Podcast Dialogue
My assignment for this required us to use audio only; I was to tell a story about an issue, topic, or person.
For this assignment, given to me in the third semester of Rich Media Communications, we were to tell a story or discuss a topic using only our dialogue, akin to an actual podcast, all under 5 minutes. We were allowed to give our podcast story some artistic liberties, but it still had to be dialogue based. Along with the podcast, we had to create an artwork canvas, essentially a thumbnail cover, to accompany the assignment reflecting its tone and theme.
The topic I chose for this assignment was simple; I decided to discuss ice cream’s history and how it was conceived. I had used the history of ice cream for another class project in Web Communications, and since it was currently on my mind when the assignment was handed to use, I decided to use that for my topic.
As for the photo cover, I used a simple red background cover with an ice cream stand in the light background, while the title and words were all in gold and given a metal feel. I decorated the cover in gold trimmings and lining to provide a sense of royalty, as everyone likes Ice Cream and deserves to know its origins.
The structure of the podcast was simple; I started off by introducing the desert in general before moving on to how it was invented and how it first started out, namely as just crushed ice with fruit flavorings in the middle east in the 1500s before more ingredients like milk and cream were added.
It then moved on to how it spread to other countries, first Italy, then France, Britain, and so before reaching the US. The podcast then focused on three major things; how its popularity grew, how other things associated with it, like waffle cones and sundaes, came to be, and the introduction of different machines and methods of making ice cream more efficiently.
In regards to recording it, I didn’t have a microphone, so I essentially had to use the one built-in to the laptop while recording all my lines in Adobe Auditions. I had to do multiple takes for each sentence or paragraph to ensure there were no falters and everything sounded right. It then came down to refining the audio to ensure there was no background noise and everything sounded crisp. I also had to remove any unnecessary gaps between dialogue when speaking, adjust audio levels between the music and the podcast itself, and ensure it all fit within the five-minute mark.
The overall assignment wasn’t well received, as I thought with the general complaint that I was talking a bit too fast and it was tough to understand what I was saying without reading the script I also submitted. Fortunately, I was allowed to improve this project in the fourth semester in my portfolio class when we were allowed to rework an assignment from our past, so naturally, I chose this assignment. Listening to feedback from my teacher and peers, I rerecorded the audio at a much slower and louder tone in a much more quiet place. Fortunately, this time I didn’t have to worry about time constraints, so I took my time and allowed the podcast to be as long as possible, even over five minutes. I also looked up various tutorials for a smoother and cleaner narration voice.
Original Version:
Improved Version:
The result was a much more polished and clear podcast, with much of what I was trying to say easier to understand. Overall, I’m happy with how the second verse turned out, with my teacher agreeing it was a massive improvement over the original one. This voice acting is something I hope I can use to demonstrate my voice-acting talents.