My goals for this Final Major Project 

• I set out to create a short 5- 7minute podcast on the hidden truths and dark elements of sexual assault and the MeToo movement. I hoped to produce a thought provoking piece of audio that was niche and controversial. I wanted my final piece to get my target demographic really considering sexual assault, the impact of possible false allegations, and the inequality men face when it comes to sexual assault. In my proposal aims I stated ‘The aims of my project are to create a documentary from a certain perspective for a topic that is rarely , if ever explored in depth. The reason being, that I want to be that woman attempting to view the issue from a man’s perspective and address instances where women use #MeToo -not as it was intended to empower victims to come forward- but to abuse the movement by using claims of sexual assault falsely as a weapon for another motive. These ulterior motives could include being aggrieved, in order to obtain a promotion or a role etc. I also wanted to explore the impact of MeToo in terms of trial by social media which offers no protection to the accused party compared to incidents where assaults follow proper reporting procedures in terms of police and legal intervention and evidence. The campaign leaves men in the vulnerable position of being tried and judged without adequate opportunity to have their side of the incident heard. The lack of evidential basis of the movement has meant that a kiss to the back of the head as in Joe Biden’s allegations and those of rape are not differentiated between and consequently have the effect of negating instances of serious instances of sexual assault in the workplace thus making real victims somehow less credible .

Having chosen the subject of my project, I then had to decide the best medium to convey it to my target audience in a way that would be both informative yet engaging. The decision between an audio or visual piece was difficult, as each have their unique selling points. Ultimately, I felt audio would be most suitable, as the subject lends itself to discussion -which is audio based- without the necessity for visuals. I felt visuals would add little to the impact of the piece and prove difficult to source and may prove a distraction from the actual content.

Having settled on an audio piece I had to weigh the pros and cons of a longer, more formal radio documentary or shorter, more informal podcast. Since my target audience was younger I felt a podcast was more suited and would have greater impact.

My technical research into the specifications of a podcast are listed below;

Codes and Conventions 

• Bed (instrumental) – This is the instrumental played throughout the piece that effectively informs the tone of the piece and sets the scene. It is a powerful tool as music has the ability to evoke emotional responses in an audience, for example the classical score used in ‘Schindlers List’ is inherently moving as a stand alone piece. Contrarily using using an upbeat bed can be uplifting and inspirational. I felt the latter would be inappropriate as it is an extremely sensitive topic.
• Vox Pops- Are a way of canvassing public opinion in order to gain a range of perspectives, as a Vox Pop is an opinion from the public, and it adds diversity to the piece.
• Sound effects- Provide a break between the narration and can be helpful in providing the audience with imagery.
• Non-fiction narrative.- Factual content in terms of stats, interviews etc related to and supporting the narrative. 
• Voice Over. – Dialogue.
• Real audio from discussed topic/ event or archived footage.  
• Interviews with experts – People who know the topic and offer more insight into subject / offer an alternative perspective.  
• Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sounds. 

How research informed production 

• The primary research conducted influenced my production. My target audience-as I made clear in my project pitch-‘’…are all men and women in the workplace, specifically in the film, music, and enterprise industry. My demographics age range will be from 16-18 these are the ages of people starting to work.’’ I decided to include the opinions from my target audience by asking them questions via Vox Pops, (popular opinion as represented by informal comments from members of the public, especially when broadcast or published. Recorded on a Tascam) Interestingly, the majority of Vox pops used for my piece were male though I surveyed the genders in equal numbers. I had intended to represent the genders in equal numbers however interestingly female peers I interviewed appeared uncomfortable to voice opinions contrary to the movement on record but privately admitted they too had reservations about the validity of some claims.

•  This primary research allowed me to form content that appealed to my demographic. The feedback received enabled me the freedom to use those interviews in my final piece about how 16-18 feel about my topic. But in addition I found that interviewees in the 25-45 age bracket were much more willing to share their honest opinions. Their interviews had the added benefit of experience as many had been working for 30 yeas and as such could speak from experience and had witnessed both sexual harassment and the change in workplace in equal measures. I had not anticipated how informative Vox pops from the older demographic would be in shaping my final piece. It helped influence the development of my secondary research. My secondary research was conducted by objectively extracting and evaluating factual and statistical information from an extensive variety of sources including news articles, websites and multiple YouTube clips on the different topics required for my podcast. 

