Script for my final podcast

I finished writing the script for my podcast. Some parts are unscripted, so I simply wrote that "interviews" went there but didn't specify what the interviewee would say. I labeled my scripted interviewee as Sonya, but as I ran out of class time it's likely I will ask my sister instead.

SARAH

Good morning, everyone. In this podcast episode, we will be talking a look at common teenage stereotypes and where they originated.

The words nerd, jock, prep or emo probably ring a bell if you’ve ever been in high school. Based on their interests, teenagers have a habit of categorizing themselves into groups whose members are assumed to have the exact same personality.

Someone with a strong interest in sports will be automatically labeled a “jock,” for example. This term carries much more meaning than simply being athletic. People will usually assume a jock is male and somewhat popular, a spoiled teenager who cares about little besides sports and his girlfriends. A jock is not thought to be very intelligent, and the less athletic students will reassure themselves thinking that “he’ll never amount to much.”

The girl version of the jock is the “prep,” the popular high school girl who can also be labeled as queen bee sometimes. Like the jock, when someone calls a girl a “prep” he means that besides being interested in fashion, sports and parties, this girl is somewhat of an airhead. She’s thought to have always been spoiled and have nothing to worry about. She has developed somewhat of a mean streak as a consequence. The prep has nothing to think about but lip gloss and boys, and she’s thought to be very superficial. Despite that, she is one of the most popular girls in her school, just like the jock.

On the opposite, someone who gets good grades and does well in school will be considered a nerd. Nerds are thought to be little know-it-all’s who are usually pretty unpopular, and most definitely socially awkward. They can be both male and female and in both situations their company is not considered very desirable.

Some more recent stereotypes include the emo, the geek or the tomboy. Emo stands for emotionals and represents a small group of people who dress in black, often feel depressed and are also thought to cut their wrists. Though a social group of “emos” does exist, just because someone likes to wear black eyeshadow doesn’t mean that person is always unhappy. A geek is someone who is strongly into new technologies, and even more socially awkward than the nerd; a teenager called a geek has a lot of computer knowledge and supposedly no social life. A tomboy is a girl who enjoys the company of boys and will often wear her hair short or dress in baggy clothing. While tomboy is not necessarily a bad term, a boy who likes the company of girls will on the other side be deemed “gay,” implying he is homosexual.

Where did these stereotypes originate from? While some athletic boys might really match every single characteristic of the jock, many of them simply like sports. Those who get good grades in school are sometimes a little socially awkward, but for every true nerd there is a confident, outgoing teenager who also care about his or her grades.

Stereotypes might have some truth in them, but they are highly exaggerated in the culture teenagers are exposed to. Pick up any typical teenage movie and you’ll be able to categorize every character into a category. The hero will usually be someone average, bright but not very popular; he or she will have one or two sidekicks with large glasses and a terrible sense of clothing, the awkward “nerds” and “wannabes.” A popular jock or prep, good looking but cruel, will usually be the enemy of the hero. This person will however turn out to have a nice, distraught side and be redeemed in the final minutes of the movie.

Making people believe that anyone who is into sports must necessarily be a little thick, or that someone who spends a lot of time thinking about what they should wear is an airhead, can have very negative consequences. Here is what some teenagers faced because of stereotypes.

Interviews of various teens who have been categorized as a particular stereotype, and what they experienced because of this (unscripted)

SARAH

Stereotypes can have a strong impact on anyone’s life. They follow us all the way throughout adulthood, but teenage years are described by many people as the worst time as far as stereotypes go. The reason is that “fitting in” at school is one of the main concerns of teenage years.

Parents are everything during childhood, but suddenly at adolescence your friends and your social life become more important. It’s a period of insecurity for many of us, and stereotypes may seem like they help us feel more confident. If you see a girl who pays attention to her clothes, assuming that she is a superficial person is less time consuming and more reassuring than actually having to go talk to her.

What if you miss the opportunity to become friends with a great person because of this? Stereotypes force you to fit into a mold someone else created for you. If others tell you students with good grades aren’t “supposed” to enjoy partying and hanging out with friends, you don’t need to listen to them. Teenagers make their own stereotypes, and it’s up to us to destroy them. Next time you see someone who likes computers, for example, don’t automatically assume this person has no social life and is utterly boring. For every teenager that entirely fits a stereotype, there are a thousand that don’t fit any at all.

