Episode #7 – Sweaty Palms 2

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26 Reece Street

I could never remember Melba’s boyfriend’s name. We’d met one night in a bar at The Rocks, a bit of a fancy bar where someone from uni was having a birthday. It was in a lovely old building, and a great bunch of people turned up. When you go to drama school though, you are enveloped in your own little world, in which you know nothing of the outside. Drama school feels like a really special bunch of people too, the amount of people that apply to get in is ridiculous and there aren’t many places, so to be picked to go, in most cases, means you’ve done something exceptional in your interviews. So it is a group of high function drama, craft and design focused individuals. I could imagine from the outside this sounds like a load of wank. So whenever someone brought along a partner who wasn’t one…

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Convergence of Media

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The project I have taken on for this subject is the project Meg has pitched. It’s a website come documentary, this provides an interesting case of convergence of media. The static website will crossover with traditional documentary, and web documentary. The website itself becomes the production though, rather than somewhere like YouTube where the site is just a conduit for the story. The experience starts as soon as you open the site.

My original case study “The Boat” produced by SBS, had a similar feel to it. The website became the entire space for the delivery of the production (albeit a few clicks to get to it from the SBS site). This kind of website is popping up more and more, and personally I think they are a great way to tell stories. As Kevin Spacey points out in the Mactaggart talk, a camera doesn’t know if it’s going to film a film or a TV show, the content is what is important and the format has to be whatever the audience is hungry for. So much life is spent on websites these days, so they may as well be used as a space for storytelling. People are hungry for a story.

To use Meg’s project as a way to explore a new space for storytelling will be a great project for my masters. I played around with a fiction piece that was completely web based in my first semester, this piece is documentary and is open ended. the fiction piece had a definite narrative and an ending. Meg’s idea is to build a space that has a bit of a non-fiction narrative, but one that can be added to by both us the production team, and by the subjects of the documentary who can choose to engage with the site on their own terms through photography. It’s a new experience, and it brings together video, photography, and the web, something I’ve never done before.

Simulation in modern audio media

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I think people have got to remember, that he’s like my best friend, and if there was three people agreeing it wouldn’t be a funny show. I certainly take on the role as class bully, Steve takes on the role of professorial mediator, but it’s just to get the best out of Karl, and he always wins. […] We’ve known each other now for ten years […] It’s like, that what mates do, that’s how I was brought up, that’s the whole thing, you poke someone until they come back, and you don’t mind if they come back with a zinger.

Ricky Gervais, on his relationship with Karl Pilkington on the groundbreaking podcast,”The Ricky Gervais Show”

The success of The Office took Ricky Gervais back to radio, where he first began as a comedian. His show on XFM featured co-writer Stephen Merchant, and producer Karl Pilkington. The show had a certain feeling to it, it wasn’t your typical FM loud announcers with an audio bed sprouting ill conceived competitions and segments. It was worse than that. It was almost as if they came in with no preparation done whatsoever, and just talked as if they were in the privacy of their own home. The show was rough around the edges, rough in the middle, and rough everywhere in between. But it was fantastic.

Once their stint at XFM was over, they decided that the dynamic was so good that they should continue it somehow. Podcasting was starting to surface at around the same time, but hadn’t yet had any real hits. Continuing the format of their XFM show, which is to say they did seemingly absolutely no preparation whatsoever, they went about making a series of podcasts, which lead them to an entry into the Guinness Book of Records.

Riding on the coattails of this success was Russell Brand, who also started out at XFM but managed to make his way to BBC Radio 6, then to the more prestigious BBC Radio 2 (before the show was subjected to quite a public axing). During it’s heyday, The Russell Brand Show gave The Ricky Gervais Show a good run for its money in the podcasting charts. On the show, Brand continuously promises to give out free ice-creams if they make it to the top of the podcast charts, which they manage one week while Ricky Gervais is on holiday.

What is significant about these shows is the atmosphere that is created. The formality of radio is stripped back, when you’re podcasting the rules change. During the 90’s, the radio I grew up with was a mix of talking and music. Then the MP3 player came along, and I just had to go online to find new things to listen too, direct to the music without the talking in between. This left a gap, one where some talking needed. The MP3 player had split radio in two for me, now the talking and the music were separate tracks I could shuffle in between. The talking no longer had to be about announcing the music, and the formality was stripped away.

What happened was a simulation of sitting around with friends. For me, the atmosphere of being back at an all boys school, poking fun at each other, pissing each other off for laughs. The podcast managed to recreate this nostalgia of the best teenage years spent with mates. It’s like being at the fun end of a dinner party with old friend where you just revert to your most natural states, relax, and laugh until the night ends.

