Unit 39 - Speech Package Production

39.1 - Be Able To Identify Opportunities For Producing Speech-Based Packages For Radio

Task 1: Have a listen to the speech packages above and match each one with a genre, from the list below. You should also comment on the audience reach; Local, Regional, National, International. (P1, M1, D1)

a) BBC Radio Wales, BBC All Things Considered. This podcast was very political and discussed matters to do with religion and immigration. The podcast itself would fall under the genre of News & Current Affairs. I think that the material being discussed would be listened to regionally though they are discussing national issues. I suspect this would be aimed at current affair conscious middle aged to in-retirement Christians.

b) BBC Radio 1, Best Of Chris Moyles. This podcast is a general radio channel including chat about all topics from just the presenters discussing escapades of their own to going over current affairs happening in celebrity lives and issues that would be on the news. Again I think that the genre of this podcast would be News & Current Affairs. The target audience I think would be almost anyone of any age, but I think it would entice people of a more working-class background because it just has everything that would be the general fabric of a working-class life.

c) BBC Five Live, Football reports. This podcast described what is going at the moment in all aspects of the football industry. I think that the issues being discussed would be of interest to anyone who followed football and lived in the U.K. so the podcast has national appeal. I think this podcast would be aimed at anyone who supports a team in Britain or follows football in any way.


Task 2: Have a look at the topics below and decide which genre, each issue would belong to and what the reach and target audience might be. (P1, M1, D1)

1) The Olympics – 2012
This issue would fall into the genre of sport and it would reach over a vast audience since it is and international event and people all over the world are interested in all sorts of different sports that are featured in the Olympics. The target audience would be anyone who is interested in the Olympics and sport in general, people of all ages, genders, nationalities & backgrounds.



2) Alcohol Price Rise – Risen For Safety 
This issue would fall under the; Consumer, Lifestyle & Current Affairs genres. I think it would have a very large audience in the U.K. as a lot of people consume a lot of alcohol. The target audience would be anyone who consumes alcohol really, people above the age of 18 obviously but that is the only specification about the target audience, all ages over 18, both genders, all classes & nationalities.

3) Asda – Where Do They Stand In The Supermarket League Tables?
This topic would fall under the genres of; Consumer, Business & News & Current Affairs. The target audience would be anyone who shops at Asda or is interested as to where they lay in the supermarket league tables. This would effect people all over the UK so therefore it would attract a large audience.

4) West Leeds Council Owned Gyms Comparisons To National Gym Chains – This topic would fall under the genre of Lifestyle. The reach of this topic would go as far as anyone who attends their local gym or any gym for that matter. The target audience would be people who attend a gym or are interested in gyms.

5) Smoking Ban Have The Pubs & Clubs Suffered? What Else Has The Ban Affected? – This issue would fall a few genres; Lifestyle and News & Current Affairs. The audience reach would obviously go as far as anyone who smokes and I would imagine that the target audience would be just that.

6) Leeds UTD History, Administration, What’s Been Happening Lately – This topic would fall under the genre of sport and would reach anyone who supports Leeds UTD or even lives in Leeds for that matter. The target audience would be anyone who supports Leeds UTD.


Task 3: Decide on a topic for your speech package, you can choose one of the titles above if you wish. (P1, M1, D1)

The name I have chosen for my speech package is; ‘Meanings in Song Lyrics in Different Genres’. The topic of my speech package is quite self explanatory considering the name of it. The target audience for my speech package is going to be people of any age who have a true appreciation for the meanings in music in all genres. I think my speech package will appeal to people who have a wide taste in music and appreciate most genres.


Task 4: Choose an example of a professional speech package in your chosen genre and write a detailed analysis. (P1, M1, D1)

The speech package I chose to analyze is from the BBC selection on BBC 1 Xtra. The topic of discussion in the speech package is soul & reggae music. The presenter who opens the speech package has a normal toned voice and there is a music bed underneath his speech but the music bed is at just the right volume so you can hear his voice clearly. The texture of the speech package is very smooth and flows superbly combining the presenter’s voice with the music bed perfectly. The overall rhythm of the speech package.

I would imagine that the people who made the speech package were using omnidirectional microphones to clearly pick up their speech. There is obviously a large cultural code in this speech package seen as the topic of discussion is soul and reggae music. The presenters seem to be of some sort of African ethnicity, the guest star is also of an African ethnicity. The accent of everyone on the program also blends with the general theme as well. Of course this speech package is aimed at a particular target audience too, people who enjoy soul & reggae music, especially the older music. There aren’t really jingles in the speech package but there are numerous stings when switching presenter or before and after tracks are played. The atmosphere that is created with the presenters’ voices is one of the African sorts because it combines with the music that it being explored so well. Each voice in the speech package does have its own space and people are not spoken over except for when there is a musical discussion taking place in which both people have free run of their microphones so obviously there was going to be some points in which both presenters were talking.


