UNIT THIRTY-NINE: Speech Package Production

SPEECH PACKAGE PRODUCTION

Task One - (P1,M1,D1) Matching Speech Packages With a Genre and Distribution Reach:

The first speech package is of some news about the Beijing Olympics, this genre would be classed as Sport and it would listen to internationally, it would appeal to both males and females of all ages roughly between 15-60 of most social classes, it would have such a wide reach just because it is so well known and important to the world of sport. The second is business daily from the BBC, and this genre would be business and it would be listened to nationally, it would most likely be aimed at both genders and the audience would most likely be between 20-30. The third speech package is sport and the reach would be regional, it would be targeted at men, between 20-40 because it is mostly men that take an interest in sport and the majority are between that age.

Task Two -(P1,M1,D1) Identifying Genre, Target Audiences And Audience Reach In Speech Packages:

Olympics 2012- this would be a mix between sport, and news and current affairs. The reach would be internationally as it would be a worldwide event and the target audience would be quite big; at a guess I would say 16+ to possibly 60’s of both sexes, I don’t think that social class would be an issue with the 2012 olympics, as it is so well known and important nationally.

Alcohol price rise- Risen for safety- this genre would be classed as consumer and I think that the reach would be regional/national. The target audience would probably be adults around 20+ of both sexes, however for those younger teens that drink also, it may appeal to them too, and it may affect those who have a lower social class than others as they may have money issues, therefore this issue would affect them.

Asda- where do they stand in the supermarket league tables? I think it would be classed as mainly consumer and business item . The reach would be regional I think and the target audience would be roughly 25+, possibly both sexes, but mainly concerning women, as they are seen to do the majority of (food) shopping, and it may concern the lower end of the social class scale, as Asda can be seen as one of the cheaper supermarkets for those with little money.

West Leeds Council owned gyms-comparisons to national gym chains- this would be a mixture between lifestyle and consumer as it concerns services and your health. The reach would be regional and the target audience would be those of 20-40 of both sexes, as they are more likely to go to the gym and keep healthy. It will also concern the middle class as they are the ones who can afford to go to the gym frequently and keep it up.

Smoking ban- have the clubs and pubs suffered? What else has the ban affected? I think this genre could be news and current affairs mixed in with a little bit of business. I think the target audience would be between the ages of 25-45 of both genders. The reach would be national as it has affected pubs and clubs all over the country and would affect all social class’s as it has affected all low end cheap pubs and high end expensive clubs.

Leeds UTD- History, administration, what’s been happening lately? This topic would have a genre of business and mainly current affairs and news/sport. That target audience would be around 20-40 of both genders possibly, but more males as they are more interested in sport, and they are more likely to care about the community and history of the city and club, and the reach would be local as it affects the local Leeds community and the support will be stronger locally.

Task Three -(P1,M1,D1) Deciding Details About My Speech Package:

My speech package will be called Festivals; entertainment or experience? It will be about whether people go to festivals for the experience or the music. It will be a music genre and will be aimed at young people ranging between ages 15-30. I will interview people who have been to various festivals such as Leeds festival, V-festival, and Glastonbury and include live clips of performances from these festivals.

Task Four- (P1,M1,D1) Analysing Speech Packages – BBC Radio 6 podcast

Immediately the speech package is opened with an introduction of the station and a stinger, which is a signifier to connote the radio station, and sets the scene for the podcast informing the audience what it is. The presenter then introduces herself followed by another stinger and teasers to inform the audience of what will be coming up but leaving just enough enigmas to keep them interested enough to keep listening. The pitch and rhythm of the presenters voice varies to make the content sound fun and interesting to keep listeners on their toes and the volume is not loud or quiet, but at the right level to be appropriate. The texture of her voice is very smooth which signifies that she is professional and the quality is of a very high standard. The presenter has no accent and her dialect is Standard English as she is still performing for the BBC making it professional yet informal to target the audience of students and music lovers. The music bed runs all the way through appropriate to the news for example when giving news about the Beatles, their songs are played in the back ground and the levels are at a positive level as the song is behind the presenting but does not dominate it and rises when there is no talking, and to blend the different songs that make up the music bed a record scratching sound is used to anchor the change in music whilst also connoting the wide range of music that is used to fulfill diversion needs of a music lover. A phone interview is used of ‘Mark Ronson’ amongst others, and the texture is scratchy which anchors and signifies that it is a phone interview, it is split up into small vox pops keeping the audience interested leading to them continuing listening. The uses and gratification theory can be applied to this podcast, it is mainly used as surveillance and diversion, as the target audience will be people who are very into music, and the speech package provides us with new music, old music and informative news about the industry and the people included in it. Personal relationships could also be applied to this podcast as the audience could form relationships or base conversations on the speech package.

