CCR Production

CCR 1

    Despite the CCR preparation and production phases being the most stressful parts of this project, they have also been the most fun. The idea for my first CCR popped into my mind as soon as we learned about the CCR's requirements. I knew I wanted to do a comedy podcast that would separate itself from other serious and audio-only podcasts. The visual aspect allowed us to incorporate bits (like beating up Guy the Audio Guy and the tattoos) that would not have worked in the traditional audio podcast format, which makes the podcast much more enjoyable to watch.

    But let's focus on the actual production. We decided to kick off filming fairly early in the morning, around 8:30 am. This gave us ample wiggle room to film without the lighting changing too much as we were filming outdoors. I recruited the help of my project partner, Ryan, to play himself as the podcast co-host, and one of my best friends (also an AICE Media Studies AS student), Max, to play Guy the Audio Guy.

    The set design was pretty easy. The setup was in my backyard patio, and what you see on screen is fairly close to how it looks normally. All we had to do to get the look seen in the podcast was move a couple plants in frame and move a table to make space for the tripod.

    The tattoo bit, which ended up becoming the main setup for the CCR questions that were answered, actually came to me the night before filming. To create the tattoos, we just used a Sharpie marker to write on our skin. Yeah, I know, not safe at all. Whatever. I was fine with it and Ryan also consented; no harm was done.

    As for the sections where I answered the CCR questions, my responses were half-scripted. In my post discussing the first and second CCR questions, you will see many of the points I touched on in the podcast. Remembering these points and my explanations, I crafted an outline to follow while answering on the podcast, as I wanted to avoid the podcast feeling overly scripted and artificial.

    The microphone setup was quite simple. My partner and I both had the same microphones (Shure SM57), so we just hooked them up to my computer via an audio interface and some XLR cables and recorded our voices using multi-track recording in GarageBand.

    Midway through recording, Ryan had to get his braces adjusted, so Max and I dropped him off to the dentist, feasted and Waffle House, picked Ryan back up, and returned to finish filming. Overall, the production process was fun and went relatively smoothly. I attribute this to both having everything planned out and ready, but also our ability to improvise and create a coherent piece of media.

CCR 2

    Whereas the overall idea for the first CCR was thought out for a good while, the idea for the second CCR video came to me the day before filming. The issue stemmed from our original idea requiring the actor of the mom in They Lay in a Pool of Blood That Is Not Their Own! to act in our CCR, which was not possible at the time of film. So, I had the wonderful idea to have the second CCR be a trashy rap battle in which the rappers' bars answered the CCR questions. Despite being quite last minute, I was able to write the script for both rappers' verses in one day. It took quite a lot of work and thinking, but I pulled through. I even wrote a bit of it during a concert.

    The actual filming process the next day was flawless. Filming ended up only taking around an hour, and most of that hour was coming up with a funny intro that would provide context for the purpose of the rap battle. I got my friend Luis, who played the dad in the film, to play his character once more for the rap battle. I also got Max to help once more, playing the referee of the rap battle. Last, I got help from my younger brother, Evan, to be the camera operator.

    The filming was fairly low-tech, all things considered, as we wanted to go for the handheld, unprofessional look seen in all trashy rap battles. It should be noted that the lyrics were too much to remember for a one-take verse, so we just read from our phones. While we could have approached this another way, this further contributed to that unprofessional feel we were intentionally aiming for.

    Here is one of my favorite trashy rap battles, featuring the MC Serenade. This video is a major inside joke between Max and I and is one of the biggest inspirations for this CCR.

    After filming, Luis, my brother, and I went to eat at Chipotle.

"Life is good." - Jd