Radio Drama

Task 1

(P1,M1,D1)

Radio drama 1 –

Foul play (BBC Radio 7)

The pitch of the voice(s) in the drama ranges from a low-medium pitch of the narrators voice, slowly describing the scene and narrative, allowing the listener to take in the information. The voices are not very loud, I think that this means the listener can hear the drama, but it is not too quiet that the information cannot be heard, that said, if the voice was too loud, then any ambience noise used in the drama could not be heard properly. Due to the show being recorded as live, it has a conversational tone, and also changes to and from a slow and suspenseful rhythm; this connotes the drama and suspense in a certain piece of the drama. The cultural codes of a drama relate to the accent of the voices, as well as the dialect, or regional language used, for example; different areas of England use different words or phrases in place of others; as well as slang words. Theses differ from place to place, and therefore they may not be understood in different places. This means that the best way for a radio drama to be universally understood across the country is for the voice to be in standard (or “Queen’s”) English, which, when used, contains no dialect phrases or slang words, in order to make sure that the maximum number of the audience can fully understand the program. The jingle in this radio drama is heard before the voices in the drama, this shows that there is no interruption once the voices in the piece begin to perform. The atmosphere of the drama is suspenseful, due to the “murder mystery” genre of the drama.


Radio drama 2 –

The voice of the radio drama is high pitched and soft, although this person’s voice changes from different characters and a narration voice, as if she was trying to read a story. There is no outside noise in the drama, so the volume of the voice(s) is loud. She also tends to rise and fall in rhythm as the script changes from the conversations of characters, which also contain several accents and dialects within the speech. The drama is recorded as though there is one person reading a story, much like the tone of an audio book. Therefore, the steady pace as well as the several changes in accent for the different characters affects the tone and rhythm of the drama.

Radio drama 3 –

The jingle in this radio drama is the first thing you hear, instead of any voices. There are several characters in the drama, of varying accents and dialects; as opposed to many radio dramas, where the characters seem to be of a similar accent. There are many different conversations going on at the same time, this does not allow for any “space” between voices. I think that this creates a more realistic tone for the drama. Because there are different people from differing regions, there are also several different cultural codes to include in the drama.


Task 2:

(P1,M1,D1)


Task 3:

(P1,M1,D1)

Mind map 1



Mind map 2




Task 4:

(P1,M1,D1)

Radio drama proposal

Radio drama genre:

Horror/Sci-Fi

Radio drama title:

The Scary Door

Length:

3-5 minutes

Used sound effects:

Creaks, Impacts, suspense synths, etc

Music:

Slow, classical, suspenseful

Description:

A twilight zone-esque show, where ridiculous situations happen to people, causing horror and panic; The show will however, have a satirical theme, playing on the fact that the codes of the genre as well as the tone of the content, are exaggerated to the point where the show no longer becomes scary, but dark humour.

Possible ideas for the narrative:

A parody of the “last man on earth”

“Shaun of the Jed”

“FlashSideways”


Proposal 2

Adaption of Goldilocks and the three bears –

Genre:

Thriller/horror

Title:

Bears

Length:

4-6 min

Used sound effects:

Door creaking, banging, suspense sounds.

Music:

Quiet, suspenseful

Description:

A re-imagining of the classic story, where the bears are home invaded in the night and must try to scare the burglars away


Task 5

(P1,M1,D1)

Treatment for "The Scary Door"

The Scary Door is a one off broadcast, with the possibility of becoming a series if it becomes popular enough, the target audience will be teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16-25 of a mixed gender audience. The narrative of the show is based loosely on the classic "The Twilight Zone" television show. The motif of my narrative is to create one or two different short stories per broadcast, I will create a script for one such possible short story. This will be called "Shaun of the Jed" This would interest my target audience because I tihnk that they would understand the references of both shaun of the dead and the x factor. Therefore, parts of the story would also reference this film. However, the plot and the characters will not be the same as in the film.

The characters in the drama follow a revised version of the Propp theory of Hero/Villain/Damsel in distress. Where the main character, "Shaun" is attacked by thousands of "Jeds" in a nationwide pandemic of x factor fandom. to defeat the Jed invasion, Shaun and his best friend Mick must: "Sit in the Winchester with a pint and wait for it all to blow over" because the basic premise of the story is a horror, and that I will write the script as a parody; this drama will be more of a dark comedy, with elements of horror within the story.

