This week was all about post-production. From listening to the interview in full, to selecting the best possible soundbites for the final segment, to editing those soundbites, and to producing my narration---I am not exaggerating as to how encompassing post-production was this week. That being said---it was a fun experience. Let's get to straight to it.
Last Sunday (7/17), I dedicated the entire day to start the post-production. That was not the plan initially, as I wanted to at least start Saturday, so it would not be too overwhelming to have it almost finish for Monday, but Saturday got complicated and I was left with no other choice. Thus, I made the decision to start early, so I have a better chance of not only finishing in time, but producing the best quality segment as possible. That is always my fear with leaving anything for the last minute (and why I try my best to avoid doing that as much as possible), not that I won't make it, but I do and whatever comes out on the other end of that just sucks to be frank. I started listening to the interview at around 8 am. From there, I instinctively started to edit out potential soundbites I liked and labeled them in a new track. I would like to mention that I did all of this on the audio-editing program called Audacity, which Dr. Cassanello taught me the basics in the spring semester in preparation for this, so shoutout to him for being a great help, I appreciate him. Labeling the potential soundbites was very critical because when I finished going through the entire raw interview, and had to go back to select which soundbites were truly worthy of inclusion for the segment, I did not have to do so by having to guess what will be said in that audio clip, which would waste my time. I determined what clips from the raw audio to edit out as a potential soundbite via several factors. First, if it adequately fit into the overall structure I want my segment to tell narratively (which I mentioned what that would be last week). Second, if the audio sounded good. This part was crucial, as ultimately this will be presented in an audio medium, so making sure the sound quality is not good, but great, is a top priority. This factor was more so determined by if Dr. Mormino himself explain whatever we were talking about in that moment clear and concise. There were moments in the interview that he would sidetrack (naturally because it was all related), and unfortunately I just could not include it with the short format I am working in. Luckily, however, if the sound quality sounded great from two separate moments in time in which he was talking about roughly the same thing, I would just edit the clips out and merge them and it would be as if he said it one (which I did end up doing for two of the soundbites that made it to the final script). Now, I want to be very clear on this. As a consistent listener to several podcasts, I wanted to abide by the ethics and integrity that come with not only podcasts, but in general when using someone's message, explanation, etc. for your own use. I ensure that whenever I would merge clips from different moments in time throughout the interview, I would NOT take whatever Dr. Mormino was saying out of context just to fit whatever story I am trying to tell. At the end of the day, it's his word and what he meant, is what he meant. This was probably the trickiest part when editing and picking the best soundbites (which at times were ones that had to be merge), and why I restrain myself from only doing it twice. This does not even apply to when I was merging clips together, but in general when formatting my narration to interweave with his soundbites. I told myself that my narration served to complement his explanation, and NOT the other way around. I take this whole situation of not trying to twist people's intention or words very seriously, and its not only because this is my first time producing a podcast segment, but ethically I believe its not the right thing to do.
Once I finished listening and editing out the soundbites I liked in general (and labeling them), it was time to narrow the field even more. The raw interview was around 1 hour and 50 minutes long, and when I went through this initial process, I trimmed it down to roughly 28 minutes of just these soundbites. Honestly, I was impressed because usually I am the one that absolutely cannot trim anything down because I see most things as important to keep (this is in all aspects in my life, I don't think I am hoarder, but most people would probably say I am borderline). However, at the same time, more work needed to be down because the maximum time I have for my segment is roughly 10 minutes, and that's pushing it. That also has to include my narration----so yeah lots of work still needed to be done at this point, and it was already 6 pm. It took quite some time doing this initial phase, and to make sure I was at my highest level mentally, I took a nap when I first finished this process, which was at 3:05 pm. I woke up from my nap at around 5:30 pm, and by the time I got myself back in my desk chair, ready to go it was approaching 6 pm. At this point, it was reviewing the 28 minutes of soundbites I selected, and seeing which ones not only I liked the most, but made the most sense to achieve the segment I want to produce. Also at this point, I decided to not include any of the modern immigration topics we talked about because the material I had about Ybor City was so much better in quality and encompassing in time. I was totally fine with this decision because Ybor City truly captivated me, and I am proud that I will be one to disperse this vibrant history to public audiences, as it should be. The ending of my segment would attempt to tie the case study of Ybor City altogether with how that vibrant immigration nexus has not gone away in Florida, albeit in different places and overall continues to grow. What helped me out in this second phase, in addition to prioritizing if the soundbite sounds great, was that I knew there soundbites I definitely wanted to include (I labeled it as so). Combining these sort of "guidelines" help me insert two soundbites officially into the script, which was a start. Since I had been working with this material all day, I had a clear and focused vision on how I wanted the segment to come out, so there was just soundbites that were obvious to include, like when Dr. Mormino explains the origins of Ybor City, what made Ybor City so distinct from other immigrant communities in its era and beyond, and what immigrant groups resided there. Once it was not becoming "obvious" as to which soundbites to include into the script, the deciding factor to include it or not was if it adequality explained the themes that were talked about in the book and thus wanted to tell. There were several present throughout the book, and we talked about most of them during the interview. I knew I wanted to include the theme of how Ybor City immigrants managed to deal with Anglo Tampa, the theme of how important the mutual aid societies were in Ybor City, and how their scale and significance truly set them apart from other immigrant communities across the country, and the demise of the Ybor City of old (when and the cause of). The soundbite that best talked about those themes were the ones that ultimately got included.
