Friday 19 February 2016

Podcasts and vodcasts and how they can be useful to the performing artist's CV

Today I had a visit from a family friend. During the course of her visit she asked if she could interview my mother about North Yorkshire and then she asked to interview me on my career as a dancer. Of course this was no problem but we both asked what they was for. They were to be used as podcasts of interviews with English people of different accents, to share with people who want to learn English.

I had no idea what a podcast was, being somewhat technologically illiterate, but being a curious person by nature, I had to go and google it.

Google had also been an interesting part of today's conversation with how Google has become a verb and lost it's identity as a company. For example, when looking up something on the internet, whether using the search engine Google or Yahoo  or any other, one says "I googled this the other day". How has this affected Google as a company? Has making Google a verb restricted the company or helped it? By being a verb, has this helped to advertise Google as a company and encouraged people to use the search engine Google over other search engines? I mean to look into this further out of curiosity.

But back to my research into podcasting. I googled it and found a page that immediately caused me some problems, because I didn't know what an RSS was, but I was presented with the immediate solution of a hyperlink to an explanation. After reading this I had more of an understanding of RSS (Really Simple Sindication), which, in the most basic terms with barely any technical language, is a program that brings podcasts from different locations to one place without having to visit each individual site and automatically downloads new podcasts in the same series to one's computer or device. If you would like a fuller explanation, here is the link to the blog I read,

 https://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/209/what-is-rss-syndication/ 


Now understanding RSS I returned to the explanation of podcasts. In the most basic terms and without too much technical lingo, it is a media file, like a radio program, that can be downloaded and saved and played at anytime whilst offline. Much like downloading music from iTunes to one's iPhone or other device that is capable of playing MP3 or MP4 media. Looking at Apple and my iPhone, there is a way to download podcasts from iTunes that I had never understood the meaning of before today. If you would like to read the blog on podcasts, check out,

https://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/230/what-is-a-podcast/

This blog also gives hyperlinks and basic instructions to set up podcasting/vodcasting and suggests programs to use for RSS.

From this I understood that vodcasting was also available and is used in the exact same way as podcasting. I know that most dancers upload a show reel to sites like youtube and have their youtube address on their CV. But to see it, one has to search for it, find it and be online to see it. I know that there are Apps that allow you to download and save videos to watch offline but if a new show reel is added, a prospective employer has to know about it in order to search it and watch it. If an employer had a vodcast subscription to a dancer's vodcast, and the dancer is able to constantly upload clips of their performance rather than taking several clips over a period of time and making a show reel, an employer could view a dancer each time they uploaded a new vodcast without having to make a great effort to find an url address and wait for it to download etc, Perhaps this is a better way to advertise one's self because a vodcast would constantly be being updated rather than seeing a show reel that is a year old. An employer subscribed to that vodcast would have the information automatically downloaded to their computer and be able to see it whenever they chose, online or offline. If a dancer had their vodcasts attached to their online profile they could have their CV in the same place and be constantly updating everything at the same time making it easier for employers to see everything together and not having to email and ask for updated CVs or show reels. The same idea using podcasting and vodcasting could apply for singers and actors too.

Having learnt about this new, well new for me, technology, I think I will look into setting up my own vodcasting. I'll let you know how it goes.

4 comments:

  1. Thanks Nora - yes online CVs are not far away - the ones that Wendy Nottingham has on her agency used to be still images and are now the actors in specific roles. Your link to podcasts - good and basic - I think as professionals we are still catching up and the implications for everything online and in 'real time' can be a bit nerve-racking - also time consuming (watching videos - how much time do agents use?) I think your comments about the upkeep are also something to think about - lots of things up virtually that are outdated - how can we tell the latest news/issues? dating of all that we do? Do we replace or keep putting the most recent (like the blogs)?

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  2. Hi Paula, I did have a look at Wendy Nottingham's online profile. It was easy to connect to everything as it was all in one place and saved a lot of time looking through search engines multiple times. I've noticed while looking things up online that it is not always easy to find the date of something. When using Facebook or blogs the dates are automatically inputted and are very easy and clear to see. When making a show reel to display on YouTube, it is not always easy to find the date and how does one know that the publication date is actually the date of what one is seeing? But if one keeps adding and leaving old posts, one can see an individuals progression and improvement. If they are short clips rather than long show reels, an employer could look at only what specifically interested them. Or if one had acquired a position on the books, they could subscribe to one's vodcast and receive updates of performances frequently, always keeping oneself at the fore front of a person's mind. It would be less time consuming than sending individual emails. However, if everybody did this they would probably not have enough hours in a day to watch everyone's vodcast!

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  3. Yes - the time and skill set needed to do audio-visual well is also an issue - while today we don't need to be 'trained' on cameras - having instruction on communicating might not go amiss - I know we are also stepping into a professional role for professionals who work in film or on the web. I realise I need to get more training now on video because the last time I trained was some time ago and the software has moved on...

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  4. Yes I agree. I got an amazing deal on some editing programs a few years ago to do my show-reels. The deal was buy 1 program and get any or all of the rest for free! How could I say no to that?! I love them personally because one does't have to be amazing with computers to use them. Everything is very simple and easy to understand and work out. However, as it was so long ago, I'm sure that these programs are now out of date and there are better ones available. However, they are generally expensive to buy. I love Apps because they update automatically and often and it doesn't cost more money. The program is continuously being improved and one does not have to learn to use an entirely new program. Unfortunately I don't have a MAC so I need programs that work on my laptop which means I have to pay for new programs now and then and learn to use them. I enjoy making videos but it does take such a long time to try to get it as good as possible and it is sometimes difficult to find the time.

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