Blog Post 1 – 10/10/17

For the Digital Entrepreneurship project I have chosen to focus on RAF Apprenticeship schemes. There are camps situated all around the country and each base focus’ on multiple apprenticeship subjects. There are 50 roles that an apprentice can choose from; ranging from Aviation to IT and catering. I was thinking about taking part in one of these schemes when deciding what i wanted to do after school so I have previously had research into the scheme, also a member of my family is in the RAF therefore he will also be able to help provide me with extra information. I am about to collate together an email to send to the Media and communications officer of RAF Cosford camp.

In this email I will propose my idea:

I want to create a recruitment promo piece. I am still undecided on whether I will create a 2 part documentary style piece or keep it as one 20-minute documentary. I want to focus on the excitement of being an apprentice in the RAF , also I want to include the benefits from being part of the team. I will include stories from real apprentices in the RAF and get them to share their story; how much being in the scheme has changed their lives and ask what they had to give up to gain what the scheme offers. I will also include sound effects/actuality of being on base. I really want to focus on making this piece intense but exciting, i want it to be engaging and encouraging.

Once I have received a response I think this will then give me a better idea on the way I want to produce my project and hopefully I will be able to liase with the communications officer and maybe they will also direct me with a sense of what they might want produced. I am very excited to start on this project!

Blog Post 2 – 24/10/17

Throughout the week I have been listening to audio already been made regarding RAF recruitments and it has inspired me to make sure my digital piece is exciting and intense. For example this is what I want to avoid creating: https://youtu.be/qozTKbi-6oI as this piece of audio – yes accompanied by visuals, but it is very boring and not very stimulating. However this is the style I want to try and follow: https://youtu.be/GcRl-J76bvo – this audio builds a journey from beginning to end there is excitement and intensity as it tells a story. I really want to have actuality and sound related to my topic to help drive the narrative.

I also have sorted which roles I am going to be reviewing within the apprenticeships scheme. I will be talking to 4 apprentices’ and 2 instructors to make sure I cover all angles of an apprenticeship.

The schools I will be talking to are:

• Aerosystems Engineer and Management Training School
• Defence School of Photography
• No 1 Radio School
• School of Physical Training

This will give me a range of interviews from different roles and hopefully open listeners eyes to what they could be part of.

I have arranged to visit Cosford at the beginning of November to carry out my interviews.

Blog Post 3 – 8/11/17

This week I have visited RAF Cosford and begun my interviews. Currently I have interviewed 3 people this morning and have many more to talk to this afternoon and all day tomorrow. So far, so good. I have managed to get a range of RAF personnel of different ages / trades and time spent in the RAF. At the moment I am struggling to find females to talk to. However I am working on this as I feel it is important that it’s not a male heavy piece as this will put a biased view on the RAF.

I am also organising to visit again at the end of the month to speak to a few more people – however this is very close to the deadline of the project so I am going to edit together what I have and create my outline for my piece so then if I get some more audio that I feel will fit better then I can easily take out and insert. I have also begun recording sound effects to accompany the narration of the piece (some of these may need to be found online as I cannot get access to things like helicopters and airplanes. I am determined to keep this piece an exciting stimulating piece and not something that people will hear the title of and expect a boring interview. My aim is not to create an interview but a promotion piece.

So far I am very happy with how everything is moving along.

Blog Post 4 – 21/11/17

At this stage I have recorded pretty much all of the audio I need and managed to put a rough cut together to be reviewed. I was struggling with finding the right music beds to put alongside the audio, therefore for this cut I haven’t paid too much attention to the music, but more focussed on the organisation of the audio and how the journey is being created through this piece. The visit this week has had to be cancelled due to a lack of communication which cannot be helped due to the media communications officer being very busy. However I managed to get in touch with an RAF personnel to provide me with another piece of audio regarding what the camp has to offer.

I am aiming for another rough cut to be completed by next week for another review.

Blog Post 5 – 5/12/17

This week I have completed my second rough cut and the feed back has been positive, my piece is much tighter than before and all the music now fades at the correct moments. I have adjusted levels throughout so the audio sounds professional and smooth. I am going to leave this piece for a few days and then come back and listen with fresh ears so I am able to pick up on a few last things that I haven’t noticed before so I can get them edited before the deadline.

Blog Post 6 11/12/17

This week I re-listened several times to the audio piece I have created, I re-recorded some links and made it tighter. I have polished my pitch and other work that is accompanying my audio piece. I am happy with how my progress has gone throughout this project and hoping that people who hear it will enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed creating it.