A presentation that details a multiude of the various trails and tribulations that went into the creation of my finished audiobook.

1. Production Reflection
David Lee

2. Process – Production Journal Entry No. 1: Script
• As of today, I have already begun writing a script which I intend to use as a template to
complete my project. However, at present, it is currently in the draft phase which will
require certain elements to be refined and rewritten and, if need be, excised from the
completed story. To that end, I intend to utilise the Highlighter tool on Microsoft Word to
determine which bits of dialogue I feel may be superfluous to the overall plot.
• While I feel the script could have been fleshed out a bit more with an overall plot to guide
the story and (possibly) an additional segment in which the protagonist and her mentor
begin their adventure properly, I feel I have nonetheless created a small section that is
suitable for my project’s needs as well as my audience’s requested story genre.

3. Process – Production Journal Entry No. 2: GarageBand Experiments and Practice Recording
• I have begun conducting music on GarageBand to test my
musical as well as narrative capabilities. As I am unable to
utilise college software for this purpose at present, I have
decided to use an iPad belonging to a friend, whose identity
is to remain anonymous.
• Music: Although it took me some time to adapt to this new
format of creativity, having been used to creating my own
music and narration on the college Macs for previous
projects, I feel particularly impressed with the piece of
music I have created (in spite of its somewhat disjointed
flow) as it reflects the tone of excitement and uncertainty I
had originally envisioned when developing this fantasy
adventure.
• Narration: Despite some initial hesistance in recording this
asset via iPad, which led to a few nervous stutters and
pauses, this gradually began to decrease as I became more
and more confident (as well as relaxed) in both tone and
delivery thereby allowing me to continue my narration
clearly and fluidly. Following this, I performed a short
demonstration to ensure my editing capabilities were still up
to scratch. This was accomplished via the use of a cutting
tool on the iPad itself, which would be affixed to the desired
part of the recording and, when applied to the recording
itself (accomplished through clicking the scissor icon twice),
would leave a small gap between the last breath of that
section and the first breath of the next. Again, despite
struggling to adapt this software, I feel I have become more
and more confident which session I have taken using it.

4. Process – Production Journal Entry No. 3: Pre-Production (Book Cover
Design(s))
• Despite my finished project’s nature as an
audiobook, I ultimately realised that it would still
be in need of a book cover that would appeal to
potential listeners as well as promote the story
itself. To this end, I have created two versions of a
book cover on Microsoft Publisher using pre-
existing pictures of ruined castles lifted from
Google Images. Under normal circumstances, I
would have taken the pictures myself with help
from an anonymous source but this proved
impossible due to the closure of many important
historical sites across North Yorkshire under
current social distancing measures. In spite of this
setback, however, I feel the use of these pictures
(despite their nature as stock images) easily
displays the decay and ruin the castle in my story
will have fallen into by a particular point. In
addition, I have used the Greyscale application in
the Microsoft Publisher document to change the
pictures’ structure from colour to black and
white, thereby giving the impression that, as a
result of its decay, the castle has been reduced to
little faded history and becoming a legend in
doing so, possibly even a myth.

5. Process – Production Journal Entry No. 4: Recording Foley Effects
• To add atmosphere to my story as well as create a
diverse soundscape befitting a fantasy adventure, I
have begun recording foley sound effects to be
integrated into the finished recording at
appropriate moments in certain scenes. Some of
these already include, but are not limited to, the
rustling of leaves (which can be recording through
a scrunched-up piece of paper or crisp wrapper), a
door creaking open (recording an internal door
opening and closing, which can prove tricky
depending on the age of the house you are living
in) or the jingling of the keys as the lead character
attempts to search for them in order to unlock the
door.
• While recording an entire project such and its
various elements, such as foley (as demonstrated
here) from an iPad as undoubtedly been an
extremely daunting task, particularly given the
current circumstances plus my unfamiliarity with
the software myself, I feel I have risen to the
overwhelming challenge before me and created a
majestical soundscape for my story (or the first
part of it thereof) that will hopefully draw my
target audience in and make them keen to listen to
the rest of my story, despite it not having a middle
or an end.

6. Process – Production Journal Entry No.
5: Post-Production (Editing)
• Today, I have begun editing my audiobook into a
singular, coherent piece that will hopefully be suitable
for audiences to listen to. To this end, I have been
playing through the recording regularly to determine
which elements to alter, rearrange or cut out
altogether. Much of the recording remains unaltered
from its original state, save for a small series of
alterations undertaken in order for the story to flow as
fluidly as possible.
• As I started editing the recording and inspecting certain
moments thoroughly with a fine toothcomb (to coin a
phrase), I noticed almost immediately that were regular
intervals during the recording during which I would
pause on one sentence to catch my breath, before
moving on to the next sentence, creating pockets of
what is often referred to as “white noise.” These
pockets were removed to ensure a smooth transition
between one word and the next. However, despite this,
they did not go to waste as they were ultimately
retooled to act as pauses as I transitioned from one
character’s dialogue to the next, thereby creating a
change of voice tone during the conversation between
the lead character and her mentor.

7. Process – Production Journal Entry No. 5: Post-Production (Editing) (cont’d)
• In addition to carrying out the editing of my
audiobook as mentioned in the previous slide,
I also undertook the task of editing the musical
piece I had created to create an intro as well as
an outro for the finished recording. This was
accomplished by splitting the piece into four
segments and determining which segment
would be suitable for use, as the piece was
originally created to give the story both an
exciting and uplifting tone. Ultimately, the final
segment of the piece was chosen to fulfill this
purpose as not only was it appropriate to the
themes of the (unfinished) story, but it
provided a smooth transition into the
prologue, which depicts (if such a word can be
used) several explorers trying and failing to
retrieve the Ruby of Gower Castle.
• Subsequently, following the completion of
editing both the music as well as the narration,
both of these files were merged into a singular
video which would ultimately clock in at just
under seven minutes.

8. Process – Production Journal Entry No. 5: Post-Production (Editing) (cont’d)
• Finally, the trickiest part of post-production was figuring
out how to upload my finished product and decide which
website it would be uploaded to. Under normal
circumstances, I would have uploaded the video to
YouTube through a complex process using Adobe Premier
Pro, but as I did not have the necessary software in order
to complete the task, this necessitated uploading the
finished product through a different website.
• To this end, I set up a new account on Sound Cloud and, in
spite of various setbacks that occurred in the process of
uploading the finishing audiobook, such as downloaded
files refusing to open (primarily on my Acer laptop, which
necessitated the use of a Chromebook to finish the task), I
was able to ensure it was safely uploaded, then
incorporated into my blog by copying and pasting the
embed code for the site. This latter part of the task was
achieved by copying the code into the blog entry’s HTML
section, thereby allowing the video itself to be seamlessly
integrated.
• Although I am particularly happy with how the finished
product as turned out, despite mixed feelings about how it
would turn out, I think I could have added a spoken
introduction, in which I read the title of the story as well as
who the narrator and author is in order to make it feel
more like a complete audiobook. However, despite this
minor gripe, I do not feel anything else within the product
itself requires changing.