Reasons for choice of sources:

• Website – held controversial information that was supported by multiple sources such as annual statistics and academic studies on the topics. 
• The content included cases where it has been legally proven women have made false allegations and suggested possible reasons for this. 

YouTube Videos 

Anne Widdecombe- This clip was selected as it was credible opinion. She is a well-educated and respected, successful female MP  who has been in the workplace for many decades. As such, she has worked in politic which is a traditionally male-dominated environment and witnessed firsthand the development of an inequality in the workplace where women have becoming effectively more powerful in some ways than men. 

Henry Cavill- This clip was effective as it bravely voices the opinion- as unpopular and tabu as it is- of a man currently working in the film industry. His rhetoric highlights how the MeToo movement has affected and changed how men approach women. The backlash he received as a result of his candid comments also illustrate the negative connotations associated with disagreement with the majority.  

Candace Owens podcast-  The segment of interview used was valuable as it illustrated two successful women speaking unguardedly about the multiple issues involved. Firstly, it questioned why alleged victims of sexual assault failed to report it at the time. Their premise was that some women ‘appeared’ to have benefited from these supposedly unwanted sexual encounters at the time i.e the infamous ‘casting couch’ spoken of by icons like Marilyn Monroe and had secured roles as a result at the time. And secondly they discussed the fact that where for example a ‘meeting’ is conducted in a hotel ”at 3am” or in a bar that women are well aware of the inappropriate nature of what is being suggested, at which point they are able to choose whether to obtain what they want through this means …or not. They attribute a responsibility and element of choice to women. This view has also been supported by artists Dolly Parton and Viola Davis who have stated that the short route to fame through sexual favours has always existed but whether you choose to take it or have the principals to refuse and take the long route to fame is very much a personal choice.

Liam Allen- This source is vital to my piece as it shows how a false allegation can jeopardise your work reputation and your life, due to its severity. Even when proven innocent, the damage has been done and cannot be undone. Your name remains tarnished and the doubts or suspicions cast over your character shadow you through life . 

This research has been included in the production. Throughout my short audio documentary, numerous interviews and clips of both men and women speaking about how false allegations and the MeToo movement has affected not only the workplace but society in general is evident. 

Inspiration for my piece came from watching and listening to BBC newsbeats short documentaries; this helped shape the production of my podcast. It helped me visualise the structure of my podcast and give a clear objective in terms of the tone I wished the podcast to achieve. Newsbeat documentaries were useful as they included both light hearted and serious documentaries. The varieties of examples and styles inspired me with a variety of templates from which to base my own bed. Ultimately I felt that certain styles would not do justice to nor be appropriate for the weighty topic of my documentary. This piece of audio makes it clear that my documentary is intended to be serious in its tone to reflect that this is a dark and controversial topic. 

The results of primary research gave an insight into some young people, an also men and women of a more mature demographics opinions on the workplace and the MeToo movement. It helped assist my choosing clips and cases in order to demonstrate how sexual assault allegations are changing society and the opposing genders professional interactions. This helped adapt my ideas. 

• Influenced my decisions and resulted in changes in topics mentioned in this podcast 
• Helped determine which clips should be used, and for which sections within my piece. 
• Resulted in my deciding that the originally planned 5-7 minute podcast would be an insufficient time bracket and would compromise the quality of the final piece. My research taught me that my piece would need to be double that length to cover the subject in adequate detail whilst holding the audiences attention.

I believe the implementation of my research was successful due to the following reasons. 

• Use of multiple websites to compare statistics and ensure their accuracy and to obtain multiple viewpoints on the subject to produce a balanced, well-rounded final piece.

• Discovered several sources where the substance of the piece supported the statements given in my piece. 
• The research shown covers all the topics I wished to explore. The information documented supports the importance of informing the public of the existence of and severity of false allegations. It also demonstrates how in such cases the accuser becomes the perpetrator and the falsely accused, the victim.

• The different types of research done (interviews, Vox pops, news articles) allowed a diverse spread of information, for patterns of opinion between the genders to emerge and also increased the accuracy of the piece overall. The research opened my eye to aspects I had not previously considered, for example prior to the research I was unaware of concerns of parents of sons worried their child might fall victim to false allegations. Neither did I realise there was a website dedicated to offering legal advice and emotional support and counselling to males surviving or fighting false allegations.
• Audience engagement was a key objective, therefore see below evidence of the multiple means of communicating the information utilised in my final piece ( multiple voices, use of sound effects, interviews presenting opposing views, not one monotonous voice) aimed at maintaining this.

