Unit 2
Week 1
For Unit 2, my group, Sophie, James, Will and Brandon all got given the brief to design and make a CD music product. Firstly in our group we discussed what is usually on a CD nowadays varying between the different target audiences there are, being, teenagers, children , adults and also the genres of music there are. We all contributed our own idea for what audience would be best, Sophie came up with the idea that we should focus our CD on teenagers and young adults as we are in the age category for that so we know what music is popular and in trend. If we were to go with this option, it would include things like cover songs which are shortened, this would be so we didn't have to spend a lot of time in the studio as this would cause a time constraint, by trying to find space as some songs are difficult to record due to the amount of instruments. I then had the idea of doing remixes of multiple songs however whilst we discussed the positives and negatives of this we decided that it would be a difficult task to handle as it would take much more time to plan each song that we would use and then mix them all together. Also as we don't have a lot of time it would be difficult to start each song from scretah, record them, mix them and make sure that they are suitable for our audience and genre. James then decided that we should pan our target audience more towards younger children as it gives us a wide range of options, for example, nursery rhymes, youn songs, learning songs, and to record these we would only need an iPad/iPhone for them. Sophie then explained how doing nursery rhymes would be a good idea, because there are a variety of songs which are easy to cover and they will not cause time constraints and the obvious reason, we won't need a studio to record it. So we would need to use Garageband and we could record it in the classroom so we wouldn't have to take a lot of time out of class to record. Afterwards our group all decided to use this idea as we all knew there were a lot of positives by choosing this.
Once we had chosen our idea, we did some reasearch based on the idea on nursery rhymes. We did this by talking to and asking a variety of questions to a parent who was three young children under the age of 7. When we were talking to him, some of the questions that we asked were, 'Where do you play the music to your child most, meaning at bedtime, in the car, at random?'. When we were talking to him we also got told that they use audiobooks a lot to their child because it allows them to develop learning/listening and reading skills and also get help them get to sleep. Afterwards we came to the conclusion that we will do 2 song tracks and one audiobook with a storyline, this is so it will allow the child to be engaged whilst their listening. Whilst we were talking to the parent, we were told that near bedtime the child likes to be involved within the audio, so either read along or look at pictures that associate with the story, to overcome this situation and allow this to we happen, we all decided that we should include a inlay within the CD cover, this will allow children to have a hard copy of the book and songs so they can be involved and actively learn. Also by having an inlay and not a book it is easier to be stored and carry around and use. Will then decided that we should include colourful pictures for children who are unable to read, for example children under the age of 3 and below. Also for the ages who are learning to read, so ages 4 and above, we would include short phrases and sentences to explain what is going on in the story and that they can be involved and develop skills.
Afterwards we then all contributed our favourite nursery rhyme as a child, Sophie suggested, 'Incy Wincy Spider', I suggested, 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' and 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' then Will suggested the nursery rhyme, 'Wheels on the bus', we decided not to go for 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' as with this the child can't be as involved in the songs, with actions and so forth. We then nailed it down to 3, eliminating, 'Baa Baa Black Sheep' as we only needed 3 songs, also considering our market research, we decided that these 3 songs were totally suitable for our target audience, being children and our purpose, being allowing them to be involved and interact with the song more, for example, actions.
Week 2
In this lesson we organised another meeting. We mainly focused on the logistical and technical requirements and constraints. Firstly we decided how we were going to record the tracks and what instruments/equipment that we would need. I came up with the idea where we would record on an iPad or iPhone, this would give us less time constraints and would also allow us to record things quickly without struggle. Then to actually record and edit the recordings, Sophie decided that we would use GarageBand, so it would be an easy, recognisable software which we know. Also by using an iPhone/iPad, we would be able to record through headphones in a quiet area which we would find. This would be much more beneficial and easier than trying to book time/space in the studio. Afterwards we then decided that for the audiobook we would need somebody with a calm voice, and have a slight tone, so the children can be focused and create their own pictures using their imagination. For this we then firstly decided that I had the calmest/softest voice. Afterwards my job was to find the short script for 'The Gruffalo', i then had to dedicate roles to everyone, being the one with the calmest voice I became the narrator as I don't need to use tones and effects. It panned out quite perfect really because there was enough characters for everyone in our group. Will is the Gruffalo, Sophie is the Mouse, James is the Snake and Brandon is the Fox. Next week we will then begin to rehearse all our roles as I made a script for everyone and highlighted their parts. Will's job for next lesson is to get the lyrics for the other two songs, which he will then give to Sophie as she is recording Vicky (our singer), outside of lesson time, so once she has done that we will be able to mix it. Brandon's job was to sort out all copyright issues, by making sure we aren't using anything that we are not allowed, due to copyright.
Week 3
This week we rehearsed our audiobook script of 'The Gruffalo'. As our whole group was at the rehearsal, we all took our assigned roles and scripts and tried to have a flow to our script, without pauses, making sure we sounded as convincing but having a subtle monotone so it is easy for children to understand, as we also have to involve the target audience we chose to practice sound effects as well, for example the Gruffalo having a loud, harsh voice.
Week 4
For our CD, we need to create promotional material to promote and advertise our product, we have 5 people in our group so we are creating 5 different pieces of promotional material. I am doing the press release, Sophie is creating a twitter account, Will is making flyers along with Brandon creating the posters and James is making us a website.
Market Research
Press Release - Market research
Evaluation
In my group I felt as if I contributed well. I provided a range of ideas, such as, researching the constraints and logistics in choosing an audio book, I also contributed that our group shall record it because it allows us to contribute and also avoids constraints in recording.Also I created the press release for our extended play. I feel like my contributions helped as they helped the overall contribution by mixing the tracks and helping record as well as we could. Both songs were very easy and smooth to record which Sophie did. However with the audio book we lost the tracks and had to record again as we lost the iPad they were on with very little time left, but we were able to do it with our team aspiration and effort. Overall our final tracks are of good quality for our EP and I feel they are of professional quality. Also when I exported 'Twinkle twinkle little star', I didn't export it well so it is made too long,so I am aware of that. Throughout meetings all off contributed equally and we all played a part to be able to achieve our final goal. Which we are all proud and happy with.
The Three Tracks
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