What is a soundscape?

A soundscape can be any noise that is recorded in everyday life whether it be noise pollution, for example if you walk down the street and hear an array of urban sounds i.e. road works/conversations. It could also be the noises that naturally occur for example, if you are in the middle of a country side and you can hear birds tweeting and water running.

This is a soundscape that I enjoyed to listen to as you feel as though you are going on a journey and it was fun trying to work out 'where you were'.

Soundscape from Anh-Thu Ngo on Vimeo.

Treatment for Do I really need.....My addiction

Each of the episodes in my series will have the opening credits in motion graphics, the names of people involved and other info in opening credits will come onto the screen and the text will create images i.e. a cigarette/lipstick.

Each of the episodes will run for around 30 minutes

The programme will start with a brief introduction from the voice over, he or she will have a comedic slant to amuse the audience but also to depict that this is not a show to judge and point the finger, but just to entertain and educate. The voice over will give a gist of the show to come. The addict will then be introduced and they will describe themselves and their addiction, they will then be followed in a documentary showing their highs and lows and the different obstacles they face. Throughout this documentary it will be broken up by different items .These items will be the history of the addiction in question, archival footage will play while the voice over explains the history. Vox pops depicting their views on the addiction, professionals discussing the benefits and drawbacks over the addiction, and visiting someone who bases their life/business around the addiction i.e. a club/pub depends on alcohol for them to survive.

To finish the show, the addict will come to some conclusion over their week of 'giving up' and will discuss how they have found the week and how this will affect them in the future. This will then be followed by a summary of the show from the voice over and will say next week’s programme. Then the motion graphics from the opening credits will play tying the programme together.

The audience will be addicts themselves or know somebody with an addiction, as well as this anybody with a particular interest to the content or style of show.

The aim of this series is to explore the origins of certain addictions and how they are in our society today, also to observe how people cope without their addictions.

Proposal for Do I really need....My Addiction

'Do I really need my addiction' will be the title for series of around 10 episodes,
Each episode will have the same programme outline but will explore a different addiction, and how people cope without it.

The programme will be in the style of a documentary, with each episode a different addict will be filmed for around a week, coping without their addiction.

To break up the documentary I will include items that will compliment the content of the episode.

For example one of the episodes could introduce the addiction 'makeup'. In this episode the factors that would be explored would be why makeup was invented, vox pops depicting how people feel about makeup, the 'necessity' of makeup, the benefits and disadvantages of wearing makeup. Professionals in the business would be asked for their opinions. For this episode, animal rights activists would be interviewed, as well as makeup artists/manufactures to get a broad insight on the industry. The programme would be V/O lead; this would not only bring all the different parts of the episode together but would also tie the whole series together having a constant voice.
Throughout the whole episode it would keep returning to the addict and showing how he/she is coping with different events in their life e.g. a 'binge drinker alcoholic' going to a club, and their views on the addiction in question.

I want people to feel involved in this series, whether it be an addiction they have themselves or someone they know, otherwise it could be the enjoyment of watching someone discovering how to cope with something they don’t feel comfortable with, which most people in the world would have had to have done.

Many programmes such as 'Super size me' and 'Extreem Male Beauty' documentary films/programmes following people coping with different issues have received very good ratings, with a lot of following. This outline for a programme has already been proved to appeal to a large number of viewers, and the content for my series will fit very well in with the society of today. Therefore I think this is why my programme idea will work.

Deconstructing a Radio Programme

BBC Radio 4
The Sound of Magnolias
A documentary on the blind Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo

