audio project start to finish

1. Audio
Oscar Gibb

2. Story
• York’s saddest ghost must be Marmaduke Buckle. He was
multiply physically handicapped, a condition that in the
17th century, when he was alive, allegedly led to him being
accused of witchcraft. He spent most of his life in the house
on Goodramgate which is now the La Piazza restaurant,
until one day he could take no more.
• Marmaduke carved his initials, birth date (1697) and that
day’s date (1715) on a beam, and ended his short tragic life
by hanging himself from the beam. His ghost is alleged to
still roam round both buildings, and his presence has even
been accused of trying to push somebody down the stairs
in the pub next door, although more usually he is said to
close doors and turns lights on and off.

3. Existing Products Research
• Lore -
- In this audio show is produced as a documentary with one male narrator
who speaks with calmness which allows the listener to focus on his voice
and pay more attention to what he’s saying unlike a song which a lot of
people don’t pay attention to the actual words as such and uses breaks for
dramatic effect as it helps build or fade tension. It has a background sound
of a calm piano playing as it allows listener to relax and pay more
attention to his words and the way it emphasises intense moments is by
speeding the piano sound up or pausing it all together.

4. Existing Products Research
• Doctor who
- The vocals of the actors have an echo theme around them which
emphasises to the listener a large maybe quiet place. When one of the side
characters starts yelling the echoing becomes more apparent and overlaps
the original vocals. When the doctor explains to the woman/thing what he is
the backing music intensifies as it infers a sense of pride for the listeners as
he explains who he is to what is the villain.

5. Existing Products Research
• The archers
This is a storyline radio show about a small country village which has been
running for over 65 years and about the people who occupy it as the noises of
objects used help create the sense as you may hear a metal fence creaking
open and close and the sounds of the house doors shutting are rather heavy
and loud which may infer an old built house which more a less are in small
country towns.

6. Bibliography
Mahnke, A. (2017). LORE - Episode 74: All Fall Down.
Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3RGz7Q_qlI&t=1606s.
Last accessed 6th Nov 2018.
Fitton, M. (2018). Doctor Who - The Seventh Doctor
Is Scary AF. Available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA50biqUB-8.
Last accessed 6th Nov 2018.
Titchener, R. (2018). The Archers.
Available:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/
m00010qh. Last accessed 6th Nov
2018.

7. Planning

8. Idea Generation/Initial Reaction
• The theme may be a more older scene so the background noises could give links to the
industrial revolution so maybe a mechanical factory in the background so the noises for
that could be heavy weights crashing together and and the noise for the wind could be a
fan put rather close to the mic to create the noise of a heavy wind.
• A documentary/podcast theme as one person narrates the entire story and as the story is
from the 17th century so I may create the noises of a horse trotting across cobbled stone
and this could be created by multiple planks of wood bashed against stone from a distance
to create the echoing effect.
• The story may talk about a woman's death so to create the noise of a woman being hung I
could tighten rope around a plank of wood and then hang a weigh on it and drop it but
place the mic nearer to the wood and rope so you can hear the rope swing and the wood
creak.
My initial reaction to this project was that it is not my most passionate theme ( ghosts etc.)
but it can also allow me to explore with different ways to produce audio and dip into a
different style of theme and different ways to create the sense of fear, tension etc. I first
thought this was going to be fairly difficult as I have never done anything like this in the past,
and haven't been interested in audio production before.

9. Proposal
Working Title:
The roaming wraith of York's ghouls
Audience:
My audience will be aimed at the older area so adults or the older teenage years as it will allow me to not
sugar coat certain plot details and allows the fear and tension to be more serious it isn't a gender dominated
concept as it is more a less what the audience are interested in and that is a horror themed fearsome plot,
there is problems that I may face which may include that it will be played on radio 4 etc. and they have a
much older audience as it isn’t popular with young adults/old teenagers and so todays youth do not listen to
radio etc. but would rather watch a horror film etc. as this may link to social their psychographic as many
teenagers may be an emulator and think they wouldn't’t be “cool” if they were ”caught” listening to a story
by their mates. The product is aimed at belonger type teenagers who are accepting to knew methods etc.,
socially conscious type 1 teenagers as they are also driven and mature and would be most likely listen to a
horror themed story and finally totally integrated teens as they’re socially conscious but are usually
socialising with a mixed group so hey will provide a good way of spreading the audio to other friends and
friends of friends

