Production Week 1 Blog
This week we have had our first early meetings to establish the content we want to produce in order to establish a successful New Music Radio Station. First we assigned roles to each persons interest, and added support roles for each person to have someone to work with. For example, the Head of Music and the OB Producer will be working together to offer each other support and share the responsibility to create a more collaborative environment. We also assigned tasks to each person to complete ahead of our meetings next week (12.11.17). Our main focus for this week visually is to create our social media channels, our website, and our logo. Audio wise we are working on scripting our ads, creating a playlist, and scheduling guests before next week. At our next session we have two external contributors coming in to record our imaging, we will be flushing out our ad scripts, creating a clock, and will also begin to create content for the show. As Editor I am acting mostly as a sounding board this week to provide support in all areas. Specifically I am supporting the socials team to create online content, supporting the music team in finding new artists, finding potential sponsors, and overseeing the ads team to give them the sign off on any ideas.
Key points in our last meeting:
- Decided our station name: REFRESH London
- Our Slogan: Quenching your thirst for new music / Thirsty for new music
- Assigned key roles and assignments
Attached is the minutes from our first meeting
Production week 2 Blog
This week after my meeting with Mathew about the progress of my group we had a very productive session. I decided to meet with each of the groups individually in order to go over what needed to be done and hear any concerns they may have. I think this was the best way to delegate tasks while making sure all of the members of the group were on track and not feeling overwhelmed. I also worked with a voice over artist to record one round of our station imaging. We will also have an additional artist coming in to record the same imaging next week in order to have a diversity of voices for the stations sound. I also re created the website on an alternate platform to the one we had originally used as I felt i could customize it to our brand more successfully. After the session I checked in with everyone individually to get a status update and assigned tasks to be completed by our next meeting. Below is a comprehensive lists of all the things completed this week and the tasks to be completed by next week Thursday.
Completed:
Music:
– Finished music policy
– Finished playlist
– Guest and backup guest booked
– Live session named and branded
– Chose time and format for live session
Ads
– 11/15 ads scripted
– 7/15 ads recorded and produced, the rest to be done by next Thursday
News:
– Decided on news format
– Delegated news roles for the day of broadcast
– Found news bed
Socials:
-Began customizing channels with branding
– Began writing draft content to schedule
– Re-made website
Presenters/Show:
– Decided on two features: “The Sip” weekly music news, “The Showdown” Kaylee and Billy each bring in a new track to play for each other on air at the beginning of the week, listeners vote on twitter for their favorite track and that becomes the track of the week.
– Brainstormed ideas for the competition
– Recorded imaging voices
– Found beds for show
To be completed before next session:
– Finish scripting and producing remaining ads
– Download all playlist music to be uploaded to myriad
– Update website
– Finalize imaging
– Decide on competition
– collect materials for live session
– Add song times to clock
Production Week 3 Blog
This week we worked on tying up the loose ends ands completing any official forms while taking into account the feedback we got from Mathew, ie: the music policy, the clock, the running order. I was not available in person for my team this weeks session but I assisted from home and met with Holly via Skype to aid in anyway possible.
In production this week we also began thinking about the production surrounding our features and competitions. We also decided to re-record and produce new imaging to better fit the sound of our station. Both Holly and I found the beds and sound effects for the show and the imaging and will finish the production on both before the pilot (as we are waiting on the new voice recordings from kaylee to be done on Monday).
In music, Pheobe and Jason created a poster and sent out emails to encourage students to attend our live session. Pheobe also made the logo for our live session and created a definitive list for the materials needed to brand the live session. Jason also uploaded all music files onto Myriad and programmed in the intros and the hooks.
In ads, we gathered feedback from the listening session with Mathew and edited the existing ads to fit the feedback. Ola, Shammy and Billy will also complete the remaining ads by our test run before this weeks Pilot. We also amended where the ads would sit in the running order so that they are more consistent in placement and running time.
In news and socials, Kate and Bethany worked together to create chemistry and decide on the flow of the news bulletin. They also decided on the production surrounding the news ie; the ident leading into it, the bed, the structure, and how they would come out of it.