Here is a short example of my script:

Opening:

Narrator: Imagine if you will, a world in which nothing is true, and everything is permitted. A universe in which the imagination of students run riot; creating unimaginable horror beyond your wildest expectations.

Welcome to...

The Scary Door

*Music Jingle plays*

Narrator: We enter the Scary Door and find ourselves in a strange world... Where reality television rules over the masses. However, one such phenomenon has gone too far; and the safety of the people has been threatened...

Our only hope is...

Shaun of the Jed.

*Voice fades into ambient noise*

I hope that this would become a series of broadcasts, although I have only planned for it to be a one off broadcast. If oit were to become more than one episode, it would help the storyline ad 3-5 minutes is not long enough to tell the whole story properly.


Treatment for "Bears"

Bears is a serial broadcast based on the classic fairytale: "goldilocks and the three bears" However, the roles have been reversed, and "Goldilocks" (now the Goldi-lock picker) Is now the villain in the story, who is a well known criminal. Therefore, the bears are now both the Heroes and the "Damseles in distress" of the narrative, who fall victim to goldi-lock picker and must get get help or rid of him before it is too late. The first broadcast would introduce the characters and the storyline, as a news broadcast warns of more goldi-lock picker attackes in recent times.

The bears are a typical family, who, despite being bears; can speak english, and are also able to walk, and use technology just like humans. Therefore, they are treat as if they are actually people. As with the old story, there are three bears, a family of two adults and a child. So there is a lot of need for the story to be slightly changed and altered in order to create the nessasary re-imagining of an old tale.

This drama has been created in mind of it involving more than one episode; possibly four to six episodes as a series. So i would want to record several episodes, and edit them together into a series of broadcasts, complete with sound effects and music, into around 6 episodes.

Task 6:

(P1,M1,D1)

Radio drama scrpits

Bears – Episode 1

“Prologue”

Written by Joseph Scaife

Caracters:

Pa (

Ma (

Simon (

News reporter (

Goldi-lock picker (


*A cold night in December, the wind and animals can be heard outside*

*Simon is watching a cartoon, suddenly, a news broadcast appears*

Simon – Ma! Pa! Something’s wrong with the TV!

Pa – What? *From the other room*

Simon – Come quick!

*The parents enter the room, the news reporter begins to speak*


Reporter – Good evening, there has been yet another attack by the goldi-lock picker. This total 10 attacks in the past two weeks, the police are yet to find any leads into the identity of this menace, we advise you to stay in your homes, lock all of your windows and doors, and if you see or hear anything suspicious, please dial 0113-HELP-NOW and a task force will arrive to assist you.

This criminal is extremely dangerous, so please do not hesitate to contact the authorities if you know anything.

*The TV is turned off*

Ma – Pa, go lock all of the doors, Simon, go to bed, it’s far too late for you to be up.

Simon – But I want to know about this goldpicker-locky!!!

Ma – No arguing, off to bed!

*The phone rings, everything falls silent*

*Pa answers the phone*

Pa – Hello?

*silence*

Hello!? Who’s there?!

*A raspy voice breaks the silence*

G-lp – You... You and your family... Are Next!

Pa – Who is this? What do you want???

G-lp – I’m coming bear... I’m coming for you...

*Scared* Pa – N-n-no... I-it can’t be......

*The phone is hung up*

Ma – What is it? Who was on the phone?

Pa – It was him... He... H-he’s coming... He’s c-c-coming for us

Ma – Wha! *gasps frantically* bu – he – we.....

*Ma collapses*

*Pa sits down, and begins to call the police, however he is so frightened, he cannot concentrate properly*

Operator – Hello? Village task force hotline. What is your emergency?

Pa – It’s him, he’s coming, you have to help us!

Operator – Who? Who’s coming?

Pa - The Goldi-lock picker!!! He called us! He’s coming for us! Send help now!

*The phone line is cut dead. The door creaks open*

Pa - *Scared* Hello???.......