10. Proposal
Project concept:
The concept of my radio story is that in the 17th century after the great fire of London a
disabled father, who is hated by his son, hangs himself, he discovers his fathers corpse
and then she haunts him twice during his life, its only twice but he is still paranoid for his
entire life as this infers what an experience it was for him.
This will be the story told so the research that was done for this was brushing through
the 17th century and so I had to find a tragic event that occurred during that as it was
between the great fire of London or the English civil war but it needed to provide a story
line which didn’t have the entire country already in fear and allow the story to have 1
person in the entire country who is haunted and terrified for his entire life to help create
that sense that when the consumer may be alone they will be afraid as this creates and
spreads the radio story as impacting and powerful. It is one of many stories which may
be told as it is the 17th story told as it will begin by talking about is previous stories told as
there is one story for each century and the person narrating the story will infer that he is
an established author working with a brand and the brand telling the story would be
COMPELLING TENSION and the beginning it will tease the next story so I researched the
18th century and what happened in that and so it will be about an occurrence during the
French revolution

11. Script
Narrator: Hi, im Andrew Burg writer of such novels like The Bird and Peak and
Trampolicon, I am co working with COMPELLING TENSION to bring you their 18th
edition to this on going series of Supernature, and this The Roaming Wraith Of York's
Ghouls
Its 1715, the Turks have recently just fought the Russians, the first shipment of coffee
reaches Amsterdam and witchcraft is in its prime of tyranny which wasn't exactly a
good thing especially for one man, Marmaduke Buckle, who was multiply physically
handicapped a condition that was frowned upon due to belief that it was a form of
witchcraft and due to this hatred he was receiving throughout his life he decides to
hang his short horrible life in the building that he obtained which would later on
become the La Piazza restaurant.
But … it wasnt all bad for mister Buckle as in the after life hed become the wraith that
roams york for the next 300 years
He now spends his time haunting the Snickleway Inn, turning off its lights and has
been accused of pushing a poor soul down the stairs who know is multiply
handicapped, ironic I think not.

12. Script
(old piano or violin music for the intro)
(battle noises)
(sipping on a drink with a hmmmm)
(insert noise of a rope tightening to some wood and swinging)
(insert noise of screeming and gentle wind)
(light switch on and off then scream)
(thudding away from the mic with manly groan)

13. Sound Effects
Sound Effect Needed How I Will Create the Sound
Someone hanging themselves Rope around some wood attached to a
weight
someone falling down the stairs Drop some weight down my stairs
Light switching on and off
Gusts of wind Hold mic near a fan
Man shouting
Woman screaming
Sipping on coffee then saying ”hmmmm”
Battle noises Smacking 2 knifes together whilst
grunting and groaning

14. Resource List
Resource Owned/Cost What sound effect will it be
used for?
rope £5.00 Tighten around some wood and
swing a weight off it making the
rope creek as if someone has hung
themselves
wood owned For the rope to be tightened too

15. Music
Band Name Track Name Link
J.Playford,D.Douglass,P.
O'Dette,A.Lawrence-
King
English country dances https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkQzq5fOEK4

16. Production

17. Daily Reflection Day 1
The first thing I did was brainstorm and generate a script
which was in the style of podcast so I had to research the
period of which the ghost story took place (18th century) so
I took to Wikipedia and researched what happened in the
early 1700s e.g. 1715 so the Russians had just fought the
Turks and coffee was introduced so I though I may add
these 2 contrasting points at the beginning to give the
sense to the reader what life was like with wars still going
on but an indulgence which is still loved today was
introduced. I had to also create the title of my podcast so I
created a title using 2 powerful words that sum up the story
“Compelling” and “Tension”. I then began to consider what
to add such as the sound effects so I started considering
every sound effect possible and there was too much that
you wouldn't hear me telling the story so I had to remove
some and add a musical piece for the background which
cuts off at points of tension, the music I added was a piece
of 18th century classical music to add to theme that it’s a
true story from the 1700s.

18. Daily Reflection Day 2
The next day I created my podcast theme so I had
created the part where he hangs himself with rope
pulled tight around some wood to create the sound
of the rope tightening as he hangs then I produced
the podcast which involved just me saying the script
in a calm voice which was taken from the sample we
were given “lore” as they speak in a calming voice as
this allows the listener to concentrate on what's
being said and not lose concentration coz the
podcaster is speaking too quick or is too loud. Then I
began producing the other sound effects I could do
in college so I flicked the lights switch on and off
again as that's part of the story. I had to get multiple
other sound effects of the internet like the music.
During all this I learned how to make sound and
video to fade in and out which is a new and helpful
skill I may use throughout other topics.