Examples of where my I was unsuccessful or faced unforeseen obstacles: 

• Research was extremely time-consuming and difficult because whereas support for MeToo means there is ample information and coverage, unpopular or controversial topics such as reasons as to why women lie about sexual assault, what characteristics determine a false accuser, etc. are marginal and receive less media attention. Therefore information was difficult to find online.
• Loss of links to websites where information was found and then attempting to relocate the website for referencing purposes was frustrating. 
• Having information that proved irrelevant to my piece and including some information that made my script less engaging and requiring repeated editing. 
• Having superfluous information to the amount required to make my podcast work but being unsure where and which parts of data to omit without compromising the quality and depth of coverage of the topic in the podcast

Reflection on ways to improve in future projects in regard to research: 

•  Show a group of 10 people a list of suggested topics I wish to include and allow the consensus to decide which 4 should be focussed upon. I began with 7-10 topics I wanted to explore in my piece but found that the constraints of creating a podcast 15-20 minutes would result in it either exceeding this time wise or failing to cover any of the topics properly. Ultimately, the goal was to cover the subject adequately, create a talking point and leave the audience with take-away points that might ultimately prompt further discussion.

• Annotate future research with two websites side by side thus enabling me to better deconstruct and evaluate both pieces by comparing how each are useful and deciding which one is better.

Comparison to researched Productions 

My production is done to a professional standard

As the above screenshots illustrate, I believe my work has been completed to a professional standard for the following reasons; 

• I have used a multitrack to lay multiple pieces of audio. 

• I have used a bed (A musical bed is a songwriting-composition term used in music production) that sets the tone and the mood through my audio documentary. 
• I have edited the audio repeatedly to eradicate errors and deficiencies which only become apparent on playback. These include things like inadvertent unwanted breathing and sniffs. This has improved the quality of the final audio significantly though I still feel that had I had further studio time and time in general I would have edited further.
• I have edited the audio by sorting out the noise levels, the levels make the audio more fluent, which stops peaking of the audio but I feel they are not yet perfect.

• Compared my work to a BBC newsbeat documentary. Newsbeat is the flagship news programme on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. Newsbeat is produced by BBC News but differs from the BBC’s other news programmes in its remit to provide news tailored for a specifically younger audience. 

•  Ensured the final piece was as close fifteen-minutes long as possible. In that sense my work is reflects a BBC newsbeaa documentary as it is around the same time frame.

Positive elements of my production 

• I have created a piece of media that has followed my initial proposal. 
• My work is to a professional standard as I have included all the documented features of a podcast.
• I have included transitions with audio following. 
• There are dramatic pauses that serve to emphasise and allow the audience to absorb what has been said.

• I have taken the brave and bold move of approaching a controversial and extremely sensitive subject despite opposition, sometimes vehement.
• I have maintained professionalism and objectivity at all times. Putting across an argument- regardless of my own personal view- objectively.
• I have received positive feedback from my focus group that states which elements were successful and where improvements can be made. 
• I have responded well to constructive criticism and advice from professionals and made adjustments accordingly.

Some of the feedback given from my focus group: 

• Engaging, however quite long, but all the information was interesting because it held facts and figures that were not previously known. Very informative.
• Conducted interviews with both men and women without bias. It was clear you were open to possibilities and fully prepared to adjust thinking and angle should any new information really sway you.

• Very Raw, almost filterless, quite controversial, but mentioned all the factors that people are too wary to say due to sexual assault being a very emotive, sensitive and serious subject. 
• Liked the bed, made it very serious and captivating 

Production Strengths: (A personal view) 

Strengths of the production: 

• Simply using a radio studio allowed me to use all the equipment to produce an audio piece- including all the technical specifications- to a professional standard.  

• My script was meaningful and held all the important topics that made my work heartfelt and passionate. This allowed me a platform to finally speak about my encounter of sexual assault. This had not been my intention originally but ironically came about through the piece. It was not intended to be judgmental or achieve a ‘sympathy vote’ but to illustrate that if a child can speak up against perpertrators… so can anyone. I feel that victims have a responsibility to speak up immediately because they may save a future victim. That in itself is the epitome of female empowerment.