*The episode ends*

Task 8: Radio drama

Research techniques

Task 1



Task 2



Task 3

BBC Radio 2 is officially the most popular and listened to radio station in the UK, it was one of only 5 national radio stations in the UK until widespread DAB Digital radio was introduced, the others being BBC radio 1,3,4 and Classic FM
⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_in_the_United_Kingdom
I have found that across all national radio, there are a total of 1,028,764 hours of radio listened to over a quarterly period ending in June 2009. From this is can also find out that the average person listened to 22.2 hours of radio. This applies to all national radio, local and regional radio stats may differ due to reach and popularity.
Galaxy radio FM covers 4 regions in England and 1 in Scotland, with the largest being Galaxy northeast, based in Yorkshire. The other stations include:
⇒ Galaxy Manchester
⇒ Galaxy Birmingham
⇒ Galaxy South Coast
“A Restricted Service Licence is the easy way of realising your dream of having a radio station on air with the minimum formality and cost.
Anyone who has not been previously been prevented from doing so, or does not have a conviction for illegal broadcasting can set up and run a radio station in the UK for a maximum of 28 days++ twice a year, providing there are 4 clear months between successive broadcasts.”
Quote from: http://www.mediauk.com/the_knowledge/i.muk/Running_an_RSL
To hire an RSL and a transmitter and an RDS encoder for one month, it would cost £355 a month courtesy of Radiquip.
http://www.radiquip.co.uk/1_hire_centre/cat_pages/10055.htm
PRS for Music Tariff Information:
Daily Charge = £62.42 (incl. VAT)
This is subject to a 1/3 discount (i.e. £41.61 per day incl. VAT) where the application and payment is made before the broadcast commences.
MCPS Tariff Information:


Total Potential Audience Fees For Up To 28 Days (Incl. Vat)
0 – 100,000 £70.93
100,001 - 500,000 £77.83
500,001 - 1,000,000 £88.65

Table from PRSForMusic: http://www.prsformusic.com/users/broadcastandonline/Radio/STRL/Pages/shorttermrestricted.aspx

Task 4

(P1, M1, D1)

In order to collect information for my research, I will create a questionnaire that I will hand out to around 20 people, spanning all years of my school, collecting the data and displaying the results in the form of a series of graphs and charts.

Example questionnaire:


How long do you listen to the radio in a week?
(0-20 min) (21-40min) (41- 60min) (61min -2hours) (2 hours +)


What is your favourite radio station?


How do you listen to the radio?
(Traditional analogue) (Digital radio) (Digital TV) (Car radio) (Mobile devices) (Internet)

What genre of radio do you listen to most?
(Music) (Talk radio) (News) (Other)

I will use this questionnaire I created and calculate and compare the results using tables and charts.

Speech package production

Identifying opportunities for creating speech based packages for radio

Task 1:

(P1, M1, D1)

Speech packages fall into a range of different genre, these can include:

Consumer

Business

Lifestyle

Sport

News

Audience

Task 2:

(P1, M1, D1)

The 2012 London Olympics – this is a sport topic, the target audience could be anyone, as this is a global event, and everyone in the country would want to know about how the UK is going to handle the Olympics as well as how we might do in the variety of events.

The rise in alcohol prices – I think this is a lifestyle issue, as people who buy alcohol are affected by the rise in prices in that they would have less money after buying alcohol. Possibly lowering the amount of alcohol people buy. This could then improve the health and lifestyle of these people, as they are buying and drinking less alcohol; than before the price rise.

ASDA’s Standing in the league tables of supermarkets - is a business topic, I think this is because if ASDA were higher on the league table, the stock prices would be higher, allowing people to make more money from the company. However, if ASDA were very low on the league table; stock prices would be low and people could lose money.
The differences of council run gyms to national company owned gym chains – I think that this is an audience issue, or possibly a sport or even a Consumer issue. I think this is because of the different people affected by these comparisons, if national chain gyms are proven to be better than council run gyms, then councils could lose money from people who used to use these gyms would leave for the chain gyms, therefore affecting city councils

I think that the affects of the smoking ban on pubs and clubs are both a lifestyle and a business issue; the loss of revenues from smokers at bars and clubs would affect the business future of the bar/club. As well as this; the banning of smoking would improve the general health of the staff at the bar/club, as well as all of the customers. This may improve the business, as more non-smoking consumers would visit the establishment.

