Task allocation - week 2

Production log

Initial ideas for radio drama

Nierraja's intial idea



Simran's initial idea

Task Allocation week 1

Sound Elements

Educate

These media texts such as documentaries are used to educate people about a specific topic. 

In this documentary “City of the future: Singapore” from national geographic, teaches the audience about the latest innovations and technology being created in Singapore. For example at 10:00 the narrator begins to show how drone technology is advancing. In this clip we hear the sound of the drone being used and the narrator explaining how the drone works.

Https: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi6r3hZe5Tg

Entertain

These media texts help amuse and divert the audience. An example of this media text is in finding dory where they use dialogue to entertain the audience https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQOGEZDxPkQ. They use dialogue to entertain the audience through the tone and personalities of the characters. An example of this in the scene is when dory says she wants to leave and explore.

Inform

These media texts inform the general public about current events and this can be accessed through electric communication, broadcasting and other media. This allows them to be prepared in case of any dangers waiting to happen or any changes that may affect them.

In this news report “The shopping mall where everything is recycled”, it informs the audience about the shopping mall that recycles everything. Uplifting music is used in the background to inform the audience about the new mall that helps the environment.

For example at 0:17, music is played as they show clips of the different types of objects being sold. Then at 0:21 the narrator explains how some products were even up cycled such as a lamp shade which is made from worn out leather jackets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-SVQTxQcrg

Sell products

These are advertisements which are used to help companies sell their products.

In this  “fork out less” go compare ad, the narrator uses voice over to promote that whenever you buy car or home insurance through go compare you get a free membership to dine. This informs the audience there is a 

At 0:03 the narrator begins promoting the Go compares new deal as the video shows close ups of the actors emotions before the man shows up, telling them about the new deal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRdY9BWIaUw

Wild Tracks

This media text is an audio recording, which is then synchronized with the video however recorded separately on set when the cameras aren’t filming. 

An example of this media text is in the video game GTA where they use the sound of gunshots which makes the action seem more realistic for the audience because it is synchronised with the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg4V3ivMQc0

Atmospheric sounds

These are sounds that set the atmosphere for the film or video. An example of this is in toy story on the last scene where the boy gives all his dolls to the little girl. Blissful music is played to make the scene emotional because he is giving the dolls away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1rKocEL1Eg

Music (Incidental/theme)

This is the background or theme music played at the start of every episode of a series. 

In this series, theme music is used in every episode so the audience can recognize the show when the theme song is played. e song is played and a image of the  map is showed to show where it is set.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006m86d

Sound effects

It adds a dramatic effect and is used to express an action or mood.

In this episode of Eastenders, a sound effect is used after the bus crash. The use of a black screen with a sound effect shows us how the person is unconscious. 

The sound effect is used at 0:14 to be used to create a dramatic effect and to show the audience that an accident has happened and the victim is unaware of their surroundings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQDACliAxcw

Dialogue

This is a conversation between two or more people. Or it could be just a person speaking.

An example of this media text is in Fresh Prince of Bel air when will gets shot and Carlton believes that it’s his fault and he couldn’t do anything to prevent so he decides to take revenge. In this scene Carlton and will and arguing whether to take revenge of leave it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ31eBipr_gthe use of dialogue in this scene helps the audience understand the scene better and understand what is going on.

Use of silence

This adds a dramatic effect and silence sends a powerful message to the viewer. An example of this is in Fresh Prince of Bel air in the last episode where Will decides to stay behind and lock the house. They use of silence in this scene is to create an emotional atmosphere. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33NlssWUbBU

Sound Formats

Foley Effects: These are sound effects that are added to a film during post production to enhance audio quality. These are sound effects such as doors creaking, footsteps, glass breaking and etc. An example is in star wars where they use Foley effects to enhance the actions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ff8Mg31k34

Wild tracks: This is an audio recording which will be synchronized with the film however will be recorded separately. These sounds are usually recorded on location when cameras aren’t filming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwjZ_MhTEJo

Theme music for a title sequence: This is a piece of music which is created to be played during the intro for a Radio Program, Television program or a movie. The lyrics of a theme show may provide some necessary exposition for people that are unaware with the show. The theme song is used to set the mood for the show and have an audible cue that a certain show is beginning. An example of this is the theme song which is played for the fresh prince of bel air https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nCqRmx3Dnw.

