Due to time-restrictions and technological difficulties, our podcast production process was very cooperative. After a group brainstorming session, we decided that Risk would provide more potential discussion over the other games we were considering. As Risk is such a dynamic game, we could analyze individual situations and decision making processes. After deciding on Risk, we all completed individual research about Risk with specific foci ranging from Risk’s history to rule changes. After consolidating our research onto one document, as the Producer for this episode, I wrote a script. The other collaborators helped edit and build the script to be more compelling, such as “game-excepts” and comedic breaks. Next, we spent about six hours over two days recording the podcast, then passed the editing responsibilities onto Giovanni. Considering his extensive background in musical production, he is very familiar with audio editing and expedited the finalized version rapidly.
For our podcast, we tried our best to avoid being a hard-listen. More specifically, Podcasts, if not completed correctly, can be very dry and difficult to listen and pay attention to. Consequentially, we tried to be as entertaining as possible; we attempted to achieve this through comedic breaks, an active script that tries to engage the listener, and upbeat music with breaks from monologues. Smaller details included constant and intermittent switching of speakers to avoid monotony. Challenges included creative differences and script organization; for example, background music was a point of contention through the group. Besides more idealogical distinctions, we worked extremely well as a group. From finding time where we can all work on the podcast to our strengths coming together, our group collaborated competently.
By definition, creating a podcast episode forced our group to compose a text in a new medium. Adapting to a different type of writing with different intentions was a unique provocation. With an essay, a given format is expected and deviations are unexpected; in contrast, the podcast should be as unpredictable as possible to maintain listener enjoyment and attention. Rather than constructing an argument in a linear logic based fashion, our podcast tries to jump from our narrative to examples from a hypothetical game. This form of writing resembles a formal literary essay where the typical format includes a topic sentence supported with direct evidence from the source. Personally, I am most proud of how our group collaborated and utilized each of our individual capacities for different elements of the podcast.
English 101-7 