Planning: Characters, Synopsis and the Soundscape

Characters
Jeffrey (Name not final), Male, 21 - A recent university graduate struggling to find employment, convinced that he can become the next big thing on the internet if he just manages to get a podcast up and running, unaware that literally everyone else has tried and mostly failed at it. Basically has no redeeming qualities save for his charisma which is also at times betrayed by his sheer stupidity.


Rain (Name not final), Non-Binary (they/them pronouns), 20 - Student, met Jeffrey at the Tabletop Game Society at university. Despite having their life in order, Jeff manages to convince them to help him with his podcast endeavour. They also want to prevent Jeff from doing anything too stupid while they're at it.


Synopsis
The podcast (yet to be named within the canon of the show itself) is in its fifth episode and has racked up a whopping ten regular listeners - listeners that they partially lose immediately at the start of the episode due to Jeff making a grave error of judgement. Those that remain stay to chastise and mock him, at which point the two hosts decide to harvest the negative energy of the internet by making more and more consciously stupid mistakes that continue to escalate in order to gain more 'hate listeners'. Ideally the episode would end with this tactic being another failed experiment in their attempts at fame but due to the three-minute limit, the escalation will stop with a single segment.

The Soundscape 

Voices – Dialogue 

Intro Jingle – transition into the programme naturally to connect the meta-programme to the real programme. Perhaps use diegetic instruments, for example one of the characters plays the jingle on a guitar. 

Laugh tracks (I have not really decided whether to use laugh tracks or not. It depends on whether I stick to sitcom conventions for humour or subverting podcast conventions for humour) 

Foley sounds – door knocks, doors slinging open. 

Microphone imperfections – to sell the amateur podcasting vibe – voices peaking due to a lack of equalisation. Equalisation can be played with in different ways, voices being too close or far away. 

Atmospheric background noises such as disruptions by aircraft or cars outside. 

 

Planning: Test Script

A test script I wrote as part of the pitch can be found in the link here.
None of it is final but it is a proof of concept for my concept of a sitcom delivered through a podcast.

Planning: Pitch Feedback

The feedback I received following my pitch presentation. I understand I need to fine tune the ideas to better suit the brief but based on my feedback I understand I have a foundation I can build upon. It might be initially difficult to understand, therefore I must make my script and final product clear and explicit as to the nature of the programme.

Planning: Pitch Powerpoint

This is a revised powerpoint that better conveys my plans for the programme at this stage.

Audience research: Survey

In order to conduct some general audience research, I used a survey. The questions are hinting towards an initial idea that I have now discarded, but it still provides valuable information regarding the viability of the idea at large. The results can be accessed using the link below.

Survey Results

Through the use of the survey, I found out that podcasts are the most popular form of audio-based content among 16-25-year-olds and that they would prefer talk shows over scripted programming.

This means that young people will be largely aware of the codes and conventions of podcasts, and my subversion of those codes and conventions can prove to be humourous.

I still intend to write a sitcom about a podcast, so I will need to appropriate sitcom conventions while subverting podcast conventions, so I will have to conduct further research into audiences and their cultural competency on sitcoms.

Industrial Context: The History of Radio

Guglielmo Marconi is widely considered to be the father of radio, and his 1885 broadcast is considered to be the first radio transmission in history. The broadcast of music and talk-shows was experimented with in 1905-06, and commercial broadcasts started in 1920. However, the modern format of radio had been experimented with in the 1890s in the UK, France and Hungary with a system called the Electrophone.

In 1922, the British Broadcasting Company was formed which at the time ran sponsored programmes. In 1927, this company would be dissolved to form the British Broadcasting Corporation, the non-profit public service broadcaster. Commercial stations such as Radio Luxembourg were also in the early days at this time, however, they were being broadcast from mainland Europe and not from within the UK.

Commercial radio such as Radio Luxembourg declined in popularity during the 1950s due to commercial television and pirate radio - illegal broadcasts from international waters - such as Radio Caroline. The UK still had no domestic commercial radio so the BBC retained its ubiquitous popularity in the medium.

The UK legalised commercial radio in 1973 with the Independent Local Radio programme which was spearheaded by London's LBC and Capital Radio. The Radio Authority was established as part of the Broadcasting Act 1990 to serve the licencing of commercial broadcasts, especially short term broadcasts. In 1998, digital radios began to be sold in the UK.

The shift to 'on demand' services has also affected radio broadcasting, with the BBC, for example, adopting the model in order to unify their radio and iPlayer catalogue in 2018 with the launch of the BBC Sounds service.