"Pip To Pint" Budget

When we pitched our idea for Pip to Pint to the panel we quoted them a price of £4500. Of course when we made our pitch we did'nt go in to the finacial nuts and bolts of the project, that would have bogged us down and detracted from our main focus, what a great idea pip to pint was! We gave the panel the 'above the line' costs, that is a rough outline of the gross cost to them. Here is a more detailed 'below the line' breakdown of the buget.

Click on the image to enlarge

Content now available online!!!

After much messing about I've decided to host some of my audio evidence for FdBm on myspace music. It's not ideal because I can only host 4 files at any one time but after trying loads of other less successful options this seems like the only workable solution. To access the files click on myspace in the right hand corner of the screen.

Have fun and by the way dont forget to comment on it!

'Pip to Pint' post production

In post production I had two roles. Voicing scripts in my role as a presenter and Editor, helping create the finished product. These are the parts I voiced for Pip to Pint:

Cider has been a favourite drink for many, whether it be the odd pint down the local or a quiet drink at home. But what really goes into making this unique drink and why is it so popular? We're here to answer these questions so grab a glass, Pour yourself a drink of your favourite apple brew and relax as we take you on a ciderous journey in our pubumentary 'From pip to pint'


Cider...the ancient and fascinating drink that has been consumed for hundreds of years and still going strong. Here in the west country where the sqeezing of the apples to the pouring of the pint all take place under one roof, these people are truely proud of their favourite appletastic drink.

Post production proved to be very stressfull. There was some ambiguity as to the deadline date and as a result it was a mad rush trying to get the program finished. We did meet the deadline but as an editor I was not happy with the final product. Given more time I feel 'Pip to pint" could have been something really special.

The decision not to extend the deadline was taken because it was thought this simulated reality within the industry. In my experience programs are rarely broadcast without at lease going through a pilot stage, which is something we missed out all together!

'Pip To Pint' production

As is common in radio I had several roles to fulfill in 'Pip To Pint'. I was a presenter and also a tech op helping to gather material. I accompanied Lloyd and Kirsty to a Wesail which is an ancient pagan blessing ceremony confered on the cider apple orchards.
Kirsty was our designated inteviewer for this outing with my role being behind the scences. I was tasked with writing questions to ask our interviewee's and recording the audio which we would later use in our project.It was particularly bad weather on the night and between the snow, hail and gail-force winds I had my work cut out with recording the interviews but managed through a series of work arounds , cupping the mike so it was shielded from the wind, to get some quite usable material. Over all I felt the trip to the wesail was very successful.

Pitching my TV Channel UDTV

This is the pitch I wrote for my TV station which I included in my powerpoint presentation.

Set your mind free, with udtv.

Our goal is to bring the best of the global dance music scene to UK clubbers.

Providing innovative entertainment, from live event coverage to club fashion and interactive music television.

Through udtv’s online portal it’s possible to check club listings, find out about your favourite artists, purchase music and interact with an online clubbing community.

Viewer figures are traditionally lower overnight but could night time television be an untapped area? Here at udtv we believe it is.
Some channels such as ITV have tried to programme overnight TV with shows like “The Mint” which had little success.
Quiz nights at 3am. Who came up with that idea? After all who’s brain is functioning enough to take part!
Our channel is aimed at clubbers aged between 18-35. We want to be the clubbers friend, the clubbers guide. The soundtrack to their weekend.

Udtv is a private company. Revenue will be drawn from advertising and sponsorship.
Young people particularly, can identify with brand names. Our demographic has a traditionally high disposable income as well so targeted brand awareness can yield good results.

Check out the promo at http://www.myspace.com/152448213

Pitching

Pitching ideas to a panel is the standard way in which as a producer or a production company ideas for content and programs are tendered.
Rarely when pitching ideas would this be undertaken by groups larger than 3 for reasons of choreography. It becomes more difficult not to talk over each other or to find specific areas of the pitch with enough interest as to warrant individual mention when pitching in larger groups. Also when pitching in larger groups there is less control available to the person overseeing the pitch, usually the producer.

