For the past 2 challenges, I have created an intro for Ed Dale’s Thirty Day Challenge podcasts.
This year I thought we should do it differently to give you the chance to see your creative ideas turned into reality (and save my poor little brain from trying to come up with something different
).
This year we are opening it up as a competition and want you guys to come up with your most creative scripts for this year’s 30DC podcast introduction.
If you want to take part in the challenge (within a challenge), then all you need to do is get your ideas down on paper. The best concept will be turned into an audio ‘masterpiece’ and will have the honour of being heard by Thirty Day Challengers throughout the world on this year’s podcasts (and, of course, I’ll make sure you get a copy).
In order to help you experience the reality of creating online audio, there will have to be some restrictions. I would love you to be able to use any music, any voiceover and any creative concept you would like, but this is not going to be possible due to costs and copyright laws.
So, this is the framework you need to work within:
- Script should be between 30 and 90 seconds to record – any longer and it gets a bit tedious
- You can use either a male or female voiceover or both but you are restricted to Jon Iles and/or Sally Williams (Male voice over artist talent - Jon Iles and Female Corporate and Commercial Voice Talent Sally Williams). This is simply because I work with them and know they will be happy to participate in the project. Jon is able to do some character voices as well as a fantastic deep movie trailer voice. If you don’t know whether something is possible with those voiceovers, include it anyway and I’ll adapt if necessary.
- You cannot specify a particular music track as this is likely to cost a fortune in royalties, but you can say that music should be in the style of, for example, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Titanic... Or, you can simply specify that you would like it to have romantic music or sci-fi music. You can have more than one piece of music on the podcast but my advice is not to swamp it with too many things going on at once.
- You can use sound effects (but please don’t make them too tricky to find or create – the sound of a specific Ferrari engine while travelling at 100 mph may be beyond my reach
)
- You can’t completely rip-off someone else’s work. For example, much as Ed would like a Kung-Fu Panda theme this year, it will probably breach copyright and have Dreamworks suing our a*ses quicker than you can say “Prepare for Awesomeness”
So, solely using dialogue from a particular film or tv show is a no-no (incorporating a quote or 2 will probably be fine).
Once you have your idea, please write it down in a script. Start with a brief paragraph explaining your overall concept, and then write your script, making it clear what is to be said by the voiceover, where the music comes in and where any sound effects are required.
You have 10 days to get your entry in (I’ll stop taking entries at midnight on Saturday 12th July), which should allow time to choose a winner and create the intro in time for the main challenge. And if I really get my stuff together I will film some of the creation process too so you can see what’s involved (although I may need to get myself a better video camera - eh, Ed?
).
Paste your script into an email and send it to
lisa.hartwell@gmail.com. Include your real name, your forum name and a contact email address.
I think that’s everything but feel free to ask questions here if you have any queries.
If this is your first year of the challenge and think I am speaking another language when I mention podcast intros, then take a listen to the previous intros over on my blog:
Thirty Day Challenge Podcast Intro Competition | audible marketing
I’m looking forward to your ideas.
Lisa
P.S. Just noticed this is my 500th post - what a cool one to have!