to be more confident. Today I also worked on the budget and costings of the station however there are some people that I am having to chase to get receipts.  Over the next few days I am working on more of the admin side to the station before I write my script on Friday.

Thursday 8th:

The running order and package scripts have been created and Mark is going to voice the packages again seeing with the continuity. Now I have a running order I can start to write my script as a first draft to get into the studio all day Sunday again. On Monday I am going to go around everyone quick and see what documents they have produced in the drive so that I can update my big spreadsheet in the drive which keeps a track of what everyone has done / yet to do. I will also update OB expenses when they get back to me on how much they spent this week.

Friday 9th:

I finished my off the basis of my script today as I want to ad lib more because it sounds more natural and brings my personality out. Also on Sunday when Lucy comes in to help, she does help alot with my links to bring my personality out as she knows how I am. I also started writing my interview questions. I have two interviews this week – one with a Pokemon superfan Adam Williams and the other with games journalist Ben Bertoli from USA. Here are the questions:

  

Saturday 10th:

I sat down and done some research into Pokemon as I wanted to refresh my memory in preparation for my run through tomorrow. I sat and watched the first film along with all of the episodes in the TV series. I feel more confident now as I can relax more because I have a basis of the topic. Aswell as that, I dug out my old Pokemon cards to bring in for the digital team to pop on social media so I can interact with the audience and let them tweet in there Pokemon cards.

       

Sunday 11th:

I came in for a run through feeling very under the weather after being sick alot due to illness and I was very disappointed once again with the lack of help from my team apart from Lucy. She really helped bring my personality to the script and ran through the links with me as my producer went into studio 4 with Sam and Iona to do I don’t know what. Lucy had to ring twice because we wanted to do a run through but ran out of time, this was also down to the logs not been made which was massive frustration. We had to also change a song, originally we had ‘Gangnam Style’ and the producer said it would be fine but the song came out in 2012 which doesn’t fit the remit.

Week 8: 12th March 2018 – LIVE SHOW 2

I got in at 7:45 and done my first full run through which Lucy was present in and it went well considering how I felt health wise and how yesterdays lack of full run throughs with everything in the log. Here is a little snippet how it went:

We did a live stream before hand with the ‘Gaming Guru’ where he set his best run on ‘Crash Nitro Cart’ and each presenter tried to beat it. I came third but it was all loads of fun, we spoke about what was coming up in our show so was just a fun way to get people watching and introduce Adam more to the station:

Personal Thoughts: I was disappointed in my performance compared to last week as I was more stressed and thought that showed. The reasons I was stressed because I was very disappointed during the show due to the lack of teamwork during the show. The assistant producer would not go and collect the guest which resulted in me nearly going near to my link and the assistant producer also didn’t keep an eye on timings well. I did a better job as she told me I was over when I was bang on time which was very off-putting and stress worthy for me. On top of that, some of the levels which was supposed to be done by producers wasn’t so parts sounded quiet which was saddening for me. I feel that ‘Natalie Plays’ was better this week and I am getting better at it finger crossed.

During feedback session I got an amazing comment from Fiona where she personally pointed at me and said I was very good which I couldn’t believe, it made me very motivated to go even further with this show and for the future.

• Following State of Play, there was another strong edition of Play Again. This show really benefits from the production throughout, particularly in the way it uses beds, and the way the packages are constructed
• The show has a well balanced clock and well chosen music. Featuring contributors
  from the USA also adds a different texture to the show, and is a good demonstration of how well sourced the contributors are
• Now that you have a settled format and are confident in what you aredoing, you can improve the show massively by paying attention to some basic elements. You can do a much better job of teasing ahead to items that are coming up, such as BOTW.
• Saying that you did do a good job of throwing forward to the live stream coming up at the end of the broadcast
• The BOTW feature is well produced, but this week’s contributor was quite boring. It would have been better not to run the feature or to have found another person to take part

After the show me and ‘The Gaming Guru’ went live on Twitch which he beat me this time so it’s all to play for.

