Analysis of the Requirements and Parameters of Range of Podcasts- Essay
Podcasts can range in their quality and their genres depending on their topics, quality of equipment and who is on the podcast; presenters and guests. In this essay, I will be analysing the requirements for a podcast and the types of podcasts that exist.
Podcasts can vary in their type and genre and, depending on the audience, the topic can also vary. Some of the most popular genres are interviews, news, sports, comedy and interview podcasts which are most known to the wide variety of audience. Genres are specific on what the podcast talks about but doesn't affect the topic, allowing the topic to change within the genre. This can allow a mixture of the genres such as a sports interview podcast to come to be, making the podcast much more specific and tied down and as expected, limits your audience.
There are four types of podcasts known. Audio podcasts being the first and the most commonly known. These types of podcasts are generally in an MP3 format. These types of podcasts are the most compatible with different variations of computers and portable media devices. A positive aspect of this podcast type is that they normally have a relatively small file size, usually less than 10MB depending on length, and are fairly easy to create. A downfall is that the audio is only available and the information cannot be given to the audience in any other way, but depending on the audience and the genre, this may be all that is needed.
One audio-only podcast is Rhett and Link's Ear Biscuits. Ear Biscuits is a comedy styled podcast that can be for entertainment and, sometimes even educational purposes, depending what they speak about. The episodes are actually highly factual and helpful to the audience. They list the topics they are going to speak about before hand and what they want to speak about and who with in a possible next episode.
Ear Biscuits can differ in topics and is aimed for teenagers and adults.They bring in guests for their show, many being famous YouTubers like Mark Fischbach, and celebrities like Steve Zaragoza, and speak to them about their careers, their past and how they got to where they are. With Markiplier, they speak about how he "wears his heart onto his sleeve", how he is such a dedicated YouTuber to his fans and about his family life when his father died when he was 18 years old. The topics can vary on child advice, because both presenters are fathers, to sports and movies. The audio files can be downloaded in MP3 files or can be listened to for free on Soundcloud. This allows the audience to listen to the podcast on the go as well as when they are connected to the internet.
Another type of podcast is a video podcast. These podcasts are relatively popular on the internet and give the video contribution of the podcast to the audience. Video podasts are rapidly becoming a popular format for traditional media and television networks because they are more entertaining for the audience when they can see the person's reactions to a topic or their body movements. Unlike an audio podcast, creating a video podcast is like any other video production project which takes longer to organise. The file size fir downloading a video podcast requires typically upwards of 100 MB each depending on the length. The preferred format for video podcasts is typically .m4v or mp4 H.264.
RT Podcast is a podcast created by the American TV and Film company by the name of Rooster Teeth. These podcasts doesn't have pin pointed presenters of the podcast but has two main presenters called Gus Sorola and Michael "Burnie" Burns. They have topics to speak about but is more loose and improvised than Ear Biscuits, allowing them to go on tangents about the topic they are speaking about. RT is a comedy based podcast that are for entertainment purposes. The podcast can also differ in the topics it speaks about for each episode, periodically changing throughout. They may speak about film, their lives and experiences and similar topics to Ear Biscuits.
RT podcast has up to five people at most where as Ear Biscuits only has three. This means that you may get more responses but it would be much harder to control and keep on track. This also may be the reason why the RT Podcast is more improvisational than Ear Biscuits because it is harder to keep a larger amount of people on track.
The episodes can be found on YouTube, Soundcloud, itunes and their website for download (audio-only.) These podcasts are also a video podcast that can be found on YouTube. This allows the audience to download the audio to listen to at their convenience and they can also find the video podcast to watch on YouTube, allowing them to see the interactions and the expressions the hosts and guests create when speaking about a certain topic.
Enhanced Podcasts are podcasts that combine audio podcast with synced images, similar to a narrated slideshow. They contain multiple still images that change like a slideshow, and you can also add live URL links to Websites as well as chapter markers to skip around the podcast. Technically, enhanced podcasts are audio files in .m4a format (also known as mp4 or AAC format), with a layer for embedding the synced images. They allow the audience to become more interactive around the podcast and they present both visual and audio content, but the file size is nearly the same as a typical audio-only podcast. This is the least used type of podcast.
This enhanced podcast by Louis Education shows that the files can be downloaded and that an audio file does lie above it. It can be downloaded audio-only but is proven that these types of podcasts aren't used anymore, not professionally. He talks about the Arizona lesson plan for his class. The podcast isn't that entertaining and the style of the podcast with images do not interest or keep me interested in the podcast. Because they have been around since 2009, entertainment has moved away from this kind of podcast style, meaning that it is no longer entertaining to the new generation of podcast listeners. They also look unprofessional because of the slideshow style which can be seen in Louis Educations' video.
Finally, Screencast podcasts are a digital recording of a computer screen. This is known as video capture and often contain narration over the top of the video. Although screencast podcasts are the oldest type to exist, they are still used and well known. Files have decreased in size over time for this type of podcast, recent products supporting more compact files in mp4 or H.264. They are now much more sophisticated for the editing features.
This Screencast by Eric Nantz shows how the video is captured by recording software to present to the audience. Nantz speaks over the top of the video, narrating what he is showing. His podcast is much more for informational purposes compared to the other podcasts analysed. This is another unprofessional podcast but can show the benefits of this kind of podcast. These are still not frequently used for podcasts but are mostly used for gaming commentary where it is much more effective to the audience. Once again, this type of podcast can become boring over time for the audience and doesn't keep them interested enough to continue listening.
There are certain requirements for creating a podcast, one being choosing a topic and genre. This will help you focus on your topics and will keep you in line. Next, decide whether or not to have a co-host. If you have a co-host, you have someone to share your ideas with and to work on the podcast with. Extra information or ideas from another could benefit you but make sure your co-host will want to continue doing the podcast.Organisation is key to creating a good podcast, making sure you know the content you are going to cover and what equipment you will need.
Pick how you are going to podcast and where because this is important for the audio quality. If recording outside and portable, the wind and movement may interrupt the audio and could cause some trouble if using one microphone. Inside, make sure that the room is quiet and there is very little to none background noise. If using intro music and sound effects, edit them in after recording the podcast to make the podcast more professional. This also allows you to control when the sound effects play and when the intro music stops, making the audio much more precise. Background music should be about half the volume of the audio of the voice so the voice overpowers the music. Doing this means that the main focus for the audience is the person's voice but the music in the background will keep them entertained through small quiet gaps in the conversation.
If you have a interview, fill in the guest on the content you are going to ask them so they can come up with answers early on and be prepared for the questions. This makes the guest much more comfortable and will make your podcast much more smooth and professional because they won't sit trying to come up with an answer which can make a podcast awkward and unprofessional.
Overall, for my podcast I will be using the audio-only type of podcast and the genre of interviews. I will make sure to record in a quiet room so audio isn't affected by background noise. I will edit the music for the intro, background music and sound effects in afterwards to get the precise and pristine look that you can get from a professional podcast. I will be sure to be organised and to keep the interviewee filled in with the content and questions so they can be prepared for the questions.
References
"Enhanced Podcast Example". Vimeo. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.
McLoughlin, Rhett and Link Neal. "Ear Biscuits". SoundCloud. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.
"Rooster Teeth Podcast By Rooster Teeth On Itunes". iTunes. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.
"The 4 Types Of Podcasts". The Instructional Innovations Blog. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.
"The 27 Steps To Get Your Podcast Into Itunes - School Of Podcasting - Learn "How To Podcast" With Podcast Coach Dave Jackson". School of Podcasting - Learn "How To Podcast" with Podcast Coach Dave Jackson. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.
"The R-Podcast Screencast 1: Basic Interaction With R". Vimeo. N.p., 2017. Web. 3 Jan. 2017.
