“Kaiju Konversations: Mothra” podcast is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
My podcast is called “Kaiju Konversations” a podcast dedicated to talking about the long history and future of giant monster movies. Whether it be original Toho made, the Legendary studio’s adaptation, fanworks, or any other variant of giant monster rampage in movies and other media. Managing to capture the feel of these movies was very tricky. Many of the elements that first came to mind were all likely not creative commons, public domain, or otherwise able to be used in this assignment. But I found myself wanting to stick with the concept so I tried to think of ways around it…
I wound up leaning on the sound of a siren, which is a very common sound in kaiju movies as people are warned to run from the incoming monster. I also added in audio of a news clip from Japan, as a nod to the origin of these sorts of movies as well as to reference the also common motif of some form of news broadcast discussing the attack. Lastly I opted for a techno theme, largely since when I listened to it I could easily see this sort of track appearing in many of the more modern takes on Godzilla.
Audio Credit
- “Monsters” by Psykick under CC 3.0
- “Japanese News.wav” by Dementan under CC 3.0
- “Siren.wav” by Jwade722 under CC0 1.0
Image Credit
- “Godzilla 1984” by Noger Chen under CC 2.0
- Image edited in Krita
Hi Brianna,
I am not in your assigned group feedback this week, but wanted to give you feedback on your podcast because one of my group members did not post and yours looked really interesting. Wow! I used to loved the original Kaiju. Loved the cover art you used. Looks like a cool movie poster.
It was such a good idea how you used the siren sound effect and the Japanese News in the introduction. It made me feel like I was going to get ready to listen to an important announcement or an emergency broadcast. I do not know any Japanese, so I have no idea what the Japanese person was saying, but the way they were speaking made it sound like something serious happened. I can see why you use the techno theme music in the background because I think Kaiju became slowly popular in the 80’s, maybe 90’s. Not too sure. While Techno music started to boom in the 90’s. I guess it is a nice mixture of both time periods to get the tone of what your podcast and what direction it was heading.
What I find most compelling about your podcast is the way you were creative enough with the audio sounds and effects even when there were some limitations with Creative Commons. It must have been tough trying to find the right audio to give the illusion that these were similar sound effects from the real Kaiju movies series. Somehow you made it work nicely and make it believable. This is a good concept to get a good audience to follow, especially any Sci-fi buff and anyone who are interested in Japanese monster culture specifically. I grew up watching the US Godzilla movies, so I believe this would appeal to those who are fans of the Western Godzilla movies too and it gives them an insight of the origins of Godzilla. One idea to maybe enhance the appeal is try to add another sound effect in the beginning, like Kaiju’s roaring or something similar. That might be interesting to hear.
Some suggestions for improvement is maybe turning up the audio just a little bit when the Japanese newsperson was talking. I could not hear it very well. Maybe you were trying to go for the effect of having it playing softly in the background which is a good idea too. Not sure if it was a requirement, but there were no links to the author credits for your audio and image. The links for the actual audio and images and CC worked fine, but no direct links to the authors. Overall, great work. I loved your concept for this assignment. I would love to give your podcast a listen if you continue with Kaiju Konversations for real. Nice use of alliterations.
I love the use of audio of the siren and the sound of japanese talking. Fading into techno music and starting your narration really sets the mood. Your narration was really good and was very clear with inflections. I like where the podcast cut off leaving us in suspense about mothra. I actually haven’t seen any of the Godzilla movies so this seems interesting. I know that you would have an audience with this type of podcast as the godzilla movies always have a fanbase. The layout of the post is good, no awkward urls and the embedded link played well. Your thumbnail was well designed. I like the image that you chose. Like you mentioned I imagine it was very hard to find sounds that weren’t under copyright. Very well done!
Hi Brianna,
This is the very first time I am hearing about Kaiju monsters. In fact, I didn’t realize it was mentioned in the Godzilla movie until I read about it after listening to your podcast. The poster of your podcast is very impressive, it creates an interest to listen to the podcast. However, it did not meet the size requirements of this assignment. It is supposed to be either 500×500 or 800×800. Coming to the podcast I like your selection of audio used in the project. The siren sound and the Japanese news created a mood for a catastrophic situation. The usage of the siren in the background while you were narrating kept the mood up and explains that you have faded in and out of the music. All the links to the audio and image credit work, but looks like you have missed including the links to the authors. Overall a great work, I loved listening to your podcast.
Hi Brianna, I too, am not a member of your group this week but I had to comment on this one since Kaiju and Godzilla movies are my jam. You also ended with my favorite of them all so I had to copy my teammate! I am quite surprised you were able to make the podcast have that classic monster movie vibe. If it was me i’d have likely found random growls. The sirens were a neat touch and honestly bring up the subject in a subtle way since sirens were used in war times to let people know bombs were coming. Godzilla was created to mirror the horrors of war so I found that creative use especially great. The news casting sounds were a great addition and really gave the vibe of a “global news alert”. Overall, this captured the spirit of one of my favorite topics of all time and I just really enjoyed the concept. I would definitely listen to it! If i Had to change or add anything, it would potentially be some kind of sound at the end to give a segway sound into a new part of the actual podcast if it were to ever be created in full.