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A podcast (demo) I have made
All right, sorry if there was a thread I should have tacked this onto instead. I did look... and didn't really see anything that quite suited.
I've been thinking a lot lately about starting a podcast, and, being a HUGE fan of old time radio dramas, particularly science fiction like X Minus One (old time radio precursor to the Twilight Zone), I'd really like to do a serial radio play.
With the important qualifier here that really, I know very little about podcasts. After browsing through a bunch, though, there don't seem to be too many rigid standards..?
With the help of one very nice fellow over on /r/recordthis , I got some voice samples to mix a very brief demo scene, and I'd love for anybody to listen to it and give me some critique. I'm particularly interested to know if this is something people might be interested in listening to (and if serial drama or sci-fi podcasts are something you typically listen to.)
So to set up the scene, our protagonist Roget (pronounced like the thesaurus) has woken up in the totally abandoned city of Boston at some unspecified point in our future. To make matters even weirder, he realizes that he's a robot, and he's pretty sure he wasn't a robot before. Is he a malfunctioning AI? Is he hallucinating? He has no idea what happened. After a few aborted attempts to balance on the single wheel that seems to be his source of locomotion, he's off...
Suddenly, he remembers Cadence. He has to find Cadence. He doesn't remember who she is to him, exactly, just that she's a little girl and it's his job to protect her, and he has no idea where she is.
Scouting the city in a panic, trying to get his bearings and piece together what exactly the heck is going on, he rounds a corner and encounters a massive military security mech, and that's where this audio demo starts...
There's some swearing and parts of the mix are a bit loud, so start with low headphones/speakers if you're going to listen.
Mostly I want to know if there's any glaring technical issues or any elements that make it physically unpleasant to listen to, but also would love to know whether this teaser makes you:
* at all curious about what a serial with this character in this setting would be like
* want to listen to more
Thank you a thousand times in advance for any feedback on this small (< 1 min) sample, with the understanding that it's sort of light on context even with my setup...
I've been thinking a lot lately about starting a podcast, and, being a HUGE fan of old time radio dramas, particularly science fiction like X Minus One (old time radio precursor to the Twilight Zone), I'd really like to do a serial radio play.
With the important qualifier here that really, I know very little about podcasts. After browsing through a bunch, though, there don't seem to be too many rigid standards..?
With the help of one very nice fellow over on /r/recordthis , I got some voice samples to mix a very brief demo scene, and I'd love for anybody to listen to it and give me some critique. I'm particularly interested to know if this is something people might be interested in listening to (and if serial drama or sci-fi podcasts are something you typically listen to.)
So to set up the scene, our protagonist Roget (pronounced like the thesaurus) has woken up in the totally abandoned city of Boston at some unspecified point in our future. To make matters even weirder, he realizes that he's a robot, and he's pretty sure he wasn't a robot before. Is he a malfunctioning AI? Is he hallucinating? He has no idea what happened. After a few aborted attempts to balance on the single wheel that seems to be his source of locomotion, he's off...
Suddenly, he remembers Cadence. He has to find Cadence. He doesn't remember who she is to him, exactly, just that she's a little girl and it's his job to protect her, and he has no idea where she is.
Scouting the city in a panic, trying to get his bearings and piece together what exactly the heck is going on, he rounds a corner and encounters a massive military security mech, and that's where this audio demo starts...
There's some swearing and parts of the mix are a bit loud, so start with low headphones/speakers if you're going to listen.
Mostly I want to know if there's any glaring technical issues or any elements that make it physically unpleasant to listen to, but also would love to know whether this teaser makes you:
* at all curious about what a serial with this character in this setting would be like
* want to listen to more
Thank you a thousand times in advance for any feedback on this small (< 1 min) sample, with the understanding that it's sort of light on context even with my setup...
Comments
I wonder if anybody has ever tried Kickstarting an indie podcast? What would rewards be? Votes in a plot tree? Seems too confining. I'll have to think about that. It'd be cool to be able to pay the voice actors, but the budget can't come from me this year. Maybe next.
This is the draft script for the first scene of the first episode:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FtnKhh07yuHupEFoV2VPgX19_uzjfbIL9EvR0-vaoHc/edit?usp=sharing
The only rewards I can really think of are, like, a collection of outtakes for each episode or something. Maybe at a certain tier, people could name characters, too? Although, that one could be dangerous.
EDIT: Oh, access to these script drafts and getting to read it before it's all recorded would also be something cool for backers, me thinks.
I looked on Kickstarter and there were only four reality-based podcasts on there, that seem to be from projects that people likely already know about.
IndieGoGo has a TON of podcasts, few or none of which seem to be dramatic fiction ones.. so maybe. I need to get way better at promoting things generally. I have all sorts of ideas and next to zero social skills.
I like the Q&A idea and the swag idea. I need to commission at least one promotional image soon, and maybe a logo, too.
As far as backers go you could just have devices or props named after the backer. For example
"Rogeth stared down the Decoster laser rifle's targeting lens; lining up the shot, the rifle's targeting system was programmed to account for all known environmental variables. He squeezed the trigger".
Skope, the series starts with unfiltered human voices. This "condition" results from drama, so I think/hope people will relate. I like your idea about maybe naming props after backers, and thanks for the encouragement on the thing itself!
I had some promised auditions vanish on me and I'm still looking for a Roget. Anybody interested? :-)
Edit - Ah! Heard from the promising Roget guy.
Best if it's something similar to what you are doing, that way you'll be catering to a target audience.
The rest is social media and hopefully networking with fellow podcasters in the same genre.
Last night my daughter read a part that called for heavy voice modulation to sound like a chorus of synthetic voices, and that came out all right (although no matter how I coached her she can't shed her "reading lilt"), and things were OK. As long as I'm actively working on the project, I tend to believe in the project. The minute there's downtime, I sit back and go "Holy crap, this is fucking stupid."
:-(
I tried to choose a dramatic clip for the demo but now I'm worried that because it's all amped up, it doesn't represent the series.
Hopefully the VAs will get stuff back to me quick so I have less time to brood.
I've gotta figure out an indiegogo or kickstarter or SOMETHING once there's some listeners on this thing. These guys have gotta get paid, they're way too good.
Wow.
I'd love feedback if anybody is so inclined. It's just under 9 minutes long.
WARNING: this track starts with some sawtooth electronic noise. Start with a lowered volume and go from there. In the episode, I'll ease into it (and there's a plot reason for it.)
http://www.madebymonkeys.net/stuff/scene 1 - first draft.mp3