Planning a Podcast
This week, I decided to create a short PSA on drinking and driving. This topic allowed me to explore creative ways to lure in an audience and educate others on a topic that can be hard to discuss or think about on a regular basis. To help bring my vision to life, I conducted some research, created a mind map on what I think of when I think about drunk driving and wrote a script.
This blog will go over my podcast planning processes.
Readings
To start, I read chapter eight of "The Bare Bones Camera Course for Film and Video," by Tom Schroeppel. This chapter is all about sound and how humans perceive it. Schroeppel goes on about the importance of good quality microphones, clean sound, the use of wild effects, recording clean and clear audio and targeting the viewers.
Choosing the right mic, recording clean and clear quality and using wild effects (special sound effects) are what will bring a podcast to the next level.
Next, I read articles via "The Podcast Host." The articles primarily helped me better understand scriptwriting. Some of the techniques mentioned in one of the articles is to write word-per-word in the script and create a bullet point plan. Writing word-per-word helped me read along out loud and see what needs to be cut. Using bullet points helped me better visualize the flow of my podcast.
Research to Inform
To help inspire me when creating my podcast PSA, I listened to a few different samples of audio.
American Scandal: Tuskegee Syphilis Study
"American Scandal" is one of my favorite podcasts to listen to. Between the production, storytelling, and use of sound effects, the stories always keep me engaged and teach historic events in an entertaining manner. Specifically, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study series kept me hooked and inspired me for my script writing. The way the narrator differentiates characters through his narration, dictation and vocal tones makes the story easy to follow and understand. The use of background music and sound effects is also well thought out. The overall production inspired me for my PSA piece.
Crime Junkie: MISSING Rachel Good
Between the relaxed, casual tone of the conversation between the hosts as well as the background music, this podcast never fails to lure me in and leave me wanting to hear more. The clear audio and laid-back narration makes me feel as if I were sitting in the podcast studio with the hosts, learning more and more about true crime cases. The placement and suspense of the music also adds color to the podcast. Overall, this is a style of podcasting I gravitate toward and will use as inspiration for my podcast projects.
Pizza Hut/World Cup Radio Ad
Even though this is a Pizza Hut commercial, there are production elements that I look to as references when editing podcasts. For example, the balance between the sound effects and narration is perfectly clear as I can understand the narrator and still sense the ambiance of the story. The subtle use of added sound effects also create more color to the story without being overbearing.
The Podcast Plan
After conducting research on planning for a podcast, I created a mind map and script for my drunk-driving PSA. Below is a copy of the plan: