Creating Your Own Review Podcast

Creating Your Podcast- –Planning Stage

Now it is time for you to create a review. You may work in pairs or in a triad, though I think 3 people will make the assignment more difficult to complete. The other person/people working with you must have experience with the items that you are doing the review on:
• Review a group of songs from a band/artist;
• Review a genre of music/art/film (such as punk rock, pop rock…)
• A list and review of the top ____ songs/films of 2009;
• A list and review of the songs/films that represent your generation;
• A list and review of ten songs you should listen to before you die,
• A list and review of ten movies everyone should see;
• A review of the history of a band and how it has changed over the years;
• A review of a film maker/actor and how their films have changed throughout their career;
• A review of the best food to have at a party;
• A review of local restuarants.

• And so on – you get the idea. If you have an idea that is not on the list, see me for approval before you begin.

How many songs/ movies/ artists/ performers/ models/ makes do I need in my review?
You need to have three items per person in your group. Pairs will have six items and triads will have 9 items.

Important Things to Consider When Choosing Your Topic:
• Is your topic broad enough that you will have enough items to review?
• Is your topic appropriate for school?
• Can you find enough visuals to go with your audio? (You will need at least one per item.)
• If you select a topic that might have images that are blocked at school, will you be able to find time and internet access outside of school to get the images you will need? (For example, if you want to do a history and review of Metallica you would have to get many of the images outside of school.)
• Do you know enough about your topic to be able to talk about and review/critique it?

What Needs to Be Present in Your Review:

Here’s where your work on the deconstruction of a review graphic comes into play. You did that assignment in order to raise your awareness of how a professional review is constructed. Refer back to the graphic and the outline you made. Use it as a guide, but also feel free to deviate from it.

 A title slide that introduces your topic and includes your name(s);
 At least one image per item;
 Audio, usually music;
 Your spoken commentary –
 Introduce yourself/yourselves;
 Personal story connections;
 Personal Response and/or connection to review item or time period;
 Personal analysis;
 Clear transitions;
 Criteria for selection and/or inclusion;
 Introduction to genre / style / musical movement/classification, etc…
 Elements of style comments
 Background on band / song/film/actor/model, etc.
 History of band / song/ film/actor/model, etc.
 Transitional comments to the next segment
 Excerpt of song/ film still/ image of item, etc…
 Concluding comments
 A works cited page that documents all of your sources for research, images, reference, etc.

And so on - let me know if you need more information.

Creating a Review- Planning & Scripting
To do this assignment you can either:
1. Choose to plan and write out your entire script. The advantage of this option is that you might feel less nervous about recording your voice since you already know what you are going to say. The down side is that it may take you a while.

2. Choose to create a basic plan of what you will say. The advantage of this one is that you do not feel tied to a script. However, it can result in a lower quality podcast since there will most likely be a lot of pauses, “Uhms,” “ya’knows,” and so on. You can fix this by recording in Audacity.com. This is a free audio recording site that you can use to clean up your sound.

How to do this:
 I suggest that you figure out your content then look for images. As you find the right images add them to your VoiceThread. Be sure to put the works cited information on the last slide!

 You can create your show in PowerPoint and upload it, or create it directly in VoiceThread.com

 Practice with your script, and your partner, if you have one.

 Be sure to save your VoiceThread before you add the audio. That way if you screw up the audio you can start from that point, instead of starting over.

 Be sure to put "welshonreview" in the tag line so that I can find it.

 Title it something like yourfirstnamelastinitialreview (all lower case, all one word. Mine would be tammywreview).

 Be sure to check the "Browse" button in the publishing options box.

 Once your happy you can turn it in.