We’ve talked about pitching ideas and what that means, we’ve also discussed some of the negative aspects when pitching ideas to a panel in large groups but we haven’t looked at the positives of pitching in large groups.

CREATIVITY! IDEAS! OPINIONS! INSPIRATION!

All things in abundance when working in a larger group as we did for our program pitch from ‘Pip to Pint’. First as a group we brainstormed for ideas, a method I’ve grown increasingly accustom to. The next step was to decide on our roles within the pitch. Of course our producer Lloyd took the role of overseer (A difficult task when considering his crew!). Adam and Kirsty discussed the key element of program format with Simon and Richard talking about local and national targeting and saleability and I was to discuss budget. My job was to convince the panel just what a bargain they were getting for their money! Here are the five key elements in our success when pitching our ideas and are as follows:

1. Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse again!!
2. Use each other’s names. It sets panellists at ease and gives you an emotional connection!
3. Use springboards. Cards with bullet points to keep you focused.
4. Ooze enthusiasm for your ideas.
5. Bribe the panellists!! We took in a bottle of scrumpy and gave the panellists all a glass. This helped set the scene and break the ice!

So Pitching, with planning and imagination needn’t be like auditioning for X-factor and can even be a lot of fun!

Public Service Broadcasting

‘As the broadcasting landscape in the UK changes in the digital age, the roles and processes of broadcasters, regulators and key industry personnel have to adapt with it. Does the philosophy of public service broadcasting have a role to play in the future of British broadcasting?’

Public service broadcasting is a broadcast model that serves the populous at large. Funding is drawn in whole or part from various different means including T.V licensing, donations, or indirect sources such as taxes, which is how the BBC’s world service gains some of its funding. The system of Public service broadcasting is used all over the world but was pioneered here in the U.K by the BBC.

The ethos of Public service broadcasting is for many best described using the “Reithian” principles set out by the main protagonist of the system, the BBC’s first director general, John Reith. Reith’s views were fairly right wing. Described by the New York Times as "the single most dominating influence on British broadcasting," John Reith was born the fifth son of a Scottish minister and trained in Glasgow as an engineer . After various jobs and serving a term in the army during the in WWI he was made general manager of the newly formed British Broadcasting Company. The doctrine and principles Reith developed were thus: to inform, through news programmes and announcements. To educate, through documentaries and factual programmes and to entertain, which I’m sure most people don’t have a problem with!

When asked whether he would give people what they wanted Reith replied “ No, Something better than that, we’ll carry into the greatest number of homes everything that is best in every department of human knowledge, endeavour and achievement” .
These principles were first formulated in the 1920’s and were considered by critics of the BBC to be paternalistic and overtly patronising to the consumer because of the way in which the BBC delivered their service, deciding what we should watch on our televisions. This was demonstrated during the general strike of 1922 When Reith, who viewed the BBC as an instrument of parliament, broadcast views that were not sympathetic to the strikers cause and then refused to broadcast their views, thus presenting a biased view on the situation.

Mark Armstrong of University College London outlined his views on public service broadcasting in this quote from his paper, public service broadcasting in the digital world. “ The aim of public service broadcasting would appear to encompass two main strands: that television should give people the programmes they want to watch, and that it should also satisfy the wider social purposes such as education and citizenship”.

In aspiring to this aim all public service broadcasting follows a similar philosophy. First, to show a wide variety of material from popular programming, such as soaps and quiz shows and to fulfil its wider social obligations, the less popular cultural and educationally stimulating genres such as science, art and religion. Second, to have a significant percentage of its content produced in the host country thus fostering development of the broadcast industry. Channel 4 is a great example of how a broadcast organization can help develop the media production industry. “The Channel Four Television Corporation is a publicly-owned, not-for-profit broadcaster that provides vital competition to the BBC in the provision of public service TV As a publisher-broadcaster, Channel 4 does not produce its own material but commissions it from more than 300 independent production companies across the UK each year. It works very closely with the independent production sector, and invests heavily in training and talent development throughout the industry” - Company overview, an extract taken from channel 4’s recent paper on new media and the creative industries.