Task 5: Have a listen to the news speech package which is broadcast via this link and below and answer the following questions. (P1, M1, D1)

The speech package in question contains individual interviews with 2 people. These people are; Hiba Dawood and Terri Cleminson. Terri Cleminson is a reporter for a community radio station named KMUD in California who files a report for the speech package. Hiba Dawood is also a reporter, she is currently reporting on the Iraq war from an Iraqi’s point of view. Since the radio station is called Free Speech Radio it is nice to see something different such as an Iraqi’s point of view on the war instead of an army official or a government official. I for one find this interview very interesting as it’s very rare to hear anything broadcasted from the other side of the story because the mainstream media is very efficient in covering this up and brushing it to one side when they’re told to.

Natalia Biana is a correspondent for the radio station who files a report about a national park that is burning down. The interviews are presented in a way that makes them sound like they’re live but they could have been easily recorded and played back. There are some lower quality, shorter interviews with 2 individuals that are obviously recorded and played back. The first interview sounds like it was recorded in a room or maybe a low-budget studio whereas the second one sounds very much like it’s recorded in a proper radio studio. The lower quality interviews are recorded via-phone.

Task 6: Think about your chosen topic and identify the interview materials you will require to produce your speech package. (P1, M1, D1)

In my speech package I will interview an adult of sorts, probably a teacher. I will do this because adults, stereotypically, have a wider knowledge of music than most children and teenagers. I will also interview some of my friends because I know the and their music tastes so I can vary my responses. I will include vox pops of a humorous nature in my speech package to make it more enjoyable as well as informative and educating. I think that I will be recording most of the material for my speech package in the privacy of a studio but when I am conducting interviews I will record the material in some sort of area close to where I find a member of staff. When I’m interviewing my friends I will try to use a studio or any sort of quiet area for that matter. I don’t think I’ll include things such as a telephone interview in my speech package mainly because seen as it’s my first solo production and I would like to keep it relatively simple. The genre I have chosen is going to be discussion about lyrical meanings so I think the things that are typical of this genre are an interview, a section of my personal views on this topic, samples of the music I will examine and vox pops.

For my interviews I shall interview people that I think have opposing music tastes to gage different reactions and create significant discussions. I don’t think there will be any need for any sort of other contributors and/or correspondents. I’ll be doing quite a few vox pops through out my speech package, most will be to do with what lyrics in people’s music means to them and/or what feelings they get from them. I will be using two different means of recording, one being the radio studio where there’s various high quality microphones to use for recording purposes. The other method is using the hand-held mp3 recorders that are also of a good quality. I have not planned to use a telephone interview, but I suppose I could call Mr. Barnes and ask what meanings and/or feelings he gets from the lyrics in his music. I don’t think the genre that I have chosen has a lot of typical elements involved in it. The content I have planned so far is original and not really typical of any genre. The things that I am going to include that are usual is an; interviews, vox pops, an intro and a music bed.


39.2 - Be Able To Generate Suitable Ideas For Specific Contexts And Target Audiences

Task 7: Create a short report focusing on a variety of radio stations that broadcast speech packages and provide the relevant information for each station. (P2, M2, D2)

BBC Radio 4
There are a fair few radio stations that broadcast podcasts, I am going to analyse three of them and basically highlight some key characteristics of each. BBC Radio 4 is a prime example of a radio station that plays podcasts with well known titles such as; Friday Night Comedy, Best of Today and The Archers. I suspect that the target audience for BBC Radio 4 would be people looking for a more intelligent radio station of a slightly higher brow. BBC Radio 4 still sets out to inform, entertain and educate but in a slightly more intellilectual manner. BBC Radio 4's genres include; Arts, Comedy, Discussions, Documentaries, Drama, History, Money, News, Politics, Reading, Religion and Science. BBC Radio 4 is a national radio station broadcasting all over the United Kingdom. Hence the name the radio station is owned by the BBC and is not commercial. BBC Radio 4 is available on analogue, digital and online radio. The podcasts vary in content and relate to all of the the genres i stated above, additionally they're are downloadable.

Absolute Radio
I think the target audience for Absolute Radio is vast seen as it seems to have a mix of mainstream material on display. The target audience in terms of age could be about 16 - 45, I don't think gender is a factor. The genres covered include; Comedy, Discussion, Music, News and Sport, Religion and Business. Absolute Radio is a national station and can be accessed via analogue, digital and through the internet. The speech packages on the website are displayed in different boxes corresponding to their genre.

