As the lead producer of the third podcast about the card game Gin Rummy, I took on a new leadership role by organizing the script and overall production process of the podcast. I chose this game because it is often misconceived as a boring card game played by the elderly, and I wanted to shed light on this misconception. In writing the script, I aimed to provide a clear explanation of how to play the game while also emphasizing personal anecdotes to play on viewers’ emotions and provide greater entertainment. My group began work on the podcast by researching the game’s rules and history, which we discovered was fairly recent. We divided up the tasks accordingly: As the Producer, I developed the majority of the script, as Assistant Producer, Giovanni compiled the audio and music into a cohesive audio file, and as Line Producer, Will helped edit the script and audio. When producing this episode, we also considered what worked and what did not work from past episodes. For the first episode about Risk, we realized we discussed the technicalities of the game too much and did not focus enough on analysis, building our argument, and making the script entertaining for listeners. For the Chess podcast, we spent less time explaining the rules and focused more on a clear argument that ran throughout the script. And for our final podcast, we added more dialogue, which helped frame the argument and lighten the mood while threading a clear argument throughout the podcast.
The obvious challenge we faced when producing this episode was not being physically together to work on it. However, we optimized the capacity of the internet by using the video chat platform Zoom to discuss our plans for the episode. And instead of recording it all together using a microphone, we each recorded audio files and sent them to Giovanni, who compiled them. Overall, we managed to produce even better podcasts than we made when we were in person despite the lack of in-person interaction. If we had more resources available for our episode, the audio would likely have been clearer by using high-tech microphones, but I do not think this was a major issue. Something else we could have incorporated was interviews with family members about their experiences playing Gin Rummy, but this also would have been difficult since we could not meet in person.
Producing this podcast helped me meet the composing texts in multiple genres learning objectives by writing for the aural genre rather than an audience who reads my work. I achieved the analysis learning outcome by writing a script that had a clear argument throughout. I wrote as a process by undergoing multiple drafts and really thinking through each word I wrote. I demonstrated visual thinking strategies by arranging my thoughts in a way that made sense to the audience and flowed in a sensical way. Lastly, I employed technology appropriately by making sure everything was appropriate for the wide internet audience and making sure to credit all the sources.
I learned a lot by producing this podcast. I learned leadership skills by organizing a group effort and outcome we were proud of. I learned to choose music that reflected our overall argument: by using music that did not typically align with the podcast mindset, we argued that the game Gin Rummy is more upbeat than most people think. I also learned how to produce good work in a short time span. I am confident that I can produce a successful podcast or any aural work in the future, and I believe this skill will take me far.
Make Play Write Think 