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paulngxk · 2 years

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Closing Thoughts

It's been quite a memorable 3 months!

From being a field producer, to doing post-production, it has indeed been a huge learning journey for me.

Through the course of my internship, I've had to constantly wear multiple hats and juggle with concurrent productions at the same time (3-4 concurrent productions at one point, each at a different stage of production work, yikes >_<)

Specifically, in terms of the output quality, I felt that I could had done better if there was additional time given for the amount of work that has to be completed. However, given the limitations of time and the confines of a 3-month work period, I felt that I've done my best in learning the essential skills needed and producing work that is out of my field-of-study to the best of my abilities.

My experience with Campus Magazine has taught me valuable communication and writing skills that I now posses, with the ability to understand and execute work in the media industry if needed. I've also had hands-on experience with handling location sound, as well as opportunities to beef up my DAW production skills for mixing and arranging each podcast episode.

Most importantly, I've also had the chance to compose and produce music for a space documentary, and I'm very grateful for such work opportunities. Being with Campus Magazine has given me the chance to work in fields that I'm not familiar with or have the opportunity to learn in school as a music major, as well as key opportunities to utilise the very skills taught in school to be used in actual real-world scenarios (eg. composition, audio production).

Thank you, Campus Magazine!

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Specifically for the film scoring episode, I felt that it had the worst production value (with it being my first to be produced), but to me, it was the content that mattered the most. I was literally covering a story on my potential career and interviewing real-life people who are doing composition full-time in Singapore. Being able to hear from their perspectives and struggles was really an eye-opener for me, and as a composer in Singapore, there are 2 main options for me:

To diversify (eg. production, mixing, songwriting, etc.)

To look overseas for opportunities and composition gigs

Reflecting on that reality, it is a very scary thought that I might have to reconsider my career options as an potential full-time composer and do something else that is related, in order to earn a comfortable living here in Singapore.

I'm honestly not too sure what to do in the future after graduation, but nevertheless, I'm both thankful and grateful that my internship experience has opened my eyes to the daunting reality that is in front of me. A true existential crisis unfolds, counting down 9 months from now into the unseen future :v

Anyways, my name is Paul, and you're listening to "Everything, Explored", I'll see ya next time, cheers :D

[drops outro music]

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Production] Space Documentary

Scoring a documentary film, heck yeah!

This were my last few days of the internship, and my boss had something else in mind.

Apart from Campus Magazine, he is also an independent filmmaker on the side and he has been commissioned to produce a space documentary that features a rocket launch with Singaporean art pieces sent into space. It was also the same documentary during the filming day shoot that my colleague and I helped out to be in-charge of location sound, much early on during the initial part of my internship.

My boss knew that I had background in film composition as my field of study, and he offered me the opportunity to compose the opening theme of it, to which I've excitedly agreed to his proposal.

As of today, the actual rocket launch has yet to take place, and neither has the interviews been fully recorded. The only piece of visual material that I had was a sketch of the introduction scene (I unfortunately do not have the permission to show it here), with a set of stitched-up scenes consisting of the rough feel of things and timing changes.

In terms of my artistic direction, I was going for a trailer-ish or opening theme aesthetic, since that was the intended use for this piece of music. My boss wanted things spaced (pun intended) and minimalistic, so I had to keep things simple and sparse-sounding, all while maintaining my personal artistic identity as the composer of this piece of work.

I am really excited to be given a chance to work on something that is part of my main field of practice during these 3 months, and it's a good switch of the daily in and outs of podcast production work. I feel that I did put in my best effort for this piece of work and I'm happy with the end result of things.

I've wrapped things up with my boss, and I look forward to composing the rest of the parts well after the end of my internship :)

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This documentary is currently in the production stage, and work on it has been ongoing for awhile. While I'm not able to provide the final outcome or video due to the nature of the incomplete filming and editing of this documentary, I am however, only able to demonstrate what has been done on my end at this stage of the ongoing production.

As filming and editing continues, reiterations and edits would have to be made in the future, but for now, this is what I have on hand:

Godspeed Opening Theme (1st draft)

#soundcloud

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paulngxk · 2 years

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Podcast, The Final Result

Finally! It's out :D

The moment that I've been waiting for is finally here! The hard work put in; the blood, the sweat, the pain, the tears, none of these matter anymore, it is finished.

