Final Recording

Below is a link to our final recording of the radio drama.
FINAL RECORDING!

A Brief History of Radio

The invention of the radio cannot be simply accredited to one man.  It is a result of a gradual collaboration of a number of scientists. The radio originally began as wireless telegraphy. Below is a brief chronological list describing the works of the key scientists involved in the development of the radio.

Michael Faraday – In 1831, Faraday undertook a series of experiments, which resulted in the discovery of electromagnetic induction. 

James Clerk Maxwell – Following on from the work of Faraday, Maxwell developed the theory of electromagnetism between the years 1861 and 1865. This theory predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves.

Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti  - Calzecchi-Onesti invented a simple device in 1884 which responded to radio waves. This was then later developed into the first practical radio detector.

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz – Between 1886 and 1888 Hertz became the first person to intentionally transmit and receive radio by proving Maxwell’s theories of waves to be correct. These waves were known as Hertzian Waves.

Roberto Landell de Moura  - Between the years 1893 and 1894, Landell de Moura experimented with wireless transmitters. In 1900, he wirelessly transmitted voice at a public demonstration.

Nicola Tesla - Tesla gave a public demonstration of wireless communication in 1893. He transmitted long distance signals and is the holder of the US patent for the invention of radio.

 On March 8th, 1916, Harold Power, along with his radio company AMRAD, transmitted the first continuous broadcast from Tufts University, U.S.A. This company would then go on to become the first to introduce daily scheduling to radio as well as radio dance programs, the weather, bedtime stories and university lectures. 

 The earliest licensed radio stations date back to the 1920s.  In the UK, the first regular entertainment broadcasts began in 1922 at the Marconi Research Centre. 

 The development of radio as we know it today is very much owed to the ‘Rock and Roll’ era.  Originating in America in the 1940s and 50s, ‘rock and roll’ grew to become one of the most important and influential musical genres of the past century. With such growth came the arrival of major artists such as The Beatles and Elvis Presley. The broadcasting of such artists on the radio saw the sustained usage of radio, which became necessary with the growing number of people who had turned to television. 

 Another influential factor in the sustained use of radio was pirate radio. By definition, pirate radio is ‘an illegal or unregulated radio transmission.’ Pirate radio as we know it today began appearing in the 1960s, with the ‘Summer of Love’ in San Francisco. First called ‘free radio,’ the term pirate radio was then used to describe broadcasting that was beyond government control, such as ‘offshore broadcasting,’ (for example, broadcasting sent offshore from ships which crossed into country borders.) The term then grew to mean broadcasts with no commercials or advertising, therefore which made little or no money and simply existed, for example to express a controversial opinion etc. Pirate radio stations also tend to not pay music copyright fees. This leads to artists losing out on profit. Modern day pirate radio stations in the UK include Britain Radio, Thameside Radio and Dread Broadcasting Corporation. 

 In 1967, the British government requested that the BBC would set up a radio station following the mainstream era of pirate radio. This resulted in the birth of BBC Radio 1, which grew to specialise in pop music during the day and more of a rock sound by night. The first show to be broadcast was the ‘Radio One Breakfast Show,’ and was presented by Tony Blackburn.  

 Since the introduction of BBC Radio One, many more public service broadcasting (PSB) companies have sprung up over the years. Most are also owned by the BBC, with stations such as BBC Radio 4 which deals with radio drama, as opposed to shows such as BBC Radio 2, which, similar to Radio One, relies more on music and ‘pop culture.’ 

 There are two main types of broadcasting. The first, as stated above, is public service broadcasting, and the second is commercial broadcasting. The key difference between the two is that public service broadcasting is partially, or in many cases fully, funded by the public. Commercial broadcasting, on the other hand, is broadcasting with the intention of making a profit and is not funded by the public. Examples of commercial broadcasting stations include Kiss 100 FM, Heart and Classic FM.

