Evaluation Of Radio Drama

1. Evaluation Of Radio Drama

2. Forms and conventions used in the productions My radio drama is structured in a way that is similar to film narrative. The form represents the way that the radio drama is laid out. The layering used for e.g the idea of building up sounds to create an atmosphere all represent form. The range of music , sound effects and narrative all demonstrate a style of form. The way that the actors and actresses are told to play their parts for e.g. making them sound middle class, gives them representation and form. The conventions that the characters are told to play makes them come across to the audience in the way their act and the choice of words that they use all represent the forms and conventions used in the production. The characters attitudes to each other in the way that they speak and the way that they feel comfortable enough to shout and have a go at each other all represents the conventions and forms used In this radio drama.

3. The audience should also be able to tell and read the way that the family lives . They live a comfortable lifestyle where money hasn't really got anything to do with it. This radio drama should not make them seem like they are the slightest bit interested in money . They are just interested in finding out what grandma Champney gave them. The middle class values gave me the opportunity to express the radio drama in a way that is normal to most people . The family in which my radio drama is based upon is a normal semi well of family who suffer the trial and tribulations like anyone else in normal life .They should be relatable to everyone The codes that it represents Waiting for the plane Catching the many fish

4. Accents I have a range of accents in my radio drama . They are important in getting the message about where they are across to the audience. The pilot in my radio drama spoke in a very broken English ,Spanish accent. He needed to sound dodgy in order to get the message that they are in a very unsafe / unknown area. In playing this back to the audience you can tell straight away that this man is not a normal tourist or resident . The actor based his part on the film Tin Tin. Other accents included the family's English accent . This had to be very detectable to show their class and background . An accent is important to portraying messages to the audience .

5. Conventions • The conventions of radio • The conventions of radio 4 are : middle class , Male , intellectual , and formal • The issue to do with this is the fact that it is very old fashioned and that means you are likely to just appeal to that age group. Its not attracting enough new audiences because of the content . • The conventions of my radio drama are : Family , Middle Class, Magical , Story , young , modern and imaginative • Trying to relate these conventions to the audience in the style of representation makes it a lot easier. People , Places , ideas and locations all communicate different messages to the audience.

6. Trying the communicate the destination of the family was all about making the correct atmosphere and direction. Sound effects played a big part in this . The noise of traffic and birds , animals , waves all helped put the idea of a tropical destination to the audience. It makes it easy to tell that they are not in England . Different levels of sound also help the audience feel like the characters are closer or further away. The sound of the flash back relates the audience to a child like scene . The scene involves children and therefore it has to be very obvious that it is not them in their current state. The Conventions Of reality and Fantasy My radio drama in the end debates the question of realty and fantasy is this another dimension in reality or it is made up in someone's head. Is it that the grandma has fooled them into thinking like this ? Similarly the film Shutter island juggles with this. The idea of what is he in his current state ? Is this all a show or is it real

7. The concept about what is real and what is not • People don’t decode things in the same way so we will never all have the same views on things • The conventions of films that relate to my radio drama include : Harry potter , the Witches , Lemony Snickettetc. • Magic , theatre , family / younger audience

8. The signs in my radio drama are things that represent them selves in a way that communicate different things to the audience. The pilot – I wanted to communicate the place that they were at was foreign country and that they were very far away- Just the accent and the weird strangeness of the way that the pilot tells the audience that they are actually going somewhere uncertain and helps the audience to question one last time where are they going ?

9. The idea of stress – “3 planes 7 hours of car journeys and 2 hours of Sian and Francie’s constant arguing” .This is communicated when Brother Corbin rants to the rest of the family about how fed up he feels. This is communicated to the audience by the sound of stress and despair in his voice . The level of this is decoded by the volume of the speech. • The louder it is the more unbearable it is to hear , the lower it is you can get more feeling from the voice . Volume does have an effect but the way that it is portrayed is more important. • The codes communicate the journey from death to the splitting up of the estate . • The conventions of the radio drama is that they expect a strong female role model like Kate Aide, Margret Thatcher . – accent end of the radio drama – Jenny Murray

