Producing Media Texts: Recording, Ethical Editing, Rights, Testing and Revising

Remember from Grade 10

In Grade 10 you followed a production cycle (pre-production, production, post-production, test, revise, publish) and produced responsibly: copyright and Creative Commons, permission and privacy, accessibility (captions, alt text) and accuracy.

Grade 11 asks you to produce media texts, including increasingly complex texts, for a variety of purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions and techniques. This lesson takes the rink documentary from plan to published episode, with the skills that make a complex production work.

Hook: the interview that couldn't be used

Sam records a wonderful interview with Ruth at the rink. She tells a story about the night the boards blew down in a storm. Back home, Sam listens and hears... wind. A roar over every word. And when Ruth laughs, the sound cracks and buzzes.

The story was perfect. The recording wasn't. Production is where good plans meet real problems.

Recording well (audio)

• Choose the room: soft surfaces (couches, curtains, carpets, a closet of coats) absorb echo. Avoid kitchens and bathrooms with hard surfaces. Turn off fridges and fans if you can.
• Mic distance: keep the microphone (or phone) close and steady, about a hand's width from the speaker's mouth, slightly to the side to reduce popping sounds.
• Wind: record interviews indoors; record outdoor sounds separately. A foam cover helps outdoors.
• Levels: do a test. Keep the loudest moments well below the maximum so they don't clip.
• Room tone: record 20 to 30 seconds of silence in each location for smoothing edits.
• Interview technique: ask open questions, then wait: silence often brings the best answer. Don't talk over the speaker ("mm-hmm" ruins clips; nod instead). Ask them to describe what they saw, heard and felt.

Editing ethically

1. Log your recordings: time stamps of strong moments.
2. Rough cut: put the best clips in segment order; aim long.
3. Fine cut: trim, tighten, add narration, natural sound and music; fill gaps with room tone.
4. Mix: balance levels so voices are clear; lower music under speech.

Ethics rules for editing real people: you may remove ums and repetitions, but never splice words to change meaning, reorder answers so they respond to a different question, or present a reenactment as real. If you cut someone's answer heavily, make sure the meaning stays true to what they said.

Rights, consent and privacy

• Consent: get written consent from interviewees, explaining where the piece will be published. For anyone under 18, also get a parent's or guardian's consent.
• Privacy: don't include home addresses, school schedules or other personal details.
• Copyright: Canada's Copyright Act includes fair dealing, which allows limited use of copyrighted material for purposes such as research, private study, education, parody, satire, criticism, review and news reporting, if the use is fair. Fair dealing is judged case by case, so for anything you publish, the safest choices are your own recordings, music you have permission to use, or works under a Creative Commons licence whose conditions you follow.
• Accessibility: publish a transcript for audio, captions for video, and alt text for images. In Ontario, the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005) sets accessibility standards for many organizations; building accessibility into your own work is good practice.

Test, revise, publish

Test with three to five people from your target audience. Give no explanations first. Ask them to note the time whenever they get confused or lose interest. Then ask: What was it about? What will you do now? What would you cut?

Revise based on patterns, not single opinions. If three of five listeners get lost at the same moment, that moment needs work.

Publish with a clear title, a description with the call to action, credits and licences, a transcript, and (with a grown-up's approval) on a platform that suits your audience.