Over the last few weeks, I have been fortunate enough to have been working on a podcast themed around climate anxiety/climate change and global warming with some friends of mine as well as classmates. During this time, we have researched, produced, presented and completed our podcast assignments with the core group I have been involved in including the following individuals; Jacob Lees, (presenter and editor) Sebastian Bignell, (researcher and presenter) Harrison Kelly, (presenter and editor) and Dylan Cox (editor and cameo presenter) with myself taking the roles of presenter and researcher.
Phase One: Planning and Pre-Production
During the first week we had to come up with ideas for our podcast and figure out a theme and approach which worked for everyone involved, with some of us barely knowing each-other at the time, sharing ideas and conversing proved to be beneficial for everyone involved and as we became acquainted, our chemistry inside and outside of the podcast improved and the whole project has lead to us all becoming quite good friends.
Eventually after a few minor arguments, we settled on a podcast style which suited us all, a serious analysis of climate anxiety involving many, many people with some fun elements for the more creatively adventurous members of our podcast to enjoy. And so, after planning our podcast and putting our heads together, we were ready to get started…
Phase Two: Vox Pops and Presentations
Having sorted out most of the pre-production related material, we were ready to begin the practical side of our assignment. We were given around a whole day to collect vox-pops from across the college and get people’s opinions on some climate anxiety-related questions which I myself had taken the liberty of putting together with some help from my co-hosts.
We spent most of the day trudging around the college with a huge boom-microphone and a scrunched-up sheet of A4 paper, asking unsuspecting passers-by for their thoughts and opinions on the matter, we collected some great content and we got some very interesting as well as contrasting answers. There was certainly a lot to talk about, so naturally, we got talking.
We later recorded a demo podcast to see how it would go, it went brilliantly, we had excellent chemistry and we never ran out of things to talk about, it was after this in fact that our tutor Adrian Smith, a skilled media studies educator, recommended that we all form a podcast of our own and record an episode every Wednesday at 15:00 hours as the college’s official podcast. Dylan was not interested in being part of another podcast, but as for the rest of us, we were very excited and are currently enjoying the fruits of what has proven to be a very fun and exciting side-project.
A presentation explaining what we do was also put together, I myself was not directly involved in this as I had to be in Wells at the time of recording for an orthodontist appointment and Dylan was also unavailable at the time, however I was later involved when Jacob video-called me that evening and we did my part there and then. The presentation went satisfactorily, albeit not perfectly due to some moments of amateur-esc and inexperienced mistakes that we have since learnt from regarding production and presentation.
Phase Three: The Podcast
The time had come for us to record the podcast, we were in the recording studio for what must’ve been most of the week, recording session after recording session, we had a lot to get done and were pressed for time. We would sometimes arrive before college hours and record what we could while we could, this was because we had a lot of segments and decided to involve a lot more people than originally planned. The podcast took on this ‘Big Band’ feel and as if by magic, we must’ve doubled the amount of work we had to do simply by having so many ideas. We were certainly enthusiastic.
The segments were as follows;
- Quoting facts and giving our opinions on statistics and figures from the last few decades.
- A general discussion involving myself, Jacob, Sebastian and Harrison.
- A ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ segment featuring (mainly) Harrison and Jacob as well as Sebastian and I to a lesser extent with Sebastian playing a much more minor role.
- A general discussion involving myself, Sebastian and Harrison having a detailed conversation about the past, present and future of climate change and our world.
- Another ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ segment featuring (mainly) Harrison and podcast guest and associate Ben Black as well as Sebastian and I to a lesser extent.
- A look back at our Vox Pops as well as a discussion.
- Harrison’s own segment involving some people whom he had conversed with regarding climate change and climate anxiety with our own thoughts and feelings discussed regarding what was said.
- The conclusion of our podcast, capped off by myself as well as Sebastian and Harrison.
Phase Four: Post-Production
After all had been recorded, Jacob and Harrison were the main editors of the podcast, both doing extensive amounts of work to get what we had done completed in good time. The podcast has now been completed and can be listened to on our personal podcast on Spotify as well as other podcast streaming services under the name of ‘The Inconsistent Podcast’.
To conclude, this podcast has been a great pleasure to be a part of and I have thoroughly enjoyed all that I have done over the last few weeks. This was a group effort and my thanks go to all that were involved in every part of our podcast which proved to become something quite remarkable and well-received by most. I am proud of my contributions to this assignment and I look forward to the next one.
Romano Ghirardello, Strode College.
Romano G Media 