WR39A - Tayven Taylor
Podcast
This page is dedicated to the production process of my group podcast. This is an analysis and reflection of my process for creating my group podcast and microsite. The podcast/microsite assignment is a group assignment in which we are expected to elaborate on a topic that discusses gender roles in Disney in order to learn more about the course objective.
Pre-Production: Preparation and Planning
Throughout this course, we did a variety of activities and assignments to prepare us for our podcast. Below are the three artifacts that prepared me for this project.
#1
One of the points that I made in the group podcast was about toxic masculinity being a common theme in Disney films. In our Close Reading Practice: What is Toxic Masculinity assignment, we learned about toxic masculinity, its meaning, and its controversy. We learned about a Gillette ad that sparked outrage stemming from the company calling out toxic masculinity. I used what I learned from this assignment in my podcast as I highlighted toxic masculinity in Disney films. This relates to the course objective––Improve your written literacy, digital literacy, and overall communication skills across several media
#2
My second artifact relates to our Week 3 Exploratory Writing: Beauty & the Beast and Gender Codes (Sunday) assignment in which we have to watch the Beauty & the Beast movie (2017), make annotations, and write a paragraph. In this assignment I developed effective habits for my own writing process. By this I mean that I was able to make several annotations and use those annotations to help support my paragraph. I used the same skills in my podcast. I had to take all the annotations that I had and used them to strengthen my arguments.
#3
My final artifact is from our Punctuation Practice: Apostrophes, Quotation Marks & Italics (Sunday, 40 min) assignment in which I practiced my grammar skills, specifically targeting apostrophes, quotation marks & italics. Prior to this assignment, I did not know when to use apostrophes, quotation marks & italics. This helped me improve my ability to write prose that is readable, focused, and full of details. This helped make my writing more complete. I had to reference a wide variety of sources in my script and I needed to make sure that I used apostrophes, quotation marks & italics accordingly.
Production--Creating the Podcast and Microsite
Throughout the production of this podcast, I took part in a number of tasks. These tasks are detailed below.
#1
My first artifact entails the work that I did for my groups script. I completed all of my speaking parts making sure to include ample sources and examples from the films to support my opinions. I also spoke to my group about our podcast process and how the flow of our podcast would go. Additionally, I helped other group members when needed and suggested several ideas.
#2
My second artifact is the microsite. I created the microsite and made sure to add an abundance of features. I implemented enticing visuals, an interactive podcast experience, podcast video section, podcast description section, bio section, and sources section. I worked hard to make sure that the website kept listeners engaged. I created and wrote everything on the microsite with the help of my group mates input. I made sure to take notes from other microsites and take certain aspects that I liked to strengthen our microsite. If you would like to take a look at the site, you can visit it here or you can click the hyperlink at the bottom of this page.
#3
My third and final artifact is supporting images. I came up with a variety of images that I decided to feature on the microsite to stick with the Disney theme. They relate to the movies and help create the overall look and theme of our groups microsite. I made sure to put a lot of thought into these images as they are what keeps viewers interested. An example of one of the photos that I used can be found to the left.
During this project, my group mates and I had to overcome any and all challenges that came our way. At first, our group was slow to interact with one another; however, as time passed we eventually became better. Additionally, one of our group members dropped the class. We had to go on without her and make sure that everyone was up to date with our plans. Although our group did not make many mistakes, I did make a mistake. I missed one of our group meetings. I had to make sure to stick with our schedule and keep up with our tasks. I recovered and learned from my mistake and was able to finish everything that I missed immediately.
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Through collaborating with my group mates, I learned a lot. I learned that it is terrible to leave work for the last minute. Everyone has their own schedules and leaving work for the last minute only causes stress and disappointment. Additionally, I learned that most group members are pretty independent and like to work on their own. The work is divided and then everyone does their part to come up with the final result. I hope that in the future, I hope to make a greater connection with my peers and that I can lead my peers more so that we can accomplish more together.
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​​I learned about toxic masculinity found in Disney films and female gender roles and expectations through my podcast work. In my script specifically, I analyzed these topics within the films Beauty & the Beast and Sleeping Beauty; however, neither movie interests me. I hope to write my essay about the topics I discussed in the podcast; however, I would like to analyze Disney Star Wars films instead. I think that I am more comfortable with the topics that I discussed on the podcast and that they are present in Disney Star Wars films. I hope that I am able to tie everything together and produce a result similar to the podcast.
Tayven | Jia | Shane | Doris