1.Structure and narrative:
how well did you structure your podcast? Why did you decide on this structure? What alternatives did you consider? What structural techniques did you use, and why? (e.g. intros, outros, plugs, segments, links, etc). Overall, how clearly do you tell your story? Do you feel it’s engaging? Why?
Our podcast was structured very well, everything was clear and ran smoothly. We structured our podcast in to three segments:
1.Toxicity in social media
2.should feminists step back?
3.How does a feminist protect her mental health?
Each segment had four specific talking points for us to touch on which we managed, this also meant we never ran out of things to talk about as we had so many different things within each segment to touch on. This was our structure for the main chunk of the podcast. The structure for the entire podcast was a basic one we learnt in class, it's as follows:
1.Introduction (recorded separately from main podcast - recorded after so we know what specific topics we touch on in detail compared to other talking points)
2.Introduction on the day (Introduce ourselves and guests)
3.Talking points - 1.Toxicity in social media
2.should feminists step back?
3.How does a feminist protect her mental health?
4.Outro on the day (Thank you for joining us guests and listeners)
5.Outro (recorded separately from main podcast - tell people our socials and to check out Neon Nottingham for more student based content)
I feel that our podcast was very clear and we made our points on feminism highly engaging through the use of anecdotes, humor and not sugarcoating the truth. We all share our raw emotions throughout this podcast regarding our own experiences of catcalling, sexual assault and having drinks spiked. I think that being completely ourselves and sharing stories from our own lives we keep the podcast engaging as it's relatable and real.
2.Presentation:
how would you describe your presentation style? Why did you opt for this style? Who were your influences, and what did you learn from them? Overall, how happy are you with the presentation style? Why?
I would describe our presentation style as a conversational and panel format. We opted for this style as it felt the most natural, we didn't want it to come across as staged because we touch on real issues that we both have faced and that could be of a sensitive subject for listeners. Our influences were the 'Saving Grace' and 'Useless Hotline' podcasts. Both podcasts come across as very natural and honest which is what we were aiming to replicate as we wanted our podcast to be an easy listen and not sound forced. I am extremely happy with the presentation style because we succeeded in what we aimed to do, create a natural and honest ambience about our podcast.
3.Technical aspects:
what production and post-production techniques did you use to get the best possible audio quality? (e.g. mic placement, noise gates, EQ, compression). How well have you applied these techniques? How effective is your use of music? During production in order to get the best audio quality we made sure to take a drink before recording in order to make sure our voices weren't raspy, we also made sure to sit close to the mic and have it practically touching our faces to ensure only our voices could be heard. Once recording it was also crucial that we didn't fiddle with our pens, paper or lanyards. The both of us made all of this clear to our guests as well to ensure utter perfection.
During post-production in order to get the best audio quality I increased the sound of everyone's mic to make it clear and crisp. I then proceeded to cut out any segments where an individual wasn't speaking, this eliminated any heavy breathing and accidental fiddling with lanyards. This allowed my audio to be distinct.
4.Audience:
Who was your target audience? How well do you think you’ve appealed to them? Why? Use audience feedback to back up what you say. What did they like about your podcast? What didn’t they like?
Our target audience was feminists who want to protect their mental wellbeing and know that they're not alone, it was also targeted to anyone interested in educating themselves further on feminism or wanting to hear first hand what it's like for women and why we need feminism. I think we've done a good job appealing to our target audiences as I've received good feedback from everyone who has listened. However, there's always room for improvement, I'd like to see more people opposed to feminism have a listen and give their feedback but that might take some persuading. My two friends Georgia and Kinga both had a listen to the podcast, both are feminists openly on social media, they said that our podcast helped them in feeling no so alone and gave them relief that other feminists have the same experiences. This feedback proves that we met our target audience as the title is 'How Does A Feminist Protect Her Mental Health?' and two feminists have said we helped with their mental wellbeing.
Summary:
Overall, how successful was this project? What did you learn? What can you take into future projects? What are your future plans in audio journalism?
Overall, I think the project was a great success. We achieved exactly what we were aiming for, the podcast came across honest and real; we met our target audience and they gave great feedback. I learnt a lot about feminism while listening to the two guest speakers from the University of Nottingham Feminism Society such as the pay gap within universities regarding male and female lecturers but I also learnt a lot about podcasting. I had never shown interest in creating my own podcast before this project but I could now honestly see myself presenting my own podcast. I can take into future projects the confidence I now feel regarding making a podcast, when we first went into record I was a total wreck and was so nervous that afterwards I had completely blanked out all that was said. However, I now feel that if I was to record another podcast I would be more confident and take authority over the questions instead of just my co-host. I am unsure of my future plans in audio journalism but I know that if the opportunity was to present itself for me to record another podcast I would love to do so.
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