Research

Echos of Then – Foundation Research Report

Research Source Report for Unit 8 Final Major Project (UAL Creative Media Extended Diploma Level 3)

Focus of the project

How nostalgia and past memories continue to influence media, audiences, and contemporary culture, especially in regards to the podcast Back in the Dayz with Stevo the Madman

What is included in this report?

Sources related to the project

Clickable links to sources used in the theory, industry, and case studies

Notes on how each source can assist in the creation of a written report or proposal

Harvard bibliography format including hyperlinks

Target Audience

Audience Profile

Core Target Audience

The primary target audience will consist of young people aged between 16-25 years, with the secondary audience being people aged 26-35 years. The audience members should have a strong interest in media, nostalgia, music, and podcast culture. This group will also be digitally active and culturally aware. They must enjoy discussing how past experiences, trends, and memories influence the present-day culture.

Demographic Profile

Age: 16–25, with a secondary audience aged 26-35

Gender: No strict gender preferences

Location: Mainly based in the United Kingdom, with strong urban presence

Education / Lifestyle: Youngsters, creative individuals, podcats listeners, media lovers, and culture aficionados.

Psychographic Profile

They enjoy hearing nostalgic content

They have a liking towards podcasts, documentaries, and other media discussions.

They enjoy listening to media that feels authentic and culturally relevant

They are keen to learn how past influences the present day’s trends and activities.

They appreciate hearing true stories as opposed to fabricated ones.

Audience Interests

• Podcasts such as Back in the Dayz
• Nostalgia-related social media content
• Discussions relating to old music, television, games, fashions and past lifestyles.
• Documentaries that delve into societal, media, and cultural themes.

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Media Habits

• Podcasts, videos, documentaries on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, TikTok, and Instagram.
• Viewing short clips before moving on to complete podcast or documentary episodes.
• Listenting while commuting, traveling, taking a rest.
• They favour media that is engaging, accessible, personality-driven, and entertaining.

Why this audience fits the project

These are the perfect audience members for this project because it covers all of the interests noted above. At the same time, the involvement of the Back in the Dayz podcast makes it even more realistic, providing the opportunity for audience members to hear reflections of those connected with the subject matter in question.

Release Strategy

Research suggests that 30% of the UK population, who listen to podcasts, tune in within 3pm – 7pm, so this is rush hour time coming home and to work.

Most listenting also occurs during weekday commutes to and from work.

Below is a slide show detailing the release strategy in full detail:

Case Study: Back in the Dayz

Back in the Dayz podcast hosted by Stevo the Madman is an important case study for this project, considering the podcast relies entirely on the concept of memory, nostalgia, and reflections of collective culture.

In the podcast description, it describes the episode as “a trip down memory lane”. Some annotated screenshots are provided below to give a better understanding of the literal form of the podcast.

This makes this podcast very relatable to the proposed target audience, as the podcast allows members to re-live music, entertainments, and past experiences in a relatable manner. By basing my case study on Back in the Dayz, I am able to understand how the podcast attracted daily listeners who already enjoy podcasts.

By using Back in the Dayz as a case srude I can research how nostalgia led converstations can attract daily active listeners who already consume podcasts.

This helps me shape Echoes of then in a way that suits my intended audience who are more likley to respond to authentic voices, familliar references and personality led duscssuions rather than formal academic delivery.

Form and Style (Stylistic Research)

What makes good audio documentary?

A good audio documentary is made by making sure to keep the listener engaged at all times, this is done by making sure to start the first 30 seconds with an exciting moment, a moment that is retained in memory and then after that every 5-10 mins have something that keeps the audience engaged like a funny kment. The goal is to keep the audience engaged at all times with the conversation still flowing.

This is important as my target audience consumes a high amount of streamed audio, podcasts and digital media. This means that the style of my project should feel modern and personality-led, while being structured like a documentary. I want the documentaries to combine narration, interview material and reflection in a way that matches the listening habits of this audience.

BBC Academy and Transom have been very useful as it gives guidance on how stories are told using sound, structure and storytelling to hold attention.

It will be good as well to base my style around the Back in the Dayz podcast such as the tape recorder at the beginning of each episode followed by a funny moment from the episode, it will be good to maintain engagement and the old tape recorder sound effect and the street fighter, “3…2…1 fight” as well will have a link back to nostalgia as well.

An mp3 attachment is listed below for reference.

This is also coupled with previous audio documentaries that I have completed as well, using that level of sound design. Especially with the intro too. All sound fx from those productions were collected from epidemic sounds.

Technical (Hardware/Software) Research

As part of my research it is better to consider the hardware and the software that will be availbe to me to make sure I have the correct equipment for the task at hand.

The hardware available too me is the recording booths fitted with sound proofing and an audio technica microphone which is excellent for recording and it will be recorded on adobe audition, which is corwned on its simplicity yet how much functionality it has.

I will also be using my Macbook Pro M2 to edit the audio and add all of my sound design features.

The specific microphone I have at my disposal is the Audio Technica AT2020 however I have looked at others that I could possibly use and I have seen the AT2035 which has a wide frequency range which will give a more detailed sound within a sound treated enviorment.

However I will use the AT2020 as it is the budget friendly option and it will still preform well in a sound treated enviorment.