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Double page

Evaluation

Finished production

Production

Pictures of us from a few different stages of production and editting.

Actors

We had a problem with one of the actors we chose to use for the character 'Quentin'. We originally used Ben Cunliffe in the recording, but he didn't sound fitting to the character he was playing. Quentin is a popular ladies man - and Ben Cunliffe's voice didn't sound confident enough to successfully portray his personality. It isnt possible to use physical appearance to create an audiences impression of a character when doing radio, so we had to make sure that the script and the voices reflected the personalities we were aiming for. We asked a round and listened to a few different voices from people we knew at college. In the end we decided to use the voice of Ben Mackenzie for this part. As he sounded more professional due to his background in performing arts, we saw him as a more confenient candidate.

Double Page Spread- Potential Interview Questions

For our 2-page radio article we've decided to feature an interview with 2 of the main characters in the play. With this in mind we decided to come up with some potential interview questions and pick the best ones. How much are you like your character? Does everyone get on behind the scenes? Is it difficult playing such controversial roles? Have you always wanted to become an actor? Are you looking to expand your career into film or television? Would you recommend more teenagers to listen to the radio rather than watch television? What advice would you give to teenagers going through any of these problems? Were you a goody two shoes or a rebel in your own high school? How are you coping with your new found fame? What are the perks of being on radio rather than television? What would you be doing if you weren't an actor?

At this point, we also emailed numerous artists to request permission to use their music in parts of our production.

Deciding on sound clips.

When doing the editing we had to make decisions based on which clip would sound better in which extract of the play. Mostly, we often used http://www.sounddogs.com/ to get certain sound effects from and with such a wide range available it was occasionally hard to decide which was most fitting.

For example, in the toilet scene we needed the noise of a boy heaving and then the sound of a toilet flushing. The clips available for the heaving noise werent very convincing, so we decided to record our own using the portable mic. The toilet flushing noise however was easier to find. Here are some of the examples we sampled.
toilet 1
toilet 2
toilet 3

After listening to a large range of clips, we decided that none sounded realistic enough when put in context of the play. So we took a portable microphone and recorded our own sounds in the toilets in college. This gave it a more authentic sound.

Radio Drama

Throughout the recording and editing process for the radio play, we continually referred to existing radio drama productions for help and tips. The clips we listened to werent aimed at our target audience, but the initial style and conventions of a radio play still matched ours.

For example, Radio 4 dramas such as the ones below are scripted fiction productions. These, unlike our radio play, are generally one offs and not part of a series. We listened to sections of them to see how sound effects were placed and how voice volume implied movement, environment and distance. Additionally, it was interesting to see how different topics are addressed in different dramas, and how music is used as a background feature as well as a back-up to narrative.
Direct Red
Losing The Plot
A Domestic - Disclosure

To get the idea of the conventions of teen dramas, we watched a selection of clips from drama productions aimed at males and females in their late teens and occaisionally younger teenagers or children. This helped us estaablish pace and character.
Waterloo Road

Double Page Spread Research

After glancing through a series of magazines... for example.

we decided that it would be best to follow a basic plan similar to this one, below, as it incorporates multiple images which we can then relate back to in the text which we will write in the article

Advert mind map

Character types

The character of Quentin is a typical lad's lad who is into girls, sports, beer and drugs. He appears friendly at first, but it becomes clear he is manipulative and extremely influential in the balance of school dynamics. In our five minute clip, he leads two other characters down the wrong path which portrays him as a baddie. Despite his popular and well-liked persona, this may be down to people being scared to get on the wrong side of him

Moving from one college to another is tough for Ashley, who isn't the most sociable teenager. She would love to make new friends but just hasnt got the guts to try. Having fought to fit in at her old school, she is so nervous at having to start fresh and see's this as an oppertunity to be a new person. Less shy, less quiet and less like a goody-two-shoes.

Sophie is a normal, reasonably clever college girl who is potentially shy compared to louder and more outgoing classmates. She is happy to go to parties and have a good time, but her level headed often makes her appear prudish due to her sensible nature. When she gets led down the wrong path by sought-after Quentin she seemingly panics and tries not to think about what she has done wrong, as doing wrong is not usual for her.

These are the three main characters in this episode. Hopefully, when we have recorded and edited, they will gel and appear realistic in a college setting.

Whilst in the process of typing up the script, we decided to begin work on planning or creating the jingle. Because of our radio play targeting a niche in the market, there were no existing radio plays aimed at our age group to get ideas from. This made it difficult to research into.

However, we looked at the opening credits of dramas or sitcoms on the TV that were aimed at teenagers, therefore matching the target audience.


Hollyoaks theme music

Waterloo Road theme music

Byker Grover theme music

Grange Hill theme music

Friends theme music

Despite some of these being quite dated, like the Byker Grove one for example, they still fit in with teen culture of the time. Therefore we decided to use a tune that would be fitting and in-trend with teenagers in modern day society.

Original first draft of the script

Originally, we had settled on doing a full story within the five minute time slot. However, upon discussing this with the group as well as asking a few friends on their opinion, we decided to follow the drama series style - much like The Archers for example- the storylinesw roll over and continue throughout the series. This means that rather than introducing characters, a problem, a complicating action and then a solution, our five minute clip would be an extract of continuous storylines.

Additionally, this fits in with the Hollyoaks/Grange Hill/Coronation Street style of script which our play will follow. This soap opera style may be difficult to execute as a radio play, as cuts between setting and scene will have to be portrayed through sound rather than visuals. This meant our script had to include detailed notes on what clips we would have in each section to aid the flow of the play.

We drafted a script, deciding that it would be best to get together a rough idea of lines and characters. We can then, throughout recording and production, deviate away from the written words where appropriate or follow the script perfectly.

We made a mindmap of all the ideas and issues that teenagers can relate to the most. These gave us guideline for what our play could be about. We thought of general teenage problems such as drugs, pregnancy, bullying and fitting in.

After we gathered our results from the questionnaires, we came up with possible scenarios for our radio play. We put it as a brainstorm including our ideas from the previous one.
We took the ideas we already had and developed short, brief stories as an outline to base our actual storyline on when we come to it.

Research (Questionnaire)

We started by sending out 20 questionnaires to youths around the local area and this is a sample of four responses which we received. Responses appeared to follow a trend in the sense that most responses wished for our product to deal with similar issues. Thanks to our questionnaire results we have settled on aiming our radio play at a teenage audience.

Initial Ideas

After considering the options on the specification, we decided on doing a radio play as we thought this option played to the strengths of the individuals in our group.

Firstly, we began by researching into existing radio plays. When doing this, we found The Archers on the Radio 4 website - from this we listened to a few sections from a few different episodes and realised that it would be best to do a five minute extract from a series.

After further research we discovered the Cbeebies Radio Show, which was aimed at very young children. We listened to a few of these shows and decided there was a gap in the market for a teenage radio play. There were shows for older people, and very young people but not for adolescents.

A2 Group 2