LO3

Original Script






Script Finalised

LO4

Pre-Production Schedule

Casting:

Freddie Goring (Myself) – Narrator

I am going to narrate the production. This is because I have written and designed the concept of the radio drama and therefore knows it better than anyone else. This way I’ll be able to set the correct tone for the production.

Zac Millward – Castro, Gunther, Snoop and Howard

I have chosen Zac to do the voice of these characters due to his versatile range of accents.  This makes him perfect for these three characters as they include a Russian, German and afro American accent.

Ryan Gault – Sargent. Snips

After knowing Ryan for almost 2 years, I know that he can create a good obnoxious voice. This makes him perfect to portray the voice of the angry crab in the radio drama.

Locations:

I am going to record all my radio dramas dialogue at The HENLEY College recording studio. To record all my ambient noises I will either go out and record them myself or collect them from the internet on license free sound effects websites.

If the room that I am going to record in is unavailable, I will have to contact a member of staff that will be able to arrange another time. However, I have checked the dates and everything should run smoothly.

Recording equipment list:

To record all the voices and various foliage sounds, I will use a Zoom H2. I will need a tri-pod stand to keep the Zoom H2 still and reduce any unwanted sound.

I will also need a windshield for when I’m recording any sounds effects outside. If any, it will block out the wind and make the recordings more professional.

Prop List for Foliage Sounds

Prop	Sound Effect
Newspaper	Opening and dropping newspaper
Scissors	Crab snipping
Phone	Ringing Phone
Crisps	Treading on crisps

Any other sounds effects will be downloaded from www.freesound.org where all the sound effects ar copyright free.

Contingency Plan

If only Zac is available to the recordings he has agreed to do all the voices. He has a great range of voices that will work well for my radio drama.

If the recording studio is unavailable, I will record in either one of the practice rooms or the hall. Preferably the practice rooms would be a better for sound proofing the environment and achieving a higher quality.

Production Schedule:

Dates	Tasks
30th November	Record all voices for characters and narrator
1st December	Record all the foliage sounds. Download any sound effects.
19th December	Final edit of the radio drama and show audience for feedback.
21st December	Improve elements received in feedback.

Feedback

• Howard - American?
• Levels drop on narrator in tattoo parlour
• Differentiate the chracters
• More SFX
• Add Snips' 'snippers' to 'move it' section
• Treading on crisps SFX

Good Aspects:

• Voiceovers
• Narrator
• Funny
• Animate through vocals
• Edited well

To Add:

• Jingle to show different between night and day
• Add voices/sounds to into scene

Production Diary:

30^th November – I recorded all the voices for the characters and the narrators. Ryan wasn’t available so Zac did all the voices. Fortunately, he did this incredibly and to a high standard.

1^st December – I went out with the Zoom H2 and recorded all the foliage sounds. These included the newspaper, the scissors and the phone ringing. As well as this I did some research on www.freesound.org and found other copyright free sound effects.

19^th December – I did all the editing for my production Premiere Pro. After it was edited and exported I showed it to an audience of my target age group. I was pleased with the feedback I received and the constructive criticism.

21^st December – I went over my feedback and improved elements that were picked up on during the initial showing. This meant adding to the script and recording more dialogue. Zac was available and it was done within an hour. I then re-edited it and exported my final version. 

Evaluation – Radio Drama

Overall I am extremely pleased with the outcome of my radio drama. I really enjoyed planning, creating and working with an idea that I have had for a long time. Having the roots of an idea made to whole process of making the radio drama more interesting and exciting. Elements of the drama that I feel went well were the characters (and their biographies), the script, the use of certain sound effects and the theme tune. Amongst these those things, I believe the real success of the radio drama boils down to the storyline. It took a lot of planning and brainstorming to produce a suitable plot that involved all the characters, as well as keeping it interesting and engaging for the audience. Although I believe the overall production was a success, there were still some parts of the drama that weren’t as successful and could be improved. For example, the scene where all the characters are introducing themselves, they should all give an indication of recognition when introduced. This would make it easier for the audience to understand which character had which voice. Without this it could (and did) become slightly confusing for the audience to understand who is talking. Furthermore, adding this element would give the production a more professional style, something I really tried to achieve.