19. Evaluation

20. Research
• My research was very strong as I researched a lot more
than just the story as I added contextual knowledge learnt
from the internet although I had to use Wikipedia so the
knowledge may not be exactly true it is well processed and
thought through. I also researched existing products so I
focussed on the example of a podcast that I was given
called “lore” as it showed me that you don’t need to speak
loudly to build tension or be interesting. I then looked at an
audio clip from an old doctor who episode which gave me
an insight into sound effects and how to make things
understandable for the audience so they know what
exactly has happened etc. I could've improved it by
listening to more than just one podcast to understand and
mix different styles of podcast to create the ultimate mix of
exciting and loud but quiet and tension filled podcasts

21. Planning
• The first thing I had to do when planning my audio story was generate my
idea for the storyline which is built on my research etc. my idea did change
slightly due to it going off topic too much as I wanted to focus on his life
before being a ghost so I decided to ditch the idea and write a more
noticeable script which focuses on him being a ghost. My initial reaction to
my change in script is that it was more of a ghost story and not a story
about a suicide. My title hadn't changed due to it being vague enough to
link to a lot of stories although my audience was very open as it is in the
form of a podcast so it is aimed at a much older generation as the youth
would rather just watch a horror film. Due to the change in the script my
concept had slightly changed as I wanted to aim for a teenage audience
but due to it being a podcast I had realised hadn’t much teens listen to
them and rather watch videos etc. and that a much older audience was
more obvious.

22. Time Management
• I didn't manage my time well as I did a lot of my production in one day due
to helping others etc. so it could have been longer and less rushed so my
products would have worked better with additional time as I feel like I
could've made some m ore sound effects myself than getting them off the
internet like a withes laugh and a crowd booing. I believe my editing was
also done quite quickly and I feel like the editing of some sound effects
could've be done smoother as some may cut quite suddenly so I learnt
how to fade out very late in the editing process and had no time to go
back and fade out the rest of the audio. Also if there was more additional
time I could've made my outro better and not as rushed as it is quite short
and not as informative as I would've liked and I would've also made my
screen which is shown all the way through relate to more of a ghost story
as it looks like just a regular podcast screen

23. Technical Qualities
• My technical qualities are much basic compared to the samples given
to us as mine is quite sharp and isn't as smooth flowing as I would've
liked due to my lack of knowledge and growth as a student. My work
isn't complicated enough for my liking as my imagination wasn’t
ranged enough for this project. Some similarities between my project
and the sample of a podcast that was given is the audio/narrator as it
is quite a claiming storyteller and is naturally not loud and I also took
the idea of removing the backing noises to create tension when
something scary or serious like when he is talking about the disabled
man hanging himself. I did in fact use a Foley technique as to create
the sound of him hanging himself I bought some rope and tightened it
around some wood to make the sound of him hanging as his weight
pulls on the rope. To record the sound of my audio play I used my
phone with an attachable microphone which had a muffler on it
(which I allowed others to borrow) which helped make my podcast
sound much more professional.

24. Aural Qualities
• My sound does work as it is very quiet which adds to the tension and
makes it quite a serious podcast. My sounds weakness is that some
sound effects aren't faded in or out so they start and end quite
sharply and quickly so it sounds quite amateur an if given additional
time I would've gone back and faded out all my sound effects to help
give it a smoother finish although I wouldn't fade out the music in the
back when I say “so he hung himself” as when it stops suddenly it
creates tension and gives the sense of surprise. My audio was quite
creative as I used a Foley technique to make some of the sounds and
it all the way through it follows the style of a podcast story. I would
improve my aural qualities by maybe retaking my outro so it isn't as
rushed and I could link maybe another podcast in to make it even
more professional like. The strengths to my podcast is hat mic quality
is actually surprisingly ok for a plug-in and the muffler adds to the
sound effect of a professionally podcast the reason this is a strength is
that it is made for a radio station so it needs to be professional and
plus no one wants to listen to poor quality and unprofessional
podcast.

25. Audience Appeal
• I think since it is a podcast it wouldn't be consumed by a teenager as
podcast and radio is consumed by the older generation so this is why I
made a calm sounding interesting tense podcast as if I made a loud
youth sounding podcast it wouldn't interest the audience that are
more likely to listen to it. The fact it is an older story would interest
the chosen audience as they are more likely to be interested in older
classical products than futuristic aliens etc. It would also interest the
older generation as it set out quite formal and is about York’s history
and is quite informative as to where the story occurred so the older
generation of York can enjoy and maybe go to the restaurant where
he used to live. The reasons it appeals to the older generation which
is more likely the audience is that is quite an interesting and serious
podcast and isn't presented as a sci-fi story but a true ghost story
which is in a time period which interests the older audience and not
the young. It is suitable for the older generation as well as it talks
about a disabled man killing himself which isn't suitable for a youth
audience.