• The introduction to my podcast ‘sets the scene’, especially with the bed of sounds of cars and the wind and footsteps. It was meant to set an informal scene where I am not so much ‘presenting’ a piece but talking informally.
• The transitions during the first 4 minutes of my podcast are seamless and smooth making it sound very natural and professional. 

Production Weaknesses: ( A personal view) 

      The overall weaknesses I identified in my production: 

• The quality of most of my Vox pops were to a professional standard however some of the audio was muffled and background noise can be heard in some of the clips. 
• To improve the quality of Vox pops I put a sponge onto the mic to stop the levels from peaking at certain levels, however in my case, the sponge did little to correct that problem and instead resulted in low audio levels. The alternative was to conduct interviews in the studio but this would have taken away from the intended relaxed/informal interviewing style I wanted to attain.
• Editing all the interviews, cutting clips and placing them onto the multitrack was extremely time consuming. 
• In some parts of my podcast it’s clear that I have accidently deleted the endings of some words. This was very frustrating and disappointing.  

These weaknesses have occurred because the quality of some equipment is insufficient and also the time constraints of covering all the written elements of the FMP and obtaining studio time is challenging.

What needs improvement: 

• Quality of editing 
• The choice of apparatus used to record audio outside a studio. 

• My practical skills could be improved by listening more carefully when editing.
• It would also have been helpful to get a third party to listen to and critique my work before the final edit of the draft. I made the mistake of rushing recording to accommodate studio time before seeking suggestions. It would have been more useful to respond to feedback and suggested alterations pre-recording phase.

I feel that I did too much research and consequently reached the conflict of trying to eliminate information that wasn’t crucial to my work.

I planned my shoot effectively, however due to complications with my initial mentor, my recording was needlessly delayed by a week. 

My production was let down by the quality of Vox pops. Initially I had 20-30 minutes worth of responses, but due to the audio sounding of extremely poor quality, I was left with only 3-5minutes worth of material to play with. 

Production Strengths: (Based on feedback) 

My audience feedback went well;

Person 1 (male): 

• Engaging, however quite long, but all the information was interesting because it held facts and figures that didn’t know. 
• Had interviews with both men and women, wasn’t bias, stated the section where it was your opinion giving it variety. 
• Very Raw, almost no filter, quite controversial, but mentioned all the factors that people are wary to say due to  sexual assault being a very sensitive and serious subject. 
• Liked the bed, made it very serious and captivating 

Person 2 (male): 

• Moved by the documentary, covered topics that I personally am passionate about, gave men an equal playing field and voiced the truth about how men feel in the workplace. 
• Especially liked the introduction where you speak about where you are, it sets the scene and its more of a journey rather than it being a documentary about yourself and ‘I’ this and ‘I’ that. 

Person 3 (male):   

• Transitions where smooth and it wasn’t jumpy. 
• Enjoyed the Vox pops, very honest. 
• Like the number of interviews of celebrities with their opinion on MeToo, I especially liked Candace Owens as it was up-front, and it got her point across. 
• Liked the element of its backing men where it mentions that some women have taken it too far, however, I would have included more interviews where men say MeToo is empowering for women. 

Person 4 (female): 

• Found this piece very closed minded, however your piece had evidence to support what was said which is good. I am a feminist. 
• I liked the introduction as the bed was put in to replicate what was being said, to make the demographic feel as if they were there. 
• The documentary was very long, should have been shorter. 
• Controversial topic 

Person 5 (male):  

• Serious and sensitive topic, but It was approached in an appropriate and respectful way. 
• Dramatic pauses really emphasised the seriousness of false allegations. 
• How you ended the podcast, was deep and meaningful and it makes myself as the audience really think about sexual assault and how both men and women should come forward as soon as it happens as it can stop someone else from going through what you went through. 
• To improve I say, have a few more Vox pops for more variety, but overall the piece is fantastic. 

Person 6 (female): 

• An amazing piece of audio truly explores the dark truth of the MeToo movement. 
• Lots of different voices, such as little mini interviews and audio interviews brings diversity to the piece and you don’t get sick of hearing one persons’ voice constantly. 
• An original idea that has not been done before, it has been approached in a professional and non–bias way. 
• A long piece of audio, but I was interested during every minute because of the change in topic so frequently. 