SONYA/INTERVIEWEE

Hello, my name is Sonya and I’m a tenth grade student in ISU. Some of my friends are people who I wouldn’t have thought I’d be friends with at first. I used to think things like, since this girl likes sports, she has to be a jerk, right? It sounds stupid when you say it. There’s no link between the way you dress or the activities you like and your personality. I don’t fit into any stereotype, and I know lots of other teenagers who don’t. I like art, does that make me an art freak? I care about my grades, so am I also a nerd? I like to spend time dressing, is that something only a prep would do? Of course not. The only thing I am is me, and that’s something every teenager should remember.

SARAH

Thank you for listening. This is the end of this adolescent life episode, which hopefully will have given you a fresh perspective on high school stereotypes. Thank you to Elise, Jiri and Kyu for granting us some of their time, and goodbye for now!

I asked two people, Elise and Ha Young, to comment on my script. Here is the advice they gave me:

Elise 
I really like it. The people who are listening tot this will have a greater understanding of stereotyping and maybe they will think more about this the next time they see a new person. I’m looking forward to see the interviews because I think they’ll make this podcast even better. Also, that Sonya is speaking at the end makes it a really good conclusion, and will also make the people think more about this.
Overall really well and interesting 

HaYoung 
I really enjoyed reading your script! It has a lot of those ‘stereotypes’ information, and some of them are really funny. I would like to read your script, or even listen to your podcast after you included the interviews. I’m curious that if Sonya is one of the people that you are going to interview. Anyways, you have strong points that are against those stereotypes, which I liked it  Good job! I think people would be able to think differently about those stereotypes after they listen to your podcast.

Plan for the creation of my podcast (Criterion C)

Here is my plan (though it might be a little blurry). I have quite a lot to do on this podcast, so I have planned to spend an hour over the weekend working on it. If it turns out I am in advance on my plan, I won't complete this study session (13/12/09).

Final design

I decided to choose a combination of my first and second design. I will follow the basic idea of my second design, but only use audio and cut the time down to about 7-8mn as using video will most certainly prove a hassle. Here is a quick view of this design:

Number of episodes: 1
Audio or video: Audio
Length of episode: 7-8 mn
Scripted or unscripted: Partly scripted/partly unscripted
Breakdown of episode:

• 2 or 3 seconds video shots of various teens saying "Hello. I'm a jock. I'm a nerd. etc. etc. etc." (Scripted)
  
• Switchover to myself on video, explaining how many teenagers are categorized into groups, a fact that is accepted as "common knowledge" by most teens (Scripted).
  
• Quick interview of people defining themselves as belonging to a certain stereotype and how their daily life is affected by this characterization (Unscripted).
  
• Switchover to myself, explaining how many teenagers don't fit inside any of these groups which are often more of a fashion statement than a way of living (Scripted).
  
• Short scripted interview of someone who believes they don't belong to any stereotype, and who thinks many other people don't either (Scripted).
  
• Credits for all the people who were interviewed.

I decided on this design for a number of reasons. Looking at other podcasts, I enjoyed the short, various ones more than the sitcoms ones (see 60-seconds Science or Muggle Cast posts). I usually end up making very long projects, but listening to these podcasts I realized how important it is to keep it concise, if you want to maintain the viewer's attention. I also thought that the second design was the most diverse as it involved interviews, explanations and other various ways of conveying the information.

I decided to cut out the video because I realized it did not actually serve a purpose. By having an audio podcast, I make my podcast more accessible to people who want to listen to a podcast while walking in the streets, for example. This will also allow me to focus more on the sound quality instead of trying to make the video work.

Here are my design specifications for my final product:

• My podcast must be between 7-8 mn long (not shorter or longer)
• The sound must be perfectly clear and audible
  
• The transitions between the interviews and the other parts must seem natural
• The podcast must accurately reflect teenager stereotypes
• I will use at least 1 picture for each section and 1 for each interview

In order to record my podcast, I have a number of options. From what I gathered of my classmates on their fictional interviews, using an external microphone connected to your computer gives the best sound quality. The disadvantage of this will be that I have to record in school, as I do not have an external mike at home. The second option would be to record using a phone or another mobile device, which gives me more options as to where to record but sacrifizes the sound quality. My third option is to use the microphone I have at home, which would allow me to work more on the podcast while I am away from home, but will have the counterpart of both limited mobility and bad sound quality.