The music team let me know that they have created a Spotify playlist for my show which I can refer to in my next show:

I met with the digital team at the end of the feedback session to talk about the visualised Mario Party which I cannot wait for, there will be more updates when we go in depth but this week we will be woking more on it. I also am going to be dressing up as Princess Peach.

Tuesday 13th:

Today the music has been requested and leaving them to choose the rest. We requested a track form Fifa as that is our first topic of the week and ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ as our second topic is going to be Nintendogs. Mark created a to do list for us to to for the week and Adam created his research for this weeks ‘Natalie Plays’ which is ‘Crash Bash’. At midnight we got given the music playlist and me and Mark was very disappointed, there was an A$AP Rocky song from 2013 which did not even fit our show and had to clarify that the songs should be pre 2004 as in the remit but they thought it was 2008. The other songs were just either not to date or rubbish and no variety. As Mark has been picking the tracks we have cleared it with Lucy for him to pick our music because it is very deflating as the music lifts the show and Mark always picks great tracks for me to buzz off of. It’s disappointing as they have said that they don’t understand our show but never asked for help with the music as we would have so fingers crossed the logs all get done tomorrow for us as that is the deadline. We secured an interview for the FIFA topic which I will write questions for this evening .

Wednesday 14th:

I met with Matt to create a trail for my show. He had a script ready which I recorded and I suggested that he adds in previous clips to my shows however I didn’t get the vibe that he wanted to do that. I think the trial would be better if there was clips to my show included in there. There is no update on the music. I recorded an interview for our FIFA segment however when we listened back due to the studio quality the interview is not broadcastable. When we did listen though the interview didn’t fit as the interviewee was quite boring so we were fine to scrap the item. Mark and Lucy came up with talking to Colchester Under 23s as Mark has a link that we may have a lead on. I also listened back to the show and made some notes what I need to improve on.

Thursday 15th:

Today was a frustrating day – my producer is still waiting to hear back from interviewees for the FIFA segment so fingers crossed and he also recorded both packages. There was a technical hitch with the studio which means that he may have to re record tomorrow. With the Nintendogs segment it isnt running as smoothly as other weeks have. My assistant producer cant find an interviewee and is refusing to come in and record vox pops for the package, me and my producer both suggested it needs something more as this package could be really fun but she just wouldn’t agree. It is frustrating as tomorrow is last day in uni that people will be accessible for vox pops. My producer said that she will have to think of a game or a fun item to fill the time as there is no interviewee and a dull package. I am currently looking for interviewees aswell to help. The producer has created the running order so now I can write the script tomorrow. Music finally got picked today even though the logs should have been created yesterday but there was a power cut at around 6 when the music team came in to do the logs. Dan and James have popped in the chat that studio 4 is out of bounds all Monday as they need to set up State of Plays live stream so it is worrying that they only have tomorrow to do the logs because audio drama is going on all day until 6:15. The music was chosen by Mark and Iona and it is miles better I really like the selection.

Friday 16th:

I sent a studio access email to Matthew and my producer re voiced the packages after the technical glitch. and we are currently as a group deciding on a fun game to fill for the Nintendogs section due to not having an interviewee. I wrote my script and took on board the feedback so I throw forward to Callums show, talk about Fay and Tonys aswell as all the digital team are doing. For my presenter research I replayed the game Nintendogs to created talking points in my script and for FIFA I researched game modes but as I am useless on the game I can play on that for the topic.

Saturday 17th:

I spent 8 hours doing admin today, I went through the drive tidied it and told everyone exactly what they need to do before the deadline and asked them to let me know if it will not be done so I can ignore Matthew. I re created the spread sheet which looks like this now:

I created this in hope that the team will help me and fill it out once they have uploaded an item like I have asked. I updated the ‘Roles’ document which people are starting to fill out and made a folder so I can store all of the receipts online aswell. I have set a deadline of tomorrow night for everyone to write their role description and to upload anything that they have done and I will be checking. As of yet no one has got back to me saying that there are specific documents that won’t be done in time for the deadline so now it is on there heads. Cleaning everything up took so long but it made the drive look a whole lot more organised and easier to find items. I offered my help to anyone on any documents so I hope that it all gets done in time as I have sent several messages explaining.