It was approaching the end of the day, and I had a full script written with the soundbites of Dr. Mormino and my narration complementing that. However, I arrived at the most challenging part for me throughout this entire process-----how to beautifully and adequality end this amazing history. I honestly could not decide at that moment, so I left a "Conclusion A" and "Conclusion B" in the script, and told myself that hopefully Holly or Dr. Brotemarkle can help me decide which one is better. I haven't mentioned it yet, but earlier in the day (around 1 pm), Holly emailed me that 1) she was going tomorrow (yay!), and 2) asking if I was still planning on going on Monday to do my narration, as I had not sent her my script yet. I responded immediately (because I knew if I didn't, I would've forgot since I still had lots of work left), telling her that I was still planning on going and I will be sending her the script later in the day when I finished. Well....at this point it was far into "later in the day", and technically I had not finished, and thus I still had not sent her the script. I was so brain fried at this point, that I decided to sleep and continue this early in the morning the following day, as we decided to meet at the FHS at 12 pm, giving me enough time to do so.
It was Monday morning (7/18), and what I was doing before leaving my apartment at around 11:15 am, was simply fine-tuning things. I was cleaning up the audio a bit, making sure the soundbites sounded polished and ready to go on the air. I also fixed up my narration where needed, whether grammatically or thematically. I was doing this until the literal last minute, when my GPS said I would arrive at to FHS at 12 pm, if I left at "x" time from my apartment. My fear of diminishing quality when working to the last minute, was not present here, because the "hardcore" post-production tasks had already been accomplished from the day before, albeit it took me the whole day. At this point, it was just reviewing and making sure everything sounded and looked great. I left the two versions of the conclusion I had for my segment in the script, as I just could not decided and needed Holly's and Dr. Brotemarkle's help. Before packing my materials into my bookbag, I finally sent Holly the script, as she said it was not a problem sending it "this late" because she was not going to be driving, allowing her to read the script as she was on the way.
I arrived to the FHS at approximately 12:05 pm, and greeted Holly and Dr. Brotemarkle in their respective offices. Holly printed three copies of the script I had just sent her, for each of us to review together. Holly and I sat at the long table in the main lobby of the building and there we started reviewing. She was impressed as to how I was able to use my narration to complement the soundbites I selected, and not overshadow them, saying that I have "good instincts" for this, which made me feel even more energetic and motivated. As we were going through it, Dr. Brotemarkle joined us at the end, giving his very useful advice as to which conclusion he feels its better. He told me to go with version B, as even the soundbite that accompanied that conclusion, he felt was better to include in the official segment. Ultimately, then and now, I agree with him, I was just a bit hesitant because I felt like both of them were solid in ending the segment, but B is the better one. No spoilers here! You'll just have to wait until the segment is aired on the radio/published as a podcast on their website, which will be soon!