Task Five - (P1,M1,D1) Answering Questions About A News Speech Package:

Who is interviewed and why?

Two people are interviewed in this speech package, they are both in relation to the story that is being discussed, one of them is a person who lives near by (public) and he gives his opinions on the matter, and the second in comparison, is an expert with a different opinion to contrast the ‘public’ thoughts on the matter, to give two different sides and opinions of the story being discussed, this makes the short coverage un-biased and fair as it balances the opinions and gives both expert and public views.

Are there any other contributors or correspondents?

There is the main correspondent who reads the majority of the news stories and then there are three other smaller contributors who cover smaller and specific stories, but who are part of the whole main news speech package, these combined with the interviewees, complete the news speech package. Using different people gives the speech package variety and as the other correspondents have noticable foreign accents it also gives the speech package diversity.

Are the interviews as-live, or pre-recorded?

The interviews in this speech are pre-recorded; however the speech package is played so that it appears that the interview is live as it is put together well and smoothly to flow with the news correspondent as she reads the story, if they were pre-recorded then the quality would have been much better but the difference in quality is noticable and makes it sound more genuine.

Are the interviews recorded on location, via the telephone or in a studio?

I don’t think that the interviews are recorded on location or in the studio, purely because of the quality of the recording, it is noticeably different from the rest of the speech package, which makes it stand out, if it were recorded on location it is likely that the quality would be better as they would have used good standard equipment, which makes me think that the interviews have been recorded via telephone but I think this adds to the genuine essence of the package

Task Six - (P1,M1,D1) Identifying Materials Required In My Speech Package:

Who will I interview; any contributors, vox pops?

I will have short vox pops of people who have experienced Leeds and reading festival once and more than once, I will interview people who have been to other festivals in comparison and older audiences who have experienced all aspects of more than one festival. I will also interview some people who have never been before, but will be going and what they will expect. I will edit these interviews and questions into quick short vox pops to make it appear slick and modern like the festival and the target audience would prefer. I will take an interview off of the internet and extract the audio of Brandon Flowers of the Killers, which will contribute to my speech package to go under the ‘professional’ expertise of someone who experienced it from a different angle of the festival.

Where will I record: studio or location?

Because I am unable to actually go to Leeds festival and record on location, I will be recording in a studio, but as a music bed I will be using MGMT ‘kids’ who played in last year line up to give a better feel of the festival. I am also hoping to get some clips of live performances to coincide with this. However, the interview that I am going to use from the internet of Brandon Flowers, was actually recorded on set at last years Leeds Festival and the atmosphere in the background reflects this.

As live? Telephone interviews?

Some of the speech package will appear to be live, and some of it will appear to be pre-recorded, I don’t think I will try and incorporate a telephone interview with anyone as I do not think that it will fit in with the angle I am going on for my speech package and I don’t think it will flow properly. I think that this is normal for the genre that I have chosen and the radio station that I imagine for it to be on. It includes everything that I would (and others would) expect to be in a speech package about music (festivals), my research will show what others expect to be in a speech package.

Task Seven -(P1,M1,D1) Short Reports of Radio Stations:

RADIO TWO

Radio two is a national radio station, which broadcasts all over the country and is the most listened to radio station in the UK. The target audience ranges from early 20’s to 50’s, this is so wide because at different times of the day, different shows are played of a range of genres which targets different ages for example at drive time usually between 4-7 the audience is targeted for those coming home from work. It covers arrange of genre’s from current affairs to arts and drama. Radio two is a BBC channel and therefore is paid for by the household tax payer as it is a public service broadcaster, which makes it available almost everywhere, phones, Internet, digital, analogue etc. Speech packages are available in a range of programmes formats like documentary based and presenter led programmes.


RADIO SEVEN

Radio seven is also a national radio station and it is a BBC channel making it available in many different formats including the Internet, on phones, digitally etc. The target audience will vary from young children to older people possibly in their forties/fifties. This is because it covers such a wide range of speech packages such as children’s stories and c-beebies, to history and food and drink. Radio seven is a BBC channel and so is very well known.


