My radio drama is called "I've Got a Fan Online". The story is about a man, Daniel who now is in his 20s, who gives his story to an interviewer about his experiences with an online hate page made of him. Throughout the episode the interviewer/host asks questions to Daniel about what he saw and felt, and after each question, we listen to a reenactment of what actually happened. This is done so that it creates a docu-drama effect which I believe is the most engaging type of radio drama. Throughout the episode, we dive deeper into the, supposed, sinister things Daniel had experienced and how he should have worked around it. For example, I talked about a helpline you could reach out to at the end of my drama, ensuring that the aim of tackling online bullying is kept.
My radio drama follows a fictional, single-stranded, and three-act structure.
In the first act, we start off light and simple where our host introduces the show to the audience, and then Daniel follows introducing himself and why he is on the show. He talks to the audience briefly about where he currently is in life, and what happened to him at the time. This helps to set up the drama and make a clear ground on what the audience should expect. This was successful since it clearly introduced the show, which can then lead the audience into the show cohesively. There is an inciting incident, which hooks the audience into finding out how it would be resolved. However, it can be argued that I could have made the tension more intensified. The actor sounds quite relaxed when he speaks and only briefly tells us what happened to him.
The second act of the episode is then the flashback to Daniel in the pub. During this time, he faces confrontations with the account and aims to navigate himself around this. He attempts to tell his friends about the account, however, they seem to be drunk and unbothered and instead mock him. This use of dramatic irony is purposefully performed to engage my audience, by allowing the audience to know more than the characters it allows me to emotionally attach my viewers to Daniel and the episode. After this flashback, Daniel tells the audience what exactly he saw. This could be considered as the 'Climax' of the episode since it is the moment Daniel realises his biggest challenge which eventually sets him on course for resolving this. This was very successful in the sense that it presented our crises, and we found out how our main character struggled. This helped to raise the tension and keep the viewers engaged in the storyline.
Finally, in the third act, Daniel attempts to resolve the issue by discussing it with the police. However, he faces the unexpected when the police tell him that they can't do anything; after giving all the information he has on the topic he is told that his experience is inconsiderable and will have to resort to other means. Doing so, the police officer advises that he first reports the matter to the app on which it had occurred and then eventually reassures him that they can take further matters if that solution does not work. In her failed attempts to help, Daniel leaves agitated and unsatisfied and the matter is left to be continued in the next episode. Our host then reassures this message by telling the audience "We'll see you in the next [episode]" and a message about the NSPCC helpline. The use of adding a helpline at the end of the episode was to ensure that the audience is not completely left in the dark if they wish to seek help and face a similar problem. This helps to spread the message of online anti-bullying. The last act was unfinished, however, you could argue that it kept the audience engaged with the show. In the end, we are left with a cliffhanger, wondering what Daniel was to do afterwards. This does not resolve the tension, however, since this is a radio drama, it means that it can be considered effective since we want to keep the audience watching into our next episodes.
One convention that I used in my radio drama is that I incorporated a catchy jingle. From 0:00 to 0:10 I introduce my radio drama with, what is meant to be, its signature introduction song. This is to indicate that the episode is now about to start and to also alert listeners that it is associated with a docu-drama. The song was composed by me on Logic Pro X, and I aimed to give it an eerie yet intriguing tone. The pulsating beats gives a disorientated feel, which I believe relates to what my radio drama is about. My outro at 4:17 also features the same song but backwards. I realised that using this effect gave an unsettling feeling since it does not feel natural, which again represents the idea I had for my radio drama. In addition to this, I added my voice-over about the NSPCC on top of this. This was done since pairing the two together meant listeners are less likely to click off the episode; it makes the voice-over more appealing to listen to since it is not just a bit of dialogue, but also a piece of compelling music. Radio dramas usually tend to use jingles since it helps to make their show recognisable. They are also used at the beginning and sometimes the end of the drama to indicate when it is starting and ending; it gives time for the audience to prepare and settle to listen to the show.