As for sound software, I also have a number of options. I could use "My Podcast Recorder", which gives you very few options but is straightforward to use. I could record using Skype, which has the advantage of letting me interview people who are not necessarily in my school. I could also record with Audacity, certainly the software with the most editing options. I would however have to check whether or not it is installed in school. For the assembling, I can use Windows Movie Maker to put together the slide show or JayCut. Movie Maker is simple to use, but it is very limited when it comes to options. JayCut gives more freedom but being an online editor, uploading and downloading the videos will take a long time.

Overall, I think that my best choice of recording options would be to use the microphones in school with Audacity, and assemble everything in Movie Maker. I do not really need to interview people outside of my class; if I want to, I can always have one interview on Skype at my own house, in which case the sound quality will depend on the hardware of my interviewee. Movie Maker also provides a large enough number of options considering I only want to put in a few pictures for the class slideshow.

Third podcast design

My last design is more of a sitcom, casual podcast episode. Even though the mood will be rather relaxed, I don't want to fall into all the inside jokes and awkward silences so the podcast will be scripted. It would be audio and last about 15-20mn.
I will have one or two friends as well as myself discuss stereotypes according to an agreed list. Since I have more time and will not need people to introduce themselves as in interviews, I can go into more aspects of teenage stereotypes. In particular, I'd like to discuss the way adults sometimes view teenagers - uncontrollable forces of nature, who must be excused if they do things wrong and never listened to when they do things right since they are hot-headed. I would like to have an adult come on the sitcom, but I don't know who I could ask.

Here are the subjects we will be talking about:

1. How teenagers are often viewed by adults
2. Why this stereotype originated, why it sometimes fits and sometimes doesn't
3. Stereotypes within teenagers - where do they come from?
4. How being considered a jock/nerd/prep/tomboy/geek/outcast might affect your life
5. Are these stereotypes ever useful? What kind of effect do they have?
   
6. What we can do to overcome them? Should we overcome them?
7. How may stereotypes abroad differ from stereotypes in typical high schools?
8. Which sort of stereotypes may disappear or emerge in the future?
   

I will write a somewhat long script, in order for the podcast to reach the time I intend. I think the hardest thing might simply be finding people to talk on the sitcom with. I can try getting the help of my family and exchanging "podcast" time with other students in my group, by helping them and then having them help me with my own podcast.

Second design for my podcast

For this podcast design, I would only be making one episode but this one would be a longer video podcast (about 10-15mn). I would interview other teenagers in the school on what they think each stereotype means and which they "belong" to, and what they might have experienced because of this. Since this would be a somewhat unscripted podcast, I might need to interview lots and lots of teenagers until I get some good answers. I will then explain the effect some of these stereotypes can have on adolescent life, and how they follow us all the way through high school. I will conclude with an interview (perhaps I will have to script this one) of someone who believes they don't belong to any particular group, to prove that it is impossible to categorize teenagers as they are all different individuals.

Here is what the outline for this design would look like:

1. 2 or 3 seconds video shots of various teens saying "Hello. I'm a jock. I'm a nerd. etc. etc. etc."
2. Switchover to myself on video, explaining how many teenagers are categorized into groups, a fact that is accepted as "common knowledge" by most teens.
3. Quick interview of people defining themselves as a nerd, a jock, a prep, a geek, a tomboy and an outcast, and how their daily life is affected by this characterization.
4. Switchover to myself, explaining how many teenagers don't fit inside any of these groups which are often more of a fashion statement than a way of living
5. Short and most likely scripted interview of someone who believes they don't belong to any stereotype, and who thinks many other people don't either
6. Credits for all the people who were interviewed

I can think of a few people inside my class who laughed and recognized themselves as soon as I announced I was interviewing teenagers, so I have a pretty decent idea of who I might interview for each particular stereotype. This would be a more light hearted, teenager's perspective on the subject of teenage stereotypes.