Once Dr. Brotemarkle made his comment, and we all agreed, and did a final rundown of the script, we headed to the podcast recording studio downstairs. This was another culmination moment for me, as since Holly gave me the tour of the place back in week 4, I envisioned myself doing my narration here, and killing it to be quite honest with you. So I was pumped, but also a bit nervous because "the boss" (referring to Dr. Brotemarkle) was there, as I joked with them when he was asking me if I wanted him there while I was doing the narration, or to come back down when I finished to review. I picked the latter because he was the boss and that was a bit intimidating for me because I wanted to make sure I was exceeding his standards and expectations with this. Before leaving, he did read a part of my narration to show me an example of how to keep a confident tone and pace while talking. He asked me to do a couple of practice runs before he left, advising me to go a bit slower, as confident speaking does not mean fast speaking. Like he just was moments before with the script, his advice and guidance on speaking was a huge help, and I made sure to voice that appreciation to him then, and I am doing it now, so thank you Dr. Brotemarkle. Holly was just as important in this process, as I wanted her to stay with me throughout the whole narration recording. Her presence there in the recording studio made me less nervous, and her guidance in between the takes just continue to increase my confidence, so like I did then, I want to truly thank you, Holly, for not only your guidance that day, but throughout this entire process------I wouldn't want it to be with anybody else, and I truly mean that. We spent about 35 minutes in there from the setting up, to practice runs, to officially recording the narration (that was about 25 minutes), and saving and reviewing the file. When those headphones were on me, and I heard my voice in real time, the surge of pride and excitement that went through me was exhilarating. I was so ecstatic that I had made it to this moment, and beyond motivated to keep putting on those headphones as much as possible to tell more histories in the future.
We wrapped up back upstairs in the main lobby, where Dr. Brotemarkle advised me to check if the file works properly on my USB. Him and Holly also told me what are the next steps from here. They mainly told me to just edit the script I wrote to make sure the right conclusion is in place, and add timestamps on the script----from both the narration file and the Dr. Mormino soundbites file----to make it easier for Jon (FHS editor) to edit and put together the segment in its entirety. After I understood what was expected of me in the coming days, I gave my pseudo-farewell. I say "pseudo" because I declared to Holly----as I have said repeatedly throughout these blogs----I want to continue to produce high quality historical podcast segments for them, as for me this was not just a finite internship, rather a stepping stone for the career I envision to have. She replied back saying that they would love to continue having me, and that my internship experience, and what I was able to produce has been great. I thanked her and Dr. Brotemarkle for the a millionth time (and I would do a million it more because they deserve it). I left the FHS feeling as amazing as I have ever been academically and personally. I left there feeling proud of myself of not only producing the segment I wanted, but also proud to have made such enduring and meaningful relationships with the amazing FHS and the people that make it so.
Earlier today, I went through the unedited interview again to find where the soundbites that I selected for the final script are originally located. I did this, in the event Jon needs to hear how the soundbite sounded originally, in case my edit was not as good. Once I finished locating all those timestamps, and put in a word document, I emailed him (and cc'd Holly and Dr. Brotemarkle), these files, in addition to:
The unedited audio file (in a WAV format and in its Audacity project format in case he needs to go there --- I don't know what audio editing software he uses)
The final official soundbites audio file (in a WAV format and its Audacity project format for the same reason as mentioned above)
The final script for the segment (with the appropriate timestamps included)
Audio file that includes the narration I recorded on Monday (WAV format)
I did all the tasks that were given to me on Monday, and would have liked to turn them in sooner in the week, but the class I am currently taking is starting to pick up in its intensity. Nevertheless, I did want to leave this behind past today (Friday), risking the segment not be able to be aired before the "End-of-semester showcase", and making all these efforts go to waste, as that was the whole reason as to why I went Monday, during their off-week. I have not gotten official word as to what date/time the segment will be aired/published. Time will tell. In the meantime, the only "big" tasks that are remaining is to write a 3-5 page reflection paper on my experience during the internship----as Holly told me on Monday it was required----and preparing for my presentation during the showcase on August 5th, the last day of the semester. I will plan those accordingly, and anything thing else that comes up during this final two weeks. I am excited for the segment to be aired. Taking a 324-page book (and more counting the other books I read), and an almost 2 hour long podcast, and turning it into an 8-10 minute segment that still is as entertaining and educationally enriching, while keeping the integrity of the interviewee, is definitely not a walk in the park. Doing this at this moment in my life, with the aspirations I have...makes this whole experience and end-product all the more sweeter. As always, thank you for reading, and who knows maybe next week the segment will be aired and you can finally see what I've been talking about this whole time for yourself.
SG