RADIO DRAMA - Script Writing Progress

I have written a draft of a script with one of my other team members. The other two were not present when we wrote it so we will have to go over it with them at a later date. Three scenes have been written with dialogue and sound effects. Whilst writing the script we have taken into consideration how we are going to achieve the desired sound effects and we have come up with the character's names. As well as the character's names we have given each member of the group their own character to play. This means everyone will be involved in the vocal aspect. We are happy with the story in the script as well as the dialogue and series of events. We will need to go over our script with the other team members to achieve a final script.

We want to go with the theme of horror within our drama, so we will be aiming to include the classic conventions of horror stories. I did a quick brainstorm of things related to horror as a genre.

HORROR
Monster/murderer, victims, sinister music, death, violence, screams, fear, tension, evil, madness, innocence.


A good horror story can also work in Todorov's "5 Steps Of Narrative".

For example:


Equilibrium - Victims are ok, unaware of murderer/impending doom.

Disruption - A murder happens which disrupts equilibrium.

Recognition - Victims realise that they are being targeted by murderer.

Attempt To Repair - Victims attempt to escape or stop murderer.

New Equilibrium - The murderer is stopped and they get back to equilibrium, but they will never be the same because some of their others have been murdered. The new equilibrium in horror films is never a truly happy ending. This adds a twist to the theory of a happy ending to most stories. Things are never quite right in horror stories.


Popular modern horror is mostly within film: it works best visually. It will be hard for us to create a scary atmosphere, but we will try our best to do this through sound effects. Sound effects are a big part of horror films too. Sounds can be far scarier in some cases than visual horror, because the element of the unknown is present; where is the sound coming from? What is it? With careful editing and a wise choice of sound effects, I think we can pull it off.



Draft Script

MAIN CHARACTERS
Nathan Knife - Bassist played by Tom
Metal Beard - Lead Singer played by Gus
Scarlet Spike - Drummer played by Cat
Grim Bill - Guitarist played by Jack

OPENING AUDIO

BAND IS PLAYING A SONG LIVE (AUDIO TRACK). THE TRACK THEN FADES SLIGHTLY AND SOUNDS OF SCREAMS FROM THE CROWD ARE HEARD ABOVE THE SONG. THE SCREAMS START OF AS CHEERING FOR THE BAND BUT SOON TURN TO SCREAMS OF PAIN. THE SONG CUTS OUT AND A VOICE IS HEARD ABOVE THE SCREAMS. VOCAL EFFECTS USED SUGGEST POSSESION.

FADE OUT TO SILENCE BEFORE SCENE 1 BEGINS

SCENE 1

THE SOUNDS OF GUITARS BEING TUNED, FEEDBACK AND MIC TESTS ARE HEARD.

METAL BEARD: Ok guys, we need to wrap this up. The stadium show is just around the corner and we’re not even close to being ready, we’re still rehearsing in our garage for Satan’s sake.

GRIM BILL: Just have another drink Metal Beard, you know we play better when we are drunk. Me and Scarlet Spike are professionals. The crowd won’t know the difference, they won’t be able to see us. We’ll be like small black ants.

SCARLET SPIKE: You’re right Grim Bill. Calm down! We’ve been doing this for years now, we are going to slay them out there.

METAL BEARD: I don’t want to be just an ant, I don’t want to just slay them. I want to absolutely murder them out there. I want this to be the darkest, most ear-shredding gig those people have ever been to.

NATHAN KNIFE: We’re not exactly Kiss are we?

METAL BEARD: 

HIS VOICE HAS NOW CHANGED TO THE POSSESED VOICE WITH VOCAL EFFECTS.

Kiss? KISS? Kiss this!

NATHAN KNIFE’S SCREAMS ARE HEARD AS WELL AS ROARING FROM METAL BEARD IN THE POSSESED VOICE AND KILLING SOUND EFFECTS.

SILENCE

GRIM BILL: We’re going to need a new…

SCREAM FROM NATHAN

SCARLET SPIKE: Bassist.

METAL BEARD: Anyone else want to say anything against MY band? We are Death Cross and we are going to destroy the world with our music. HIS VOICE BEGINS TO CHANGE BACK TO NORMAL HALF WAY THROUGH DIALOGUE. Wait, what? What happened to Nathan Knife? What are you guys staring at? What just happened?

GRIM BILL: Your balls just dropped.

A FINAL MOAN FROM NATHAN KNIFE IS HEARD. NEIGHBOUR BANGS ON THE WALL AND A MUFFLED VOICE CAN BE HEARD COMPLAINING ABOUT THE NOISE. THIS FADES OUT.

