Category Archives: Assignments

1-800-kindred spirit

For “Create a Commercial,” create a commercial using a video editor such as iMovie, Adobe, ect. In this assignment, you should aim to make a commercial for your radio show. In the commercial, you can create a whole new product or use one that is already out, such as an advertisement for Apple Inc., Nike, Walmart, etc. Try NOT to make it too long or else your viewer will get upset, limit to 10-30 seconds.

Link to assignment: https://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/creat-a-commercial/

For our radio show, which explores dating in the tech-noir, digital world, I decided to create a commercial that fits the theme. I came up with the concept of a fictional dating app called Kindred Spirit, designed to connect people in a digital age. To bring it to life, I used HeyGen for the voiceover, selecting a tone that suited the futuristic vibe of the app. After extracting the audio, I uploaded it to SoundCloud for editing.

I added commercial style background music to enhance the atmosphere and applied fade-in and fade-out effects for a realistic sound. I also adjusted the volume levels to ensure the voiceover and music balanced well together. The whole process was fun, and I’m proud of how realistic the final commercial sounds. It feels like something you’d hear on an actual radio station.

Podcast Ads of the Past

For this assignment, I completed the “MailChimp Message,” but instead with a more modern podcast sponsor. I listen to a lot of podcasts and have heard Quince advertised on almost every single one, so I opted to do that. Our radio show, Days of Crime and Roses, is now oficially sponsored by Quince! Hearing the MailChimp ad was so nostalgic, as I remember listening to it on Serial all those years ago!

To complete this, I used text-to-speech generators of several different voices. I ported everything into Audacity and spliced it all up. After that, I used Aiva to create the perfect backing audio for my ad and may propose using the same audio (or something similar) for our radio show!

Opposites Attract

The show is coming soon!! Tune in to “The Opposites” next weekend and listen to your hosts, Eric and DK, help their listeners through all sorts of problems during this new and developing digitized age.

I created a promo poster for our upcoming radio show, The Opposites, using Canva to explore how society has changed with increasing technological advancements. I designed the poster in monochrome—black, white, and gray—to emphasize that not everything is glamorous as technology develops, and to reflect the show’s darker undertone. The poster’s darkness also aligns with our class theme of tech noir, which was another goal of mine. I also added a slight glitch effect to the text to reinforce the theme of technology and contrasted older music cartridges with modern smartphones to provide the audience with a visual representation of the development the show highlights. I really enjoyed making this poster as a form of advertisement.

Radio Show Week 1

For the first half of the week, a group member and I were planning the storyline and structure of our radio show project on Discord, as we were waiting to get the whole team together. Since we wanted to keep moving forward, we decided to go ahead and plan the show. The concept centers on Eric and DK, polar opposites and unlikely best friends, who co-host a radio advice show. They tackle relationship dilemmas and current topics, and their contrasting perspectives create entertaining dynamics. We also introduced Finn, a socially awkward but successful CEO, who calls in for dating advice, sparking a discussion about the digitized dating world.

We spent the week outlining and scripting, with plans to record over the weekend or Monday, leaving the rest of the week for editing. Although we weren’t able to create bumpers or commercials yet, we focused on the scripting and promotion. Personally, I wrote a rough script and outline for the show and created a promo. We’re staying on track with our plan and will continue working on the project, aiming to have everything ready for submission next week.

Canva and Google Docs are the only tools I’ve used this week.

Radio Design Project

This week, we were tasked with creating a bumper, poster, or logo for our radio show.

I decided to create a small promotional poster using Canva. I wanted a simple design that relates to the tech-noir theme and our group’s radio show, The Opposites. To achieve the look I envisioned, I used Canva’s pixel effect to give the text and hearts a glitchy appearance.

Coming up with an idea for the poster was a bit challenging since I don’t see many radio show advertisements these days, so I didn’t have much to reference. However, I’m happy with how the design turned out!

Swipe Right on The Opposites

One thing to another

For my second audio assignment of the week, I chose the Radio Show Intermission assignment, which consists of offering the listeners a break from the discussion that is going on during a show. I took a different approach to this assignment though, creating a brief intermission to transition to be able to go from discussion to another aspect like an ad or a different segment of the show. I wanted to make it quick, but also harsh, to show it’s not meant to blend flawlessly into the show, it’s meant to stick out a little to give the listeners an idea of something changing and to bring back full attention.

Radio Bumper

Since I hate the sound of my own voice it’s only natural, I would use the tools at my disposal.

So, I used something new Robot Voice Generator (play/download) ― LingoJam.

Go robo. go robo. go!

I took a bit more time on this since I was taking time to think about how I wanted it to come out. I spent a while looking through the available sounds since I knew I would struggle making it personally so after a while of searching I found what I needed. Using Audacity I put it together and changed the sound, so it was more suitable for what I needed. Took an hour longer than I was hopping but it was well worth the effort I put in. Quite a bit of split and adjustments finally allowed me to put it together the way I really wanted it to! So, yippee!

Bumper Sticker

This is my bumper sticker for the Noir Game show. The joke is meant to be against humans degrading, yes. I am basically imagining that Dr. Oblivion is saying this and being rude and sarcastic. So, it is a joke at the expense of humans made my artificial intelligence something I imagine it would do a lot if it could. So, I really dug into that, going with my idea that Technoir is a time where AI rules while giving man a false sense of secretly making them think they are in control. That is why I chose a lightbulb attached to a brain rather than one or the other. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

I made this using Canva very happy to know that there was already a template for the bumper sticker, I struggled trying to figure out what font to use since it’s futuristic but also bumper sticker, I chose a light teasing vibe over something stiff and robotic. So, for once bubbly text rather than glitchy. Of course you are still being mocked. For coloring I wanted to stick to blue but admittedly it’s a but dark, but I dislike bright colors. Still, it came out nice.

Marketing for Aquaphor

For my first audio assignment of the week, I chose the Create a Commercial assignment, using the opportunity to make something to incorporate into the upcoming radio show project. I chose to do aquaphor because it is something that I frequently use as chap stick and for personal hygiene. I put this together in a soothing way, in order to eventually create some contrast between our radio show and the commercial iself, and also because it fits the them of the product.

Radio Show Commercial – Lil’ Bot Helper

For the last assignment of the week, I decided to make a commercial for our radio show. When our group, the Fearless Femmes, met up, we split up the work by who will do some commercials and who will do some radio bumpers. I decided to do a commercial, because I thought it would be fun to think of some ad’s that would be played in a futuristic, tech-noir world. My first thought was to do a robot helper that would help with everyday tasks. Firstly, I made a quick script, one that would grab the audience’s attention. I then used the another text-to-speech voiceover that makes it more robotic to add a voice to the Lil’ Bot Helper. Next, I found some background music that fit the vibe on Pixabay.com. Lastly, I put it all together on SoundTrap to make it sound cohesive. Out of the two assignments, this was definitely my favorite as I had a lot more creative freedom.