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Lo1 Unit 42

This document discusses various styles and techniques used in radio drama productions. It covers both traditional and postmodern styles. It then focuses on specific techniques used in traditional radio dramas, including the use of dialogue, accents, sound effects, music, narration, character development, and plot structure to engage listeners and help them visualize the story without visual elements. Proper use of these techniques is important to clearly communicate the drama and keep listeners interested.

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67 views3 pages

Lo1 Unit 42

This document discusses various styles and techniques used in radio drama productions. It covers both traditional and postmodern styles. It then focuses on specific techniques used in traditional radio dramas, including the use of dialogue, accents, sound effects, music, narration, character development, and plot structure to engage listeners and help them visualize the story without visual elements. Proper use of these techniques is important to clearly communicate the drama and keep listeners interested.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Joseph Bartlett

LO1 Task 3
Radio Drama Styles:
-

Post modern

Postmodern productions are centered on highlighting the fallibility of


definite truth, instead encouraging the audience to reach their own
individual understanding.
-

Traditional

With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and


sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story.

The Archers (Traditional)


The words and voices used in a
Radio Drama are the backbone
of the whole production, they
can set the scene by the use of
narration and description to
develop characters. It can be
written in a specific way and
include specific accents, this
also helps set the scene and
give the audience a better picture in their head. It is important because it
will give the radio drama a more realistic feel. The main objective of a
radio drama is to make the listeners see the story in their mind as the
writer/directors see it in theirs, it needs to be clear.
The speech is self-explanatory, it is how the words are said and could
include someone with a speech impediment, or vocal defect or
multicultural backgrounds and accents. This makes the radio drama sound
like it has a wider range of people just like the real world, and it is also
required due to equality laws. If the drama was just a white, British man
and woman talking the dialogue will be far less real and interesting. The
dialogue will give the information, tell the story and by having a range of
accents and cultures it will sound real and professional.
Aural signposting sets the scene. It is all the stereotypical sounds found in
the particular location the scene is set, e.g. the sound of livestock on The
Archers. Aural signposting is used and required in order for the listener to
gain a clearer picture of the scene that is trying to be set. These sounds
will aid in the creation of the scene along with the music and dialogue.
Music and ambiance will determine the genre of the drama, tap into the
emotions of the TA and make a more interesting production due to the real

Joseph Bartlett

life feel it will provide. It works with the words and voices in order to
create this feel. The music and ambience will paint the picture of the
drama in the listeners mind. Without sound effects and music the
dialogue will be far less effective in creating the tension/emotion that the
director wants the listeners to feel.
Sound is important because it will set the atmosphere and keep the target
audience interested with the use of SFX, atmospheric music and the aural
signposting. Breaks in that sound (silent areas) will identify a scene
change or the end of the production usually with an exponential fade at
the end of the sequence or the clip. The sound is always recorded on
professional microphones rather than on location because the dialogue
needs.
A cliff hanger ending is where an episode would end right before the
climax of the scene so the viewers are left in suspense wondering what
will happen, This is a good technique for dramas that have deep story
lines and well developed characters. Often used as a way of keeping an
audience for the next episode.
Flashbacks are used to sometimes develop a characters past in order to
understand the present version, Identify an unsolved issue from the past
or recall information purely for the viewers interest, this can be done by
using SFX and a younger voice or narrator.
The characters must be developed by using a string of information that is
woven into the storyline, it also needs to happen quickly but not made to
sound like a list of facts. Each Character must develop (from just a name)
a personality, hobbies, likes and dislikes and a background story. Just
random snippets of information will bring a character to life without the
listener feeling like they are been told about the characters before the plot
line starts.
The use of silence in a radio drama is to identify the change of a scene,
this is far more commonly used than a fade. Silence can also be used for
moments of tension or emotional reflection.
The narration in a radio drama provides an insight to the story, often
describing what has happened in a previous episode or what is to come in
the next. A radio drama (such as The Archers) will always, just like
television, follow a chronological order in the story and character
development so that the listener will always be informed and up to date
on the characters and plot line, this is key as unlike TV the listeners
cannot see anything, the chronology of the drama will often be narrated.
The titles in a radio drama uses spoken words to tell the listener what
would have been shown on a screen if it was on television. It will introduce
the show saying the name, who it was written by and the names of the
featured actors.

Joseph Bartlett

Direct speech is a very important element, its all very well having sound
effects and narration but not if there is nothing to narrate or put sound
too. The direct speech will be conversations or thoughts that the
characters may have. Always said as if speaking to a person rather than
plainly reading off a script.
The music will be key in creating atmosphere for a radio drama, if it is a
large production it will also have a jingle, like The Archers jingle.
A radio drama will always have to be appropriate for the target audience.
The Archers is a mid-day show, on a BBC radio station, therefore will be
appropriate to the TA by not having swearing, sexual scenes or scenes
that would be seen as inappropriate for the listener which in this case
could be the age of the listeners.
The mood and location can be made clear to the listener by using a
narrator, stereotypical sounds of the location (Seagulls for a coastal
scene), Diegetic music local to the location and music to create the mood
and identify the genre, direct speech is also necessary to create the mood
(Angry voices for an argumentative scene)
The narrative structure is how the narrative is put together, nobody wants
too much but it is always necessary to provide information or a
background point that the listener needs to know but may miss if just
direct speech was used. It is also used as a Meanwhile style of scene
change
The duration of a radio show like The Archers is important because it can
either be too long or it can be too short, listeners can switch off at any
time so the duration (amongst everything else) must be hugely
considered. Generally a radio drama will last between 25 minutes to over
an hour. Programmes like The Archers will have an end of week omnibus
which will go for over an hour.
The plot will always develop in a chronological order and be made very
clear to the listener so they can easily understand the details of the
storyline, Often individual characters will have their own storyline and it
may intertwine with another character, this will be made evident through
the way the script is written and the use of silence, music and narrative.

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