WSRadio
WSRadio is an internet radio station that broadcasts over the internet. From the looks of it the station set out to have a large target audience because they include all manner of content to do with the mainstream, genres include; Talk Radio, Art, Business, Relationships, Politics, Environment, Food & Drink. These genres tend to connote that a slightly more intelligent listner might come to listen to this radio station. The speech packages make up a small part of the website, it is a commercial radio station that allows users to download podcasts.


Task 8: Write a treatment for your speech package; use the template below as a guide to your headings. (P2, M2, D2)

Genre: Music/Intellectual
Date: 09/02/09
Duration: 5mins 33secs

Voice(s): Mr. Burkinshaw (Intro), My Voice throughout, Edward Lawson, Mr. Jackson, Danny Bradley, Louis Cherkaoui, Robert Cosgrove, Amy Parkin, Kayleigh Fletcher.

Music: I will be using two clips of songs in my speech package along with a music bed that will be used under all speech.
To specify:

1st Clip: Nazi White Trash by Leftover Crack
2nd Clip: Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt by We Are Scientists
Music Bed: Tubby’s Dub Song by Augustus Pablo

Sound FX: I will only be using sounds that have been recorded first hand by myself, sounds that come from Garage Band and the music mentioned above.

Silence: I don’t really want any silence in my speech package because it’s viewed as ‘dead air’ and seen as my speech package is all about discussion & debate it would be a bad idea to include it.

Mode Of Address: I would like to think of my speech package as informal, educational & entertaining because of the way I present myself and my work and the content.

Target Audience: The target audience for my speech package is going to be basically anyone who is interested in music and/or specifically the lyrics in music.

Social Positions: I tried to include people from various social positions in my speech package. I would like to think that the social positions of the target audience would differ from listener to listener.

Demographic
Self Image: I think that having an identity is extremely important in today’s world especially for my generation right now. To belong to a stereotype seems to be an essential characteristic for any person. In relation to my speech package I think the aim is to break down these barriers and look for some of the reasons behind them I suppose and what people like about living the style of their music.

Gender: I don’t think that gender really effects what people are interested in, in terms of music. Saying this I think that there are interests that are typical of genders e.g. Hair & Make-Up for girls and Cars & Football for boys. The people who create the texts decide what gender (if any) it’s going to be aimed at. Some media may aim their products at certain genders and others might not. As for my speech package it will be aimed equally at both genders.

Age Group: I think that if someone is interested in something and they feel strongly about it age shouldn’t matter. People get into things at all different ages and I think that’s how it will always be. Although having said that a child of 10 years old might not understand the content of my speech package to there wouldn't be much point in aiming it at anyone under the age of 14.

Family: A family audience is an audience that watches/takes part in things as a family and might have a similar taste in things. Things that could appeal to a family audience would be television programs under the genre of; family game shows, Top Of The Pops e.t.c. If such a thing still exists whilst listening to radio it is rare and might only exist on a morning whilst people are getting ready for school/work and whilst a family is in the car. I think that my speech package would be good for a family to listen to because it could create discussion amongst family members.

Class: For some people I think that belonging to a certain class does affect their activities in terms of the media and what they might watch and/or listen to. In a tight group of friends in the middle class it might be considered beneath them to go to a pantomime, and they might think they’d be more suited to the Opera regardless of the enjoyment factor. I think that people in middle and upper class are a lot more conforming to their ‘class stereotypes’ than other classes probably because of their misplaced pride. My speech package will not include a class seperation when appealing to its target audience.

Ethnicity: I think that ethnicity has no relevance to what people should and should not be interested in. I see people’s skin colour as something they are born with and that’s the way it is. Other people in society might disagree with this logic and say certain music and television shows are for certain ethnicities. The media can sometimes play on this flaw. As for my own speech package it will be aimed at all ethnicities because it would be prejudice otherwise.

Religion: Unfortunately people have to be conscious of different religions when producing things for the media. Religious people seem to be easily offended by almost anything so therefore people have to be careful about their content and what they say if they’re broadcasting to a heavily religious audience. Personally I can’t stand religion and religious people, I think they’re extremely ignorant and narrow minded about their lives and what’s included in it. These characteristics make somethings in the media harder to produce.In the process of putting my speech package together the issue of religion was pretty much ignored and the content reflects this.

Education: Your education could depend highly on the way you watch television because if a child is more intelligent they might watch more sophisticated TV programs at an earlier age whereas a child with a low IQ might enjoy children’s TV until a higher age. People inside the media might also use this as an element to choose their target audience.