The third point is public service broadcasting’s responsibility to consumer sensibility. That is, not to offend through views expressed or visual content that goes to air i.e. Violent, racist or sexually explicit programming. Helen Weeds of Essex University stated her views on paternalism and media responsibility in a recent paper on public service broadcasting, “ Some viewers do not necessarily choose what is in their best interests to watch” . This statement seems to justify the constraints placed on the broadcast of harmful content, especially to protect minors.

John Reith’s model for public service broadcasting was developed during the analogue era but is it still a relevant system and how will it fair as we move deeper and deeper into the age of the binary digit?
ITV’s Richard Eyre believes that this philosophy is outdated and the ideals of Public Service broadcasting unrealistic, “PSB will soon be dead. It will soon be dead because it relies on an active broadcaster and a passive viewer. Once upon a time, viewers (and listeners) could reasonably be expected to eat what they were given because we, the broadcasters, knew it was good for them”.

We can relate this statement to the link between technologies and how the public consumes media; and that, is changing forever. We are no longer passive viewers who watch whatever is shown to us. Not only can we choose from a myriad of TV channels; many of us spend more time on the Internet, which is a heavily interactive medium with people able to network and create their own program content. Some believe web sites like youtube.com could be the final nail in the coffin for traditional broadcasting systems like PSB . These views are typified in the following extract from a Blog entitled “The Future Of TV” started by D. Weinberger.

“We like amateur pod casts and video casts from websites like youtube.com in part because they are amateur. Sure, I like big budget movies and top-notch TV like The Sopranos, and I don't imagine that that's going to come from the grassroots for a while. But I don't feel like I'm in a two-tiered system in which there's the professional programming from the networks and then homemade programming. First, the tiers are already healing, as grassroots content is getting more professional. Second, and more important, the broadcasters think it's obvious that the quality is on the professional side. The notion that quality is on the side of the broadcasters confuses three- camera setups with creativity and humanity” .
This would suggest that even though we are changing our consumer habits there is still a place for quality television, although PSB would do well to pay mind to comments from people such as D Weinberger.
Whatever the future holds it is very important that Public service broadcasting anticipate the coming changes in the digital era or it risks being left behind. Channel four’s Andy Duncan spoke of the difficulties surrounding the digital age in his 2006 keynote at the oxford media convention,” We only have to look to the music industry to see what happens if you don’t prepare for this kind of revolutionary change. Companies who thought they were ‘in the record business’ and failed to take account of how music downloads were transforming their industry, are now a shadow of their former selves. Television companies face a similar fate unless they can make the transition from being single focus broadcast businesses to multi dimensional media organizations”.

Channel four is not alone in identifying this challenge . The BBC recognizes the need for change and have embraced this new digital era with services like BBC online and their ever-expanding portfolio of digital TV and radio stations.
The technology industries that public service broadcasting was built on are going through huge changes due to the advent of digital technology. One of the drawbacks of analogue is that each channel needs its own dedicated frequency. Digital broadcasting means much more choice as it does not suffer the same difficulties as analogue. Many channels may occupy the signal as they take up less bandwidth due to sophisticated compression techniques, and can be decoded using a receiver in the form of a set top box or PVR or personal video recorder.

