Podcast Analysis
Podcasts are a vast medium, a very versatile one, with their popularity and interest in them growing day by day. They are digital media files, and are generally broadcast/published in a serial, episodic format. In that respect to sum it up basically, a podcast is online radio, and is ready on demand. The term of podcast initially came into being due to the words "iPod" and "broadcast" being amalgamated into a single phrase, due to podcasts first being heard and used frequently on the iPod device, however they are not exclusive to iPods and especially in recent years following a large surge of their popularity, they have readily been available on a host of numerous different devices such as a simple mobile phone or a PC.
Being such a diverse medium full of potential, there are a lot of different genres of podcasts available; there are factual podcasts such as Serial, the Ricky Gervais Show which is a comedy panel podcast, scripted fictional podcasts such as Limetown, Too Old To Date, & Welcome to Night Vale, and interview podcasts such as numerous political chat shows or more personal ones such as Death, Sex & Money. In addition to this, long running serial dramas broadcast on radio, notably The Archers are now readily available online in the form of a podcast.
Podcasts often use ambient noises in the background, similar to background music in films and TV shows. However this is not always a given, due to many podcasts forgoing this. In addition, podcasts can often use background music as well. As a general rule though, there is some form of intro music, whether it be a theme tune or not. For example in the Ricky Gervaise show, it begins with a bit of a tune then Gervaise introducing himself and the panel. For the animated television show however this format varies slightly, with some opening music, a comedic narration, then with Gervaise introducing himself and the panel before a quick bit of opening music. The animated show is basically after that identical to that of the podcast, other than the fact animated visuals have been made to go with it, but the audio is the same as the podcast, with all episodes being taken from the original podcast series but given animation and some special effect sounds to accompany visual gags. For example in the animated show when one of the panellists describe something at times, it is visually depicted in a more humorous form to further the description. Not every podcast has ambient noises, background music and intro music however; many simply consist of talking. An example of this would be some political podcasts such as Stefan Molyneux's podcasts which consist of him talking about political issues, sometimes also with another person.
Due to podcasts being a broad medium, worthy of many different platforms, there are numerous different variations between podcasts. For example there are a fair number of different conventions between the Ricky Gervaise Show and Stefan Molyneux's political podcast. The Ricky Gervaise Show is a comedic panel show with three friends (Ricky Gervaise, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington) discuss various topics in a humorous fashion, usually with Gervaise and Merchant observing Pilkintgon's views on many topics. Meanwhile many political shows including Stefan Molyneux's are instead discussions or even just one person's thoughts on a matter, but with a far more serious tone. However there are also numerous commonalities between the two podcasts, including the lack of background music and the format being similar, with both being a discussion of some form albeit with the themes being very different. A drama podcast such as Serial, both the Ricky Gervaise Show and Stefan Molyneux's varies more noticeably with these two other podcasts. This podcast is a drama and resembles an audio book and an audio play, but with background music frequently included. The atmosphere of Serial differs radically to that of the Ricky Gervaise Show for example. The Ricky Gervaise Show is a chat whilst Serial is for intensive purposes an audio play distributed online. The Ricky Gervaise Show seldom uses background music whilst Serial uses it very frequently over the course of its episode. If Serial is compared with a political podcast such as Stefan Molyneux's then the different are even more glaring. Whilst Molyneux's podcast mostly consists of him and sometimes others discussing a political topic or current affairs, Serial is instead a drama. Molyneux's podcast seldom uses any background or intro music, it is even devoid of ambient noises.
In addition to the standard, traditional podcast format, there are also variations on the format; for example "enhanced podcasts" use imagery to display images synchronised with the audio. Another example would be podcast novels which combine the concept of audio books and podcasts together into one product; these are also known as serialised audio books. A final example of a variation on podcasts would be known as "Vodcasts", the term being an amalgam of the words "video" and "podcast". These vodcasts are basically podcasts accompanied with video clips.
With all of this taken into account, the research that I have conducted here has shown me that podcasts are indeed very much capable of plenty of versatility, it is a medium that can work well with many different genres. As such, this inspired me to create a unique Podcast with a comedic twist not commonly seen in podcasts, with the main inspiration behind the style I used coming from YouTube Poops.