 In our society today, I feel that the time of the radio could quite possibly be reaching its end. This is due to the ever growing popularity of the television. Most people would rather watch a programme on television than sit and listen to one on the radio. According to Uswitch.com there are, on average, 3 television sets per household in the UK. This can eventually prove disastrous for the radio industry, especially with the availability of radio stations also on digital television. However, many radio companies have made attempts at regaining some of their market by also creating television channels solely devoted to music, for example Kiss also has its own television station available on digital television. So, in conclusion, I feel that despite its illustrious history, the radio will soon have to give way to television.

Genre

At first, we began looking into the idea of urban myths. The genre sounded like a good idea to transfer to a radio drama, however after conducting some initial research we did not find any particular urban myths that caught our eye. We then decided on the idea of 'teen-drama.' After researching into other teen-dramas across numerous media formats, we discovered that most offered a highly unrealistic representation of teenagers/young adults. Most represented them as being drug-addicts or constantly on the lookout for trouble and committing crimes. We decided to go against this media-caused, stereotypical view of young adults. We decided to represent teenagers as more concerned about their futures. 

Cues, Links and Styles in Our Script

By definition, cues are ‘short pieces of written material that the presenter reads between items.’ Cues act as a kind of guideline for the presenter and introduce the next spoken item on the programme. In this way, they act similarly to stage directions in drama productions,  giving instruction to the presenter or performer.

In order to represent a real radio drama, we used cues in a similar way. At the end of each scene, we faded out and at the beginning of the next we faded in. This both indicated the passing of time and also clearly showed the break in between scenes. 

The following extract from our script is an example of how we used cues in our radio drama. It is the introduction to the ‘bar’ scene.

‘Fade In.

Bar door swings open.

Loud background bar noise - glasses clinking, drinks being poured, people talking and laughing loudly.’

When writing our scripts, in addition to considering cues as described above, we also had to select the right style for the genre of the radio drama. Should we use a melodramatic style of writing? Or perhaps slightly pantomime and over-the-top? As our drama included every-day incidents and decisions, we chose to use very realistic language. As it was based around the decisions of teenagers, we used the style of language that is commonplace in teenage society:

‘Hiya, you alright babes? How’re you feeling?’

The above extract shows how teenagers were represented in our radio drama. The use of ‘babes’ is a key element in this as the stereotypical teenager uses such language on a regular basis.

Micro-Elements of Radio Production

As there is no visual understanding for the audience in any radio drama, they must completely rely on the use of sound. The use of sound can be separated into smaller sub-categories such as sound effects, voice, music and also silence. 

Voice.

In our radio drama, the use of voice perhaps the most relied upon aspect to convey emotion. The lexical choices we used, for example the use of slight slang words such as 'babe' acted as a representation of the way in which teenagers/young adults speak. On the contrary to this, the parental character pronounced words correctly and used no slang. This was to represent the way in which perhaps a more middle-aged person may talk. In addition to this, this also showed a clear divide in terms of maturity between the teenagers and the parental character. We also lowered the pitch of the teacher's voice to make the character an authority figure. We also attempted to create emotion through our own voices when acting.

Sound Effects/Music

Sound effects also played a key role in our radio drama. They were used to re-create the scenes in a realistic way. The most notable example of this is the bar scene. As you can hear from the clips below, the pre-edited version just seems like a normal conversation that could be held anywhere. However, with the added effects of clinking classes and light background conversation, it gives a much more realistic representation of a bar. I feel that, overall, the sound effects were used effectively, but there was a definite lack of music. I feel that with the inclusion of more music it would have improved the realistic feel of the radio drama.

The following sound clips are both of the bar scene described above. The first is the pre-edited version and the second is the version used in the final piece. 

snippet pre changes 4.mp3

snippet wth sound effects 4.mp3

Silence

Silence was used in two main ways, to indicate the break in between scenes and to create tension between the characters. I feel that the use of silence in between scenes was relatively successful; it is clear that there is a scene change. However, I do feel that silence could have been used more effectively to create a more tense atmosphere at certain moments in the piece. 