There are some more recent podcasts that go for a similar simulation, where information is exchanged in an informal setting, much like if you were sitting around with friends. Under the Radar is a good example of this, where comedian Sean Hughes talks to all his friends that are working in stand-up comedy in the UK. Another is Stuff You Should Know, part of the popular site How Stuff Works, where Josh and Chuck tackle some fascinating subjects, feeding information to you as if they were sitting in your living room.

For my own work, I’d love to capture this almost jocular but inviting atmosphere. I listen to podcasts on public transport, somewhere that used to be oddly lonesome. A podcast is like having friends in your ears, I’d love to be able to create this feeling for other people.

The podcasting process

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Episode 1 is complete!

I’ve been organising the first and second episodes of my new project, “The Freshstock Podcast” over the past week.

Firstly, a note on the title. I registered a business name last year “Headstock Publishing” (initially it was going to be an eBook publishing service, but I think it still works for media production). I wanted a name that sounds like it makes you smarter, like your brain is being filled with knowledge, restocked. Also, when I was a kid I wanted to be a professional guitar player, and a headstock is a part of a guitar at the end of the neck where all the tuning pegs are. So, we keep being told to build our “brand” so I wanted a name for the podcast that kept with the theme of the name headstock. The podcast is about new and fresh music, therefore “freshstock”. Similarly if I go on to produce films, I will probably call it “filmstock” or something along those lines. Anyway, I digress.

The first thing I did once I decided to make a music podcast was to come up with a release form, which can be viewed here (password is listetome). I also entered into an online chat via the APRA/AMCOS website to find out if I had any obligations there, and they said as long as I have written acknowlegement from the artists that they hold all copyright, then I don’t have a financial obligation. Here’s a screenshot of the conversation (used with permission):Screen Shot 2015-08-03 at 12.33.16 pm

I have set up the release form as an online form, this makes it easier for the modern age, rather than having to print something out and sign it and scan it, the musicians are asked to read through and fill out fields at the bottom of the page. This has proven very useful, as I have had very quick responses all around from the five artists who have signed so far. I’m quite proud of how I’m handling the release form side of things, I thought it would be a headache but actually everyone has participated in this process very willingly.

In terms of sourcing the content, I put this ad on Gumtree:

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This actually didn’t bear much fruit, I got three replies. They have quite specific categories for “Musicians Wanted” on Gumtree, but I think I needed to target my search further. So I went to my own network and asked specific friends if they’d like to participate, so two of the three songs on the first episode will be people I know. This comes back to an idea from last semester, the minimum viable product. Making something with resources at hand, in this case it’s human resources. The second episode will have the other two gumtree entrants.

I joined a Facebook group called Melbourne Musicians, and this has proven a lot better than Gumtree already in the day or so the ad/post has been up. I’ve had two more people apply, one expression of interest, and one person who applied, listened and gave me some feedback. I think in the next week I will engage with more fairly specific Facebook groups such as this one.

So, these are the positives. The negatives…

Hosting a podcast properly requires skills in using XML format and RSS feeds. Don’t ask me why, I have a very basic understanding of what this even means. So I had to find other ways to get my content online. Podcasting services cost money too, and I wanted to do this all for free. I found an article that detailed how to host a podcast free from your Google Drive, that was a waste of two hours. (See it here at your peril). I then discovered that it was possible to host right from a WordPress blog, it creates an RSS feed and all relevant XML data automatically. This was relatively simple, but once the podcast was submitted it took days (the Apple Store said 24hours… hmm) for it to appear online. I have two entries up at the moment (episode 0 is a callout to artists, episode 1 is the show proper), and both entries have been very random in the time they take to appear, making it very hard to know if I’ve done things right.

Then I realised I didn’t know if WordPress monitors the traffic through the iTunes store. I’m still unable to answer this, there is a section in the dahsboard that seems to have some info from iTunes, but the number of downloads is lower than the number of people who has told me they have listened (and by this I mean they have discussed stuff within the show too, so I know they’ve listened).

I’ve signed up to a free service called Podtrac, which appears to be the industry standard, but I’m not sure if I’m doing it right. My IT skills just aren’t quite there and even though I’ve followed instructions as best I can, I don’t know if it is working. The site claims it scans the RSS feed every half hour, but nearly 24 hours after Episode 1 showed up in iTunes, it hadn’t shown up on Podtrac. Checking now, the episode is now present, but it says that it has had zero listens. I have contacted the company for help and await a reply.

I don’t want to go too much into the actual technical making of the podcast, or reflect on my presenting, as this is not what I set out to do. But just a note to say I’m reasonably happy with the quality of the sound (although I’m going to trial a different mic next week) and the feedback I’ve had so far has been positive.