I also finished the website this week, the only thing that needs to be added in is the pictures of the presenters- to be taken after our trial run before the pilot this week. https://refreshlondon.weebly.com/
I have attached our final:
Production Week 4 Blog
This week we worked on improving upon the notes given on our pilot show. We needed to:
– Fix levels across the music and ads
– Find more beds
-Produce more imaging for the news
– Finish OB branding
– Finalize presenter scripts
– Finalize clocks and running order
As the editor I went back to the brief and re read everyones individual tasks and had a check in with my group members to make sure everyone was on track and would have everything completed by the live show. I also met with our head of music and our OB producer to make sure the changes to the levels in Myriad were satisfactory and that the branding for the OB would work with the brand of the station. I also ran through the presenter scripts with Kaylee and Billy to make sure it would sound smooth and natural.
In production, Holly and I worked together and used the notes from last week to adjust the clock and the running order. We took into account the feedback about talking out of/ into the news, and the advice to only use idents where the presenters couldn’t say the same thing themselves. We also tweaked the running order of the Juicebox to make the transition between studio and OB sound cleaner. I also created more content for the website, and took pictures of Kaylee and Billy for the socials team to use during the show.
Documents from this week:
Production Week 5 / Post Show Blog
This week leading up to the show everyone worked on putting all of the final touches on the elements they are responsible for. For the news team Jason and I created the additional idents for the news bulletin. Ads team wrote up their briefs and Jason adjusted the levels, and we chose which ads worked best next to each other in the log. In production, Kaylee created the content sheet for “The Sip” and I worked with the presenters to choose who would say what in the scripts.
On Wednesday evening Jason noticed the log had been changed in Myriad from a scheduling error so I met with him to make sure it was all sorted out and matched the running order again. I also met with Phoebe on Wednesday evening to check on the set up for “The Juicebox” and make sure we were both clear on the set up for the next day and what equipment we still needed.
On the morning of the show I met with the teams individually to provide support and sign off on any last minute tweaks. I also sat down with the news team to make sure the news stories were aimed at our target audience and assisted Phoebe in the set up of “The Juicebox.” During the show I was listening aptly through the live stream in order to monitor levels and provide feedback to the studio. I also worked with the socials team to create and approve content for the Instagram and the Twitter. Before links I would quickly check in with the producer and the presenters to make sure we were to time and had a clear idea of the content for the link.
Reflection
All around I think it was a massive improvement from our pilot show and I am very proud of the work each of the members of the group put in leading up to the show and on the day of. I feel that everyone shared the work and completed all of the tasks I lined out for them. In cases where group members needed extra support, they all gave me adequate notice and worked with me and the other group members to make sure all the work would be covered.
I learned a plethora of skill in completing this assignment. Many of things we learned together as a group through the process of trial an error, and in some cases, from youtube videos. As an editor I learned a lot about people management and how to be the most efficient leader. I learned what strategies work best in delegating and wha tactics of instruction my group members responded best to. I also learned about branding a station and how to make all of the individual pieces (news, ads, imaging) cohesive in order to make a clear sound. And finally I learned more about Myriad. Working with Jason our head of music, we learned a lot about music programing, making a clock and matching running order, and editing within Myriad.
As editor I:
– Worked with each member in the group and with the specific groups to outline their tasks and offer support in areas where they needed more help; finding beds for the presenters and news team, brainstorming brands for the ads team, recording voice overs for the producer, helping head of music create a log in Myriad, writing features with the presenters, structuring the outline of the OB with the OB producer, and creating social media content and channels with the social team
– Reviewed all material that would go on air and made the final call in order to stay on brand: I listened through the news bulletins and made changes to stories that I felt were more relevant or highlighted parts of news stories to target them to our audience, made sure all of the ads were appropriate for our station and that they were grouped accordingly, decided all songs on the playlist had to have come out in the last 6 months and all be by unsigned urban artists, scripted the links features with the presenters to make sure the energy and tone of the show was consistent, reviewed the voice over artist and made a call to re record to stay in brand, found the beds for the imaging, and worked with Phoebe to make the final call on the OB set up.
–Created the Website and its content: https://refreshlondon.weebly.com/
–Created the show clocks (hard copies with Mathew and Tom)
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Wrote the presenter scripts then edited them off of what the presenters did during the run throughs
Link Scripts