Since you had two different options in terms of the genres you wanted to explore this week, there are also two options for this multimodal experiment. For the first, you'll analyze a genre on YouTube, and for the second you'll use Anchor to create your own podcast intro. Choose the option that most interests you! See the descriptions below for more details.
Option 1: Analyze a YouTube Genre or Channel Type
In class, we took a look at the video essay, which is one broad YouTube genre, but there are many others. For this option, you'll choose a YouTube genre that you find interesting and deconstruct its elements. Choose a genre for which you see room to critique, either because some creators have used the genre in problematic ways, or because there are larger problems with the genre as a whole. Use your critique to push that genre to examine these tendencies and ultimately improve. Feel free to choose the video essay, but you might want to narrow down to one particular type of video essay.
Before getting started, watch this video:
Note how Dan Olson (the creator behind the channel Folding Ideas) deconstructs the politics of food as presented in YouTube videos. He discusses issues of production cost, access to ingredients, the ethics of content farms, and the politics of food in general--all through the lens of cooking channels on YouTube. (Also there's been some...development in terms of Bon Appetit's channel since this video was released that puts the whole thing in a new light, especially regarding the discrimination on set and the inequality in compensation for the creators at Bon Appetit.)
Your mission is to find a YouTube genre and launch your own critique. Follow these steps to get started:
Choose a genre or type of channel to look at closely. If you're running into trouble considering what constitutes a genre, I recommend tiffanyferg's Internet Analysis videos for some examples (like family channels, commentary channels, tea channels, etc.)
Choose some examples from your genre to draw on: 3-4 videos is a good range. Watch or re-watch the videos and note what common threads or problems you observe.
Critique the genre, considering these central questions: What ways of engaging with the world, politics, and the audience does this genre foster and why? What problems or ethical questions do the videos in this genre raise? How can YouTubers and their audiences push this genre to be better or more self-aware?
Write or record your critique, drawing on your video examples to support your points. I would recommend a written approach where you link to the videos at the end or embed them in the text, but you could also record yourself talking through the genre, or create a video breaking it down (though certainly don't feel that you need to go as in-depth in editing and filming as Folding Ideas does! Feel free to make it more unedited and in-progress for time management sake).
Option 2: Use Anchor to Create a Podcast Intro
One defining feature that unites most podcasts is their intro: a short piece of aural engineering that sets the tone for the podcast. For instance, for RadioLab, an NPR podcast that explores science and tech issues through a narrative framework with a series of reporters, you have a mash-up of different bloopers and people clearing their throats before launching into "you're listening to RadioLab" voiced by different people as sound effects and music cut in. The effect is that you're getting prepped to listen to a multivoiced podcast where people interrupt, and voices swap, and the raw footage feel sets the tone for a podcast where it's framed as everyone figuring out scientific and tech questions together.
Before getting started, listen to some other examples of podcast intros (and keep the intros from the podcasts you've listened to in the past in mind as well). Note what you like, what you don't like, as well as what expectations these intros set up for the podcast itself:
Then use Anchor to create your own podcast intro. I recommend using the app version if you're able, as audio editing is easier. Everything is drag-and-drop, and you can use the free sound effects and music included in the app, or upload your own. Here's a tutorial that walks you through the basics of using Anchor in more detail:
Note that most podcast intros include:
A short sound effect or music clip that eases the listener into the episode
The name of the podcast and a short description, potentially along with a description of what this specific episode will discuss (often with background music underneath)
A sound effect or music clip that transitions from the intro to the episode itself (sometimes this is the background music before continued at a louder volume)
But feel free to mix it up and make the intro your own, using previous examples as a guide. You can record directly in the app, and overlay background music by clicking "add background music" after you've created a voice recording.
Once you're done, you'll want to save the podcast and then click "publish." Use the episode description to discuss your idea for this podcast and how the episodes might play out. You'll have an option to copy a link, which you should submit to Moodle. Along with your intro link, include a brief reflection about the aural choices you made in creating your podcast intro, and what tone and expectations you wanted to set in your intro.
Submit your podcast intro & reflection, or your YouTube genre analysis to Moodle by Sunday, October 18 at 10pm.
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