Task Eight -(P1,M1,D1) The Treatment Of My Speech Package:

The genre of speech package will be music; specifically music festivals, in particular: Leeds Fest. I would like it to be between 3-5 minutes. I will be the presenter/interviewer for the package; it will include the public’s opinion and an opinion of an ‘expertise’ who played at Leeds Fest last year; ‘The Killers’. The opinions (vox pops) of the public will be genuine and range from people who have been, haven’t been, people who have been to other festivals, and those who travel from different parts of the country to come etc. As I will not be able to go to Leeds Fest personally I will be doing this in a studio: but with the use of clips and music beds I will ensure the ‘feel’ of a festival is captured without actually being able to be there.


The volume of the interviewees and interviewer (me) will be at an appropriate level so to be heard, and the music bed will be at appropriate volume levels as to blend in with voice over’s or to be dominant and capture the essence of the ‘music festival’ to give a positive impression at all times throughout the speech package. The rhythm of the package will be lively and bouncy; positive and happy and will flow fluently to fit in with the ‘national radio station’ I imagine it to be made for. I will not be using a specific accent (other than my own Leeds Yorkshire accent), but will try to use standard English to ensure everyone whom my package is aimed at, will understand it, this may vary for my interviewees as I want to have a variety of different people again to aim for the wide target audience of Leeds Fest lovers. With the music in this package I will try to maximise the ‘feel’ of the festival and create the right ambience hopefully with the achievement of making people either think about their experiences of past Leeds Fest’s or making people look forward to going this year.


I think I will use the song ‘kids’ by MGMT as my music bed, I also aim to get a live clip from a previous year and play some brief clips of bands who are rumoured to play this year. There will be no use of silence or sound FX due to the type of speech package I have chosen and the wide target audience this is aimed at. My speech package will be quite informal almost casual and chatty due to the target audience: whilst this is true it will also be informative, entertaining and possibly even educational. The primary age range of my target audience would be 16-25, however Leeds Fest is very popular for older ages too and so this could be broadened to 15-late 30’s. Due to the many acts that play at Leeds Festival each year ranging from Metallica and Rage against the Machine to Justice and MGMT, many different social groups attend this major event from ‘emo’ to ‘chav’ to ‘scene kids’ making my speech package aimed for anyone who is likely to attend. Music is designed to bring people together whatever age or click they belong to. Both males and females will be targeted by my speech package too. There are some families that attend festivals as a ‘family’ to enjoy the experience and so I think that my speech package will also be an interest to some families too.


I do not think that ‘class’ will be an issue when it comes to listening to my speech package; the audience range for Leeds Fest is so wide, from lower class to upper class, that I don’t think this will be an issue. My audience may have a lack of religious and foreign ethnicity due to the fact that Leeds Fest may not appeal to people with religious boundaries such as with foods, drinking alcohol, sex and violence (which can be an occurrence at these festivals). Education doesn’t particularly matter when it come to the topic of my speech package which is why I think that I will get a range of different listeners, although the primary audience will be upper high school, college, and university students as these are the main attendees of these sorts of festivals. Location is also not really an issue with my speech package, I will hope that it will be broadcast nationally on such a radio station as BBC (as this is the station that promotes and covers Leeds and Reading Festival) and people travel from all over the country to attend these festivals just like any other festival and so I think the audience for my speech package will be quite varied and wide in range as it is a well known topic.

Task Nine - (P1,M1,D1) Relevant Research To Help Me With My Speech Package:

Primary Research

I wanted to ask a range of people from ages of 12-25 both male and female (target audience and audience age range for who are most likely to go to Leeds Festival) about what they expected and wanted to see in my speech package, I informed them of what it was about and then asked them what they wanted to see; here are a few answers from the people I asked...

Quotes:

- 12-13 year olds - “I think that it should include interviews from people about what they think about the festival, and you could ask people who have been if they enjoyed it and stuff”

- 13-14 year olds - “It should have in it, music from the festival, or songs from bands that have played there, it’d be cool if you could get an interview from someone who has played there before too!”

- 14-15 year olds - “I think it should have loads of music in it, with it being based around a festival, to give the whole music ‘feel’ to it and like it should have interviews, maybe short clips of different people and you could throw in some facts about it too”

- 16-17 year olds (Media Students) - “It should have some vox pops in their of what people think, a really good bouncy music bed and like lots of clips of music, you know of like bands that have played there before”

- 18 year olds (Media Students) - “Well, the music bed should be iconic, like a really good tune to open it up, and you could have facts and statistics about Leeds Festival to inform people about it, but vary it with vox pops and interviews”

- 21 year olds - “Well, if I were listening to something like this on BBC1 for example, I would expect epic music, interviews, facts, and an informal and chatty flow to it”

- 25 year olds -”Erm, let me think, I would say that it should have information about it combined with good music, but stuff that everyone that will listen will know, like popular, good music to really emphasise the meaning”

Conclusion of answers: Well, after listening to what a range of people thought about my speech package, I definitely have a clear idea of what should go into my speech package, its about what I expected people to say but I am glad that I had this confirmed by research because it has given me confidence in what people want to hear, this was definitely beneficial to me, and I will use all of their ideas combined to make a good speech package.