This equipment changes the way we as viewers can consume television. Now we can pause, rewind or record a whole series by pushing just one button. We are no longer bound by traditional linear viewing choosing what we want to watch, when we want to watch it, thus becoming truly non-linear in our consumption of television. PVR presents a particular problem to Public service broadcasters who draw their revenue not from a licence fee but from sale of advertising either between programmes or during in the form of sponsorship. When we consider that unlike radio, which has one of the lowest ad avoidance levels at 16%, compare it to that of TV, which has an ad avoidance level 44% and you can see there’s potential for massive loss of revenue. For public service broadcasting to go continue into the digital age, it must find other means of generating more revenue, it needs to adapt and innovate.

Going one step further than PVR, in the 4th business quarter of 2006 channel four launched its break though service “VOD” video on demand. Available at the point of launch only though the Internet with a PC the service is expected to be rolled out to TV though broadband connections sometime in 2007. The opportunities VOD presents are huge. TV companies will be able to target consumers with specific program’s based on their previous purchases much like Apple iTunes, When you buy material of a certain genre you will receive other recommendations based on that choice. Of course the legalities and copyright surrounding VOD are complex and it’s not appropriate for me to go into detail here, but perhaps we will see a similar system to that employed by iTunes whereby content is copy protected and can only be played on authorized equipment.

The UK has always been a market leader in broadcasting and this statement has never been more true that in the advent of digital technology. The British government has championed the transition to digital with an aim to completing the transition to digital by 2010. These views are echoed in the following statement.
“At its best, our TV is the envy of the world ”
Tessa Jowell, Secretary of state for Culture,
Media and Sport (BTDA 2004)

This quote sums up my feelings on the future of public service broadcasting. I believe John Reith’s principles that were described earlier in this essay still hold water in the digital age of broadcasting, especially as the ethnic make up of Britain changes, promoting education, Citizenship, and society. Of course the Technology and viewing habits that I have discussed in this paper dictate that Public Service must change. To stay in the game PSB must change but I believe it can and will and that it does have a place in the digital age.


References

Media rights and intellectual property, Richard Haynes, Edinburgh press, 2006
Mcnae’s Essential law for journalists
http://www.channel4.com/about4/consultations/speeches_html
What is channel 4, accessed on Jan 8,2007
http://channel4.com/about4_andyduncanlecture_oxfordmedia.indd.pdf Andy Duncan’s oxford media convention keynote, accessed on Jan 10,2007
http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/the_future_of_tv.html Joho the Blog_The future of TV. PDF
Helen Weeds and Mark Armstrong-Public service broadcasting in the digital world.
http://www.rab.co.uk/rab2006/publicationDocs/adavoidance.pdf Media advertising avoidance, Accessed on Jan 10, 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=john_reith%2C_1st_baron_reith 1st baron Reith, accessed on Jan 4,2007.
www.teletronic.co.uk/bair#EC3E0. The history of John Reith, accessed on Jan 7,2007.

Soundscapes, a viable artform?

Check out my soundscape http://www.myspace.com/152448213

This is a definition of Soundscapes from (R. Murray Schaffer)
“A Soundscape is an acoustic environment or an environment created by sound. As such, it refers in the first place to the natural acoustic environment, consisting of the sounds of the forces of nature and animals, including humans. This is the domain of acoustic design”.
It’s perhaps useful to give some background on the subject to give it some context. The Idea of the Soundscape was developed in the 1970’s at Simon Fraser University in America. Originally designed as an educational and archival tool-used by B. Truax to promote awareness of sounds that can all to often be ignored. Shaped by early visionaries Truax and Shaffer it metamorphosed into electroacoustical music that Truax termed “Soundscape composition”.