Film Score: This is a piece of music which is specifically written for a film. An example of this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maog7EOZe7Q

Characters signature tune: This a specific tune which is played for particular characters this allows people to associate the tune with a particular character every time there hear it. An example of this is the signature tune which is played for James Bond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9FzgsF2T-s

Incidental music: This is music which is created to be played in the background of certain scenes to add atmosphere to the action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kik9sM4JFKw

Voice overs: This is a narration in a film or broadcasting. This is when someone who appears elsewhere in the production or a specialist voice talent may read off a script. Voice overs are sued to give personalities and voices to fictional characters. An example of a voice over used in a movie is Ellen doing a voice over for finding dory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T3yamWBJuo

Scripted speech: This is a script that has been written before. An example of this is this news report where they use scripted speech to prevent any mistakes and deliver the news correctly to the viewers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFeOApc91Yo

Platforms for listening

Distribution methods

unit 14: Analysis of Radio drama

Chosen programme 

The programme that I have chosen for BBC Radio 4 is the “Sick”. The schedule for this programme is mid day as it begins at 14:15 and ends at 14:59.  The programme is scheduled at this time because people can listen to this during their lunch break or driving home from work. It also can be listened to after the programme has been aired live because the audience can access the previous episode on the BBC Radio website and they need a TV license for this. The BBC Radio 4 website can been accessed through phones, computers and tablets. The programme ‘sick’ has a wider audience because it is relatable to many because they may have family members who are ill. Also this programme is suitable for children to watch this because they portray her illness in a funny way that doesn’t make seem as serious as she actually is.

Structure 

The programme begins with a lady who is the sister of the main character and the narrator of the story.  She starts off with dialogue to introduce the family members. They used circus music as the story begins to make the story seem merry. Then is shows stages of Kate s illness and then later on how she gets better, they also show how she realises who is really there for her when she needs them throughout the whole process of recovering. 

Purpose

The purpose of the show is to entertain as well as educate because this teaches a lesson for those who don’t take much time to take of themselves. However the programme ‘sick’ is to also entertain the audience because the narrator uses humour and to explain her sister’s pregnancy journey, they have also used circus music for some scenes where the narrator is explain the gory details of her illness, as this will make the drama more light hearted.

Content 

The programme is a story, which is told by a girl telling the story of her sister’s illness which she, develops during her second pregnancy. She suffers from Hyperemesis Gravidarum, which is extreme morning sickness and not stops vomiting. The programme shows how her life completely changes unplanned.

The drama begins by the sister explaining how life was before her sister developed the illness. Then Kate discovering that she has to take full rest until she gets better otherwise she will end back to the hospital where she will have to take medication. She then turns to her mother to take care of her until she recovers because her husband is busy with work. Classical music is used to create a light-hearted atmosphere when her mum is taking care of her. As the days go by it shows how her illness is getting worse and the nausea is getting worse. Different types of music is played at each month to keep a funny atmosphere even when then the narrator explains the gory details of her illness .For example in her second month of being pregnant, her sister explains how Kate produces excessive amounts of saliva every few minutes which needs to be spat out or she will continue feeling sick. And circus music is played in the background to keep a light-hearted atmosphere. This is an example of how her sister explains her journey with the illness. Through these months she realises and understands her family, her marriage and her own identity. This is comical, dark and joyfully nauseating “vom com” drama which is made to make the illness presented in a humorous way.

Meaning

The atmosphere is of the programme is dark, funny and joyfully disgusting. Even though there are sounds of vomiting, they have added humour to make it light hearted as this makes it more engaging for the audience. An example of this is when they show Kate being in the first stage of being sick and play upbeat music in the back ground as this shows that they made the illness seem comic and not made the matter serious.

