Evaluation - Representation

How does your media production represent particular social groups?

Throughout my research and planning for my Radio production 'representation' has a been a key feature, as I made different choices with which voice sounded best for the particular part.

Representation - Choosing Voices

In the process of writing my script a lot of ideas regarding representation came into mind, I collected all these ideas by writing them down on a separate piece of paper and formed a separate set of notes, focused on representation. After my script was complete, with the help of my notes on representation, I gave a lot of thought of which voice is best suited for the particular part. It was essential that select the appropriate characters for each individual part, in order to make my extract sound as authentic and realistic as real radio. Therefore, in order to ensure suitable character were selected (as part of my research and planning), I created a table of who is most suitable for each part of my extract and why they are most suitable. By carrying out this research and planning, it has ensured that the most suitable actors are selected for my radio extract, making it sound more authentic and realistic.

When I set out in trying to find the most suitable Radio show presenter I had a very particular idea of who I wanted to play the role. I wanted a male voice, a very friendly and warm voice, which is easy for my target audience to listen too. I selected Jon (My Teacher) to play the role of my radio presenter as he has a lot of experience in the radio industry and also has all the characteristics I am looking for as a radio presenter.



After selecting my show presenter, I thought that the next essential character of my radio extract is my News presenter. When I thought about what type of presenter I wanted to present my News stories, I wanted the presenter to be Female, due to the softer tone of voice - I thought that a female news reader would appeal to my predominantly female audience. This is why I chose Louise to my my News presenter. Louise has a lot of experience in acting and is excellent at putting on accents (I was able to use her more than once in the show as a result of this). Louise has a smooth tone but still keeps a serious tone to her voice.



I then had to think about someone to be the the voice of my Station Jingle and News Jingle. After some thought I chose Alex (My Teacher), as I found that he has a professional tone to his voice, and is able to ensure that the Jingles sound authentic and realistic.



When making my adverts, I once again had to ensure that the characters chosen also were perfect in making my adverts sound authentic and realistic. For my 'Diamond  Drive' advert I had to ask two friends of mine to play the roles of two teenage girls. This was because I wanted this specific advert to be directed at one of the segments of my target audience, that is teenage girls. Therefore, by selecting two teenage girls, it would help direct the advert to my target audience. By choosing two teenage girls to play the role, it would make my advert sound more authentic and realistic, compared to making a middle age women put on a Teenager's voice.



In the research and planing of my 'Starbucks' advert I had to ensure that the representation of Loiuse, who played the role of busy House wife, had to be perfect, in order to make it sound as authentic and realistic as possible. Louise was perfect for this advert, as she was perfect in changing her tone of voice in making it sound more urgent towards the end, in order to make the end result, 'Starbucks', the key feature of the advert. You can really hear her getting more stressed as the day wears on.



However, when it came to the research and planning of my Vox-Pop's I took a different, yet effective approach. The main use of a Vox-Pop is gather the views and opinions of the general public. Therefore, in order to make my Vox-Pops as authentic and realistic as I could, I did not put as much stress into choosing characters, as they are representing a member of the general public. However, this did not mean I put less time and effort in making sure my Vox-Pop's sounded good, in my opinion they were harder to recorded as people had to sound more relaxed and natural.



Due to all the research and planning I carried out on my voices, it took me a long time to find people to be in my radio. I mostly preferred to use adult and teachers, as they had a more mature and experienced voice, and were able to adapt their voice, in order to fit it in to my extract. Nevertheless, I still used teenager's, as some adverts and news stories were targeted at that specific age group.