After receiving feedback I decided to go over and revise the script to make some necessary changes. This was mostly to rid anything that could be confusing to the audience. Another thing that I wanted to add was a jingle or a sound effect to indicate the change over from night to day. It wasn’t that it was confusing to understand in the production but it would give it a more professional quality within the overall production. A lot of the feedback I received was very positive and interesting to listen to.

If given the chance to redo the radio drama I would still keep to the basic idea I had to begin with. This is due to all the positive feedback I received about the characters and their personalities. The things I would change would be more to do with the use of sound effects and character introductions. The sound effects I used were goo but some of them were slightly too loud, making it hard to hear either the narrator or the character talking. There was also plenty of room for other sound effects when necessary, for example; treading on crisps, opening doors and getting into bed.

As a whole the production seemed to be popular amongst my target audience which was one of the main things I kept in mind whilst creating it. As happy as I am with it there is definitely room for improvement to drama to give the professional style I really wanted to accomplish.


Bibliography

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jbass/courses/402/402_spr10_sns.htm

http://www.ruyasonic.com/wrt_narration.htm 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonlinear_narrative

http://udleditions.cast.org/craft_elm_characterization.html

http://www.irdp.co.uk/scripts.htm

http://dramaresource.com/strategies/flashbacks-and-flash-forwards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uPQE3Pykto

Radio drama analysis from 954869

LO2

Radio Drama Ideas

#1 – A divorced man lives in a flat on his own. To compensate for not having a wife or any friends, he owns five strange but friendly talking animals. The animals consist of an obnoxious crab, a responsible turtle, a racist badger, an intelligent Meer cat and his most loyal companion; the loveable dog.

#2 - Two friends travel around the country in their caravan. The caravan is very shabby and breaks down in a different city every week. Each week would include the two guys trying to fix a problem with the terrible vehicle.

#3 - A dim-witted policeman is on the right road for the sack unless he bucks up his ideas and stops letting criminals get away. As he walks home from work one night, he notices a dog in an alley way. Suddenly the dog begins to speak to him, at first the policeman is confused but due to his lack of intelligence, a talking dog is nothing to worry about. He begins talking to the dog, he tells the dog of his misfortune at work and how he’s almost certainly going to get fired. After a long walk home, the policeman makes a deal with the dog. If the policeman lets him into his flat and live there, the dog will help him solve crimes and stop criminals. They agree and become best friends, solving crimes in very unorthodox manners.



Treatment for ANI-MAN

Blurb:

Howard, a lonesome simpleton from New York, returns home from his awful office job to discover four strange zoo animals living in his small flat. There was a Crab, a Badger, a Meerkat and a Tortoise. After the Zoo next to Howard’s flat caught fire, several of the animals escaped and fled the flaming wreck that was once the zoo and four of them broke into Howards flat. At first Howard is angry and confused – however after some convincing from his dog (oh yeah, the dog can talk) he is persuaded to allow the animals to stay until the Zoo is reconstructed.

Howard was very keen to ensure some flat rules were applied before the four got too settled. He quickly realised that none of the animals were going to take much notice and reminded him of his ex-wife; rude and consistently uninterested.

In Howards absence while he was at work, the animal’s chaos that will eventually result in them getting in a spot of trouble. Only when Howard has returned can they begin to fix all the problems that occurred during the day. How long will Howards patience last with the Communist Badger, Castro, the intelligent Meerkat, Gunther, the wise Tortoise, Rufus and the obnoxious Crab, Sargent Snips?

Character Biographies:

Howard – He is a simpleton New Yorker who has recently divorced his wife. He has a terrible job that is going nowhere, his supervisor is always promising pay rises and promotions but he never sees them. Being the push over that he is, there’s no wonder that he is persuaded by four small animals to live in his small flat.

Snoop (The Dog) – He is Howards only real friend. He is the only animal in the house that didn’t come from the zoo. Snoop almost acts as Howard’s conscience in several situations, and has stood loyal to him in hard times including his divorce.