Interviews from people:
I will ask questions, to a range of people, about Leeds Festival to gain perspective about what people think, such as:
* So what was your experience like?
* Did you enjoy Leeds festival?
* Would you go again to Leeds festival?
* Would you say that you went to Leeds festival for the experience or the music?
* What attracted you to Leeds festival?
* Why travel all this way to Leeds for the experience?

I have recorded their responses and some of them will be used in my speech package I think, you can listen to them below:

Questionnaire - (Quantitative)

I asked 25 people in sixth form, 10 people in KS3, and 15 people in KS4 ( between 12-18) questions about Leeds festival in the form of a questionnaire - these are my results

Q1. Do you have friends that have been, or are going to Leeds Festival?

Q2. Will you be, or have you ever gone to Leeds
Festival?

Q3. If yes, what was the experience like?

Q4. What do you think of Leeds Festival?

Q5. Do you think Leeds Festival is...

A) over-rated and not worth the money
B) good/OK but I wouldn’t go
C) it always looks good and I wish I could go
D) I want to/do go/will be going

Secondary Research

Below is all the research that I did and found from websites about Leeds Festival that was necessary for my speech package:

* Leeds Festival has been running since 1999
* It first started at Temple Newsam until 2003 when it moved to Bramham Park
* 75,000 people attended Leeds Festival last year
* In the past bands such as Muse, Rage Against The Machine, The Pixies, Metallica, Green Day, The Killers have played at Leeds Festival
* Other stages include main stage, alternative stage, lock up stage, NME stage etc...
* It was originally Reading Festival alone but to compensate for the demand that was brought by the Fesitval, Leeds expanded and started to hold its own festival in 1999.


This information combined will help me in my facts section of my speech package

Websites I got the information from are:

http://www.leedsfestival.com/home/

http://2008.leedsfestival.com/home/

http://2008.leedsfestival.com/history/index.aspx

http://www.leedsmusicfestival.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_and_Leeds_Festivals

http://www.leedsfest.org/



I chose to use these websites as they provided the most useful and true information basing themselves around Leeds Festival specifically and they all said very similar things about Leeds and the acts, and so I know that the information is correct.


Bands rumoured to play 2009:



Kings of Leon, Green Day, The Kooks, Slipknot, The Friendly Fires, Florence and the Machine, Glasvegas, Arctic Monkeys, The Klaxons, Oasis, Lost Prophets, Paramore, Rise Against, The Strokes, Nine Inch Nails



Some of the above will be mentioned in my speech package as clips from the songs as a preview to Leeds Festival 2009

Brandon Flowers Interview:

The interview I got was from this website: http://www.nme.com/news/the-killers/39245

To hear the sound that I extracted from it click play below:

Conclusion of all Research:

With all of this research combined I now have all of the information and components to make my speech package, this information will be very useful when making it so now I know what to include to get the best possible grade. From all the primary information I gathered I concluded that in my speech package I will have:



* Interviews about what people think about Leeds Festival

* Lots of good music tracks that link in with the speech package including bands that have played there

* A section of speech from someone who has played there in the past

* Facts and stats about Leeds Festival

* A great opening and ending to capture the audience’s attention

* An iconic and memorable music bed/main track

* A preview of bands that may be playing in 2009



This is what the target audience expect and want to see in my speech package and so this is what I will include, the questionnaire that I conducted helped me see what people’s broad views were of Leeds Festival and how popular it is which will help me get an in depth view of the public’s opinions and I will aim my speech package at them in a positive way, as I have had mainly positive feedback about it. The secondary research I gathered about Leeds Festival will contribute to my ‘facts’ section to inform people things about Leeds Festival that are true, I chose the information that I did just because it gives a good brief overview of Leeds Festival and I felt any less wouldn’t have been interested the audience but any more detail may have been too much, and as I know what bands are rumoured to play in 2009, I can also add some of those to my speech package too. The Killers interview helped greatly as well, with it being genuine, it adds that festival feel and the actuality to the package. I focused on 12-25 obviously because that is the main age group that goes to festivals, and I chose to ask people below the age of 15 because children at that age are just coming in to themselves and discovering what music they really like and gaining a sense of identity with the music they listen to and so I chose to go lower and broaden and interest people from 12-25 to educate them and interest them.