Afterwards, I then had my host introduce the radio drama and inform the viewers on what they are to expect: 0:11- 0:19, the host highlights "Welcome to I've Got a Fan Online...Dark sides of social media and the online world". Through these word choices, I believe it solidified my attempt to make the introduction clear. I knew that my introduction had to be strong since it is the first thing the audience will hear and, therefore, helps them to decide whether they would like to listen to the rest or not. Since this is a radio drama and not a film, it meant that my introduction would also have to be clear enough to cover the void of visuals the listeners have. Therefore, with this in mind, I made sure I produced a strong and inviting introduction to my audience. When recording the voice-over, I made sure to record it on a professional microphone, as well as in a soundproof room. With this it allowed me to make sure that background noise was kept to a minimum and also give a professional yet engaging environment. Since I still faced a bit of white noise, I made slight use of Final Cut Pro's 'voice isolation' tool to emphasise this effect. It also meant that more focus could go onto the actual lines themselves rather than the white noise in the background. Radio dramas also usually tend to have introductions since they help the audience to understand what is going on in the show. It may be a recap of what happened in the last episode or a speech on what is to be expected in the episode.
Another convention that I had included was the use of foley and wild track sounds. I executed this during the timestamps: 1:10-1:46 and 4:01-4:08. During the first timestamp, I recorded chattering in a busy place. After my first draft, I realised that my pub scene did not feel like a pub since there wasn't anyone else in the background other than my characters, therefore I decided to add that sound. Along with this, I also recorded a camera shuttering sound to indicate that Daniel was taking a "picture for the insta" [1:11]. Through this, I aimed to make the episode easy to follow without losing the audience. Since I am aware that the listeners cannot physically see what is happening, I used this camera shutter to make up for this missing sense. I then once again use foley sounds during 4:01-4:08. During this, there is a fading sound of footsteps, which is then greeted with a slamming door at the end. During this timeframe, Daniel is heard to be distancing himself away from the microphone, as if he is walking away from the Police officer. To accompany this, I added fading footsteps, which helped to solidify this message of walking away. Not only does it make sure that we know Daniel is attempting to leave the scene, we also understand his sense of direction which helps the audience to follow through. I then end the scene with a door slamming that I recorded, which now suggests that Daniel has left and it is supposedly the end of the scene. This presents how my radio conforms to typical radio dramas, as it finds ways to fully submerse the listeners through the power of foley and wild track sounds. Radio dramas tend to rely on foley sound since it has to make up for the lack of visuals. They use it to help convey the story and set the scene.
My drama also consists of some royalty-free glitch sound effects, which I used between transitions of my flashbacks and forwards. With this, it helped me to easily divide the two timescales and help the audience to follow through. Without this key feature, I am sure that my radio drama would be confusing and much harder to understand. I also incorporated some royalty-free, non-diegetic soundtracks in the background. My aim with this device was to subconsciously create a certain feeling within my audience, and anchor the sense of tension and suspense. The music is subtle, yet when heard you can hear that it has an eerie and unsettling sense. This was to make sure that it covered any caveats that I made when it came to dialogue or foley and make sure the audience understood that the drama was unsettling.
The last convention that I included was the use of dialogue. My episode relies heavily on this factor, since it is what I believe makes the radio drama as clear as possible. With this vital device, the audience can understand the story much better. Through my dialogue I was also able to set the tone of the scene; during the interviews, the tonality was slightly stern and reserved [0:11-0:25] and at other times it was very bubbly and ecstatic [1:11-1:16]. As you can hear, the two scenes present two very different styles of talking. This demonstrates how with the use of dialogue, I was able to inflict emotion within my listeners through the use of dialogue.
One of the main strengths that I believe I exercised was a relatable and engaging storyline. The episode narrative seems to follow the necessary traditional aspects, as well as adding a bit of an unconventional feel. Since my episode follows a three-act structure it allows for a strong base. However, the idea of there being flashbacks in a radio drama is something I had not seen while studying the topic. It seemed that since it is a radio drama, it meant that doing such ideas may seem hard, albeit this, I decided to add it since it adds an engaging and unusual take. Moreover, my main character Daniel has been made in the same age range as my target audience. Through doing so, I attempted to help make the listeners feel comfortable and familiar with the characters, ensuring that I engaged them as much as possible. My radio drama also covers a topic that is very relevant in today's society, hate pages. This is a very common issue, and I have personally been around people who have experienced this sort of hate, ergo, it helped to create a relatable and engaging storyline.
Another strength that I demonstrated was my effective use of sound, specifically in foley. Within the episode, I made sure to use sound effects where the audience would expect to hear something. For example, I used a camera shutter at [1:15] to make it clear that Daniel was taking a picture, and at the same time, I used chattering sound effects to signify the image of being in a busy pub. Since this is a radio drama, it means that audio will play a crucial part in what the audience uses to engage with the episode. This is because it adds verisimilitude, and will help the listeners to feel as if though they are in the same room as the characters. On top of this, I also used soundtracks as I previously mentioned. With this, I was able to create a subconscious feeling of threat within the listeners, and effectively get my image across to the audience through my sound. Thus, I believe that my use of audio helped to engage the audience.
