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Post by James on Apr 24, 2014 20:08:45 GMT -5
Right, before we can start splitting this subforum into lots of different threads: storyline, segments, auditions, sound effects, so on. We still need to do a little more brainstorming. Then we can really get cracking.
I'll post the important bits of what we have so far.
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Post by James on Apr 24, 2014 20:09:00 GMT -5
Initial Idea
The podcast being: a broadcast on the first generation ship.
It's already been a few hundred or a thousand years since it left Earth. Which means that knowledge of human history is already breaking down a bit as the problems with the generation ship disrupt society. So we could have segments about perserving human culture where "experts" would explain parts of culture in a realistic but wildly inaccurate way: Tolkien as real history, the religious wars between the Cult of Edward and the Cult of Jacob, classical music as the byproduct of film soundtracks and what film they accompanied, and so on. We could also make our own history up of the early years on the ship.
We could also have little fun side-bits to give the podcast a flavour. I imagine that essentially there is a single broadcaster that broadcasts 24 hours a day. Our show is during a quiet hour and has a little brother complex because not many people listens to us, so we insult other radio segments. We broadcast during the night. Since strictly speaking, there is no night (in a spaceship), we broadcast during "mandated sleep time" so we're constantly reminding people "if you're not awake for a ship-approved purpose, go to sleep now."
And then there's the possibility of long-running storylines that would form the narrative of the podcast itself:
- The ship is actually an AI. People have kind of forgotten that during the years. People are either ignorant or have turned this AI into a god.
- A mutiny occurs. We have a war report as sections of the ship passes between the different factions' hands.
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Post by James on Apr 24, 2014 20:10:56 GMT -5
How It Might WorkBasically, the way I see it is we would need three types of people (although there can obviously be overlap with people taking on multiple roles): - Writers - Actors - Producers (for polishing up the finished product and making sure that the whole project is running smoothly). It would also give the forum as a whole the chance to participate in a "writer's room" which is something we haven't really done before. If we break each episode down into mini-segments then potentially that makes the work a lot manageable. For the actors, we probably wouldn't need that many. Indeed, if we wanted to, we could probably run a pilot with only two or three (a host, an expert, a reporter/listener/something else). We could probably have a little fun and have auditions and see who we think have the best voice and acting chops for the roles. For the producers, I'd think we would need a few so that if AWR-indifferent catches on, there could be at least one to still drive the project on. Basically, I'd reckon we need: - a Story Producer for making sure the narrative is working and isn't going to drift aimlessly, - a Tech Producer for putting the show together, maybe adding some sounds and music and so on, - and a Director/Producer to make sure the recordings are working, the script is there and so on. But we can simplify it or complicate it as the need arises. Basically, what I would say is this: Unsurprisingly, I really love the idea. I reckon we could make it work. But let's not sweat it and if we want to go ahead, concentrate on a "Pilot" and see if it works before we get ourselves in a knot. Making Sure We Don't Give UpTaed: listen to Night Vale. Go do it right now. You'll be glad and, frankly, it's killer inspiration for this. James: Again, I can't stress enough how fucking cool of an idea this is. I think the single biggest risk is running out of steam because we don't know what direction to work in. Organizing a cohesive structure to work from ASAP is the best thing we can do. Once we have something set up where the creative side can easily flourish, we're gold. I don't see us writing a podcast and not actually producing it. But getting it written is going to require a well-organized subforum with threads for segment brainstorming or else we're just going to be fumbling over ideas and never getting them solidified. To me it makes the most sense to start that process by establishing the "vibe". We have to know what kind of segments we want, what kind of thing we're going for, a basic understanding of what the ship's like, what its AI is like, etc. Definitely can evolve over time -- we find out new things about Night Vale constantly -- but the flavor and feel of the place has been consistent. They've been using the same tropes since the start -- we need to know our tropes. tl;dr 1. Brainstorm fundamental style 2. Organize a subforum that makes working on this easy 3. Worry about actually producing the podcast later
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Post by James on Apr 24, 2014 20:14:09 GMT -5
