Week 2 - Production Designer

In the second week of content creation, we were tasked with creating a podcast. For this part of the campaign, we decided to cover gendered approaches to daring apps through a casual interview-style conversation between a man and woman. We felt that getting first-hand accounts of peoples dating app experiences was the best way to create interesting and insightful content. This meant that, in terms of research, we supported out questions with facts we had found but offered personal opinions as the majority of the podcast.  

This week I was Production Designer meaning I was in charge of editing the podcast together at the end. Due to the interviewee being a friend of mine I also spoke in the podcast and liaised with him when he was available to meet and record. Due to this, I worked closely with the Project Manager for the week to ensure the content was recorded in time for me to start editing. Recording the podcast was very enjoyable for me as I often recount my experiences through audio messages to my friends and so I felt quite at home in the recording studio. This experience has also made me consider starting my own podcast with some friends as both the recording and the editing required skills I would like to develop further. 

Initially, we were supposed to have a third party take part in the interview to offer some insight from a non-binary perspective, however, at the last minute they were unable to take part. This meant that we had to adjust our script slightly and pre-record some sections just in case the other person could send audio files at a later date. Once the podcast was recorded, I borrowed equipment in order to edit everything together. The editing process took longer than I anticipated due to there being over 30 minutes of footage that needed to be cut down to only three. In the future, I would aim to leave more time for editing now that I know how long it can take. Due to the editing time being longer than expected the Project Manager arranged an extension of the equipment so that I could ensure the work was finished to a high standard. This was also arranged through communication on our grouched, again demonstrating that this was a very effective method of contacting one another and keeping everyone ‘in the loop’  

As I was editing the podcast it was still uncertain if we would be receiving more audio from the second interviewee. This posed a challenge as I had to leave spaces where more audio could be added while ensuring the audio, we did have fit together well. Eventually, we had a group meeting in which I was told we would not be receiving more audio so I could finish editing what we did have and complete the podcast with just one interviewee.