The scripting came fairly naturally to me, I didn’t have to do much research. I’m talking about a topic I love, so the pleasantries were all easy to write. I have a couple of segments that people have enjoyed so far, one that gives home recording hints (again, something I don’t need to research), and another where I will come up with band names for those in need. So far I don’t have any band that have contacted me yet, but I think I will invent some to get the ball rolling. This segment adds an element of light comedy (super light actually, it’s not that funny but perhaps a bit whimsical).

I also included an anecdote, this was actually just a Facebook update I made earlier in the day, just an observation about a Hipster on my tram, it got a lot of likes so I decided to weave it into the podcast. It was great to have already tested out the anecdote on social media, and one of the listeners has already said that this was his favourite part.

I always carry notebooks around with me, and I found I was able to write the first script while I was on my way to the city on the train. I’m in the habit of writing in notebooks, so I think this will go well for me. I’ll be interested to hear how people respond to the content in further episodes.

Despite not yet cracking how to track my listenership, I’m having a cracking time making it. I think I will post it up on Soundcloud too, as I know the audience tracking is pretty easy on there. I’m looking forward to recording the next episode!

Networking and career development

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In today’s tutorial, we had two guest speakers from RMIT Careers and Employability, Leonie Nott and Con Moraitis. They raised a lot of good points, funnily enough I came out feeling less confident than when I went in.

I have real trouble selling myself, I already know this. I lack a degree of self-confidence, and I realised during the talks that I deflect a lot of this by concentrating dialogue with professionals on what they are doing. I’m not too bad at networking, but in the tutorial we had to do elevator pitches to other students, I really faltered. I realised it was because I had to talk about myself for a straight minute, and I just felt like I was going red and stumbling on my words.

It is important to be oneself when networking though. I read many years ago in the seminal self-help text “How to Win Friends and Influence People” (and I know Patrick our tutor has been rifling through self-help books in researching this class), the author Dale Carnegie raises the point that a person’s favourite subject is themselves. So if I want to get someone to think I’m a good conversationalist, I should ask about their own projects. This has worked for me in the past when put into practice.

Meg, another student, gave me feedback after the elevator pitch, basically saying that it sounded like I was laced with self doubt, perhaps a trouble for me that goes far beyond the brief of a three hour tutorial. Throughout my entire Masters, I’ve made a conscious effort to present myself as a leader, and to prove my worth with projects that I believe are of high quality. In my mind, the best networking is first hand proof that you can do a job, and do it without making extra work for someone else.

During the session, we were asked to think about what we have to offer. I think I have a large range of technical skills, particularly in writing, sound, photography/photoshop and management. I’m a very keen editor and compositor, although I’m still learning these areas. I have plenty of ideas, and I know how to realise them. When I think about a “value proposition” I think that there are a lot of media producers around that could make the same things I could, but my work in theatre has given me a working ethic, punctuality, and set of organisational skills that put me ahead of people who can colour correct a photo better than I can. I think I have a unique sense of humour too, and I bring this to my work, both into the content, and the working environment. During my undergrad at NIDA, the head of my course pretty explicitly told me that I wasn’t their best student, but I would probably do the best because people seem to like having me around.

One of my aims this semester was to understand better how you can get jobs through LinkedIn. I think I have a better idea after today’s class, however I’d like to put it into practice before I cross this one off the list. I think only by engaging with it will I understand it better. My RMIT Mentor, Sean Rodrigo, says he gets jobs from it all the time. I’m still a little puzzled by this, and I will have to ask him next time I see him.

From what I gather, LinkedIn is not a place to approach people randomly unless they’re explicitly asking you to (via a job offer or similar). It’s an augmentation of the network you have in real life (IRL for those who use the internet more that I do). So it’s a way of following up networking conversations. I will try to use it in this way over the next few weeks and see how I go.

I’m pretty happy with my LinkedIn profile, and actually this is one point I felt more confident in after today’s session.

I guess my overall feeling does come back to just trying to be myself. People I have networked with in the past have gone on to become my co-workers, and my friends. My old theatre network is my community, it’s who I’d turn to if I was in trouble, they understand the lifestyle that theatre work affords, which is hard to explain if you’ve never done it. So I’m going to continue to be myself, but perhaps learn how to talk about who I am too.

Media Career Development – A check in

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On Friday I began a course for my Masters called Media Career Development, so I thought a good way to start this out would be to do a quick career check in…

So, first. Upcoming work. I have a one day engagement at RMIT as a photographer, taking portraits for business grads to use on their LinkedIn profiles. This was a job that I got through word of mouth, after I did some similar work through the Jobshop at RMIT.