One of the biggest weaknesses I faced was that after recording all my lines when I played back, I could hear that the actors were sometimes too close to the microphone. This meant that occasionally I would hear booming sounds since the wind was bouncing off the mic. Though this did not hinder the entirety of my radio drama, it did mean that the sense of continuity was broken at times since we were brought back to the idea that this is a recording and not real life. To help avoid this next time, I will try to find wind sheilds to cover the microphone, which would stop the harshness of their breathing being recorded.
Another weakness that I faced was that my audio recordings were performed faster than they were meant to be. After chronologically ordering all my lines, I realised that the time did not reach 5 minutes and that I would have to rely on other factors such as pauses, intro, and outro music. Though I managed to push my radio drama almost there, it did mean that I had to spend a lot more time adjusting certain audio speeds and my intro song.
A final weakness that I experienced was that perhaps when it came to the police officer scene, more could have been done to educate and teach the audience rather than making it seem like the officer couldn't do anything. The way I portrayed the cop made it seem like they didn't care, and while it fits the storyline, it doesn't help in educating the audience. Instead of saying "First contact the Instagram heads or whatever app it is" I should have gone into more detail about what Daniel or anyone watching who relates could do. This would definitely make the radio drama more helpful and informative. Additionally, I believe that when the flashbacks and forwards were taking place, I should have made it more clear that we were going back in time rather than relying on the audience to understand what the sound meant.
One of the improvements I believe I could have made for the first weakness would be making sure that I do not record the audio too close to the mic, as I previously mentioned in my weaknesses. In order to do so, I would ensure to first do a proper test with the settings, play it back, and then adjust the distance of the actor accordingly. Additionally, I could also listen back to each line after it's recorded, which will definitely make sure that I get my lines perfect, even though it could take longer. As a final measure, I could invest in some windshields for the microphones. With these, it would make sure that even if my actors slightly move and come closer to the mic, the wind won't be picked up as much. It would also mean that less white noise would be recorded, allowing crisp audio to come through.
Another improvement for the second weakness that I could make is to efficiently plan how long each set of lines should take to record. By rehearsing the lines myself, I believe that I could have made notes on how long I wanted each line to last, and therefore calculate how long the lines would have amounted to in the end. With this extra planning, I'm sure that it would have saved me more time during post-production editing.
A final improvement on the third weakness is that I could have made was by researching a bit more on my topic and going into more depth. Even though the episode was just the first part of a few, that was not made clear, therefore the police officer scene could leave things on a bad note for people if they were not to continue the rest of the episodes. This would have resulted in more security being put in the audience and also helped them to trust the police more. In order to fix the flashback and forward problem, perhaps by vocally saying that we are going back in time, or even that we are reenacting the scenes, it would have made the action much clearer.
Within my episode I ensured that I incorporated audio and technological codes in order to engage and immerse my audience. The first way I demonstrated this was through foley sound effects, such as the camera shuttering, footsteps and the door slamming shut. Through these sound effects, it meant that I could make up for the missing visual sense the audience does not have. Along with this, I also used two royalty-free sound effects a glitch sound and a flashback sound. The use of the glitch effect meant that I could add a sense of distortion to my radio drama, and make it feel a bit eerie. With the use of my flashback sound, it meant that I could clearly indicate to the audience what exactly was happening, and gave clarity into which scene we were in. Through the sounds, I was able to give the audience a sense of direction and ensure they weren't so lost in the storyline.
Another way I used audio and technological codes was through the use of non-diegetic music. Within the background I faintly added some music in tense parts of the drama. Through this, I was able to subconsciously create a tense tone within the listeners, which helped to make sure they were engaged and prepared for the upcoming scenes. To represent the theme of hidden identity and suspense, I used soundtracks that reflected this.
A final way I used audio and technological codes was through my intro and outro music. I believe that creating a jingle for my radio drama made a clear gateway for whether the episode was starting or ending. This meant that the audience knew when to start listening, and also allowed them to familiarise the song with the drama. Besides this, the pulsating sound that I chose allowed me to add to the unnerving sense of what the show holds.
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