B. Truax has identified four key principles to Soundscape composition.

1. The source materials need to be recognizable to the listener.
2. The listener’s emotions and memories are triggered.
3. The composer’s knowledge of the environment.
4. The work enhances our understanding of the world and it’s influence carries over into everyday perceptual habits.
The first point I believe is that these principles although identified in 1973, still hold true today and I have adhered to them in my work. My source material is recognisable as sounds associated with the sea-side, even the donkey hee-haw that in the second part has been processed with a pitch bend effect and morphs into something entirely different manages to retain its integrity.
On the second point, the subject matter of my piece focuses on something that is an integral part of growing up in our society. Sand castles, Sea gulls and swimming in the sea are all things experienced by people in their formative years on trips to the seaside. Like other art forms such as Music, Soundscapes use emotional connections as pegs on which to hang ideas from.
I have used the sound of children swimming on the beach to create that emotional connection. Later in the piece I have reversed the sound and chopped it into smaller pieces then applied some echo and reverb to simulate in an acoustic sense that dream like fuzziness that people tend to experience when recalling memories from childhood.
In relating to the third point the idea for my Soundscape came from my own knowledge and experiences from my daily life; which the beach is part of. It occurred to me that the seasides acoustic foot print changes dramatically throughout the year. From bustling and exiting in the summer season, to cold, grey and lonely in the winter months. It’s this juxtaposition that my Soundscape depicts.
Point number four states that a Soundscape must enhance understanding. I do believe that my piece, although an artistic representation does enrich the listeners ideas of the seaside. That being said I believe Listening is an individual experience. Soundscapes like Oil paintings for example are a subjective experience. Meaning that people experience it differently from one another.
Found sound is a term coined by R Shaffer and is real world source material from the environment, not usually processed or effected.
A good example of how found sounds can be used within a Soundscape can be found in “Summer Solstice” (B Truax 1973), where short pieces from each hourly recording over a 24 hour period were edited together seamlessly to form an hour long Soundscape. Like “Summer Solstice” my piece also uses found sound from the environment, in this case Weston beach. These sounds are layered together to form the basis of the composition.

Abstract sounds can be best described as sounds perhaps alien to the environment. Hildegard Westercamp’s seminal work “Camel Voice” (1981) is a great example of how abstract sounds, even though not recognisable as anything coherent, can be a useful tool in the composers sonic pallet to help portray mood or atmosphere.
I have employed the use of abstract sounds to great effect in my Soundscape. In the second half of the piece, which describes Weston in winter juxtaposed with memories of summer, I have used a granular technique known as time stretching on the sea gulls. This emphasised the resonant high frequencies and lent the piece an eerie quality not unlike a violin. The dissonance of the stretched sea gull adds to the desolation of winter in Weston super mare.



Another important factor to Soundscape composition is perspective. According to B Truax there are a range of approaches to perspective. These are, fixed, moving or variable.
1. Fixed. A static perspective based on techniques such as layering.
2. Moving. This perspective is defined by techniques such as cross fades and describes a journey through time.
3. Variable. Discontinuous space/time flow. Defined by techniques such as multi track editing.

Literature on the subject of Soundscapes is somewhat limited to papers written by American academics and although some of the information contained in them has been invaluable in writing this essay, many of them are somewhat dated.
It is not accurate to describe my piece as fixed, moving or variable in perspective but rather a hybrid of the three. The first part of “Beachscape” begins as moving perspective with the sound of a train arriving, which fades into the sound of surf cross faded slowly into sea gulls. This is layered with other sounds then looped, taking on a quad phonic fixed perspective.


The second part of the piece contains all three perspectives simultaneously, as it adds on the first part with abstract sounds such as a donkey sound reversed dogs barking and seagulls effected using a granular time stretching. These abstract techniques are often found in Soundscape composition using variable perspective. I have employed this technique to show how the non-linear quality of memories from the summer juxtaposed over the reality of winter at the seaside.
I have drawn various comparisons throughout this essay between Soundscape composition and other more traditional art forms like music and paint. What is interesting is that Soundscape composition is now moving into the mainstream. The boundaries between visual art and sound art are becoming blurred with artists who normally use mediums like paint or sculpture, now turning to electro-acoustic art. Artists such as John Cage and Bruce Neumann, who recently had an installation using Soundscape techniques at Tate modern, turning to this burgeoning art form for inspiration.