Mode of address

The mode of address is when Kate is communicating with the doctor, mum, her children and husband. When the are act the doctor appointment the husband and doctor where communicating to find a person to look after Kate because the husband has to go to work. This shows how much the husband is concerned for Kate and wants her to get well soon.

Staff and resources 

The main character, Kate who is extremely ill withHyperemesis Gravidarum is played by Margaret Cabourn- smith. Then the narrator of the story, which is the sister of Kate, is played by. Alison Steadman plays Evelyn. Dr manning/smart phone played Teresa Gallagher.Nurse Craig played by Alex Lowe. John played by Sean Baker. Young Kate played by Kathleen Keaney. Lola Page plays Young Naomi. Finally Sophie is played by Sophie Xu.

The cast who don’t appear in the actual programme however are part of the making are Karen Rose who is the director and producer of the drama, and then the sound designer is David Thomas and finally the writer of the script is Dinnella.

A sweet talk production for BBC Radio 4. 

unit 14 Radio 4 audience profile

Background of BBC Radio 4:

The radio I have chosen is BBC Radio 4 which first aired on 30 September 1967; this means that BBC Radio 4 has been aired nationally for around 52 years. It is owned by global and their well-known sister station is BBC Radio 4 Extra.  Their typical content includes news, talk and drama. BBC radio 4 is completely funded by TV license.

Audience profile:

BBC Radio 4 mostly appeals to people in their 30s and over, this may be because they have programmes such as: Book of the week, shipping forecast and many more which may interest an older population.

Listening figures:

Their listening figures are quite high; the amount of people that it reaches is 11.55 million adults each week. The nationality of the population is mostly white British. The news reports attracts the largest amount of listeners at 10.34m per week, the drama shows which air in the afternoon attracts 6.69 million people a week, the comedy shows reaches around 5.52 million people per week. 

File types and sound formats

- WAV: this is an audio file format which was developed by Microsoft.

Pros and cons: An advantage of using WAV is that it is fast decoding and it can be played on most window applications that support sound. However it is a very large file size.

- AIFF: this is an audio file format which was created by APPLE Company. Its main purpose is to store sound data featuring numerous sound bitrates used in PC or other audio utilities.

Pros and Cons:  The advantage of using AIFF file is the output of exceptional sound quality however it will take up more storage than any other lossy formats.

FLAC: this is a type of lossless MP3. It is mostly used where the quality of sound is essential.

Pros and Cons: This is a compressed lossless which means that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. It takes up less space than WAV and AIFF and is becoming one the most popular formats due to it being an open source. It is also extremely fast at decoding and supports multi-channel and high-resolution streams. However it compresses less efficiently than other popular modern compressors such as Monkey’s Audio.

Mp3:

Pros and cons: It allows anyone to create their own implementation and has fast decoding, lower complexity than other sound formats such as AAC. However this sound format is lower performance than modern codecs.

 

AAC: It is a lossy format that is similar to mp3 but includes some performance improvements.

Pros and cons: It reaches transparency in most samples and for most users at around 150 kbps and has several implementations, containing ones that are high quality and free. However many players only support LC at the moment so you will have files that are valid except your player won’t play them.

Ogg Vorbis: This is an audio compression format

Pros and cons: An advantage of this is that it is easy to use high level Application Programming Interface; also it is suitable for internet- streaming. A disadvantage for this is current implementations are more computationally intensive to decode than mp3.

WMA: it stands for windows media audio and uses a lossy compression system. This is a file extension used with windows media player.

Pros and cons: An advantage of using WMA is that it is more convenient for window users and it has better sound quality in low bitrates. However as it was designed for windows it may have some compatibility problems with other platforms.

Storage:

Compression: this is extremely important in audio production as it evens out the dynamic range and it is useful to smooth out a vocal track that pitches from extremely loud to soft. This also allow you to record more precise and clear sounds as it keeps an instrument range within the range of the recording equipment.