Production Diary Week Thirteen

We finished recording the final version and edited. Many of the sound effects, such as the clinking glasses in the bar scene, were used in the same place. We then burnt the final version to CD.

Production Diary Week Twelve

We decided to re-record the whole of our radio drama. This was to include the decision of the pregnancy, therefore making our narrative multi-linear, and also to dispose of the ‘white noise.’ We used the soundboard and midi-controller to a greater effect to do this.

Production Diary Week Eleven

We collectively brainstormed ideas on how to improve the narrative of our piece. We eventually landed on the idea of pregnancy. This was due to two key factors, the first was to make it more dramatic, and the second was that teenage pregnancy is a growing problem in the UK and therefore fell in line with our ideas of realism and realistic representation. We then re-drafted our script to include this decision. 

Production Diary Week Ten

During the tenth week, we received audience feedback. There was a ‘listening party’ in which all the radio dramas were listened to by other groups as well as some other students from other areas of the college. Whilst listening to each groups radio dramas, we filled out audience feedback forms on ways in which to improve the radio dramas. 

From our feedback, we noticed two main problems. The first was a large amount of ‘white noise’ throughout the production. The second was a lack of drama caused by the single decision. In order to rectify these problems, we decided to re-record our drama and include another decision to make the work both multi-linear and far more dramatic.

Production Diary Week Eight

In week 8 I finished my newspaper advertisement and then began working on the second ancillary text. This was a double page feature for the Radio Times and took me the remainder of week eight and then week nine. The combination of both texts proved very effective as an advertising tool. If, for example, a person read the Radio Times but not a newspaper, they would still read an advert for my radio drama.

Prodution Diary Week Seven

We finished editing in the seventh week and were then given the individual tasks of producing two ancillary texts to accompany the practical work. The first of these texts was a newspaper advertisement. I used a digital camera to take the central image, and then used Adobe Photoshop to edit this image. I then imported this to Adobe InDesign where I created the rest of the advert. 

Production Diary Week Six

In the sixth week we reached the post production stage of the project. We added sound effects such as the opening of car doors, loud background talking, telephones ringing etc.

Production Diary Week Five

We continued to record this week as we had not finished it during week four. We also began to gather sound effects etc which we would use in the editing/post production stage.

Production Diary Week Four

We began recording the drama in the fourth week of the task. At first it proved to be a challenge as we had no previous recording experience, but we soon learnt the basics and were on our way. We used the audio suite at college, in which we used a number of microphones and a soundboard, all of which were connected to a Mac. The recording software used was Soundtrack Pro. 

Production Diary Weeks Two and Three

During the second and third weeks, we came up with a list of the key characters and wrote the script. Below is a list of the central characters:

Elissa -  Elissa is a bright, hard-working late teenage girl who has gained entry to the University of her dreams. Elissa and her long-term boyfriend, Ethan, have dreamed of going to University together, however Ethan does not make the grades to get in to Edinburgh. She is now faced with the choice of either going to Edinburgh but leaving Ethan or staying with Ethan but leaving behind her dream.

Ethan - Ethan is quite the opposite of his long-standing girlfriend in terms of attitude towards education. He sees going out with his friends and having a drink as far more important than sitting at home revising. This becomes apparent with his failure to get into Edinburgh University. As much as he loves Elissa, he does not want her to throw her life away for him.

We then began work on our scripts. We found the easiest way to do this was to each write a scene individually and then bring it to the group to make improvements/amendments. 

Production Diary Week One

During the first week of the task, the group overall was split into smaller groups to work on the project. Our group (Jorden, Katie, Rachel, Amanda) collectively brainstormed possible ideas and storylines. We began to conduct research into Urban Myths, but soon decided against the idea. We then decided to base our idea around the genre of ‘teen-drama.’