10. Use of new media in various stages of the production of the radio drama In the radio drama everything from the planning stage included a range of medias . From the planning stages I used : Computers / Internet : This was used to research different themes and conventions that were similar to the story I had made up . I researched different films , Story's . This Different Programmes :PowerPoint – Radio 4 , Radio drama Blog: I set up a blog on word press to collate all my research and planning . This was used in the whole process to display all the research, planning , drafts scripts , The radio drama . This made it easier to show my work . The blog allowed me to gain instant feedback to meet a high standard. Camera : This was used to take a range of images for my advert and listings page. Recording Equipment: A recorder and microphone were used to record my radio drama . This was easily manageable because of the portability of it

11. combination of main product and ancillary texts • In my radio drama it was important that the audience felt the same way as the characters , they have to go on this journey with the characters . • All of the characters have a moment when they have a go at each other or express how grumpy they are at the situation. This is when the audience is let in to see how the characters are feeling . Its at these points that the audience will feel for the characters too. They come to an understanding of each other. • The preview on the listings page lets the audience know what the radio drama is about in a quick and to the point manor while still keeping up the suspense. The audience find out that drama is about an average family living an average lives, but when something happens that changes their lives forever. We get to see the trials and tribulations that they have to got through.

12. Advert – In the advert I tried to get the theme of fantasy across to the audience. I believe I was successful in this as I got positive feed back from those that I showed it to .The idea of a woman walking on water came from the bible when Jesus walked on water to save his people . This connection emphasises the idea of what is real and what is not . It gives the postmodern idea of what is real to us now or is everything just trying to Influence us to think in a certain way. From the advert you can tell/ have a idea about what sorts of messages and connotations it is trying to say . The advert also brings ideas about other meaning full medias that share similar ideas for e.g. films like Harry Potter , The golden eye , The witches etc

13. understanding of the significance of audience feedback. Its really important to understand the significance of the audience . The audience tells us what Improvements need to be made. People perceive and decode things in different ways and therefore can give you a varied range of opinions . I played my radio drama to a range of people in the editing stage . It is really important to achieve the best possible outcomes. The audience feed back can help you to edit your radio drama, telling you what has worked and what has not. Everyone has a different point of view so to reach a level medium helps your radio drama appeal to the mass majority Listening to a range of audience feedback stops audience members from being over critical. You can take a healthy amount of criticism which would help not hinder your radio drama . I believe that I was successful in making the audience feel as if the members of cast were really stressed and unhappy at the idea of more travelling to their final destination.

14. Audience Feedback The sound effects really integrate well with the radio drama and help it become more obvious to the audience. I went felt as if I went along the journey with the characters to this fantasy island The audience feed back Stereotypical The idea that some people will automatically reject the radio drama because some of its settings cannot be real . Peoples perceptions and the way that they decode things

15. Use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation(powerpoint) In my radio drama I used many different types of media . Digital technogy is very unreliable . I found that various things made it difficult to complete the production. Firstly the actual recorder could be quite tricky to use. The amount of buttons and features made it hard to decide how to even press record. The buttons included : Menu , stop, record, rewind , fast forward, and volume buttons . I also found it quite unreliable because when you were to take the recordings off it did’nt always work . The blog could also be quite unreliable to use. There were so many buttons that it was easy to mistake where you put it , or how to up load it . Time wise to keep a constant diary of analysis of different things was quite challenging. Along with all the recordings , adverts , and radio listings etc Adobe premier , was the most challenging out of all the medias . I found that it was very irritating when things that I had edited got lost or the programme wound not do what I wanted it to .

16. Approaches to the theme , was I successful ? I My production deals with a range of themes including real life , fantasy , upset and the future. I think the theme really carried through well in the whole drama . I knew that by incorporating a range of themes I could appeal to a wider group of people. From the start I wanted my radio drama to follow the conventions of a family based film. I wanted also to promote the message through the grandmothers death that its not the end if the world when someone dies and that good can come out of everything. I think that this message was met and could be developed into something wider.