Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Podcast Reflection

This was a bit difficult, and I'm not sure where to start.  I guess the script will do for now.  I had an idea on what I wanted the podcast topic to be: fandom.  Outside of that, I didn't really know where I wanted the conversation to go.  I had a few bullet points in my script, but that's it.  I never had a clear example of what a podcast script was supposed to look like.  My entire basis was timestamps in a YouTube podcast that listed where topics shifted, that's it.  My script ended up looking like an amputee's skeleton.  The bones are there, but it was missing a lot.  At the time I was writing it, I didn't have any solid answer from what guests would be on, so names were kept out on purpose.  It's tough to anticipate and script an entire twenty-minute conversation that hasn't even taken place yet.  I didn't even have a proper scripted introduction.

Recording was hit or miss.  Originally, I planned on using my roommate Joe's Yeti microphone, but he ended up taking that home the weekend before.  We then tried using our gaming headsets, and after some sound tests it sounded like a phone conversation quality-wise.  Ironically, we ended up using the mic in Joe's phone, propped upside-down with a few boxes of Ramen noodles.  Sound test sounded decent, and we rolled with it.  Joe then e-mailed me the sound file, and I had my raw footage.

Editing. Was. A pain.  I started with about twenty-six minutes and change of raw footage, and ended with about twenty-two of edited footage.  We would pause in our sentences every once in a while, but Joe (no offense to him) would do this every few words.  Eric was much better; I only had to edit out a small handful of those pauses, and I was somewhere in the middle.  There's two or three instances where I edited out pauses, but it sounds like I edit out more than that, as if I was changing someone's words by getting rid of a "not" or something like that.  I tried many times to get those moments to sound organic, but its just the way we say things that makes even the unedited footage sound edited.  I'm not sure how well I'm conveying what I'm trying to say, so I'll leave it at that I never altered anyone's meanings or stances on any topic, it just sounds like it, and I couldn't fix that.

Music?  God, I still can't find anything.  I'm writing this before I try and find stuff to edit in, to be completely honest.  After weeks of thinking about this project, I still have ZERO idea on what music could be used, and where it could be implemented.  I honestly feel like it would intrude on the flow of the conversation.  Throwing music or sound effects into a conversation just doesn't sound right to me, even at the beginning or the end.  I don't see how it could benefit what I have now.  It would be like throwing in a poorly rendered CGI dinosaur walking in front of a camera shot in a film that was already released twenty years ago *cough, cough* Star Wars Special Editions *cough, cough*.

Making this podcast was a rough ride.  A bumpy road, but it came with a great view.  My script was God awful, but my guests were willing to record with me the next day.  Editing out pauses every few seconds was a pain in the ass, but the discussion sounds WORLDS better for it.  The two hours of just editing it took to get it to that point was well worth the effort, and I'm proud of what I have today.  I always joked at how my definition of a podcast is "a conversation you can't take part in" but now I got to lead that conversation, and it felt great.

No comments:

Post a Comment