In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

EVALUATION QUESTION 1

AS MEDIA COURSEWORK

What did I find out? What types of codes and conventions were common in the genre of radio news?

I found out that the most common codes and conventions are that the presenter is always loud and clear, he or she can be heard with a sharp tone.

Most radio shows use a sound bed of music to underlay the voice of the presenter, normally. I found that the speakers were always speaking directly into the microphone, and there was no silence while I was listening through the radio show. I found out that the presenter styles was about talking formally, and they had a serious tone to their voice.

All of the broadcasts had at least one jingle playing in their show, in which it was formed with different types of sounds. The jingles informs the audience who are listening, so they know what radio station they are listening to. They would normally have a separate jingle for the news, and another to introduce the station.

The radio shows also included elements of interviews, whether it would be a pre-recorded, live or call in’s. This shows that the radios had more than one voice to listen to, and more types of opinions being spread.

What radio news bulletins did you listen to? Why were they useful?

I listened to some radio news bulletins, which we had to analyse for our coursework. We looked at one from BBC Radio 2, BBC Humberside and also Lincs FM. I listened to them and thought about what codes and conventions that were in them, and picked apart each radio broadcast. I listened to popular and common radio stations that most people have heard of because they are the most successful, and the presenters are of a professional level.

I found these bulletins useful because I think that they gave us some advice on how to adapt to our own radio station and show. It gave us a better idea of how to act and speak on our own show. We learned that we needed to stay focused and to get the job done properly, and when we messed up we decided to keep trying until we got it right.

Explain and compare how you developed your broadcast to match that of real examples (recording techniques, jingles, presenter style / mode of address, editing, sound, questioning etc.)

I have developed my broadcast in order to make it of a better quality than compared to professional radio stations.

We recorded in a studio which would have been similar to the one that has been used for real radio shows. We had use of specialist equipment which was of high quality, and recorded in a silent room.

I made the jingle with several elements such as free sound effects, copyright free music and combined the two together, to make a unique sounding jingle. I used serious tones for the news jingle, and beeping noises. This shows that I have based my ideas on the jingles I have heard from real examples.

I wanted to use sounds that may be heard around the dock area in Grimsby, such as seagulls, boat horns and sea sounds. We wanted to combine these in with my jingle because it would suit the style of the station. We used these elements in both of the jingles, and I think it tied it together well.

Explain and compare how you developed your broadcast to match that of real examples (recording techniques, jingles, presenter style / mode of address, editing, sound, questioning etc.)

We made our voices sound clear and serious whilst talking straight into the microphone, and we didn’t show our opinions when talking about the story. We tried to keep our language formal and base it upon what we have heard in recent radio shows. We made our language recognisable and easy to be heard.

We edited our radio show together, and linked all of the different separate interviews and clips, so that it all ran smoothly together, like in the professional radio shows. We made sure that there was no silence or gaps in the broadcast, in which so the audience wouldn’t be bored and get tired of listening.

Real media examples of Radio: Resources I have used

YouTube Links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2

http://www.lincsfm.co.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radiohumberside

We made some questions up to ask to the public, when we were going out to question them. We decided to ask the, about 2 questions, and for each person ask them the same, and what they think about the issue we were discussing on our broadcast.

Have you tried anything different thatchallenges the genre or gives it new life?

I have tried something different with the genre of radio station. We had an idea of the docks, and used this in connection to a place, such as the Grimsby Docks.

We made this clear by calling the station The Docks FM, and making the jingles sound docks related. We used different types of sounds in order to portray this kind of scene. We wanted to paint a picture of what Grimsby might sound like.

It is a local radio and local people will be tuning into this radio, so they would be familiar with the type of style and atmosphere that we are trying to get across. We tired to combine seagull noises and boat engine noises in order to get the audience to understand what theme we were going for.