SCENE 2

SOUNDS OF HAIRSPRAY, CLATTERING AND HUMMING. THE SOUND OF THE DOOR BURSTING OPEN.

REPORTER: I hope you remembered our interview. Lets get straight to it. So this is your dressing room huh? Not much is it?

GRIM BILL: I hate reporters.

SCARLET SPIKE: I’m ready for my close up.

CAMERA FLASH SOUND

REPORTER: So first things first, what happened to your bassist Nathan Knife? I heard he’s missing. What have you got to say? Where is he? The fans miss him, do you?

METAL BEARD: HIS VOICE HAS CHANGED TO POSSESSED VOICE. Those who mention Kiss in the presence of the red one are those who are ripped limb from limb.

REPORTER: Are they new lyrics? What’s up with your voice? Kiss comparisons are stupid anyway, they are way better. You know what I mean don’t you? Sure you do. Now, the bassist? Where? Who? When? Wh-
SOUND OF HIS SCREAMS CUTS ABOVE THE DIALOGUE. SOUND OF RIPPING LIMBS CAN ALSO BE HEARD.

METAL BEARD:  EVIL VOICE AND SAME SOUNDS CAN STILL BE HEARD WHILE HE IS SPEAKING. Those who question the red one suffer a similar fate! God has created some vermin and torturing them is a job I take great pleasure in doing.

SOUND OF BODY HITTING THE FLOOR.

SCARLET SPIKE: What is up with this? What is possessing you to do this? Have you flipped or something?

GRIM BILL: You’re starting to sound like a reporter.

SCARLET SPIKE: I’m serious. I’m into dark stuff but this is just, this is just…

METAL BEARD: EVIL VOICE Murder.

METAL BEARD: EVIL VOICE Haven’t you stupid humans guessed yet?

GRIM BILL: What’s guessing?

METAL BEARD: EVIL VOICE I am Satan, possessing your precious “Metal Beard”. You are going to play the arena and you are going to be my meat puppets of destruction. You have no choice. Disagree and I will kill you and find some other hosts.

GRIM BILL: May as well going out fighting.

SCARLET SPIKE: You mean killing.

SCENE 3

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE FROM CROWD.

METAL BEARD: EVIL VOICE AND MIC ECHO. We’re Death Cross. You’re scum. This gig will be the gig of your life.

GRIM BILL: I’m going to hell for this.

SCARLET SPIKE: I think we all are.

METAL BEARD: EVIL VOICE One, two, three, four.

OPENING SEQUENCE PLAYS AGAIN. THIS FADES OUT TO SILENCE AND THUDDING OF BODIES. EVIL LAUGHTER IS HEARD.

END

RADIO DRAMA - Basic Ideas Brainstorm

I got together with my group and we came up with some ideas that we would want to run with for our radio drama. The idea we all agreed on was to do a drama based around a band. Creating a drama about a band is a good idea with lots of opportunities for sound effects and music as well as a good script. It would take the basic soap idea but base it around a band. We wanted to do a basic radio soap but with twists. We then decided to mix things up a bit more. The concept of a band member being possessed came about and we have decided to run with it.

These are the basic ideas we came up with:

Member possessed - change voice.
Band causes fan/fans to become possessed too.
Moral panic coming to life.
Band unaware they are being possessed.
The band is a black metal band - moral panics have been created saying that metal bands have a bad influence on teenagers.

We now need to start looking at a structure for the story.

THE ARCHERS

The Archers is the longest running radio drama with 16000 episodes to it's name. It was created post World War One to get across the message of farming as a good way of life. It has a very big fan base and has various fansites set up in it's honour. It's made in a similar way to television soaps in the way that it has lots of characters and various story lines are running in the drama at the same time. The focus of each episode switches between the characters. It's official website has a fictisous map of the town where it takes place and an extensive time line of all the key story lines in it's history. It sticks to basic convetions of radio drama and doesn't try to go against or disrupt these conventions in any way. There is noticeably hardly any background noise and the dialogue between characters takes centre stage. Some voices are louder than others depending on the situation and location to give the impression of depth and scale. Silence follows dialogue to represent passing of time. I didn't find it very entertaining personally but I can see why it might appeal to others.

