Unit 42 lo1

Word, voices
The most important thing about words in a radio drama, they tell
everyone about what is happening it explains the dialog in the drama.
As you do not have the power of vision you have to describe your
surrounding exactly how you want them to be a good way to do it is to
use things like metaphors to keep the audience interested and to relate
the surrounding to thing they already know. The good thing about this
is that you dont have to find a location which wont always be exactly
like you had planned you can make it up so it is perfect.
Here is a example of a very descriptive radio drama .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuPO2Kvqlms
00:00 to 1:00

Speech
When making a radio drama you have to be carful with casting, you
have to make sure your characters dont sound to similar as you
dont want to confuse your audience by them not knowing who is
talking. A good way round this is to use accents this makes it clear
of who is talking. A accent can tell the audience more about the
characters back story, like where they are from or what there
upbringing was like?
Like here we have a American speaking to a British man
7 30 8 00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH3mp33soYw

Music

In radio dramas music can create an atmosphere as everyone knows what music
fits with what genre it is built in to our minds what conventions fit with what
music. When you add music to a story it helps the audience capture how the
main characters are feeling, this is not just a radio technique they use it
everywhere; adverts, TV programs and films yet we need to hear it more in
radio as they do not have the visual advantage that TV has.
This very popular TV advert from Barkley's of a man who has his own
rollercoaster through a city and he is very happy throughout the advert and
that is shown also by the music.

22 35 - 23 30
This scene a woman receiving some bad news and they add some dramatic
classical music to show that woman is sad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWD800m7jmk

Sounds
Sound effects or aural signposting in radio dramas
are key to tell the audience where they are in the
world, in a film if someone was in a train station
we would see them in a set of a typical train
station as seen on the right. But in radio you would
have to hear the sounds of a train station. But a
radio drama has to create the scene with sound
effects, this radio drama called the ghost train
uses a lot of typical conventions of a train station
to show where they are, they use simple noises
like the occasional steam horn, and the very
stereotypical station hand shouting all aboard.
The station hand also mentions the word train a lot
to remind the audience where they are. https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=65j06uOltmQ

Silence and fades

A silence in a radio drama can mean lots of things and can make or
brake a scene, for example if someone has just received bad
news they would leave a gap to express how shocked or sad they
are. In a film they would have the characters facial expresion but
in radio you dont have that. Another way in which silence can be
used in radio is to signify that a scene has ended and that a new
one has begun, Radio also uses fades to show the audience this
just like in a movie when the screen would fade they just use
sound. This clip of the goast train shows this perfectly.
1:15:15

1:15:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65j06uOltmQ

Ambience
All of the above slides add to the ambience of the drama, consistent
ambience sets the tone of the drama music can make a drama
either an action, rom com or horror. Consistent sound effects can
also create good ambience like crashing waves for a whole scene
both tells the audience they are on a beech but it also makes for
a relaxed environment.
Like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zQqikEEcLs

Cliff hanger
Like the well known scene from the Italian job when that
get away Scott free from the big robbery then slide out
their getaway bus so its tinkering on the edge of a cliff
and the main character Charlie Crocker says hang on a
second lads I've god a great idea. I found a cliff hanger
ending in a radio was from the drama an inspector calls
it can do one of two things it can either leave the
audience to add their own ending and this make them
feel more involved, either that or producers think that
they can get another episodes out of it so leave with the
audience coming back for more.
1:20:00 till end
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWD800m7jmk

Flashback
Flashbacks or non linear storylines are very effective to
keep the audience interested, for example if the film
did not make any sense and then they showed a
flashback that revealed the answers the audience
needed to understand the plot this makes the go
ooohhh and they are interested again, it might even
make them feel clever as it feels like they have worked
it out. It has the same uses in radio that it would in TV
or film however it would be a lot harder due to the lack
of visuals they would either have to have two people
there talking to each other and if there was just one
then there would have to be a narrator.

characterisation
Makes the audience feel closer the characters in the plot when their back story
is explained and we learn who they are, in my opinion this only really works
when you have a narrator to explain the characters backdrop, otherwise I have
found that it seems a bit forced people trying to get their background story told
just by slipping it in to conversation. But you can tell a lot about a character by
adding in some trades like if there job was a mechanic or it was just a hobbies
you could place him in a workshop working on something in a scene this is a
settle way of getting across what they are like without being to blunt
In this example we no within the very first bit of dialog that the ladies mother
is quite old and forgetful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doTcOzH9qcc
1:30 -2:00

chronological development
Chronological development is the order in
which the radio drama is set so weather it
follows a strait forward pattern or weather it
jumps in to different time frames forward
and backward, e.g. flashbacks.