Morning RadioWhat if, rather than an informative "educational" vibe, you do more of a Morning/Late Night Radio show. Have it discuss the local news on board, talk about things like the lunch menu and that little "incident" last week. Talk about the morning commute. Maybe bring on various staff/crew members for interviews; that sort of thing. More like a morning talk show with stupid sound effects and such. I'm thinking sort of a "Morning Annoucments" at school meets Howard Stern... On a space ship. I like this. I just also really like the idea of messing up the truth of certain cultural things which have been really lost in time. But you could still have that as a small segment while having the Morning/Late Night Radio Show style that's Zovo's talking about. Also, real Morning Radio has that general, not quite serious vibe for your commute. They often tell you of some horrible thing abroad in a news bulletin and then either ignore it or then treat the news as not that serious. I think that would be a nice feel for the show. People are stuck in a confined, floating spaceship with no sense of arrival. They need to know what's going wrong on their home, but they don't want to dwell on it. It's too early. Save the pessimistic dwelling of whether we make it to the promise land for the evening. Of course, this is a ship in space, right? So there isn't really a "morning" outside of when they turn the lights on and off. I like to think we could have a lot of fun with a plotline where the electrical system is going through maintenance and the morning show is done entirely in the dark. Or perhaps the ship feels some bizarre need to keep to daylight savings time despite there being no sun. ...yeah, this can be fun. See I really like the idea that it's a show people -are- listening to. Opens up options for guests, call ins, etc. for some reason the idea that this show is the first thing people hear in the morning is really appealing to me.
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Post by James on Apr 24, 2014 20:19:56 GMT -5
So basically, the idea has morphed into:
A Morning Radio Show on a generation ship. It's what played when everyone is going to their menial jobs (h/t Taed). Being a morning show, it will be a bit light-hearted, but still driving a narrative of the generation ship's stories (The AI, a mutiny, alien life, so on). It will also have playful bits (shout-outs, call-ins, advertisements).
I think before we start looking at getting a script going we need to:
- Have a little bit of a background for the ship - but don't get too bogged down in it.
- The position of the AI.
- A bit about the society onboard.
- The make-up of the radio show itself.
- Probably other things...
Alright. I'm going out for a little bit.
Hopefully, there might be a bit of discussion when I come back.
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Post by ASGetty ((Zovo)) on Apr 24, 2014 20:33:30 GMT -5
Ship background... I got nothing.
I'd say that after a few generations of taking care of the humans aboard, the AI would become a sort of task master. Or maybe, shepherd is a better word. Seeing the people as a sort of cattle that it's charged with taking care of. It doesn't interact directly any more than a farm does with his lifestock; providing them with food, water, sanitation, etc.
Similarly, the people's lives are very invested in menial tasks which are largely inessential but the AI has exagerated the importance of in order to provide them with a sense of accomplishment and just to keep them from getting bored. The people don't so much deify the AI, but they do respect and revere it even though they don't actually interact with it. They're attitude toward their ship and it's AI are similar to a hippy/environmentalists attitude toward earth. Very naturalistic, "We have to do whatever is necessary for the survival of our ship" sort of attitude. Dunno if I'm expressing that correctly. They see the AI as more of a spiritual force which provides for them as long as they respect it than they do recognize it as a computer program.
Edit: Maybe they've even named the AI. No longer Artificial inelligence... now just the Great Artie.
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Post by Matteo ((Taed)) on Apr 24, 2014 20:39:48 GMT -5
Yeah, I think it's important that, in as much as the Ship has been deified, it's a very humdrum deification. People shouldn't go to the church of Ship or anything like that. They just sort of vaguely know that Ship is there looking after them, but it doesn't talk to them much (ever?) anymore, and they don't worry about it either. People might casually say "thank Ship" instead of "thank God" in conversation, but that's about as far as any worship goes.
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Post by Matteo ((Taed)) on Apr 24, 2014 20:44:44 GMT -5
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Post by ASGetty ((Zovo)) on Apr 24, 2014 20:54:27 GMT -5
How about a combination? Various microcosms contained inside an enormous ocean liner type ship. Or maybe a "train" with several environments chained together? |
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Post by Injin on Apr 24, 2014 21:47:39 GMT -5
To be honest, I might be one of the few here (I actually doubt this) with acting experience. I'd love to help out with this any way I could, and since I'm neither all that good at the technical aspects of this, nor the writing aspect in comparison to ya'll, I'd be more than happy to help out acting-wise.
