UNIT 16 - D1 (Resubmision)

D1 -  Evaluate how the technical and auditory qualities meet the identified purpose


A benefit for presenting a product to a focus group is that it allows for a varied amount of answers and different people's viewpoint, which enables the producer to see what are the strengths and weaknesses within the work produced and what could be improved to make the product even better.

From the feedback I received, I've been told that the background music and soundtrack was really good and matched with the radio segment overall. The use of the festival sounds depicting cultural music was synergetic with the content.
One suggestion could be to have the presenter engage with the audience more and create a conversation that flows well and overlaps with the interviewees and the audience. There should be a little bit more awareness of who the presenter is talking to.

Another suggestion for improvement was that when at the start I was describing the borough and the South Asian community and culture within it, there could be a further explanation of how that came about and the history of the Docklands and how that influenced migration and trade.
Also specifying the term South Asian a bit more, as there is a focus on Bengali culture, which is only one element of South Asian aspect.

Although South Asia is really vast and ethnically and linguistically diverse, there should be a breakdown for better understanding for someone who was a complete outsider, which would have helped locate the Bengali culture within it.

From the feedback I got from the audience and the client (Tamasha and Coney), the most useful were the fact the presenter could have engaged and conversed more with the interviewees as well the audience. This would enable for a well structured flow of the radio segment. In order to achieve this I could generate some questions to ask to the interviewees so that it would demonstrate audience interaction and make the radio segment more appealing and engaging for the audience.

The strenghts of this radio segment is that it contains a background music that flows well with the segment. It really does assimilate and relate to what we are expected to hear in a radio segment, the continuity of the soundtrack that keeps playing throughout the programme even when the presenter is speaking. The sound is faded away slowly when the interviewees start to speak. This slight fading in and out of the music creates flow within the segment. This is due to the fact the music does not stop straightaway creating a sudden cut and interruption of the music, but instead it slowly disappears into silence and letting other sound effects and music to be played whilst the interviewees are telling their stories. This way of controlling the sound enhances the circulation of the different sound elements together with the voices of the presenter and the stories told from the interviewees. Also the effective use of the sounds correlating to what was being said, emulated the sense of the interviewee being there at the location they were talking about. This emphasised the credibility and engagement with the audience. Also the contents covered within the stories from interviews, represented East London and met the requirement of correlating to the local area. This is important as it means that the radio segment is overall committing to what it has originally identified within the proposal and to the client. This reinforces the radio segment to appositely represent the theme of East London and relate to the brief of the Local's guide to Brick Lane.

In terms of weaknesses, it would be that there was not a thorough and detailed explanation of what region of South Asia the radio segment is focusing as this would have helped for a better insight of understanding and being able to classify the Bengali part within it. Although South Asia is a vast territory with rich and diverse cultures and traditions that vary from different areas of the subcontinent, it would have been clearer to those that are not really familiar with the geographical location to understand more the different societies and civilisations of the region. In addition, although it has been stated that the radio segment would be focusing on South Asian culture within the borough, instead of talking only about the Bengali culture, it would have better to explore and represent other cultures of the Indian subcontinent, so that it enriches the audience for more comprehension of the distinctive socio-cultural and linguistic variations between the community in the borough. Even though the client has suggested how it could portray more cultures of South Asia, in terms of the community in Tower Hamlets, the Bengali heritage tends to be the most predominant within the borough. Therefore, to improve the focus of which culture is being highlighted, I have adjusted the topic from South Asian community to Bengali community within the borough. This would have been very specific and easy for the audience to know what is the main theme on. As a result of this, there could be further improvements in terms of researching and specifying the history behind the settlement of this community in the borough, telling about how the immigration came about and what are relations between the existent community and the new one.

Another improvement would to have the presenter to engage more with the audience as well as the interviewees. This is due to the fact it seems for the audience to listen a programme that is not really engaging and appealing to them as there isn't much conversation and mostly interaction between them. Therefore to improve this there could have been more lines for the presenter to say that tend to ask question, clarification, feedback and jokes so that it makes the segment more entertaining.

In terms of the auditory levels of our radio programme, it can be said that the soundtrack really matches with the content and sound elements. The music in the background fades in and out at the right time, so there's continuity within the segment. Also the interviews run smoothly within our product, so that sounds are clearly hearable and permits the audience to listen and understand what it is trying to show and tell. Whenever the presenter speaks, the music plays and slowly fades when is time for the interviewees to speak. This enables for more control over the different sounds used to create meaning and portrayal of shifting the tones and voices of the people present within the segment. This technical decision taken is in order to allow all different sounds to be presented properly, so that they can evoke the different meanings and themes included in my radio segment. This can be found when in story 3 there's a sound the train moving as relates to the DLR mentioned int the story. Also the use of the sound of the interior of a bus creates that sense of believability of the interview taking place inside an actual bus. This really enhances how technical decisions have been generated so that there is a connection between what is being said and what sounds have been added. Another quality of the radio segment is that I managed to lower the volume down when there is too much distortion. When the interviewees were too loud the audio has been lowered so that it does not sound out of tune. Also there was a need of lowering the volume up when the audio was too soft, as well matching with the sounds added so that the main interview can be heard. One thing that had to be taken into consideration is that the sound does not pop or make any sort of hissing noise, so that it is presentable to the audience. In terms of changing the order in my radio segment, it could be argued that the current order looks fine and if for some reason it had to be altered, it would not make any difference, as the technical effects would be applied again to match sounds and create flow within it, and the stories could be told in any order as they all relate to the theme of East London.

What I have learnt from the feedback is that I could specify my chosen topic to consider in relation to the East London theme. This is because it would have allowed for more understanding of the matter and would not confuse audiences. As well as this it would have given an insight of what's gonna be the focus of the radio segment, allowing for better consciousness of the stories towards the audience.

This is a screenshot from the project file in GarageBand. One improvement that could be done to this is having more audio segments of the presenter giving more information to the audience, for better understanding of the context and the main topic of the product. As well as this other effects could be introduced to elaborate and make it interesting and engaging for the audience. These creative and artistic effects could include the application of echo and reverberation just to enhance it.