Lots of us probably have a family member or know someone with a family member who has fought in WWI. It’s clear that a war as big as WWI would touch the lives of tens of millions of people across the world. For someone like me who doesn’t have any family members who fought in WWI, I haven’t thought as much about the soldiers’ lives as someone who did have a family member in the war. Not until recently did I realize the about grand extent of death, pain, and hardship. I could only imagine what it would have been like living in the time of the war.
We recently started looking at the lives of the soldiers who fought in the war. We went through some videos and pictures which showed the living conditions that soldiers experienced, the different camps, etc. To really give us a good idea about what the personal side of the war looked like though, we read an online comic called Shattered Ground which followed the story of a young soldier and his journey through WWI. His story went from his enlistment all the way to his death and the legacy he left.
At about the same time we were reading this, we were also given links to a few different sites that had archives of Canadian soldiers from WWI. Using those links, we were told to find a soldier that we could make a 5-6 minute podcast on using the information we could find on them. I think that segued pretty well from the podcast as I was already in the mindset of learning about the soldiers’ lives in the war.
Anyways, I started looking for a soldier right away that I could make a 5-6 minute podcast on. Although the sites were very helpful, I struggled a lot with finding a soldier that had enough information to base my podcast off of. I eventually started entering names that were associated with celebrities, sports, etc (e.g. DiCaprio). To my surprise, when I entered the last name, Smythe for the Conn Smythe Trophy in the NHL, there was one person that showed up on the website… Conn Smythe.
To even more of my surprise, the Conn Smythe that showed up on the website is also the same Conn Smythe that the trophy is named after. It was THE Conn Smythe! I knew immediately that this would be my soldier. I started researching Conn Smythe, and due to being well known, I found a lot of websites with memoirs about his life. On top of all his achievements, he also fought in WWI! I made a list of things that I could use in my podcast about Conn. By the end of the list, I already felt like I knew him.
I had the benefit of having lots of information about him, so I made sure that I would use that to my advantage when I made my podcast. After everyone in class found their soldiers, we would all write our script and the editor’s notes we would be using in the podcast (sound effects, pauses, etc). Our scripts were peer reviewed as well as critiqued by our teacher. Once I got the green light to start recording, I got started.
I think one big learning curve that I had to deal with was the lack of visuals that come with making a podcast. I’m not very used to having my voice, music, and sound effects as the sole leader of a video, and I felt like my editing skills and visuals for previous videos did a lot of the work for getting my point across. I feel like my Imaginary Worlds video is a great example where using visuals really helps improve the quality.
This also meant that the quality of the audio would need to be great for viewers to enjoy my podcast. Either way, I’ll be going over the 3 drafts I made in the process of this project…
1:
After looking back on this first draft, I definitely spotted some flaws which lowered the quality of the podcast. For starters, I definitely noticed that the background music and effects were too loud at times and even distracted me when I listened back on it. The music I chose didn’t really fit with the podcast and was too cheery in my opinion. I also didn’t use much emotion which I struggled with throughout my drafts. I do feel like my script worked well in this draft and that the sound effects and music could just change a little to be better. The biggest flaw which my teacher needed to point out to me is that it couldn’t be made on iMovie and posted on YouTube! Duly noted…
2:
This draft was a little different. We started to do some work on intros for podcasts as most of ours didn’t really seem to captivate our teachers and each other. This time, we were told that our second draft would only be 30 seconds long, but it would have been able to hook whoever was listening. This time, I took a completely different approach to my podcast. I changed the script, the music, and even my tone… Long story short, it kind of sucked.
Coming into my second draft, I felt like my big flaw was that I didn’t listen to enough podcasts and that I should try to sound more like the podcasts I liked. This led to me using a tone that seemed cheery and laidback, which I was told COULD work, but I felt like it wouldn’t fit the rest of my script. The first 30 seconds of my intro also didn’t talk about WWI or my soldier yet, which understandably, could catch some people off guard when they’re expecting a podcast about WWI. The whole thing just didn’t feel like me and I knew I would have to change things up for my last draft…
3:
I decided for my last draft that I would go back to my original script. This time around I listened to myself and looked back at my first draft, listing down the things that I thought could be changed. I started with completely re-recording my audio and trying to use as much expression as possible without taking away from the serious tone of the podcast. I then moved on to the music and changed it a little so it would fit the podcast. I also lowered the volume of the background sound effects so it wouldn’t distract the audience when they would be listening. I still felt like I talked a little too fast and could use a bit more expression, but all-in-all, I’m pretty happy with how my podcast turned out!
I definitely appreciate that we got to take the time into looking at the lives of Canadian soldiers during WWI and the hardships they faced. Although I can still never begin to imagine how difficult it would’ve been living during the war, I think that I have a newfound respect for all the soldiers who went and fought for their country and made a name for Canada. They have made Canada the place we know today and I’m thankful for that.
Leave a Reply