The work that we've all put in to make this happen; 6 episodes produced by me, and 2 other episodes contributed and produced by my colleague.

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Season 1 | 2022

Episode 1 | 19 July: What Will it Take to Make People Finally Care More About Things in Ukraine?

Episode 2 | 26 July: There’s Kpop, There’s Mandopop. Will We Ever Have a Thing Like Singapore Pop?

Episode 3 | 2 August: Did Sci-Fi get Space Wrong? We Explore Moon Mining to Space Tourism

Episode 4 | 10 August: How Come so Many People Don’t Respect the Art of Film Scoring?

Episode 5 | 16 August: Are Influencers all Frauds? A Brief Guide to the World of Influencing

Episode 6 | 23 August: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: Living with Otters, Monkeys and Boars

Episode 7 | 30 August: Learn how to Identify Singapore’s Most Popular Birds

Episode 8 | 6 September: What Happens when We Live Side By Side with so Many Cats?

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It feels great to finally see it released, after many months of grueling work, OTs and learning new skills. There was this sense of relief that I had, listening to it with thankfulness and gratitude to the people that have helped me made it through this insane yet incredible journey.

To better days ahead :)

#Spotify

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paulngxk · 2 years

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Releasing, Publishing, Scheduling

It's the last day of the podcast portion of my internship!

I've been really excited to finally get to schedule my podcast episodes and to see everything in place as it should be.

For uploads, we're using Anchor as our podcast distribution service as it's free-to-use without a membership plan, and because it's easy to upload and sort content. Anchor as a platform is owned of Spotify, which makes streaming to Spotify easy and hassle-free. We're also making use of RSS feeds as a means to distribute our podcast content to other platforms, such as Apple Podcast.

As for the preparation work before uploading, I've also mastered my bounces to -16 LUFS and with a maximum true peak of -1.1 dB, in order to maintain compatibility between the various target streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Amazon Music).

I'm glad to be able to use the production and mastering skills learnt at LASALLE, and to put it to good use in a real-life work scenario. Working on the mastering process has also reinforced the importance of mastering the bounces properly, in order to create the best possible quality and a comfortable listening experience for our audiences.

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Dealing with differing opinions on creative direction:

There was also this one instance when my colleague and I were also tasked to create a short 5-10 second stinger introduction. It's essentially a short theme jingle or sound cliché at the start of each episode, as a form of brand identity.

Personally, my colleague and I oppose to the idea of creating a stinger, as we felt that creating one would limit the creativity of episode introductions, and stingers aren't as appealing in recent trends in content creation.

What our boss has in mind isn't necessarily the best option, but as the employees, we ultimately did as told. It was also a good realisation that we need to deliver what's expected to the client (or in this case, our boss's final call), and that our creativity in the real world is often limited to what's needed to be done, versus the artistic freedom given in school.

At that point, I was wrapping up work on my final episode, but kudos to my colleague for covering me and creating the stinger :)

Teaser & introduction stinger

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Post-Production] 4. Wildlife Mini-series

I think I've finally found my personal creative style!

Through my previous episode experiences, I was able to streamline my production process to make the editing part easier:

Properly mixed VOs and dialogue parts (EQs, compression, de-clicks, expander, "Fresh Air"), with everything nicely volume balanced and adjusted properly. This also would include carefully cut crossfades to prevent unwanted clicks, as well as a proper track layout to make it easier to through the edits.

There's also this one other neat trick that I've picked up from production class at LASALLE, and I find myself using it extensively:

A narrow to mid-band cut using the EQ plugin, allowing for more vocals to cut through the mix, as well as volume automations to make the dialogue parts more audible when background music is used.

As for the creative part, I finally have a style that I've been happy to settle on:

I would use music paired with an introductory VO, a quick attention catcher within the first 30s to one-minute mark, the bulk of the content in the middle, and a nice closing stinger to sweeten things at the end of each episode.

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I feel that I'm now able to express myself creatively as a podcast host, as well as in the post-production work that I'd put in. The amount of meticulous work, as well as patience involved as paid off, and I finally have episodes that are up to standard :D

Streamlining my workflow has also enabled me to pull off 3 podcast episodes within the span of 2 weeks, and I think that is an achievable feat that I'm happy and proud to achieve.

