Pre prod. Finalising production & What we need to do

With the days passing by, focus needs to be put on certain areas on the production more so than others to prepare for shoot days of the title sequence etc. I need to plan out what is going to be included within the title sequence & also how the pilot episode will be formatted. 

WHAT WE NEED TO DO & FOCUS ON.

- WHAT THE PILOT EPISODE NEEDS TO CONSIST OF
- What the opening title sequence needs to consist of
- How to format the pilot episode - Think about what/who/why we will be using actors/actresses for the vodcast.
- Create a storyboard from the transcription. Full transcription?
- Branding - App design - 'CastLight' - Create a full brand to sell.

- Umbrella term - It's our brand & app, which adapts original podcasts already created, and turns them into visuals, (Accompanies the audio narrative with a visual interpretation of the audio & the world it's created).

Look into locations for Title sequence & Pilot episode? Look at places in London for studio's that will be big enough for our cast/crew. Look into spaces that will suit our desired aesthetic to shoot. I need to plan out a storyboard for the title sequence to get a better understanding of what i will actually need to shoot.

Title sequence length - 30 - 60 seconds long.

Each opening title sequence will be catered & constructed in relation to the current season that is being filmed. Each season will deal with different topics/genres and therefore the conventions of each series would change to fit to the aesthetic of that particular style.

Pre-prod. What is a Vodcast?

As myself and Aimee have chose to create a pilot episode which would be as the format of a Vodcast, I thought i'd do some research into what actually is a Vodcast. 

What is Vodcasting?

After podcasting, which lets users subscribe to audio files, comes vodcasting, the easiest way to bring Internet video to your desktop. Here's how it works.

Portable video players make watching vodcasts a snap

What is vodcasting?

A step beyond podcasting, vodcasting, also called video podcasting or vlogging, adds video to the downloadable sound files podcast listeners are used to. Download the video files is a simple matter of subscribing to a vodcast in one of the many freely available directory programs.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The RSS feeds, short for really simple syndication, bloggers started using in 2001 to send their entries directly to readers' inboxes are just as useful when it comes to receiving vodcasts. An enclosure feature, standard to RSS feeds, allows links to videos that can be processed by programs like iTunes and Ipodder, which then download the vodcasts automatically, and leaves subscribers only with the work of finding vodcasts that catch their interest.

WHY NOW? 

So we decided that this would be a very good project to cover now as their appears to be a gap in the market for something like this. As there is clear demand for this medium, we feel that creating a Vodcast now would be using our initiative to fill in that empty space first. There is a platform already out there that can be our place to advertise & promote our project. 

https://www.dw.com/en/what-is-vodcasting/a-1849043 - Link to website defining what a Vodcast is. 

Pred Prod. Podcasts & Concept development

We've started to do some research into podcasts and their mass implications. Podcasts our listened to by millions around the U.K. and so this got us thinking about how we could maybe incorporate using a podcast somehow. We liked our previous idea's but we felt they had no end game, with nothing to really say or have an impact on. 

Target Audience
BBC 3/IPLAYER/Chanel 4 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GQKV7eb6wA 
(Run Lola Run - Example) 

Quick idea brainstorming -  Everyone can access these - Free downloadable - makes the relatable & wide reaching.


"The traditional limitations of the podcast form create much of its appeal: Listening to a story without visuals feels intimate. Restricting podcasts to audio encourages a small, loyal audience—but it also poses a hurdle for increasing their audiences. There's no easy way to share snippets of audio files through social media, and no easy access to shows outside of the Apple Podcasts app; those steep barriers to entry have resulted in a vast untapped audience of not-yet-listeners. This is the year when the podcast medium will prove whether it can reach listeners beyond its largely white, wealthy, and educated core. Through experiments with multimedia and even new distribution models, we're about to find out just how far podcasts can spread." 

https://www.wired.com/2016/01/serial-podcasts-multimedia-distribution/

A lot of concepts have been going around, finally reaching an agreement - Vodcast, combining podcast & visuals - 

We now need to think of a universal name for our brand/production company. Our goal/objective would be to approach podcast companies and creative visuals for their podcasts that seem suited for such things. - CASTLIGHT would be the name of our brand, we feel this fits with our brand ethos as it would be 'casting' a 'light' on the podcast, bringing it to life by creating a world for it to exist in.  

We feel that this is a fresh, unique & original concept, with a lot of potential. No much is like this out there and with research done, it seems like there is an appeal for it, thus creating a gap in the market. Hopefully with more conceptual development this idea will become stronger.

Pre prod. Green Light Pitch

GREEN LIGHT PITCH 

For the progression to be seen with our concepts, we had to give a 'green light' pitch which involved briefly going over what the concept of our project is, the research that has been done so far, and what is still yet to come. At this stage Simon either gives us the green light, amber light or red light, green obviously meaning the concept is sound & the project has a green light to continue developing it, amber meaning there is still a lot of work to be done, red thus resulting in a project that isn't going in the direction Simon thinks it should be. 

So me and Aimee created this pitch, in hope that Simon would give it the all clear. We wanted to demonstrate a clear & cohesive concept, with some research being portrayed through our use of the title sequence dissecting part. Here is our pitch - 

Hopefully this pitch is an indication to Simon that we're on the right path & heading in the right direction with our research, concept and overall work ethic. Research is going to be key within this pre-production package, so I know the work needs to get done.