In the first week, Sophie, Rebecca, James, Brandon and I as a group decided what we were going to create and the target audience we were aiming it at. Instantly, we discussed what is usually on CD's in the present day. There are three main target audiences we were considering at this point; children, teenagers and adults. Sophie suggested young adults or teenagers as our target audience since they are a similar age to us, therefore we could relate to them and know what sort of music they like without having to research this age group. This would include short cover songs to ensure we didn't spend too much time working on one song. Rebecca then thought of the idea of remixing songs. Overall, this was a good idea, however there were more cons than pros. For example, it would be very time consuming because we would have to book the recording studio and make sure everyone in our group was available to record. In our group, considering we didn't have many weeks to complete this unit, therefore we decided against it. As the lesson progressed, James suggested to the group that it would be much simpler if we targeted our CD at younger children, as this would be quicker because they are very easy to entertain and we know they enjoy listening to music. It is also more effective. As a group we then contemplated this suggestion and realised that it would be much easier if we produced our music for younger children, 6 and under. This is mainly because we would have a much wider range of options of music to put on the CD, which could include nursery rhymes for example.
After various discussions we eventually came up with the idea of doing an audiobook and two nursery rhymes. The audio book would suit younger children as it can be entertaining and educational. They also enjoy listening to the words and the story since they can't read properly at such a young age, this would teach them and would be extremely educational. Furthermore, the two nursery rhymes would be instantly successful as young children able to get involved by singing the words, even when in the car for instance. We then did some market research and asked a variety of questions to a parent of three young children as a group. This was so that we could gain some extra information on what toddlers are entertained by. We asked the parents questions like; "What type of music do your children like to listen to the most?", "When do your children listen to this type of music the most?". We then decided as a group that we were going to make our audio book about the popular children's book 'The Gruffalo'. One of the answers to these questions was that children usually listen to audio books and songs in the car, thus meaning that they are actively learning just by listening to the tunes and words. We used this idea as we believed that it would be beneficial to our product. Sophie then thought of doing the story in the inlay of the CD case. This would therefore make it easier for it to be stored in cars as it would be smaller than using a big book for example. This would be a lot simpler to make. I then had an idea and suggested that the inlay of the CD should have pictures for children, which is so that children that are below the age of 4 that cannot read are able to look at pictures from 'The Gruffalo' as the story is being told. Our ideas to create an audiobook and two nursery rhymes would suit all young children as there is something for everyone.
Lastly for week 1, we all contributed as a group in a debate for which nursery rhyme we think would be best for us to recreate. Various suggestions included 'The Wheels on the Bus', 'Incy Wincy Spider' and 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'. All 3 of these nursery rhymes are very popular, however we decided to pick 'The Wheels on the Bus' and 'Incy Wincy Spider'.
Week 2
In week 2, Sophie thought of the idea to use Garageband on an Ipad. This would be useful as then we would not have to book the recording studio, we would just be able to find a quiet room where we could record. It is also very simple to use and is not very time consuming. We discussed who should read the lines for each part and we decided as a group that Rebecca should play the narrator as she had the calmest voice and was best suited to the narrator role. Next we decided who would be the Gruffalo, everyone decided that I should play that role as it needed a deep, gruff voice which only I had in our group. Brandon was the Fox, Sophie was the Mouse and James was the Snake. All of these roles were chosen due to the fact that they coincided with the person's voice the most.
We then discussed who would print off the script and who would print off the lyrics for the nursery rhyme. I had the task to print off the script and Rebecca had to print off the lyrics for the nursery rhyme.
Week 3
In week 3 we rehearsed our audiobook script for 'The Gruffalo'. Everyone in our group was present which meant we could rehearse. We all took our assigned roles and scripts and tried to have a flow to our script, without pauses, making sure we sounded as convincing but having a subtle monotone so it is easy for children to understand, as we also have to involve the target audience we chose to practice sound effects as well, for example the Gruffalo having a loud, harsh voice.
Week 4
In week 4, we had to make sure that the recordings had been completed. We ensured that the scenes were completed to the best of our ability, even though we had to re-record them a few times. All we needed to do now is find different sound effects we could use in order to complete our project.
Week 5
In our penultimate week, as a group we decided what promotional material we could create to compare to ours and who would create each piece. These would be useful as they were all ways we could advertise our music product we created. We all contributed various ideas, for example; I suggested flyers and leaflets, other suggestions included: Posters, website, press release and social media accounts. We then assigned each person with a specific job to complete. It was my job to create flyers and leaflets. It was Brandon's job to create posters, Sophie's job was to create a social media account on twitter, James created our product logo and our website, and lastly Rebecca created a press release. Our logo would be crucial to our product as this would make us stand out from any other products as it is unique and ensures that our product is easily recognisable.
Week 6
In the final week, I completed my leaflet and the others had completed their promotional ideas.
Evaluation
Overall I believe that our product was extremely successful as we were able to complete it to the best of our ability and made it unique. In the group, we all played crucial roles in the production of our product. I played a key role in creating our product and helped ensure that we all had the correct equipment for each task we needed to complete. For instance, I printed off the scripts for 'The Gruffalo' and ensured that we had the lyrics for our nursery rhymes. I contributed to the ideas of which nursery rhymes and audio book we should create as I had knowledge on what younger children would enjoy.
During the creation of this product, we had to ensure that all of our work had to be completed for deadlines in order to make sure we would complete the task of creating our product in time. Due to illness causing people to miss our lessons, occasionally we had to push back our deadline a few days as that person would be unable to complete them in the time set. For example, during one of the weeks, Sophie became ill and was unable to record the track as she had lost her voice. However, instead of her falling behind, we worked together as a team and were located different roles to ensure that the work was completed in the sufficient amount of time set.
Whilst we were creating this product, there were many positives and few negatives. One of the most crucial positives from this was that we worked incredibly well as a group which insured that all of the tasks were completed to a high standard and were on time. One of these negatives was that when recording 'The Gruffalo' we were recording in a room that was next door to where a drum lesson was taking place, this meant that we could slightly overhear the drum in the background of the audiobook. This was impossible to prevent as there was no way we could stop what was taking place around us, having said that it was in fact the quietest room that we could find. If we could improve on this, we would have completed the recording outside of school hours as then there would be no background noise, therefore improving the quality of our product.
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