I'll need find a way to schedule these episodes to be posted, but till then, more to come :)

Birds episode introductory statement

Cats episode foley and introduction

Wildlife episode snippet with foley

Thenuga Informal ending (blooper)

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Production] 4. Wildlife Mini-series

Challenging, but exciting :D

I'm under quite a fair bit of stress, but I feel that I'm coping at a manageable pace.

The general workflow for this episode mini-series is slightly different from my previous episodes as it requires me to delegate my time productively and juggle between all 3 episodes at the same time. I'm thankful that my boss has been understanding through this period, and he has given me some versatility and freedom to plan my travels and workflow scheduling to fit the needs of this mini-series.

I am optimistic that I'll be able to manage my time and produce these episodes well, fingers crossed of course.

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Thenuga Vijajumar

President, Cat Welfare Society in Singapore

For a segment of this mini-series, I had the chance to interview Thenuga. She was a lawyer by training, so she was able to respond as an interviewee with tact and caution.

Personally, I felt that she was the most challenging interviewee that I have had to interview throughout the course of my jobscope as a host. I really, really, had to structure my questions and pry in certain topics carefully.

For the episode on cats, I had to take an anti-sentiment stance on the inclusion of community cats in order to balance her opinions for the episode. I felt that this was an important key experience as I had to double-down on my points and ensure that they were correct, while remaining professional and polite through the course of the interview.

A tough challenge, but one that I'm happy to try.

Self-introduction

Cat population and resource management

Abandonment of cats by irresponsible cat owners

Various ways in which CWS helps our society

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Pre-Production] 4. Wildlife Mini-series

It was time to up my game.

As a podcast host and content creator, I wanted to push and challenge myself beyond what I was familiar and comfortable with.

Granted yes, that I was running out of time before completing my internship duration, but I wanted to try nonetheless. I devised a plan to create a 3-part mini series:

Bird calls

Otters, wild boars and monkeys

Community cats

I have the end goal of finishing them with what limited time that I have left for my internship, putting it to my best of abilities with the experience accumulated, and pushing my hosting and production skills to the test.

Ambitious, but hopeful :D

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Post-Production] 3. Space Episode

Finally, I've achieved what I've set out to!

I now feel confident in my VO work, as well as on the production end of things, so I thought it would be a good idea to further improve things and create my own artistic signature as a podcast host.

Entry and exit lines are now standardised and I'm able to be creative with them, while retaining the interests by the masses to keep the audience listening.

Putting on my production hat, I feel that I'm now able to mix my mixes better to produce better results with what I have available. For this specific episode, I had also put my arranging skills to the test to program a ripoff version of the Star Trek intro theme, and I incorporated it as part of the episode. My boss really liked it, and kudos to him being a Star Trek fan himself :)

For most of the additional sounds and foley, there is this website called pixabay.com which offers royalty-free content that can be used. It's a resource which I've relied on myself for the past couple of episodes and it's a total life-saver.

Star Trek intro (budget ripoff)

Star Trek ripoff intro in context

Opening style that I've developed for myself

Closing style that I've developed too

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Production] 3. Space Episode

A last minute interview :v

This was what I had to work with on this episode. It was not planned at all with zero pre-production, nor was it scripted to begin with.

When you're thrown with something, improvise, make the fullest use of it, and adapt. For the most part, I had to think on the spot what to ask the interviewees, as well as to formulate an episode on the go. I made full use of my past accumulated experiences and had to work around this curve-ball in order to work the task.

It was a good real-world experience on what to do and how to do when thrown with last-minute situations, although I definitely wished I had more preparation time to structure things properly.

Adapt, improvise, overcome.

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Jeff Williams

Retired career astronaut, NASA

Simon Gwordz

Founder and CEO, Equatorial Space

My boss was able to sift out a last minute opportunity to interview both Jeff and Simon.

Jeff is visiting Singapore for this period in time and my boss was successful in securing a short 20-minute interview with him. I had to think of my feet, but I managed to pull through the interview.

Simon, on the other hand, is a Singaporean space entrepreneur. He is however currently based in the US, so an interview with him was a different challenge entirely. I had to schedule a Zoom call with him at 12am SGT and it was crazy, but I enjoyed his sense of humour, as well as the fact that he himself dabbles as a musician on the side too :D

Could I had done better? Yes, perhaps, with more preparation time, but for what I was dealt with, I felt that I did my best at that given point in time. Personally, I think that this has been an important highlight in terms of my personal self-improvement.