Effectiveness of Both Ancillary Texts

As previously stated, in addition to producing a radio drama, we were also given the task of producing two ancillary texts, one being a newspaper advertisement and the other being a double page feature for the Radio Times.

If the radio drama was a real production, the two ancillary texts would prove to be an essential tool in the attraction of an audience. If there was no publicity for the new radio show, there would be a minimal audience. However, both the newspaper advert and the double page feature act as two separate forms of advertising.

For example, some people who may read newspapers may not read the Radio Times, or vice- versa, but by having an advertisement in both newspapers and the Radio Times, I have maximised the chances of attracting a wider audience.

Ancillary Texts - Radio Times Double Page Feature

The second ancillary text that was produced in conjunction with the radio drama was a double page feature from the radio times. This double page feature would include the newspaper advert (first ancillary text produced).

At the top of both pages I have included a headline. Below these headlines are two different bylines. On the left-hand page, the by-line indicates that the radio stations listed are all music stations, whereas the right-hand page's by-line indicates that the other radio stations are based on spoken word. Towards the top, left-hand corner of the left-hand page are two tabs. The first reads 'Friday,' and the one directly below this reads 'Radio.' Tabs such as these are a common convention in all television and radio guides. On the right hand side, I have included the first ancillary text (newspaper advertisement). Again, this is a common convention used, and directly below this is a small caption. This caption contains a short overview of my radio drama, briefly describing the narrative outline of the piece. 

In order to keep to the conventions of a genuine radio times advert, I chose to maintain the same colour scheme of blue, white and black throughout both the pages. I have also stuck to the same font type, again another convention of the Radio Times. I have also organised the listings into full columns, each with a sub-heading at the top. This sub-heading states the broadcasting details of the programs. 

Ancillary Texts - Newspaper Advertisement

In addition to the radio drama itself, we were also given the task of producing two ancillary texts to advertise the piece. The first was a Newspaper Advert

At the top I have included a bold mast-head in simple black and white. The two contrasting colours work well with each other to give an eye-catching effect. Directly below is the tagline, which reads 'should I stay or should I go?' This gives a slight indication of the content of the radio drama, but at the same time allows room for imagination, therefore drawing the audience in. The large image is a long-shot of three students, clearly at college or university. This relates to the subject matter of the work, giving a clear indication of the characters involved. The image, along with the quotations from various magazines, give an indication of the target audience. The fact that the models used in the image are young adults, it makes it clear that the target audience are also young adults. This is backed up by the quotation "radio's answer to Skins." The Skins referred to is the popular teenage television drama series, which is also aimed at young adults and teenagers.

At the bottom of the advert, I have included all the necessary listening information, such as dates and times. I have decided to put the radio drama on Radio 4 as it is a well-known spoken word radio station, which would mean that there is a wider fan base than perhaps having it on a less well-known station. I have also decided to have it on after the watershed of 9.00 PM. This is due to the content and the issues dealt with in the radio drama. As it is after the watershed, there is a greater opportunity to deal with the issues, such as pregnancy, in further detail than if it were on before the watershed.

I have also included 'star ratings,' which have been theoretically provided by newspapers/magazines. These star ratings act as an example of cross-media convergence. Star ratings are not generally used on posters/advertisements for radio broadcasts, instead they are mainly used on visual forms of media such as television programs or films. I have decided to go against this convention and have included star ratings from the Radio Times, and other fictitious magazines such as Radio World and This is Radio.

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I edited the central image in Photoshop by adding a poster edges filter effect. I did this by selecting the filter tab, then clicking on artistic and selecting the poster edges option in the drop down box. I then edited the edge thickness, intensity and posterization of the effect.

Below are the original and edited image to see the comparison between the two.

Edited Image

Original Image:

Audience Feedback

In order to gain audience feedback on our radio dramas, the group collectively had a 'listening party' in which all the radio dramas were listened to both by the other groups and a few members from other areas of the college. Whilst listening to each groups radio drama, everybody filled out feedbak forms on ways in which to improve the radio dramas.