Health & Safety:

Task Ten (P1,M1,D1) - Running Order:

Task Eleven - (P1,M1,D1) The Finished Product: Festivals; Entertainment or Experience?

Task Twelve - (P1,M1,D1) The Evaluation:

My original aim was to produce a speech package that would inform people about Leeds Festival, and to get other peoples opinions across with the entertainment factor that would engage people into listening and enjoying my speech package. I think I achieved this purpose, as I included all of the necessary factors to do what I intended.

When I played my speech package to an audience, the feedback I got was very positive, they all said that they liked my speech package, and that it sounded very professional. They enjoyed it and they got my preferred reading which was very important. My primary target audience was from ages 16-19, and I made sure that when I played my speech package, I had people from those ages and they really liked it, and said that they actually learned things that they didn’t know before, some other comments that I got was that the music I used was very suitable and well fitting for my subject. My speech package would have been used for surveillance more than anything as it provides the listener quite a lot of information, but it can also be used for diversion and personal relationships, as it can be used to entertain and can be used as a point of conversation and relationships, I feel like music is a way of bringing people together, especially music festivals, in particular Leeds, which plays a wide range of different music, and I just think that my speech package is a good example of personal relationships.


In my speech package I gave a positive message about Leeds Festival, there were a few things that were negative, but mostly the message that was given about Leeds Festival was positive, and there were some negative messages about Glastonbury Festival, I think that this may have come across as slightly biased in favour of Leeds Festival as I personally like it, and I know a lot of people who share the same feelings, however I think that the vox pops I used gave a very real impression of what it is like, for example one of the people I interviewed said that ‘it was muddy and smelly’ but to contrast that also said ‘that you won’t experience anything like it’ which I think represents a very real perspective, and as I have only used one person’s opinion on being negative I don’t think that it should affect people’s opinion too much about it in a bad way, I just wanted to use it to make sure that people got a representative view of other festivals, in the limited amount of time that I had to work with.


I made sure that it included both males and females opinions, to balance it out, as it was aimed at both genders, but I did not use different ethnic groups as I didn’t think that Leeds Festival would appeal to people with religious boundaries with foods, alcohol, violence and sex. The music that I used definitely added to the mood of the piece, the main track that I used as my music bed, I felt definitely made the package stand out and I felt that it gave it definition and the ‘festival feel’. I recorded everything in a studio as I wasn’t personally able to film anything at Leeds Festival, however the interview that I got from the internet was recorded on location when the Killers played there last year, and I felt that it added to the ‘feel’ and made it seem more real, and obviously the fact that it was him speaking made it more genuine, and I chose to incorporate The Killers Mr. Brightside as the backing track to anchor this and signify that it was him speaking. The language, I felt, was appropriate for the package, and it was understandable (even the Liverpool accented vox pop) and I think it was realistic in the genre and representation, when compared to similar professional products.

The levels in my speech package were good, all the voice was hear-able but not over bearing and the music was also, and there was nothing in the background that was recorded that shouldn’t have been. I didn’t cut anyone’s voice off that I shouldn’t have done, and the recording equipment worked fine, although there were a couple of times where I thought the quality could have been better, and if I were to do this again, would redo that, just to re-record to get the a better quality. I think that there was enough variety in my speech package to keep my audience interested, and I think that my editing was good and well blended especially at the beginning and near the end. I didn’t use sound effects as I didn’t think that it was suitable for the genre. I think I achieved good actuality in my project and the use of a real interview at last years Leeds festival secures this, but I think that the music I used fitted well.

I think that a speech package of the same genre and topic, would be similar if it were a professional one, of course they would have advantages over me, such as they may have been able to interview Brandon Flowers personally, and possibly go on site and interview people at Leeds Festival, and the equipment would be of a better standard, but given the resources and time I think that I have done well. Considering my own performance, I think that I did the best that I could, and in the process, I familiarised myself with the equipment and the software, in which I will find useful in future projects, and I think I did quite well. I’m glad that I chose a subject that I am familiar and passionate about, one of my strengths was choosing the music and the editing and putting it together, and one of my traits is that I am definitely a perfectionist, which helped me get it to a standard that I was happy with. Maybe one of the weaknesses was that it was slightly too long, and I thought it might bore people, but after playing it for other people, I got a good reception. I did get some comments about the ending and I was able to take them on board and make the appropriate changes, and I am happy with my final piece.