I'm thankful for such opportunities, no matter the challenge.

Self-introduction, Jeff

Self-introduction, Simon

The purpose and existence of the ISS

Future space prospects in the next 10-15 years

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Post-Production] 2. Ukraine Episode

Much easier than before.

Post-production itself is tricky, but once you get the hang of it, things seam much simpler and easier to handle.

I feel that this time, I've managed to resolve quite a number of issues from my previous post-production experience. I mainly tackled on the issues of production quality and mixing inconsistencies, as well as to ensure that everything is up to production value. I've also introduced foley and background music on some occasions to maintain the listener's interests.

In terms of organisation and content management, I'm now using a paid transcription service called otter.ai to help speed interview parts and to help streamline the editing process of important key parts which I want included in the podcast.

Apart from that, on the VO side of things, I've also added in more expression and professional consistency as compared to my first run, but I feel that it's not at a level that I'm happy with yet, and it is something that I hope to improve in future episodes. As a podcast host, I hope to develop a creative identity for my future podcast episodes to keep things consistent, and to have an artistic version of myself that I'm happy with.

New points to work on.

The use of foley and background music

Better pacing, and better annunciation of words

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Production] 2. Ukraine Episode

Volodymyr Bilotkach

Associate professor, Singapore Institute of Technology

I've had the opportunity to speak with Volodymyr, who is an expert in aviation economics and international trade. He is also a fellow Ukrainian living and working in Singapore.

This makes him the perfect person to be interviewed for my story, and I'm really excited to be able to interview him for my Ukraine eposide!

Volodymyr was one of the several contacts that Galyna had provided, and I wanted to get his opinions of how the war has affected his family members residing in war-torn Ukraine, as well as his expertise on the precariously shifting current situation of global trade and supply chain as a result of the Ukraine war. I've also managed to get him to share his family's experience living in Ukraine, while constantly being bombarded and harassed by the Russian forces.

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Yurii Odnoroh

Gymnastics coach, UWC South East Asia

Mariia Shchedrina

Linguist lecturer, Nanyang Polytechnic

I also had the chance to interview Yurii and Mariia, both of whom are also residing and working in Singapore. I've managed to pull out key talking points with them, and I think that I'm at a position where I'll soon be able to start working on the post-production segment of this episode.

I felt that this is in stark contrast to my initial dead ends, and I now have a better idea how to develop this story. There are parts of my script that I would have to change, but at least for now, this is an optimistic change in pace from the initial non-optimistic start.

Ukraine is an agricultural power, people will suffer

Russia is using Ukrainian food exports as a bargaining leverage

Russian soldiers looting and stealing his father's underwear

Russia targeting Ukrainian civilian areas

The dilemma that he faces as a Ukrainian in Singapore

Leaning towards the European Union

Her personal experience during the Russian invasion

The important role of women in the Ukrainian Armed Forces

The power of words and what it represents

A message to Zelensky and Putin

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Post-Production] 1. Film Scoring Episode

Post-production is a nightmare.

Editing is hard, and I really had to put my audio production skills to the test in a real-world scenario. It's also my first time mixing for a podcast, and I quickly realised that the way you would mix a podcast vs a music mix is very different.

In a podcast, emphasis is placed on making sure that it's radio ready, sounds soothing and warm to the ears while maintaining that nice full and rich sound that you'd stereotypically associate with that radio voice. There was also the element of vocal character and creative editing.

That was primarily the creative direction that I was going for, but I soon realised that I was very far from that personal goal of a podcast with a high production value.

There were a couple of things: inconsistencies in recordings, volume balance, a lack of audience retention, boring vocal tones, shaky voice (with my existential fear audible), and tons of other issues to handle on top of it.

I have plenty of learning points from this post-production experience, and I needed to take these stuff into consideration in order to improve production quality of future content.

Bad and boring introduction segment

An example of inconsistencies in recording

Boring VO, not something that has audience retention

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Production] 2. Ukraine Episode

Song Seng Wun

Economist, CIMB Private Banking

My boss managed to get hold of Seng Wun, an economist friend of his who has specific interests in food and international trade.