Today I also sent my voiceovers the advertisement I created and we agreed on a game to play in my Nintendog’s item. Mark came up with the idea of reading our funny amazon reviews of different DS Games and a caller has to guess what they are, it can be really fun and be well produced so he is going to crack on with that tomorrow. Afia popped a message in the group chat asking for people to help with articles so I am going to write one on Pac-Man and as of yet no one else volunteered so I said I’d write the other two if no one claims them tomorrow. I am coming in to do run throughs tomorrow I am very nervous because I don’t want this show to dip.

Tonight I wrote 2 articles for the website for Afia one on Pac-Man and one on over sexualisation on women in gaming:

Sunday 18th:

I got my DS from home and brought a new dalmatian puppy called ‘Unlocked’ for tomorrows live stream. I came into uni for run throughs however due to the lack of contribution to some members that never happened. Mark segued all of our show as he usually does and I read through my script with Lucy. I was very disappointed and stressed that I could not have a run through but fingers crossed everything will be fine. When I got home, I looked through all the folders in the drive and the spreadsheet as I gave everyone a deadline of tonight. Alot of people have not done what I have asked so I will be having words and chasing tomorrow. No one has still come to me and said that no docs will be not done so I have done everything I can, it’s on the individuals now.

INSERT RUN THROUGH CLIP

Week 9: Monday 19th March – LIVE SHOW 3

I got in at 7:45 and started run throughs. The one thing that is very frustrating is that the running order is never complete until 2 hours before my show – the durations are never done and neither are the scheduled tweets so when it should be time for me to run through we are constantly stopping because the running order is not complete and Lucy does keep chasing this up however every week it happens so it is very frustrating for me. I dashed off to pre rec something for the live stream as I had a meeting so we pretending that I was too busy petting my dogs in time for the show:

From 11-12 I chased documents that hadn’t been done which I had asked for and I was also there to answer any questions and clarify with people if they were unsure so I am hoping everyone pulls together and gets the docs done by Friday as I have spent alot of time and effort into organising it all. I listened to ‘State Of Plays’ show as a relax and then I was on air.

Personal Thoughts: I never know how the show goes as I don’t necessarily hear it at the time but for me I felt more comfortable as I know the format and structure. Lucy was doing timings this week and I felt more comfortable.

This was the feedback I got given via email:

I am slightly confused as I got praised for talking into the ads and that the other shows needed to start to do it but I will take that feedback on board and make sure that I am defiantly doing it at every opportunity. I am having several meetings with Dan and James and they are always there for me if I need help / don’t understand something for this weeks show which is good and Friday will be all day run throughs.

Jono really liked my presenting which made me feel very good as this feedback does make me happy as I want to pursue a career in presenting.

After my show we played ‘Natalie Play’s on Twitch and I got beat! I also gave one last admin warning for documents to be complete by Friday.

After the debrief me, Lucy, Mark, James, Dan and Iona stayed behind to discuss next weeks Mario Party. We defined the music as they need to be decided by tomorrow and wrote notes to create a running order which also needs to be done for tomorrow. There was a tad discussions about different things but we are going to run through all Friday and try have a ‘Mario themed Party’ so we can include music from Mario but also party music. We would like to set the scene as much as possible and have people dress up too. We are going to write for radio then change elements to suit the digital side of things.