Narration
Narration is a much much easier way of putting across a radio
drama as he can explain exactly what is going all the time just like a
film when you can see the pictures a narrator can say what is going
on all the time with words and paint a picture of what is happening
without having to always have more people to talk to for dialogs
sake.
Here the narrator says who is going to be and the jist of what is
happening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sHzKF9zmjM
1:44:22-1:44:38

Direct Speech
Direct speech is as simple as it sounds, it is
when information is put across trough
speech. So if one man was talking to another
about the plan then the audience knows is
going on.
This is used in all radio dramas as there is no
other way of getting the information across.

Tittles credits
Obviously tittles and credits are read aloud as we can not see them,
somebody either an actor, narrator or even just a crew member
will introduce the show, saying what it is who made it and they
may give a brief setting as well.
Like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWD800m7jmk
At the end the state what each person did full names
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWD800m7jmk
1:26:00 end

Target audience
When making any form of entertainment you
must make sure that you production is
targeting someone weather is a group of
people who are interested in a certain things
or is it an age thing. The majority of radio
dramas I have heard are aimed at older
people this may be because younger people
dont listen to much radio.

Dramatic reconstruction
This is used a lot in radio drama people might take an exiting book
or tv series and adapt it for radio, this means they would have to
change some of the dialog so it works, or have a narrator read it
out and people would act out certain bits.
You hear all the time when they strait it they will say this play has
been dramatised for radio by ..or something like that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rqu3o3SRB8
1:25:45 1:25:50

Drama styles
There are many styles of drama that you can use for example traditional
dramas, these are what we are used to hearing usually be a narrator and a
wide verity of characters with a straight forward plot of something going
wrong and the characters getting to the bottom of it. But there are different
ways to go about delivering a traditional drama, like a kitchen sink which is
meant to be based around regular home life also you can use a soap which
is like a kitchen sink but takes part in a whole area rather then one home,
soaps usually have more danger elements.
The archers is a good example of a traditional radio drama
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqFrgcIuR1k
A very different way to approach a drama is to make it post modern this
means that the story line is often very scattered and raises more questions
then it does answer, and leaves the audience to answer them for them self's.

Creation of mood and location

To create a mood or to make a location in a radio
drama you have to rely on sound, this is good
because you can make anywhere in the world you
want just by sound whereas in a film you would have
to either go there or create a realistic version which
can be expensive and ineffective. For example you
could use the sound of birds chirping, wind blowing
and tractor noises for the country side, or police
sirens and car horns for a city. The city noises make
you feel stressed and the country noises are relaxing.

Duration
Depending what your audience is will
change how long your radio drama
should be, if its for younger people who
have a lower attention span it should be
shorter. Also if your targeting people in
the car then it should not be that long as
you dont know how long their journey is.
Here is an example of a 8hr radio show
this would be aimed at older people who
have more time on their hands.
http://
www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts
-30228501

Narrative structure
A narrative or a story can go one of two ways there is a
linier narrative which is more conventional and follows a
strait path with a beginning a middle and an end, in the
beginning it introduces the characters in the exposition,
then there is the conflict where something goes wrong
and the denouement or the resolution is where the
conflict is solved. whereas a non linier story goes in a
jumble of directions often using flash backs or other
techniques, but it will have most of the same ideas
about a conflict and a resolution but it will go in a
different order.

Development of plot
A plot develops depending what linear structure
they have (see previous slide). Usually the plot
will go in a simple direction as it will introduce
the characters then something will happen and
the characters will have to deal with that issue.