• Cue: Presenter from BBC radio 4 introducing programme.
• Writer Irma Kurtz talks to Daughter Cecilia : their residence and the history on Rodrigo.
• Snippet of Rodrigo’s music, blends throughout her speaking
• Irma –History on Rodrigo, facts about his life, instruments he played
• Music becomes louder, then blends again into Irma
• Irma and Daughter : explaining surroundings and location
• Snippet of Rodrigo’s music
• Pepe Romero: talking about Rodrigo as a collaborator/Friend.
• Snippet of Rodrigo’s music
• Irma and Pepe :Spain/Rodrigo’s music is spirit of Spain/ his loves/different styles of music
• Music, fades into Pepe talking about the piece of music in background
• Irma introduces Carlos Bernal : Concierto de Aranjuez
• Music :Concierto de Aranjuez
• Fades into another piece of music
• Irma introduces Raymond Calcraft, composer: Rodrigo’s uniqueness
• Fades into music then back to Raymond: Rhythms
• Irma and Daughter in family home: Relationships within family
• Music :Piano Piece
• Daughter talks about His Piano Playing
• Irma talks about History ( His Studying)
• Irma introduces Oli Miguel and Narcis Bonet
• Miguel and Bonet :His University life, looking at photos (translator over the top of one)
• Music whilst talk about Modern life
• Irma discusses Rodrigo and Victoria ( his wife) in the early days, in Love / out of money
• Irma describes their first house as she walks around it
• Music ( which she would have imagined they would have played in the house)
• Teacher Cecil Rozual: University, Influences & Friends, Paris & Spain mixture – composers
• Music
• Irma: Transition from Paris to Madrid, Daughter and Irma talk about return to Madrid.
• Carlos Bernal: feelings and expressions
• Music ( fades onto talking)
• Pepe Romero : guitar playing
• Music reflecting the guitar playing he was talking about
• Irma and Daughter: depression and nostalgia
• Music
• Carlos Bernal: discussing his movement
• Pepe Romero: Inspirations for is music, didn’t tell anyone till he was 90, miscarried child
• Irma/Daughter: family life and his blindness
• Professor Raymond Calcraft: newspapers/critics/composing/carer as a writer and professor
• Enrique Perez: Blind Union/Spain/musician.
• Irma and Enrique facts on Blindness, how Rodrigo coped. (Brief talk on rain)
• Rain sounds merging into music
• Pepe Romero talks of the freshness of his music
• Music :guitar
• Irma : Concierto de Aranjuez , also talks of miles Davis
• Fades in Miles Davis music
• Daughter talking about his works
• Music
• Irma and Daughter in the gardens of Aranjuez, talking about his(and his wife's) resting place
• Music
• Collection of memories
• Lengthened piece of music
• Irma and Daughter : legacy of fathers music
• Snippet of music , stays behind talking
• Pepe talking about the meaning of music and what Rodrigo’s music has done.
• Music, music ends.
• Close Cue BBC 4 Radio presenter.


I enjoyed this Radio Programme a great deal; I thought it was very informative with many facts and opinions that linked in nicely with one another.
The speakers were varied from very personal, his daughter Cecilia, discussing family life, to Enrique Perez, part of the blind union, sharing facts on blindness
I liked the fact that there was a large amount of music complimenting the speaking, which also helped to break the script; otherwise it could have been too dense.
I thought it was excellent how Irma Kurtz travelled to different locations i.e. France and Spain; this gave a feel for the actual history. As she walked into his first house it became much more personal than just listening to her talking from a studio.
It would have been easier to follow if each time someone spoke their name was mentioned, as she did introduce them on their first speaking, but as there were quite a few speakers, it sometimes got confusing remembering and deciphering between voices.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the programme and felt that it was an educational experience for all those listening.

Vox Pops

Vox Populi is the Latin for Voice of the people. The term Vox Pops is used in Broadcasting, a shortened way of saying interviews with the general public. Usually the interviews will be held on a busy street or location where a mixture of everyday people will be, therefore having very mixed answers.

I was looking around at different 'Vox-Pops' and I found a collection of videos on Vimio called 'One Question Fifty answers'. I then found the website that held all the videos for 'One Question Fifty answers'. I found these very interesting and liked all the original answers. These Vox-pops were filmed in Cities, in the centre, therefore having a very diverse mixture of people. This really helped to bring varied answers to the questions.

Here is one of the videos, filmed in London. The theme is 'if you could wake up anywhere where would it be?

Fifty People, One Question: London from Fifty People, One Question on Vimeo.

I then remembered a comedy show with Jack Dee i saw, where for part of his show he used Vox-pops for humour. He showed clips of the public, asking him questions, then he mocked them.


This shows the diversity in which Vox-pops are used. They can be used in such situations as:

• The news, for opinions on the latest report
• Interviews of a New Film Realease
• Reality shows, for example 'How to Look good Naked' surveys people on the image of their guest.
  

Do I really need.....

We were given the title 'Do I really need' and we had to think of an ending to this sentence that would suit a television programme.

I have chosen to call mine Do I really need my addiction.

If I were to create this television programme each episode would discover a new addiction and you would watch someone trying to live without their addiction for a period of time.
I think this would be a good title for a television show as each episode would be very different to the next and lots of different subjects would be covered.

Photo Marathon

We were given the afternoon to take 12 photos, each on a different subject. I drove to different locations in bath, as i am new to this city it was exciting to experience baths surroundings as well as finding places that would be good for each of my themes. I also walked around the city centre looking for suitable things to photograph, as I am new here I found I was noticing everything, more than a local would, therefore i had more to inspire me. I found this quite difficult at times as we had to stick to the order in which the themes were given, i really enjoyed the task, and although some of the themes were hard to portray, i did have fun with the challenge.

At first when creating the montage i found it complicated to use i-movie, but once i started to play around with transitions and text i started to enjoy myself, and i felt proud that i was able to use i-movie, and i liked how i could do something exciting to show my photos rather than a slideshow. Later I discovered how to add sound and added sound to the end of my montage.