As a person, Seng Wun has a jovial and bubbly personality, who was also able to provide credible expert opinion which I desperately needed to validate some of my talking points for this episode.

Through the interview, I felt that I was able to put my prior business and international trade background to good use, as well as to maintain a steady conversation on the relevant talking points about supply chain disruptions and important geopolitics as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. By now, I was much more comfortable with interviewing people as part of my jobscope, and it wasn't something that I struggle as much as my past couple of interview experiences on my film scoring episode.

Best part of it was that I got to drink on the job, courtesy of my boss of course!

Food prices increasing due to Russia's invasion and COVID-19

How the Ukraine war affects Malaysia's ban on chicken exports

Ripple-down effect compounded with prior supply chain disruptions

Price of edible cooling oil has doubled

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Production] Space Documentary

Camera, lights, action.

My boss is finally back from his work trip to the US, and he has a film gig that he's been working on to direct a space documentary.

He needed someone to help him with location sound, and my colleague and I helped out. I've never had location sound experience before, and working on-set was a good opportunity to put my technical audio knowledge to actual use, as well as basic principles on lighting and camera directions on set.

Handling location sound was much more challenging than recording in a studio or live stage, as there are many additional factors, such as background noise and staying clear camera frames to be wary of. It's also hard to record audio on-site at an active science facility because even the slightest knock or small chatter could potentially ruin a good take.

Lots to learn, great opportunity.

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Production] 1. Film Scoring Episode

A new experience, with a twist of an existential crisis.

I sat in front of my desk, with my microphone attached to an audio interface. My voice was trembling, I couldn't enunciate my words properly, but I just record, because I needed to get the job done.

That's how I felt that day sitting in front with my DAW opened, with that lengthy process of constant painful re-takes, and listening back to my shaky raw VOs.

Granted yes, that it's my first time, and I'm tackling this with my personal existential crisis attached to it, but I desperately need to find a way to streamline this process in the future for VO recording sessions.

Hopeful, but in pain (for now).

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Pre-Production] 2. Ukraine Episode

Dreadful was how I felt at that event.

For two reasons:

One was because I was looking at numbers, statistics, death tolls, images of damaged buildings which was once home to ordinary civilians just like you and I. It was a painful sight to see.

The other reason was because, I had left the event empty-handed. Empty-handed with no leads, no contacts, no interviews, just nothing. I set out with the primary objective of getting it done, but yet I've failed.

After the event, I took some time to decompress and I did some soul searching on why I've failed, and with time and reflection. I realised that perhaps, just perhaps, besides the openly friendly faces and openly giving spirit of Ukrainians and volunteers at that Red Cross fundraising event, I was approaching it wrong. I'm trying to create a story from a perspective of an outsider. Because, as a matter of fact, I am an outsider to many closely-knitted Ukrainians living here in Singapore.

At this stage, I honestly don't have concrete answers, and I'm not too sure how exactly to proceed with this podcast episode. I am however, in contact with a few of the contacts that Galyna has graciously sent, and I think that would be a better place to follow-up and get willing participants who are comfortable with being interviewed for my story that I'm covering. Fingers crossed.

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paulngxk · 2 years

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[Pre-Production] 2. Ukraine Episode

"Mother of Apostles"

The title of the film, as part of the European Film Festival 2022 in Singapore.

My colleague and I attended the film screening on behalf of my boss as was still overseas for a work trip. It was a good film directed by Zaza Buadze and was first released in December 2020. The context of the film was set back in 2014 when the Ukrainian separatists took control of the Donbas region, and with the mother of a downed pilot in search of her son's unknown whereabouts deep within enemy territory.

Despite being an older film, it was selected amongst many other films in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, with the dominant themes of war and suffering lingering in the backdrop of much of the film.

Attending this film screen allowed me to better understand Ukrainian culture, as well as the current context of war and what it means to innocent civilians and the fellow soldiers fighting in an armed conflict.

I also used the opportunity to try and follow-up and network with fellow Ukrainians who attended the screening. The Ukrainians were mostly friendly, but I was unable to get anyone who was interested to be interviewed at the event. There is another upcoming Ukrainian fundraising event that I've shortlisted to attend, and hopefully, I'll be able to find additional contacts there.

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