Investigative Journalism Podcast: Dress Code
Link to the podcast on SoundCloud: http://bit.ly/1Q7A9li
Reflection:
- What are you most proud of with this podcast?
With this podcast, I am most proud of my numerous interviews. I conducted 7 interviews in total for this project, of which I used soundbites from 5. I personally think that I managed to keep my interviewee, whomever they might be, comfortable. I did so by using a conversational tactic I had used in the past in more casual situations - making the conversation more about them than about me. People feel comfortable talking about themselves; it’s a topic they know rather well. According to my own personal observations, when you show genuine interest in a person’s opinions, they are more likely to feel more comfortable and share about themselves with you. That said, I also made sure that I shared some stuff about me - I didn’t share my own opinions and ideas (lest theirs be tinged by my own), but rather shared personal anecdotes related to what they were saying.
- What was the biggest challenge with the podcast?
Most definitely editing it. Technology and I aren’t exactly on the best terms, and Garageband just would. Not. Work. For me. I ended up having to use iMovie, and while that was a bit more familiar and user-friendly, I still ended up having a few audio glitches which I was unable to fix.
- What do you wish you had more time to fine-tune?
My jingle. I wish I had more time to scroll through the many jingle options there were. I ended up going with just the 3rd option I heard on Free Music Archive, which I honestly thought was a bit cliche, but went with it anyway as it was the best one in the top 10.
- What unintended learning did you discover?
Most definitely cutting audio in iMovie. I have always had a vague sense of how to do this, but have never really had to clip audio rather than video using that software. During the last couple of day I was working with iMovie, I learned how to pretty efficiently cut audio clips together so they were at least decent-sounding.
- How did the interviews go? How did you build rapport with your interviewees? Share a quote from an interview.
As I said in response to the first question, my interviews are something I am most proud of in this podcast. I conducted 7 interviews, of which I used soundbites from 5 in my final product. The interviews, in my opinion, went extremely well as I managed to get all of the answered I “wanted” from my interviewees and more. My main tactic for building rapport was humor. I managed to build rapport with my student interviewees (like Reagan, Annaliese, and Patricia) by using inside jokes I had with them weaved into the interview and referencing other humorous things that happened in our other classes we had together. With Ms. Trainor, a teacher I interviewed, and the principal, I used personal anecdotes to make the tone seem more conversational and less business-like.
- How successful were you in listening closely during interviews and asking thoughtful follow-up questions? Share a quote from an interview.
I think I did a pretty good job of follow up questions, leaving my script behind for all interviews except for the one with Ms. Mehrbach (the first one I did). I just took to the interviews a piece of paper with a couple of key words on them to all of my other interviews. I managed to prod people, especially my student interviewees who typically answered the questions a bit shortly without continuing, to elaborate on their point and get soundbites which I personally felt fit well with my podcast.
- Is there anything else you’d like to share?
I would like to share that if anyone in the future decides to do this podcast, then do not leave your interviews till the last minute. I repeat, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR INTERVIEWS TILL THE LAST MINUTE. I did this with only one of my interviews (the one with Ms. Trainor) but it was quite bothersome to sacrifice my break time for an interview, and ended up hindering my script progress as I had no idea how to craft a bridge to an opinion I didn’t know.
What really works for your podcast is the fact that you gave several perspectives on the topic. You got the principal's, people who are strongly opinionated, people who are not strongly opinionated, and a teacher. I question how this topic might evolve in the future as clothing guidelines at school are evolving every year. Overall, I thought your podcast was really well put together and that it was a unique and specific idea. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI like the way you used the music throughout your podcast. Although, it seems you are more biased towards no dress code, and you didn't have a brief look forward in your sign off. Your podcast had some editing problems, but overall it was very professional.
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