Evaluation

Evaluation

As part of my coursework for AS Level Media Studies, I was required to compile and produce an audio project, with an approximate length of 5 minutes, designed to simulate a typical radio news bulletin.  This process involved fabricating and developing the stories that would be covered, recording rellevent audio content and consolodating the individual recordings, after editing,  into a single recording for later broadcast.

As mentioned above, a significant convention of radio news was challenged immediately: the stories detailed in the bulletin were, either in whole or in part, fabricated.  In true radio news, this is an unacceptable practice, as the purpose of such a broadcast is simply to deliver fact to its audience.  As a result of challenging such a fundamental convention, a larger amount of time was required to produce the project: the successful fabrication and development of plausable news stories required listening to several different news bulletins over a long period of time and applying personal experience to the stories heard.  Such personal experience involved relating the stories to current audience concerns such as unemployment.

In order to gain the most from my listening, I frequently listened to bulletins broadcast on different radio stations.  BBC IPlayer became invaluable: I was able to listen to a news bulletin at 2:00 PM on a local commercial radio station in Hereford and then compare it to the bulletins heard at 2:00 PM on the same day on BBC radios 2 and 4, both national services.  My listening to, and analysis of, this wide variety of news programming had an extremely positive influence on my compilation and production style: with the possible exception of the start and end, it is my belief that my project closely resembles a true radio news production with respect to the vocabulary used, the style of reading and the inclusion of additional personell such as reporters and members of the public.

All recordings of additional personell (such as those described above) were made on an Edirol R09 digital audio recorder in WAV format and subsequently imported into Sound Forge, a Windows-based software application, for editing and other post-production work such as normalisation.  Many of these personell improvised their pieces having been given a basic outline of the topic under discussion and their roll within it.  The eventual recording of my news reading, and assembly of the final project, was also undertaken in Sound Forge, with additional editing as necessary.  The latter part of this challenges another key radio news convention: most radio news bulletins, particularly from the BBC, are read live in realtime, making editing impossible.  The ability to edit resulted in my taking less care when reading.

The use of editing also enabled me to mix music after the recording of all of the vocal parts.  As such, I was able to edit the music so that it fit the voice under which it is played exactly.  This, however, is not a great conventional challenge, as when music is used in radio news the newsreader is aware of the amount of time for which it will play so that he/she can accurately coordinate his/her reading.

My media project represents a wide variety of social groups, from young criminals to elderly christians.  It does this by presenting a varied selection of stories:
* The story about the car factory dismissing late workers represents the social group of typical factory workers in and around an industreal town, which is apparent by the regional accents of the workers;
* The story about the church which was attacked by arsonists represents the views of traditionalist Christians and those who have a more modern outlook;
* The story about the wind farm in Hay on Wye represents typical countryside culture, as well as environmental concerns and climate change debates;
* And the story about the stealing of money from a school sale negatively represents youth culture.
My listening and analysis suggests that this is typical of many radio news programs, particularly in the case of the stories about the church and the wind farm as both parties involved are given an opportunity to articulate their perspective.

As stated throughout most of this document, my media project, if used, would be distributed by the radio industry as a news bulletin aired during the early evening.  It was designed for use by a ficticious commercial radio station, Three Counties Radio, which broadcasts throughout the Midlands, Worcestershire and Herefordshire.  However, it does not make reference to any particular radio station so it may be broadcast by any outlet if they wish.

My media project is designed to be heard by a rellatively young, yet mature, audience: it was influenced by a wide selection of news bulletins, as shown above, which enabled me to compile a bulletin which cators to the needs of such an audience, for example, copious detail, tight production and rellatively modern theme music.  Having played my production to a number of people, I believe that it has been successful in this area: one of the sounhd technicians from the music technology department at my college said that, from a technical standpoint, it sounded very proffessional.  Other listeners also said that it was well-produced, though it was pointed out that the reporting was obviously scripted.  It was also said that the ending was a little rushed and that more care and attention could have been paid to it.

During the production of this project I have learned a great deal about, and substantially improved my skill in using, the technology which can be used in the radio news industry, both through trial and error and the application of information presented in an interview with James McDonald of the BBC which I, as well as other members of my class, conducted in November last year.  Specifically, as stated above, I have improved my recording technique using the Edirol R09 portable audio recorder and my editing and production technique using the Sound Forge software.  I have learned that the acoustics of a room are often enhanced by use of post-production tools, particularly Dynamic Range Compression (DRC), making it preferable to edit before such tools are utilised.  Even then, it is adviseable to pay close attention to editing work to ensure that unwanted acoustic glitches do not occur.

I believe that I have improved my media skills significantly since the production of my foundation project in January this year, as described in detail in various places throughout this document.  I have learned the importance of ensuring that voice clips of external personell are brief, but meaningful: my foundation project featured a rather long clip of Brian Hartgen which, though interesting, could have been reduced in length if more careful editing was undertaken.  I have also developed a better realisation of what can feasibly be produced, using the resources available to me to their fullest potential whilst retaining a high technical standard.

I believe that the production of my radio news project has been a worthwhile learning experience and has given me the confidence to attempt more complex productions in the forthcoming years.