Currently, my bread and butter is from working at Disney’s The Lion King. I work backstage, and this is a hangover from my previous career in theatre. I got this job through word of mouth too. The work is fine, the people are great, but I have ambitions beyond where I could see my theatre career going. I will always have a soft spot for theatre thought, it is a very tight-knit community which I rely on heavily for support, friendship and laughs. I have two more stage management contracts lined up with Opera Australia too, this is where I used to work full-time, and I get the feeling they didn’t want me to leave.

While I’m on the subject of theatre, I have just today made up a proposal to submit to the Brisbane Arts Festival. A couple of years ago I wrote a libretto to be used in an opera, and my oldest friend is a fairly accomplished composer (and the national Music Director at ABC Classic FM). We plan to finish the piece soon. So the writing career I’m trying to boost is still on the boil. I also have the remaining stock of my book that was publish a couple of years agos in my possession. If I can find the time to sell them, I’d be able to put some revenue into further media projects.

I’m also about to start work with a former classmate, Courtney Coulter. She is an account manager for a company that creates infographics, and they are going to take me on as a freelance writer. I’m excited by this, although I’m not quite sure what to expect yet. I guess I hope that my writing aligns with their expectations. They’ve given me plenty of info, and I love writing, so I’m feeling good about it.

Okay… what else? I have a website, http://www.headstockpublishing.com.au. I made it myself, and it gets around 30 clicks a week. No-one has submitted any queries yet, but I have put links to it in the signature of my email and I’m pretty sure some work has come through people checking it after I’ve contacted them. I have an up-to-date CV that I find very difficult to update and tailor, so I’m looking forward to some handy hints.

I also hope to unlock the mysterious LinkedIn. I keep my page fairly up-to-date, but both Patrick (my tutor) and Sean (my RMIT mentor) have told me it is a good place to find companies to employ me. I can’t work out which button to press to get a job though. I don’t really know how to use it, it seems.

I’ve just this week been working on a podcast idea for new music, and I now have enough tracks for a first episode (still waiting on release forms from the artists though). I hope to put it out next Sunday as a my personal project for this course. I’m looking at it as an exercise in producing, but I’ll be announcing to so it’s a good chance to build up some confidence perhaps.

I’ve got a writing project to do with zombie clones that I had the idea for a couple of years ago, and I’ve been using it in each semester so far at RMIT. I made a blog about it, I made a trailer, in my spare time I made a Facebook group about it, and this semester it will form my research question and also will become the basis for a Pozible campaign.

In another class, I’m producing an information video for the Cancer Council too. This is proving a challenge.

Lots on, but when I go to the ATM it still sneers at me like I’m a student. Which I am…

So actually, it seems like I have a lot going on, but perhaps this might work against me. Have I taken on too much? It’s week 3 and I already feel like I could implode. I’ll stick to my usual outlet of sarcasm and pizza binges, and everything will probably be fine.

Phew!

The beginning

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We’re just about to venture into the next project for my Masters, which is a video production containing information regarding the HPV Vaccine in Arabic, focussed on the African communities in Melbourne.

For starters, we are a very multi-national class. While the class is being conducted in English, I think I was the only person in the room which has English as a first (and only) language. Perhaps this puts me at a disadvantage in some respects in this class, as I’m so used to the western way of working and possibly an old dog who struggles with new tricks. Fortunately I’ve been working in a very multi-cultural art form, opera, since 2006, and I’m quite familiar with working around language and cultural differences.

Since leaving the world of opera and becoming a student, I have taken a job at The Lion King musical, and I’m working there with a range of people from the African continent, mostly South Africa, but also Zimbabwean and Ghanaian people. Our common language is English, but the chimes and clicks of Zulu often ring in the corridors. I think theatre is a really international medium which is always open and accepting of cultural difference. People aren’t forced to work a particular way as ultimately the art form relies on expressing oneself, and the differences are celebrated. Because of this I think I come at international collaboration with a very open mind.

In terms of working, there are some practical issues. To find out the limits of working with another community, I have found myself working from assumptions which could prove problematic if I’m not careful. For example, we have been talking about filming someone getting the vaccination. My understanding was that the Arabic community would be mostly Muslim, and that the vaccination is administered into the upper arm. When I asked Hamdi, our cultural liaison, if the amount of flesh shown would cause problems, he just shook his head and shrugged. So covering arms appears not to be a problem, and I perhaps mildly embarrassed myself through my assumption. I am glad I asked though, I think it’s good to be asking the stupid questions at the beginning of a project, as problems near the completion have much bigger consequences.

I’m looking forward to producing this piece, and can’t wait to see the ideas my classmates have so we can start to take this thing to the next step.