Location (Geographical & Local): Location matters a lot for British TV channels such as ITV because they have different broadcasts for different regions of the country e.g. Tyne Tees, Anglia, Yorkshire e.t.c. Where you live in terms of the world is definitely important to consider if you are going to include things that are culturally relevant to your target audience. Location isn't going to affect my target audience because there's different types of music everywhere.


39.3 - Be Able To Research, Select And Evaluate Appropriate Factual Content

Task 9: Carry out the relevant research and document the techniques you have used. (P3, M3, D3)

Primary Research
I planned the content early on in my speech package but then I chose to conduct an interview and conducted a questionnaire to help me choose my content better. These two things acted as primary research and helped me in creating my speech package.
I made 15 questionnaires and handed them out to various people in my class. Here are my results:

From my results I noticed that Rap/Hip-Hop is the most popular music genres in my class having 5 people pick it. Indie and Dance coming in joint second with 4 people picking them then Punk is least popular with 2 listeners. I think this small piece of research illustrates that popular music tends to have less of a meaning to it, lyrically. It could just mean that people like the other three genres more due to the things they represent and/or they make people feel. The second column shows that Music Samples are the most popular feature that people enjoy hearing in speech packages. Interviews came in second then vox pops. With these three options being close together in popularity I can’t draw a distinct conclusion from this column of results. But what I can see is that all three features are popular and that I should definitely include all three. I suppose this is both qualitative and quantitive research because it involves both numbers and opinions.

The research that I have carried out is a form of primary research because I am gathering my research first hand and not looking at previously recorded information that other people have gathered. When I collected the filled-out questionnaires in I typed up my research straight into a table on Microsoft Access to illustrate my results.

Secondary Research
For my secondary research I chose to explore the full meaning of lyrics by looking at their definition on Wikipedia.
Here is a short extract of what Wikipedia has to say about lyrics;

"Lyrics (in singular form Lyric) are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of expression. The lyricist of traditional musical forms such as Opera is as a librettist."

From this I can just get an insight into the origin of lyrics and when they might have originated. The information also presents me with quite a detailed definition and description of what the word ‘Lyrics’ actually means. This is qualitative research because it involves words and text and not numbers.

From the video below (even though it's short and not the best example) we can see that even if a group of people don't know the meaning behind some lyrics in a song they will still like them if they think they sound good.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6IHxknW-r0


Task 10: Complete the appropriate health and safety paperwork. (P3, M3, D3)

Risk Assessment



Unit 39.4 - Be Able To Prepare And Produce Appropriate Speech Packages

Task 11: Produce a voice over script incorporating a que sheet, with timings. (P4, M4, D4)

The theme of my speech is going to be about music because it is a topic that I am heavily interested in. More specifically the speech package is going to be about messages in music and in different genres in relation to song writing and lyrical use. The target audience for my speech package would be anyone who is generally interested in music and/or the lyrics and messages in music. The name for my speech package is going to have is; Lyrical Interpretation.

Script

*Intro Jingle* (28 seconds)

CURTIS: Hello and welcome to the lyric discussion podcast downloaded from PGFM. In this podcast we’ll have interviews and opinions heard from numerous people interested in all different genres of music and about what meanings and feelings they get from their music. (15 seconds)

*Sting* (4 seconds)

*Vox Pops* (11 seconds)

*Sting* (2 seconds)

CURTIS: In my opinion the biggest meanings are in punk music, the lyrics are extremely controversial and address issues in society and people in general. The lyrics are often explicit to emphasize the disregard for censorship. Here is a short sample from a punk song against racism. (16 seconds)

*Music Sample* (13 seconds)

*Sting* (1 second)

CURTIS: Just in case you couldn’t make that out there, they said; “We hope you die sooner.” This is aimed at racist people. Then it’s followed by; “You’re sick, we hate you.” The band’s opinion on racists is made painfully obvious through their aggressive, coarse lyrics. (13 seconds)

*Vox Pops* (15 seconds)

CURTIS: Obviously punk is not the only genre of music where lyrics are important, lyrics are also important in more mainstream genres such as pop and indie. (9 seconds)

*Music Sample* (10 seconds)

*Vox Pops* (8 seconds)

CURTIS: We spoke to some people earlier today who were prepared to offer their opinions on lyrics in their music. (5 seconds)

*Sting* (1 second)

*Interview with Kayleigh* (16 seconds)

*Interview with Mr. Bradley* (52 seconds)

*Interview with Danny* (31 seconds)

*Sting* (2 seconds)

CURTIS: So, I leave you with this thought. Do you listen to your music because you think it sounds good? Or do you listen to your music because you see there is another world and music is the path to it. (12 seconds)



-=END=-

Task 12: Produce a professional sounding speech package using the relevant technology. (P4, M4, D4)

My Speech Package