Audio Voxpop:
For my first artefact of my portfolio I decided to submit my audio voxpop, as this was the first piece of work we did during our first semester, and I feel this is a great starting point to show how my skills began, and how they have developed through further study.
The first thing I would like to note about my audio voxpop is that Radio 1 highly influenced me. I listened to a lot of their shows over the years, and noticed a common theme that they use during their voxpops, and short interviews. They often start a voxpop or interview with a little intro music to set the mood, if the story is a particularly hard hitting topic they often play some slow piano music this subconsciously makes the audience aware that the story being told is hard hitting or distressing. If the topic is light hearted, funny, comedic they often have an upbeat song or tune being played to relax the audience. This ties the story, interview or voxpop to the music creating a more immersive experience. I decided to use an upbeat track for this exact reason, I wanted my audience to relax and feel calm about an easy voxpop they could listen to and not be surprised by the topic being discussed.
Another aspect I have noticed used in a variety of audio voxpop/interviews etc. is the use of the ambiance within a story, I have explained how they use the track to set the mood at the beginning of the story and they often keep this throughout, however over a variety of radio shows and podcasts they use the audio levels to break up questions, or to give the listener a break from the talking, just long enough so that they pay attention to the next half of the interview.
The music will start at a good level to hear and pay attention to, set the mood etc. then fade out as the questions, or answers depending on the style of interview, begin. The music will not fade out entirely, it often fades to a level still noticeable but as a backing noise not a focus point. Then to ask another question, during the gap in speech the music rises again to the same level as the beginning and back down again after a few seconds.
I feel this effect and use of audio levels works very well in gaining the audience’s attention and keeping it throughout.
This is the reason I used this within my own audio voxpop, I wanted to keep the audience’s attention, and keep them interested for the full length of my artefact, I believe that my attempt at recreating this was successful, and I am happy with the outcome. I also believe that my Audio voxpop shows how I can use my knowledge of Audio artefacts to recreate something to a high standard in a collaborative team.
October 31, 2016