From our groups individual feedback, the major thing we learnt was that we needed to make our piece more dramatic as the sole decision of choosing which university to go to was not a strong enough decision. In order to make the work more dramatic, we decided to include two decisions instead of just the one. We decided to keep the simpler, in comparison, decision of which University to go to but include a far more dramatic one. Our second decision was that of a pregnancy. In addition to being more dramatic, this made the narrative multi-linear, a convention of most modern-day radio dramas.

How Did You Use Media Technologies in the Construction and Research, Planning and Evaluation Stages?

Throughout the entire process of producing my radio drama, whether it be simply research and planning right through to the actual production of the piece, I used a range of media technologies.

 In the planning, design and research stage, the major media technology used was the internet. The internet was used to generate and gather information on, for example, the history of radio and radio drama. Websites such as www.wikipedia.com, as well as search engines such as www.google.com and www.bing.com all proved to be extremely useful in the gathering of such information. In addition to such websites, the BBC iPlayer, which can be found on www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer was also of use when listening to radio dramas such as ‘the Archers’ for inspiration for my radio drama.

 In the construction/production stage, we used both different hardware and software. To record our radio drama, we used the college’s sound recording suite. In this room was a large soundboard and a number of microphones, both of which were connected to an Apple Mac. In order to record our voices onto the Mac, we used a piece of software called Soundtrack Pro. This was then used to edit our radio drama, from editing our voices to adding sound effects. As previously stated, we recorded two separate radio drama, the second after receiving the audience feedback. The two major influences for this was the lack of drama caused by our single decision, and also the large amount of ‘white noise’ clearly audible throughout our drama. When re-recording, we ensured that the ‘white noise’ was non-existent by using the midi-controller and soundboard more effectively. 

Here is a sound clip from our final version showing how we used sound effects to give the radio drama a more authentic feel: 

snippet with sound effects 3.mp3

 In addition to the production of the radio drama itself, we also produced two separate ancillary texts, the first being a small newspaper advert, the second being a double page feature of the Radio Times which included an advert for our radio drama. Throughout the process of creating these two texts, I again used a number of media technologies. I used a digital camera to take the image for my newspaper advert, which I then connected to a Mac using an SD card reader. I then transferred it from the memory card to the Mac using Iphoto. This was then imported to Adobe InDesign, where I constructed the rest of the newspaper advert. The second ancillary text was the double page feature for the Radio Times. This was entirely created using InDesign as it is an industry standard publication package, which gave the work a professional feel. 

 Other software used included www.blogspot.com on which this blog has been posted. I have also used Microsoft Word on which I have drafted most of my blog posts, allowing me to check them and amend them if necessary before posting them on the blog. 

 I also used www.mydatanest.com which is a file hosting website. This was used to host my MP3 files, such as the sound clips that are posted on this blog. Once these were on the file host, I then used a HTML code to upload them onto the blog. 

In What Ways Does Your Media Product use, Develop or Challenge Forms and Conventions of Real Media Products?

By definition, conventions are things that are the same across the genre and include things that we as an audience expect to see/hear. They may include narrative, sound effects and lexical choices. In our radio drama, we used, developed and challenged such conventions. 

A major convention common in such radio dramas as ‘War of the Worlds’ is the inclusion of fades in and fades out at the beginning and end of each scene. In a similar way, in our radio drama we used a fade in at the start and a fade out at the end of each scene, as well as fading in at the beginning of the drama overall. Like other contemporary radio dramas as described above, we did this to indicate the change in scene.

Most contemporary serial radio dramas such as ‘The Archers’ have multi-linear, open narratives. In our radio drama, we originally went against this convention and only followed a single narrative. After receiving the audience feedback, however, we realised that this single narrative approach was not dramatic enough to represent real radio dramas. We then decided to include another, more serious decision to be made in addition to the choice of which University to go to. We needed one that represented realistic teenage problems. Eventually we landed on the idea of teenage pregnancy.  This meant that we had to re-write our script and re-record certain scenes to include this decision and to make our radio drama multi-linear and more conventional.