A history of the Leeds UTD Football club is a sports genre piece. Fans of Leeds UTD would mostly listen it to because they would be interested to know about the history and future of their favourite football team; people who are not yet fans of Leeds UTD my listen to the package and become fans of the team.

Task 3

(P1, M1, D1)

I have decided that my speech package will be in the genre of sport; this is because I have chosen to create a speech package about the sport Formula 1. The target audience for my speech package will be teenagers between the ages 15-19. This is because I think that creating a package for people of a similar age to myself would be a lot more simple and convenient than creating a package for someone older/younger than me.

Task 4

(P1, M1, D1)

Analysing Radio Drama

The speech package I have chosen to analyse is “F1 – Downshift – Episode 1”

The Voice

In this section of the analysis I will talk about the sound of the voices in the speech package, this includes the pitch, tone, volume, texture and rhythm of the product. The voice in this speech package is a medium pitch, and is loud in volume, but not overpowering in this sense. This means that the voice is perfectly suited to the content of the speech package. The texture of the voice – i.e. the quality of sound (smooth, rough, multi textured or single) is single, as only one person can be heard speaking, as well as this the product sounds smooth, this is because the sound quality is high, and the technology used in the creation of the speech package allows it to be professional and well made.

Technical quality

The technical quality of this speech package depends on the equipment used in the creation of the speech package; this includes all of the microphones and computer equipment used to edit the audio. For example, if a high quality microphone is used to record the speech, but low quality recording software or tape/CD would not allow for the sound to be as clear as it should be. Therefore, all of the technology used in the creation of the speech package needs to be as advanced as possible in order for the result to be good enough for broadcast.

Cultural codes

The cultural codes of a piece refer to the use of language, dialect and accent of the person heard in the package. In this speech package for example, the person in the speech package uses a language register (or the vocabulary) to attract and interest older listeners, as well as knowledgeable fans of formula 1. This is because there is a lot of technical information in this package, which requires some basic information of the sport in order to understand. The dialect of the package is in standard English, a type of the English language designed to be understandable by all, this includes having almost no accent, so that there are no slang words that could be varied by region, therefore affecting listeners ability to follow the information, for example, if I were to create a speech package designed for universal appeal, I could not include any words or phrases that are part of my regional dialect.

Codes of context

The context of a speech package is the measure of the content in relation to the theme, it can also be use to describe the vocal space of the package, this is when people in the same speech packare are not interrupting each other, or talking over a person involved.

Task 6

I need to indentify the interview materials I require to produce my speech package, this includes:

Who will I interview? – People I know who are knowledgeable of F1, so that the content of my speech package will be relevant

Other contributors? - I think some official interview recordings from the FIA will provide interesting and relevant information for my speech package

Vox Pops? –

Where will I record? – I will record my speech package in the school radio studio; this has a lot of equipment that can help me to produce a high quality speech package

Will it be recorded as live? – My speech package will be recorded as live, but there will be pre-recorded interviews that I will find on the Internet, these will be referenced thoroughly to ensure I am not accused of plagiarism

Will there be a telephone interview? – No, I don’t think I can get a telephone interview onto my speech package; this is because the technological and logistical limitations would prevent me from setting this up.
What is usual for the genre I have chosen? – On the genre I have chosen, there is a lot of facts and stats, as most of the information people want to know is the position of a team or driver on a leader board, as well as this, there is a lot of interviews with drivers/teams and officials about the sport

Task 7

Research a variety of radio stations based on their target audience, genre, broadcast range, broadcast type and use of speech packages

Radio aire:

Radio aire is one of the most popular radio stations in the Yorkshire region; it broadcasts in the aire region, hence the name and it is found on the frequency 96.3. The target audience of the radio station is teenagers and young adults between the ages of 16-25; however, many more people listen to this radio station, across a wider range of ages and regions due to the inclusion of internet broadcasting and digital radio. This station does use digital or DAB radio to broadcast, and also broadcasts on the internet, allowing for a lo0t more people to listen to the station. The main genre of music on this radio station is dance and r n b music, as well as pop music. This is because the majority of the target audience enjoys this form of music. Speech packages are used on radio aire mostly as advertisements, but can also be used in pre recorded interviews and special events.