Castro – He is a very reserved badger and likes to keep himself to himself. And due to his communist beliefs it makes it harder for the others in the flat to get along with him. He is always reluctant at first, but will occasionally be found helping out Howard in tough times.

Gunther – Gunther is a very important member of the gang. He can often be found staying up late completing Howard’s overdue paper work. Without Gunther, Howard would probably be unemployed and in a mild state of insanity. Like most Meerkats, Gunther runs out around in a hectic manor for no reason.

Rufus – He is the oldest character at 110 years young. He often compares the tragedy of zoo to the war, quickly losing the concentration of others. Rufus often patronises Howard about his life and his job but only in a jocular manner. He probably wouldn’t do so if Howard didn’t keep referring to him as ‘the turtle’.

Sargent Snips – Snips can often be seen as obnoxious, and most of the time he is. And not just to Howard, the whole group feels his vulgarity. However, beneath his hard exterior, he has a heart of gold.

Storyline:

The drama starts with Howard explaining to his boss that he will complete all the paperwork for his company’s big presentation. On his way home on the train, he picks up a paper to read during the journey. In the opening page of the paper, he reads about the local Zoo near his house had caught fire. He continues to flick through the paper on the rest of his way home. As he approaches the bottom floor of flat he struggles to find his keys amongst all the junk in his briefcase. After some vigorous searching, he finds his key and starts to trudge up 18 flights of stairs. Approaching his flat door, he can hear a lot of noise and hysteria coming from his flat. He anxiously opens the door only to find a badger, a crab, a tortoise, a meerkat and his dog, Snoop, all sat around the table playing poker. Howard gets very confused and angry. He starts trying to ask questions but nothing will come out of his mouth. Snoop quickly jumps away the table and accompanies Howard to the kitchen. Howard asks him what the hell all these animals were doing in his flat and who let them in. Snoop explains that the animals had to escape the burning zoo and had nowhere to go. Whilst Snoop was cleaning, he caught the animals trying to break into the flat, he felt sorry for them after hearing their stories and said can stay until Howard works out what to do with them. Initially Howard just wants rid of them, but Snoop tells him that it’s not that bad and they’re actually nice animals. After hearing Snoop’s explanation, Howard goes back to confront the animals. He begins to ask how long they need to stay, however the animals quickly lose interest and just walk away. Due to Howard’s lack of authority, he doesn’t even bother to call them back and lay down the rules. He turns around and Rufus, the tortoise, tell him (very slowly) that they need somewhere to stay and they won’t be here long. Towards the evening, Howard prepares his microwave meal and sits down to watch deal or no deal. He is trying to watch it but all the animals keep getting in the way and he can’t concentrate. He finally lets out a yell and tells all the animals to gather round and enjoy Noel Edmonds at his finest. None of the animals have seen a television before and are quickly engrossed. They all sit down and watch re-runs of the show several times. When Howard has had enough he gets up to finish his office work for the big presentation. Howard goes to his briefcase that he left open on the floor when he entered the flat but he can’t find the paperwork inside. He quickly goes to tell all the animals to give it back but they just ignore him and carry on watching Noel Edmonds. Howard frantically looks for his work but can’t find it anywhere. That night, after several hours of looking, he finally decides to go to bed. All through the night he thinks of excuses he can tell his boss as to why he hasn’t completed the work. When he has fallen asleep, Gunther, the meerkat, enters Howard’s bedroom with all his completed paper work. Gunther had been away all night completing, as a sort of thanks for letting the animals stay. In the morning, Howard finds all his paper work on top of his suitcase and leaves for work whilst the rest of the animals sleep. Later on, when he returns from work, Howard goes to thank Gunther but he can’t find him. All the animals wine at him for being in the way of the T.V so he just carry’s on with his evening.

Statement of Intent

I believe that I am the best person to create this radio drama because I have been developing these characters for over a year and have a real interest in the production. I have plenty of ideas in terms of storylines, character biographies, and ways to create this production on more than one type of media.