Unit 42 Lo1

Critical Analysis

You will need to discuss ALL of the following

Codes: Words, voices, speech, music, ambience, sounds and silence
Conventions: Aural signposting, cliff-hanger endings, flashback, use of fades,
characterisation, chronological development, narration, direct speech, titles,
credits
Styles: Appropriateness to TA, dramatic reconstruction, drama styles, creation of
mood
Structures: Duration, narrative structure, development of plot

Im going to critically analyse two dramas. One postmodern drama and one
traditional drama, starting off by talking about the postmodern drama.
The Blind Mans Confession.
I believe this story is cleverly done as its set in the future, but the narrator is
talking about the past in a flashback, we know this because of the way he tells
the story, he describes events to us before they happen in the story, this is a
clear indication that its a flashback.
This story instantly starts off with a flashback, we know this because the sound
effect that we hear indicates it to us. With no description as to what it is or what
happened this instantly intrigues the audience and makes them curious. After we
hear about the gun being pointed to the narrators head we find out this story is
about him, He then proceeds to say he will tell us the story. Now that the
audience has been drawn in and our attention is caught. He carries on telling the
story.
The Producer makes the narrator voice quite eerie and husky as it makes for a
more intense atmosphere. It sounds very natural and unscripted because the
acting is so good, almost as if hes recalling the accident in a police report. He
pauses when he needs to, too create drama. As he is talking the background
noises (aural signposts) give us an idea of what is exactly happening, it helps us
paint a picture in our head before his voice gets to fill in the missing pieces. For
example the sound of the car engine speeding past the audio to give us the
impression hes going really fast it re locates the scene the increase in ambience
indicates that the car is driving very fast, it gives us an idea of how fast, along
with that it re locates us again. Then the rain and the thunder storm, instantly
this tells us something is wrong and has a sense of foreshadowing. Then the
momentary pause followed by the sound of a huge car crash again this changes
the dynamic and sets the scene, it keeps us up to date with the story. After we
hear about the car crash through the flashback. The narrator cleverly takes us

back to present day when he describes what he remembers from the incident.
The narrator describes what he felt in slow motion as the crash was happening.
With the aid of muffled sound, water pouring in from the rain and the lake. A very
fast/loud heartbeat. This then relates us to the feeling of how fragile life is. The
use of the music either builds tension or breaks it slowly depending on the music
played and the increase in volume, in this case the music builds tension the
relation between the tension and volume is that as the volume increases so does
the tension.
We soon hear the sound of the character gasping for air, with us eagerly waiting
to see if he is alright and the other caught in the accident is alright. We hear the
sound of him diving underwater and trying to stand up, finally catching his
breath and then getting up. The cliff hangers are usually when something really
dramatic happens. Within the first 3 minutes we already come across two cliff
hangers, the first would be at the very start when the narrator is describing the
incident with the gun being pointed at him, he gives a very vivid description of
the scenario but he manages not to give out any other information or names of
the surrounding characters, after he does this he skips forward in time. The
second cliff-hanger we come across was when he hit the other car and we have
to wait to find out what actually happened to the car. He explains the feeling first
rather than what actually happens, leaving us anticipated.
The producer tries to use a huge amount of descriptive language at the key
moments so that we can remember it as clearly as possible.

At 5 minutes in, we feel the suspense building up as he describes a tapping on

his shoulder. The dark and chilling music fades into a gradual increase of violins.
The Producer cleverly makes a faint raining noise in the background to keep a
still very much alive and chilling scene. It indicates us that the accident has only
just happened still. It is a muffled sound which also indicates us hes thinking.
Therefore it relates us to the main character as we can first-hand experience
what is happening to him as he describes his thoughts.

Traditional Radio Drama

The Traditional Radio Drama I will be analysing will be The Arches. This Radio
drama is not narrated, its a story told in small clips in the space of what seems a
day rather than an hour. It starts off with a group of 3 or 4 women discussing
something sat down over a meal We can assume that these are country women
at the start, clearly a private conversation and the producer cleverly drags us in
to be a part of it. The story then cuts to a conversation between what appears to
be a man and his wife. They have a country farmer kind of accent. The couple
who then speak next are discussing job enquiry, it appears to be about a
business and the man is saying his wife is more suited for the job but the
producer cleverly makes it so we dont specifically know what they are talking
about, the job or anything. It keeps us engaged.

After that they talk about a little boy called Henry who obviously has a
problem but yet again we are not told specifically what it is about. Both different
groups of characters clearly have a problem in common with each other. The
next scene that it flicks back towards is the first group of women who are talking
about sitting down for supper. At around 4.30-5 minutes in we discover that the
two main women talking are actually sisters because one of them tries to cancel
on the dinner, and the other one replies you cant disappoint mum. At 5 minutes
20 seconds we start to hear from the two women about a man called John and
his paranoid ramblings. Once again we are left with an unanswered question. The
women says to the other women Youre not going to be able to prove anything
obviously as an audience member we will want to know what they are trying to
prove.
Then back to the couple again, the man calls the women to discuss how henry
fell over and tor his new school trousers its made to sound far more serious
than it is. Back to the elderly women again. We are now told what this is about,
its about equal rights to women, and the women are having a meeting to
discuss how men have more benefits in life because of their gender. These are
the suffragettes. The main character speaking is talking about how her mother
and how she started the suffragettes. We can hear two women whispering with
the leader of the meeting talking in the background. This makes us connect to
the production as it makes us feel part of a secret, something only two people
know about, we are now told where the elderly group of people are, theyre
obviously in church as they start singing a him, the music and the voices fade
and it skips back to the couple talking again. Its not the main mans baby and
its quite an uncomfortable situation, it leaves us on a cliff hanger saying that the
man wants to adopt henry and we dont heal the real mothers response.

What I have gathered from this radio drama is that it is a serious, there is no
beginning to it, it carries straight on from the last episode and it constantly
leaves you on a cliff hanger, a really great way to get the viewers to watch more
and more episodes. It gets you addicted. This thirteen minute clip leaves us with
at least four or five different cliff hangers. This is the longest running radio show
and its obvious why, the clips are short and sweet, interesting, clearly laid out
and leave us with lots of different un answered questions, this therefore means
we will have to watch the next episode for more information, then that episode
will leave you with tons of more un answered questions.