BBC Radio 2:

BBC Radio 2 is the most popular radio station in the United Kingdom. It is listened to by an audience share of 15.9%, measured in September 2009. Because of this massive popularity, it has the widest target audience; spanning teenagers, young adults, as well as adults, totalling an age range of 16-30+. This means that there is a need for a lot of content that will appeal to as many people as possible. This accounts for the small changes of content and genre over the years. There are 3 basic “genre” that apply to BBC Radio 2, these include, Hot AC, Indie and infotainment. The definitions of these can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_AC#Hot_adult_contemporary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infotainment

The most popular show on radio 2, and therefore possibly on UK radio, is Terry Wogan’s Breakfast show, however, as he is leaving radio. A new show must take his place, and try to maintain the immense popularity of his show. As there are no adverts on any of the BBC’s channels or radio stations, speech packages are used in different ways to other stations, for example, interviews and music are played as speech packages, as getting these live would be very difficult to do in a studio.

Task 8
Write a treatment for SP

Programme extract

Genre: Sport – Formula 1
Date recorded:
Duration: approx 5 min

Voices: Me, James Allen, Matthew Popple, Arran Cook
• Volume – Same vol all mics
• Pitch – Medium/ low pitch
• Rhythm – conversational
• Accent – Northern

Actuality/ambience: None (silent)

Music: Jingle (possibly)

Sound FX: audio balance and stingers

Silence: avoided if possible

Notes:
Material needs to be relevant to theme
Cannot be too long.

Due to several logistical problems as of late, I have decided to change the subject of my speech package to the BP oil crisis. I think that this will give me a richer subject matter to discuss.

Task 9: Research

Bp Oil Crisis 2010

View more presentations from Joe Reedman.

Task 10
See – mediashare -> 6th form media -> Y 13 radio -> SP H&S paperwork

Task 11

Script for speech package

Subject: BP oil crisis

Present research in presentation as a short news style sound byte, no longer than 2 min there is no fixed script, only guidelines and subject matter to talk about.

About the oil crisis

} A BP oil well is leaking millions of gallons of crude oil into the gulf of Mexico.

} Both the head of BP and US president Barack Obama are putting measures in place to stop the leak.

} PM David Cameron is meeting with the head of BP to help and prevent further damage to the gulf coast.

Damage to the gulf coast

} The oil is posing a severe risk to four American states in the gulf of Mexico including Mississippi and Louisiana.

} The wildlife of the gulf coast is also at risk. As with other oil spills, birds and fish are at the most risk from damage due to copious amounts of oil in the ecosystem.

What people are doing to help?

} The US government, the British government as well as the company chiefs of BP are working tirelessly to help repair the damage already done to the gulf coast.

} BP has agreed to pay a $20million compensation for the damage caused by the oil spill

Task 12
Produce SP

Task 13
Evaluation of SP

Purpose

The purpose of my speech package was to create an informative short audio clip about either a fictional or realistic subject. My first idea was to create a speech package about the current formula 1 season, with some of my friends who are fans of F1; however, this was to prove impossible due to several logistical errors and time constraints, therefore, I changed my topic to the BP oil spill in the gulf of Mexico, I feel that this was the right decision as I was able to record it quickly and edit it in order to submit it properly

Audience

My speech package was listened to by some other year 13 students who said that my speech package was very informative and allowed them to learn more about the subject, without it becoming overly dull. They said however, that the quick change in topic may have made the speech package confusing to people who were not aware of the change.

Representation issues

As I was the only one involved in the creation of the speech package, I tried to make sure that my ideas were able to show the language and information of the topic effectively, I also used a music bed in order to help my speech package to sound more professional. I think that the music helped as it was relevant to the subject I was talking about, the environment.

Technical issues

There was a problem with the voice recorder I used to create my speech package, the recording did not start at the right time and my voice was cut off halfway through the recording. Therefore I had re-do this a couple of times to get the recording right.

Self-evaluation

While creating the speech package, I was able to get more experience using the voice recorders as well as the microphones as I had not used them all that much in the TV and Film course. I think that I could have put a bit more research into the speech package, and that I should have changed the topic earlier, as it would have allowed me to gather more information.