Wednesday 21st:
Mark created the running order yesterday and music was chosen today so I wrote my script from that. I went from my feedback from last weeks so and I included room for the listeners to tweet me in about interviews and items. I also listened back to the show today and picked out what worked well, after listening back I think this was my best week as I have got more confident in the show. Yesterday Abbi secured an interview with someone who runs a Nintendo Arcade so I wrote questions for it as the interview is Thursday night. We asked him to come in live however he is working. I also secured another interview with Brett Martin who holds the world record for the biggest video games collection, the majority being Mario. I spent the night doing admin stuff and chasing people yet again as some people still have not what I have asked and I am scared come Friday when me and Dan curating the folders it will be us two completing the docs. I wrote an article for the website about Mario – I’ve been briefed to write 200 words however it looks very minimal:

Thursday 22nd:
I was at work today but I still reminded everyone that tomorrow at 6pm is the deadline for all documents. After work I had an interview with the Nintendo Arcade man but as soon as I got to uni he pulled out saying he had a hard day at work which was very frustrating so I was quite stressed as I had not heard from Brett Martin all day but half hour later he emailed me to say he was ready! Dan was with me and we filmed a Skype interview so on the live stream you will be able to see it. He wasn’t a good speaker and would answer the questions very quickly but we are squashed for time so the 3 and half minutes fitted perfectly.

Friday 23rd:
Today was a very long and frustrating day. Mark changed the running order however it was supposed to be finished in the morning for me to rearrange my script but it did not get finished until we were supposed to be doing run throughs which made me very angry as he was just messing around in Sadie with one of the music team not helping me at all when I had asked for help 3 times. I am still chasing people for documents in the google drive which I shouldn’t have to be doing. When we finally got to do run throughs Dan, Lucy and James were massive helps, Abbi was not present as she had an interview but we have briefed her that she is in charge of social media on the day. The run throughs went well considering and we were all happy but events that went on during the day were very frustrating for me. A member of the music team kept coming in to distract Mark meaning that he would not direct or help me it was all James, Dan and Lucy and she was not getting on with PRS for music and gave me attitude when I told her for the thousandth time it has to be done for 6 – which I am still waiting for it. Once we had finished run throughs we stayed behind and built the log because the member of the music team refused and would not do it which was just not on and very immature. The attitudes are atrocious. I messaged the station manager but I got not help as she stuck up for them not doing the documents when I have evidence I have told everyone so many times it is in for 6pm. I have now given her until 7pm tomorrow so it does not let the team down, if it wasn’t for the team I would not tolerate it. Me and Dan then went to the library at 9pm to start converting the files to PDF to put all in one document to make it look more presentable but as PRS is not completed I am now having to come into uni Sunday morning to complete it. I sent a studio access email to Matthew.

Saturday 24th:
I am still waiting for PRS to be completed. I re worked my script after having run throughs yesterday as there are some parts I need to drop. I also wrote an article about Pokemon and Nintendogs:

I watched my run throughs back and I need to be more confident in my delivery and have abit more fun but as it was the first few times doing it that comes with feeling more secure.

The extended deadline of 7pm for music team to complete PRS was still not hit which is getting ridiculous as everyone else has pulled their weight to complete the deadlines given. It is out of my hands now and I will be compiling the PDFs tomorrow so whatever is missing will not be part of the final paperwork.

Sunday 25th:
Still waiting one PRS docs to be complete …
I started PDFing all the documents and corresponded that to my spreadsheet so I kept up to date. I also went over my script in preparation for tomorrow.

Monday 26th:
Today was the last day of pop up and it was very emotional! I was prepping for the show from 8-12:45 and running through with lights and cameras. My team were massively helpful and we all put alot of effort into it.

Everything went to plan and timings were perfect, I was over the moon and I really came into my own  on this. As a person this has defiantly made me more confident in my presenting as a career and even considering TV presenting.

After the show we had a quick break then it was time for the trophy ceremony which was also live streamed. James and Dan along with Lucy have done an amazing job.

I finally finished the PDFs and the folder after a long time coming and completed the folder, a big sign of relief !

I am very sad this module is over

What a lovely way to end an intense but fun module! An experience I will never forget and defiantly learn from!

Overall I did:
– Present Play Again
– Production Manager
– Manage Accounts
– Create an advert
– Take minutes of meetings
– Help out with production of my show
– Source guests
– Write questions for guests
– Write 5 articles for the website
– Be an ‘online’ presenter
– Create an admin spreadsheet so everyone can keep on track with their documents
– Create an accounts spreadsheet
– Help people with claiming expenses back
– In depth research for presenting, games and guests