Also, I like the idea of an intergalactic ocean-liner styled ship with the captain being an AI. Cap'n K.R.U.N.C.H. they should be called. I also speculate that different "levels" of the liner are organized into differing societal strata, with one level being focused on science, another on maintaining the ship, and etc.
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Post by James on Apr 24, 2014 23:33:47 GMT -5
How about a combination? Various microcosms contained inside an enormous ocean liner type ship. Or maybe a "train" with several environments chained together? I really like that idea of a combination. A massive ocean liner ship with huge compartments that are their own microcosms. I think that's the best mix for us to go with. And I think the AI/Mother Earth type symbolism is probably a nice fit. For a little bit of background, I had a nice idea for why they left Earth. Mitchell & Webb always had "The Event" for their end of the world quiz show. I thought a nice idea would be that Earth was lost in "The Event." Originally, that was due to a sort of hybrid fear and respect of the terrible thing that occurred. People didn't talk about it directly so it became The Event. But now, people don't even remember what The Event actually was. All they know was that they left because of The Event. |
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Post by Kaez on Apr 25, 2014 11:04:18 GMT -5
How about a combination? Various microcosms contained inside an enormous ocean liner type ship. Or maybe a "train" with several environments chained together? I really like that idea of a combination. A massive ocean liner ship with huge compartments that are their own microcosms. I think that's the best mix for us to go with. And I think the AI/Mother Earth type symbolism is probably a nice fit. For a little bit of background, I had a nice idea for why they left Earth. Mitchell & Webb always had "The Event" for their end of the world quiz show. I thought a nice idea would be that Earth was lost in "The Event." Originally, that was due to a sort of hybrid fear and respect of the terrible thing that occurred. People didn't talk about it directly so it became The Event. But now, people don't even remember what The Event actually was. All they know was that they left because of The Event. I don't think the ship has to have a really, uh, "definite" shape/design. We can reference a part that's sort of an open-air cylinder and we can reference parts that seem exactly like a cruise ship and that can play to our comedic advantage. It allows us variety and cliques and I think that works to our advantage. The hippies in the earthen section will have this ironic sense of their habitat being "natural". 100% organic 'reclaimed' waterfalls. The folks in the highest deck of the cruise-ship section would be boderline-celebrities. Maybe have a fashion-spotlight section where everyone's always trying to mime the styles of the Level-9ers. |
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Post by J.O.N ((Dragonwing)) on Apr 25, 2014 11:14:11 GMT -5
I really like that idea of a combination. A massive ocean liner ship with huge compartments that are their own microcosms. I think that's the best mix for us to go with. And I think the AI/Mother Earth type symbolism is probably a nice fit. For a little bit of background, I had a nice idea for why they left Earth. Mitchell & Webb always had "The Event" for their end of the world quiz show. I thought a nice idea would be that Earth was lost in "The Event." Originally, that was due to a sort of hybrid fear and respect of the terrible thing that occurred. People didn't talk about it directly so it became The Event. But now, people don't even remember what The Event actually was. All they know was that they left because of The Event. I don't think the ship has to have a really, uh, "definite" shape/design. We can reference a part that's sort of an open-air cylinder and we can reference parts that seem exactly like a cruise ship and that can play to our comedic advantage. It allows us variety and cliques and I think that works to our advantage. The hippies in the earthen section will have this ironic sense of their habitat being "natural". 100% organic 'reclaimed' waterfalls. The folks in the highest deck of the cruise-ship section would be boderline-celebrities. Maybe have a fashion-spotlight section where everyone's always trying to mime the styles of the Level-9ers. This, being vague about the ship would keep it interesting. Though we should keep a record of stuff we list so we don't get continuity errors. I also feel we should have two presenters, be able to have riff off each other and they can be it so they hardly agree with other over something. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2014 12:37:06 GMT -5
because not many people listens to us  |
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Post by James on Apr 25, 2014 16:47:41 GMT -5
I also feel we should have two presenters, be able to have riff off each other and they can be it so they hardly agree with other over something. Two bickering presenters is kind of cliched, though. Also, it might be making a rod for our own back. I imagine it's easier to produce a podcast with one host and guests, than with two hosts. Just because they're both going to have to be own at the exact same time, whereas with one host, we can record in segments. |
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