I suppose the product fits the brief that was set by someone above me but not as high as God. It is between four and five minutes, it�s audio composure means it can be played on the radio more effectively than a silent film or miming, it includes interviewing, vox pops, voice overs and background music. There are a couple of little things that I don�t like that much, mainly in the glorious music segment towards the end. Let�s start at the start and end at the beginning. The end can be in the middle or after the beginning, at the end.
I think the opening sequence works fairly well. The ambient music implies the beauty of the world while having a powerful undertone, I�m sure God isn�t a wimp, meriting a pesky tune. The levels are OK on this bit as you can hear my voice which might not be such a good thing. There�s a bit of a glitch when it breaks into �loosing my religion�. I�m pretty sure I�ve clipped the end of the word much, adding to my problems. But basically I clipped too much of the ambient music off, which I tried to replace with another bit. Not a wise policy really.
I think the second voice over works quite well. The music fits the subject matter and using the end means there is a natural end to the introductory sequence. I like the way that the vox pops follows straight on from this without me asking the question. It flows more naturally this way and I think the audience gets the grasp as the previous line was �deciding for themselves how much of a part this mysterious figure plays in their life� �None atall�.
I think the fact the Reverend comes straight in (without a cue or introduction) works quite well, although it wouldn�t work on an American audience because it involves the faintest glimmer of intelligence. I think it�s really obviously a man of the cloth as he sounds like one. It�s just the nature of his soft-spoken voice defending Christianity and saying stuff that is hip. I edited it so that it ends with �it�s important to think about it�. Linking to the next piece of dialogue, a young person saying �I think it�s a bit of a cop out� or whatever. I quite like the way this works without a spoken link.
The next section is kind of a two and throw between the Reverend and people in the Vox Pops. One woman says about religion causing disruption in peace and harmony and he replies, saying everything has been abused by the hand of man. I think this works OK. It kind of suggests some reasons as to why young people don�t believe and the Reverend replies. The woman may seem slightly mysterious in identity as it doesn�t link particularly well, but I felt it was important to break up the speech of the Reverend, making it more interesting.
That is the main philosophy behind the music bed segment with the questions on it. It wasn�t originally planned but I found a piece of music that I thought would fit really well. I think it works and I like the way that the beginning has dark sounds, weird effects of an imaginary landscape as does everything by the future sound of london really. Then, in line with the holy build-up of music he says that it�s isn�t the reality. I�m quite pleased with the way the first part of this turned out. I was originally going to have a montage of different samples attacking the mind and quotes for and against the religion. However I opted against this option because I didn�t think it would fit in with the holy backdrop.
There are just a couple of things I don�t quite like in the sequence. The volume of the �it�s still going strong and you can�t just explain that away� speech is too quiet. I was stuck with it, as I must have done something after the mix so couldn�t undo it. I think it also breaks up the flow of the questions. If that wasn�t there and if the hint of repetition in that the Reverend says �we�ve gotta ask the questions� twice then I think I�d be completely happy with it.
�That�s a bloody difficult question, innit?� I think this works quite well as it�s quite a tough question and places some of the bigger questions he asks in context. The accent is also hilarious, I think.
So to the conclusion. My voice puts on a strange accent, which I suppose is better than it being dull and blatantly read. I quite like the sound effects of heaven and hell, but I think there should be a slightly bigger gap for the nothing. The conclusion is sound, along with most of the project.
My main criticism of the overall nature of the piece is the balance of it. Apart from the Reverend saying many young people are coming to church, there is no evidence of this. I really think the product needs an interview with a believing subject to slide in behind this comment, helping reinforce the overall �make your own mind up� message. I was kind of hoping that someone in the vox pops would say they believed in it but the nearest was that Irish girl. I decided to use another sample about religion being drummed into her at school because it fitted in with the fact that young people used to believe what they were force-fed and some still do today. However I suppose the fact that out of all the people I spoke to that no one really believed or was �born again� (does that mean they get two lots of birthday cards a year?) has meaning in itself. The fact that I would have had to go out of my way to find such a person inverses the notion that not many people care. Generally I think it is fine and I hope it does better than my last project.