Lets get it started: TAKE 1!

At our first meeting we reviewed our mind maps and decided that we would like to base our radio drama on a horror. We decided on this because of the previous radio dramas we had studies as a group which we found to be more engaging and realistic as it triggered our imagination into action.

But after listing all the possibilities of plots and story lines we found it too easy and decided an intelligent group of girls like ourselves can storm up something much more creative and relevant to this day and age.

We thought it would be easier to firstly decide on a target audience and from there list what genres would work. Our radio drama is to be aimed at young people- teenagers to mid 20's. We now know that the drama must be new, fun and exciting as well as relevant to today's society. We live in a modern age where radio isn't the only means of entertainment therefore whatever storyline we decide on has to be extremely interesting, empathetic as well as unique and most importantly realistic to our target audience.

As females we believe it would be easier to create a storyline we can relate to so we aimed our radio drama at females which is a god change as radio drama's we have studied previous to this have all been male orientated a good example of this is War of the worlds and the hitch hikers guide to Galaxy.

After a lot of discussion we came up with a story line based around a fashion show and two rival women fighting for success in the fashion industry. This represents females as successful business minded individuals instead of naive and needy.

[SCAN MIND MAP OF STORYLINE]

Mind Map: Which Genre?

Before deciding what to base the radio drama on, we had to explore the different genres we were all comfortable to see what ideas could be generated for each one. We looked at horror, sci-Fi, comedy and romance, looking at the stereotypical sound effects, characters and settings. We then discussed what plots could work.

[SCAN MINDMAP OF GENRE]

Codes & Conventions

Cultural Codes:

• Dialect- The words that you use and the way you say it. (helps you judge what type of person the character is) eg. formal/informal.
• Accent- The way you say things
• Language Register- Choices made in different situations in speech (eg. interview & pub/ on phone & not)

Symbolic Codes:

• Texture- Volume, pitch and rhythm and the way they all combined in someones voice.
• Volume-  How loud someone speaks. eg. Chris Moyles (connotes confidence)
• Pitch- High/low
• Rhythm- Slow/fast (slow romantic/sad) (action/adventure/stressed/excited.) Can be used to show emotion or to amplify a scene.

Technical Codes:

• Sound effects- to add genre or mood
• Music- fast/slow shows genre of drama
• Silence- suspense/realism/awkward moment- mood of scene

The Archers

• Longest runninga radio soap in the world
• Since BBC 1951 Janurary 1st and is still running tody
• Monday to Sunday except Saturdays
• Massive Cast
• INitially created so that government can educate farmers about agriculture technology
• They even have their own map of their fictional village which is supposingly next to Birmingham.

• 2001- 13 1/2000 episodes
• Still run on special ocassions for example the begining of ITV which was a big ate for BBC. Another example is the general elections on the 11th May, this goes to show The Archers cannot be moved for anything or anyone.

Storylines

• Gay marriage- Sexuality
• Numerous Adultery- Family affairs
• Heroin addicts- Drugs
• Pregnancy(sperm donors)- New Technology
• Killed by a tractor- Death
• Gambling addictions- Life issues
• Ghosts- Hauntings
• Cancer- Common illnesses
• Abortion- Morality

Twilight Zone

The Thirty Fathom Grave 1963-Haunting

• 1950-60
• Supernatual, Sci Fi,Fantasy
• popular and successful
• Hollywood stars in episodes

Comparison between TV series and Radio drama codes and conventions

1. CC

• Dialect, language remains formal as TV series

1. SC

• Voices generally louder & clearer
• Captains voice is deper and puts emphasis on his role of authority
• Deep dense texture and volume.

1. TC

• Louder sound effects
• Faster Pace could be due the fact there is no visual aspect of drama and to stop listeners loosing interest.
• Less silence to keep tempo of drama, keeping it exciting
• Sound effect: heavy breathing

Personally i enjoyed this drama more than others I have previously studied. This radiodrama interests me because it is exciting and triggers my imagination into action. i prefer the radio drama to the series which s suprising because people generally watch TV instead of listening to the radio and will therefore have more interest in it, but since i started to analyse various radio drmas i have leart to apprecate the art in it.

Overview Of Radio Dramas

1920-1930

• War of the Worlds 1938
• UK BBC- only broadcaster
• UK BBC- 54 radio dramas a year; 1 a week
• Variety

1940

• WAR: people didn't get out much
• Radio was the number 1 source of entertainment and information
• became popular

1950

• Radio Programmes- Curtain up
• Light programme
• 7 1/2  million audience
• BBC radio 2

• Sturday night theatre- Home service
• 63 3/4 million listeners (same as x factor&strictly come dancing)

1950-60

• Sci Fi became popular and brought in a new audience
• Journey into space (Charles Chilton)
• Moon missions

1980

• Radio drama broadcast stereo
• The Galaxy

TODAY

• We have a wide spread
• BBC radio 4 and others
• Not as popular as before
• Varied format- Every genre

Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy

Plot:
Arthur Dent middle class man is about to get his house knocked down but a friend, Ford Prefect reassures him, that it doesn't matter because the world's coming to an end.

Characters:
Arthur Dent

• Well spoken
• American
• Pitch: Moderate

Ford Prefect: Alien Saviour

•  Pitch: Interesting & less moderate
• changes when scene goes on
• Pitch goes higher because he is excited due to the amount of knowledge he has on aliens and the world's survival.

Sound effects:

• Wind
• People Shouting& screaming

Narrator

• Closed silent gaps with speech

Comparison between War of the Worlds and HH guide to galaxy

Similarities

• Both dominantly consist of male voices

Differences

• 40 year gap between the two
• HH guide to galaxy's narrator played a greater role whereas music played that role in War of the Worlds
• Different Mode of address; War of the World was addressed to the audience but HH guide to galaxy is more of a drama
• HH guide to galaxy is less informal choice of language
• War of the Worlds and HH guide to galaxy completely different genres.
• HH: Sci fi/ Comedy
• War of worlds: Sci fi/ Horror

I found The hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy quite easy to follow. Unlike War of the Worlds it did not require a lot of effort to try and understand the storyline. I think this radio drama was more informal which made it easier to get into and follow. I think the character Ford Prefect played the role of the narrator, because Arthur Dent was as clueless about the storyline as we were. It was almost as if we were in his shoes. I think this makes this radio drama successful because listening to them does require a lot of imagination and having a character discovering along with us lifts the burden.

Although the construction of this radio was effective and successful it still didn't really grab my attention mainly because Sci Fi isn't really my thing and because there was minimal characters in the drama, this made it quite boring and doesn't feed my imagination.