An audio-based digital conversation about a particular topic that can be downloaded is typically what describes a podcast. The topic can be of anything and they can adhere to any demographic of people. The word is relatively new and in the new age of technology, there are millions of podcasts you can listen to. 

In 2005, two years after the first mainstream podcasts, Apple offered more than 3,000 free podcasts which allowed listening everywhere and was more discoverable to millions of people. With no ads and censorship, it was very enticing for a large number of people. The new addition of the iPhone 3G and Android-powered G1 allowed listeners to download audio files anywhere.   The industry grew and money was made through advertiser callout and direct-response marketing; “This episode is brought to you by …” and “Get 50% off towards any … using code ….” As podcasting grew so did advertising recognition, and eventually, podcasters had a chance to make money.

Which brings us here, wherein PLP we are creating a whole series of episodes about various prompts that are centred around our topic. I chose to make mine centring on basketball, hard work, motivation and all the dotted lines in between. I wanted to make a chill energetic trailer, using slow blues played on my piano and a concise script that is simple and well-paced. Throughout this project, we learnt valuable skills to complete the final product and learn skills for the upcoming projects.

The Music, script and editing all came together as a unified podcast trailer. The three aspects of the podcast fit nicely and all three features were at a high quality of production. In quarantine, I learnt to play the piano through YouTube videos and I thought it would be a good idea to use some of these new-found skills. I used my midi keyboard and played a slow blues song into GarageBand. The edit feature came in great use as I was able to easily change a wrong note or correct the time to the backing track I chose. I learnt the blues chord progression and scale to be able to improvise on every single note.

The script only went through 2 iterations and I mostly only made small revisions as I recorded each take. From my draft to my final product, I only added more things to say as I thought I had a good description of the basics but I didn’t describe enough of what made mine different from everyone else’s on the same topic. The recording wasn’t as hard as I originally had imagined and I was to record my script pretty quickly with enthusiasm and emphasis. The Recording sounded natural and it conveyed the message through a short 1-minute podcast.

Editing was probably the easiest part of the process as I knew all of GarageBand’s features. This didn’t change the quality of the product but rather made it possible to have a polished podcast in the very short time we were given. I took lots of inspiration for my podcast from “ETCs w/ KD” and the many basketball podcasts I listen to.

Identity was a major part of the podcast, making it different from the rest and distinguishing it from other similar podcasts. Defining identity in-class we decided it was “characteristics determining someone or something.” Your identity is YOU. The place you come from, your physique, culture, religion and many more, define you. It is the shaping traits that make you, you. Learning about our identity I created a post where I described Identity using assignments and in-class definitions.

Describing our own identity we made an animated GIF using Keynote. This was the main factor that made me choose my podcast topic and it highlighted what was important to my life. The core aspects made me who I am and without them, I would be a different person.

Practicing and learning, we had 5 milestones to apply leading up to the trailer. We learnt how to incorporate our voice to a music track, interpret feedback and improve the mistakes, and make an engaging podcast for the targeted demographic. Making a plan, I covered my title, type of podcast, the demographic, reason to listen, segments and a rough script. With feedback, I made a stronger outline and then became on the first draft of the trailer. 

My first draft was not good to say simply and it had a lot of rough edges and imperfections. The music was bad and didn’t fit in with my topic, it wasn’t the slow blues theme I had wanted, I needed to add a backing track to my music and get rid of the mic feedback. With the Charette protocol, I wasn’t able to receive that much feedback but I was told I was going in the right direction. 

This is only the start of the journey and we have many more episodes ahead of us where we will elevate our skills through more experience.