THE TWILIGHT ZONE

The Twilight Zone was a science fiction radio drama that had 156 episodes to it's name. Television versions were later made as well as a film in the 1980s. These didn't prove as popular as the radio drama and so in 2007 it was back on the radio. Where most radio dramas relied on sound effects to add more depth, The Twilight Zone however, relies mostly on music to add a sense of eerieness to the drama. The title is also referenced at various points in the drama to suggest that listeners are entering another world through listening to the drama. To start the drama, the theme tune is played, it's now a memorable one and is used and spoofed in other forms of media. And so, the use of a theme tune was a good move. Next comes the narrative vocal intoducing the story, it's a deep voice with an ominous tone, this sets the mood for the rest of the drama. We get an impression of where the characters are through what they talk about and the slang they use. They are talking about directions involving the sea and boats, there is a hum coming from machinery and the characters are saying "captain" and communicating over radio. We can picture them on a boat from these sounds and words. Music intergects between conversation to connote the passing of time. It is also used to build tension, and is sometimes strategically played after questions asked by the characters to build up mystery. Other sound effects used are underwater noises when a character goes diving. What the drama does best is create a tense and unnerving atmosphere through repetition, which is a common technique in horror films. The tension is based around a knocking sound heard from the bottom of the ship. It repeats almost constantly throughout the drama. Tension is built through all the characters discussing it and some getting paniced by it. The drama combines two narratives that run together throughout then combine at the end. So listeners are wondering throughout the drama about two mysterious parts to the story. The Twilight Zone has introduced some new techniques to me and a new narrative style. I didn't find it very entertaining however

A BRIEF HISTORY OF RADIO DRAMA

1946 - Dick Barton Special Agent. Reflective of the time in the way that spys were a big part of the war and there was a lot of paranoia in society

1950s - Radio became main source of information and entertainment

1951 - Increase of over 300 of radio dramas a year

Late 1950s - 1960s - Science Fiction became very popular in radio drama. Because of space race and society's new found fascination with space.

1980s - Stereo was invented and so radio dramas could play around with sound more

2000s - Radio dramas have become less popular due to increase in technology and forms of media with which dramas can be produced. They are still broadcast however.

Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy is another science fiction radio drama, but that is essentially the only similarity it shares with War Of The Worlds. For a start, it has a theme tune, this is a great way to make people remember the drama. Theme tunes work well for TV drama publicity too. A narrative guides the drama along each episode and the listener is reliant on the narrator to let them know where the characters are and what is happening. The writers make fun of this classic element of radio drama by having the narrator tell listeners unimportant pieces of information and also going as far to say what the characters are about to say before they say it. The drama is based around a book entitled "Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy" and at frequent intervals, the drama cuts to an extract from the book, sometimes the characters refer to the book and sometimes they don't. The narrator and the voice of the book are the same voice, it's a confident voice that connotes that they know what they are talking about. So audiences can tell the difference, the voice from the book itself is slightly distorted where as the narrator is clear and played over the top of the action. Also, whenever the book/narrator speaks, a certain music track plays to add atmosphere. Sound effects are used effectively throughout, they are also used to set the mood of the scenes. In one scene when the characters are changing into animals and the story takes a turn for the pyschedelic, echo is added to the vocals and strange music is played. This gives the impression of disorientation. Classic radio drama elements are used too, such as the pause in dialogue to represent passing of time, and the dialogue taking place between two people at a time, occassionally moving to three in certain scenes. Another element used is the catch up read by the narrator at the beginning of the episode. Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy is a very entertaining listen, it has an engaging story and the voices and sound effects to match and boost the dialogue.

WAR OF THE WORLDS RADIO DRAMA

War Of The Worlds by H. G. Wells was adapted into a radio drama in the 1930s. It used techniques that were quite revolutionary, and that ended up causing some people to believe that the drama was real life. To start the drama, an introduction was given by Wells then music was played, making it seem like a normal radio broadcast, not a drama. Then they used the phrase "we interupt this programme..." which made it seem like it was real news being broadcast. The pace of the drama steadily got faster and faster as an increasing amount of suppossed news bulletins interupted the music. The frequent cuts was a good use of building tension. Also the juxtaposition of the pleasant music and the increasingly more distressed news reports make the listener more intent on finding out what was going on. Silence was also used well to add an uncertain atmosphere. Clips of reporters suddenly cut out to silence every now and then to make it seem as though something had gone wrong. The only thing that let the atmosphere down was the way that the reporters described every detail of what they were doing, which reminds the listener they are listening to a drama. The vocal description is the only way to get across what is going on in radio drama. War Of The Worlds used sound effects well, but not as often as they could of done. When they did use them, they were perfectly in time with what the reporters were saying. They also created a sense of realness because the sound effects were as loud as the reporter's voice. The drama doesn't even have commercial breaks until fourty minutes in when the drama changes. It broke lots of rules and conventions of radio drama in the first 40 minutes, but after that, it conforms. A narration from a survivor describes events that have happened over a few days, using the voice over helps listeners to grasp the passing of time more. Also, the narrator meets another survivor and the classic scenario in radio dramas of two people talking ensued for a while.

War Of The Worlds was all together very entertaining and the technicality was sophisticated.