We also followed the convention of sound effects. In a radio drama, there is no visual representation or understanding, and so the audience must, therefore, rely on aspects such as sound effects and tone of voice in order to gain an understanding of the storyline. In our radio drama, we used a number of different sound effects in order to improve the audiences understanding and also to represent certain scenes. For example, in the bar scene, we used the effect of loud background conversation and classes clinking to represent a real bar. 

How Does My Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

Most, if not all, contemporary radio dramas represent certain social groups. In our radio drama, we have represented young adults as a collective identity. In this collective group we have represented both young males and females aged around eighteen of a mixed ethnicity. 

In most media products, teenagers and young adults are represented in very much a negative light. For example, television programmes such as ‘Skins’ cast a negative and unrealistic reflection on the lives of most teenagers. In such programmes, this stereotypical view is represented through, on the most part, trouble makers. Young people are represented as people just out to cause as much trouble as possible whilst always on the lookout for drugs and alcohol. Whilst this representation may be true to a small minority of young adults, the majority of real-life teenagers do not behave as such media products lead us to believe.

With our radio drama, we decided to go against the negative representation as described above. We chose to represent the young person in more of a positive light, whilst using far more realistic scenarios than other media products do. We have represented the young adult as perhaps not wholly responsible, but who is clearly not a trouble maker. 

There are a number of possible media institutions that would be suited for my radio drama. The first one that springs to mind is BBC Radio 4. Like the other radio stations owned by the BBC, Radio 4 is a public service broadcasting (PSB) company, and specialises in the spoken word. They cover a wide variety of different genres, ranging from radio drama and comedy to sport and religion. Due to a combination of both their range of programmes across so many genres and the sheer popularity of the radio station, I feel that working with BBC Radio 4 would be a great opportunity to gain a large, regular audience for my radio drama. 

However, I also feel that perhaps broadcasting my radio drama on online radio stations would be another good idea. If it was broadcast on a weekly online stream it would not only be able to allow listeners more access to it, but it could also allow for easier and more methods of feedback. On the website, there could be a comment box where the audience could post any comments they have about the radio drama. Such online radio stations could include www.nonstopplay.com and Capital Radio.

Another way in which to distribute my radio drama is to make it available through pod casts. This has the added advantage of being downloadable, which means that there is no set time that the drama is on, allowing the audience to listen to it at a time that suits them.

Target Audience

  In any radio drama, the audience has no means of gaining a visual understanding, obviously due to the lack of visual images. This means that the audience needs to rely solely on audio in order to gain an understanding of the radio drama. The important contributory factors that influence the audience may include lexical choices, linguistic structures, tone of voice, accent and dialect, as well as conventions such as sound effects.

 Our target audience was that of young people aged 18 - 25, much like the characters represented in the radio drama. This was done with the intention of having the target audience being able to relate to the events portrayed in the drama. In order to address the target audience, we mainly relied on lexical choices. We used very informal language, and occasionally included the odd slang word, which is stereotypically an everyday occurrence with teenagers and students. This use of language meant that young adults could easily relate to the radio drama. 

 Another way that we addressed our audience was with the decisions involved within the radio drama. All University students are faced with the challenge of decided which University to go to, and a great majority of them are faced with the choice of staying with their boyfriend/girlfriend etc. However, from the audience feedback, we decided to include another, perhaps more dramatic decision. Eventually, we decided to include a pregnancy. This helped to build suspense while at the same time creating a multi-linear narrative. This more dramatic decision would encourage a greater number of people to listen to the piece, and, as we ended the episode with a ‘cliff-hanger,’ it would encourage the audience to listen again to the next episode to find out what the eventual decisions are.