I believe was feedback was overwhelmingly positive due to the content and quality of my production. I was able to receive this feedback as I had a focus group (a group of people assembled to participate in a discussion about a product before it is launched, or to provide feedback on a political campaign, television series, etc.) 

Staff Feedback:  

I emailed my mentor and another teacher to receive feedback on my final piece. 

Hey Pipes, 

–          A fade in on the background sound will be a smoother beginner 

–          The fades between the clip needs tightening up (i.e.. Mid-sentence) 

–          The gap at the end of the Vox pops feels out of place. Not sure. 

–          I would look at changing the music background at 2:09 – to create more of a link between the sections 

–          Again, different background for new section at 2:32 

–          Again, change up music when you introduce the new case studies – 2:58 

–          The Vox pop at 3:15 is clipped off at the start 

–          Dodgy edit at 7:51 

–          Dodgy edit at 9:51 

–          Dodgy edit at 12:58 

I made adjustments to my piece as I fixed the dodgy edits, furthermore, JJ suggested that one of my strongest parts of my piece is the section where I speak about my experience, so I decided to delete the 2 minutes after that bit, where I have a Vox Pop as I feel that it is unesseceary.  

Production Weakness: (Based on feedback) 

Person 2 

• For future improvement, it is very long, I was interested throughout, however, 7-10 minutes max, 15+ mins are excessive, however it is understandable due to the interview clips and Vox Pops. 

Person 4  

• Found this piece very closed minded, however your piece had evidence to support what was said which is good. I am a feminist. 
• The documentary was very long, should have been shorter. 
• Controversial topic 

Person 5 

• To improve I say, have a few more Vox pops for more variety, but overall the piece is fantastic. 

How I could have avoided these issues: 

• Shortened each topic by a minute. 
• Recorded more Vox pops in a quiet and closed setting to avoid the audio from being of an unprofessional quality. 

Did I meet my goals? 

Goals set at the star of this FMP: 

• I wanted to create a short 5- 7-minute podcast 
• a piece of audio that was niche and controversial 
• aims for my project is to create a documentary from a certain perspective for a topic that has never been done 
•  I want to be a women who sees it from a men’s perspective and look at all the facts where women who use #MeToo as a weapon as some women say they are a victim when they did what they wanted to do in order to get a promotion or get where they wanted to be (sexual act, casting couch etc.).’’ 

I met 3 of the 4 aims, the only aim that I did not hit was my podcast being 5-7 minutes however my idea developed due to the inspiration of BBC Newsbeat documentaries. As by my documentary being this long, it allows more freedom to speak in detail about the serious topics surrounding the dark truths of false sexual assault allegations and the MeToo movement. 

Self–Evaluation 

I do not see myself as confident with audio, however this provided an opportunity to develop my skills base on the audio editing software adobe audition. This both has expanded my current skills and helped improve the standard and quality of my podcast. 

Strengths: 

• Editing Vox pops  
• Adding a bed and editing it so that it complements the audio. (certain sound effects draw attention to what is being said) 
• Research and development of my idea and my script. 
• Receiving criticism and taking it into consideration and making changes to my work. 

Areas where improvement are required: 

• Getting Vox pops recorded without the audio being faulty, regardless of the equipment. 
• Be disciplined with time limits and not produce audio that is too long. Be brutal with cutting and crop the contents to ensure time frames are not exceeded. 

The resources, materials and techniques used in product: 

• Radio studio to record podcast 
• Tascam- record to Vox pops 
• Computer to edit audio and for online research 
• Editing Software Adobe Audition to edit audio 
• Search engines such as google to find articles and sources for research portfolio 
• Office.com to complete the written elements of the project such write script, project pitch, blogs and evaluation 
• YouTube and other apps to source interviews and reports to reference in my podcast 
• YouTube Converter https://www.flvto.biz/ to convert the mp4 to mp3 
• FMA free music archive – copyright free bed for podcast 

Staff Feedback: (Areas for development) 

Personal Development: 

•  Work out of class in a quiet environment as it prevents distractions which slow down and reduce the volume of work I produce . 
• I need to edit a bit more on adobe audition as it will help me perfect my audio editing skills. 
• Commendable that I worked outside my comfort zone -despite fierce oppositionas I explored a controversial and difficult topic for my final major project. 
• I need to spend more time on written elements specifically my blogs as my blogs are a summary of certain activities I have done, and it gives me time to reflect in order to enhance my learning and skills and thoroughly understand where I can improve.