Task 3

Radio dramas are audio stories that have been around for
generations, I am going to critically assess two different
dramas from the postmodern and traditional category,
which will allow me to critically compare the differences in
the two dramas. Postmodern dramas is a radio show that
is more modern than traditional and suited to the twenty
first century audience whereas a traditional radio drama is
stories set in the past and that lifestyle, such as the
archers which is a show that has been loved by the British
public for generations.

Codes
The codes of the blind mans confession focuses on the
narrator as he tells his horrific story, the story very often
cuts between the narrator telling the story and then to the
actual story and it tells the audience what is happening at
the time, such as when he is talking to the strange man in
the woods, the music and general sounds or ambience is
suited perfectly to the story, when the narrator is having
his joyride in his car the music is fast and intense to show
the anger or enjoyment he has having going at top speeds
around a dangerous corner, this makes the audience
understand how fast he is going and when I was listening
to it I thought about the dangerous speeds and the danger
he could be in. During the radio drama the blind mans
confession, silences are used often to create an area of
suspense or when the scene is changing, it is also used
when the speaker is changing to express the crash and the
effects it is having on him. The narration in the blind mans
confession uses a formal language when he is talking to
the audience, this shows the differences between his
general persona at the beginning of the radio drama which
was, calm and collected whereas towards the end he is
very shook up and cries at points throughout the entire
drama, this also shows the effects the deadly car crash
has had on him as he clearly rejects every decision he
made in that awful night.
The traditional codes in the radio drama the archers is that
it uses very formal classical music at the beginning, this
shows the style of the drama and the type of audience
that it is trying to attract, the speech used throughout the
entire drama is very formal, British tone and clearly
spoken, this is good because it makes it easy for the
audience to understand what is going on within the show,
the silence during the show the archers is usually done for
when it is changing scene or for when a different person is
talking or introduced to the audience, the sounds used
during this specific radio drama such as, the noise in a
pub, allow the radio drama the become very realistic to
the audience as its a noise that the British public can
relate to very well, the show is very posh and they talk
about a farm during the show, this relates to our area of
living as Henley and Marlow are two places heavily build
on agriculture so when I was watching it, it made me feel
like I was listening to show based around where I live.

Conventions
The postmodern radio drama conventions use the
technique of flashbacks to get the story across to the
audience and it helps the narrator tell his story but you
can see it affecting him throughout the radio drama. The
blind mans confession also used fades as a technique to
create an atmosphere in the radio drama, this is used at
the end of scenes and during scenes such as when his car
crashes, the fades are used to show when another
character is talking or for when a different character
introduces him or herself. Characterisation is also used in
the blind mans confession, the narrator gives a lot of
detail for the audience to create a mental image of what
they look like and imagine what he is going through, such
as ankle deep in mud, this is very important for radio
drama as there is no visual imagery to watch so the
human mind needs some visual dialogue for them to pain
the picture in their mind and to develop the storyline for
the audience to understand what is happening.
The conventions for the traditional radio drama the
archers are shown which makes it a successful drama that
it has been for years as it is very close to the hearts of the
British public. The Archers use many effects such as aural
signposting which enables the audience to gain an
understanding of what is happening in the scene, this is
made by using sound or silence to create the atmosphere
for what is happening in the scene, the traditional show
the archers also uses characterization but not as much as
the postmodern radio drama the blind mans confession, it
uses it as the audience need to be able to create a picture
in their mind so they can get a clear and better
understanding of what is happening, but in the archers a
clear explanation is not produced so the audience cannot
get an image of what the characters look like whereas the
blind mans confession does this successfully. By doing this
the archers have allowed the audience to be able to create
an image for themselves without any help from the actual
show itself, they dont give and clothing or physical
features, so the audience are free to make up the
characters in their own mind and create the archers world
for themselves. In the archers, cliffhangers are used to
catch the eye of the audience so they leave that episode
wanting to know what has happened so they have to come
back next time to find out what has happened in the radio
drama, in comparison, the blind mans confession in its
postmodern techniques doesnt use cliff hangers as it has
an end to the show therefore the audience know and
understand that it is the end of the show. The traditional
drama uses the convention of speech very well, the way
that the characters speak gives the audience an image of
how the characters are and what theyre actions are like,
in a traditional radio drama the speech is one of the most
important things as it helps the audience understand the
characters and create an image for themselves, whereas
in the postmodern production, the blind mans confession,
the speech changes from time to time as the characters
reaction to different things happening in this horror drama
are needed for the audience to create the horror for
themselves. In the archers, chronological development is
used, as it is important for the story, it makes the story
slowly develop to a point that the audience understand
what it is and what is happening, this means that the story
has a very clear beginning, middle and end to the story.

Styles
The styles in a radio drama are important as it reaches to
certain target audiences that suit the conventions of the
radio drama, whether it is traditional or postmodern. The
target audience help the radio drama get to those styles,
the postmodern drama is hard to put into a certain
audience, from what we hear in the blind mans confession,
the style of it is horror and the character is young so it is
mainly aiming towards that target audience.
The traditional radio drama the archers and its styles
within its target audience can relate to a more mature
target audience, this is easy to identify as the story
content would appeal to that audience. The more mature
audience relate as it is something they have grown up
with, the language in the archers also give us the
impression that it is aimed towards a more mature
audience. The music used in the traditional radio drama
represent the style and the characters that star in the
show, at the beginning of the drama the music suits the
shows style as it is classical and enjoyable. Compared to
the postmodern drama, the target audience is very
different, the archers want a more mature audience where
as the blind mans confession will be suited to much more
younger audience.
The difference between the two topics, postmodern and
traditional dramas is that the target audience for the two
are both very different, when you look at the type of
people who would be interested in listening to the blind
mans confession you would think they would not be as
interested in watching such a different show such as the
archers, you will get people who will want to listen to
something different such as a horror radio drama and then
something like the archers but the difference between the
two is huge so the target audience would be in a range of
difference. The archers tends to explain the story and its
style and it will stay the same throughout the entire
episode, whereas the style of the blind mans confession
changes as the characters mood changes with what is
happening within the story, this transfers to the audience.

Structure
The structures of the traditional and postmodern radio
dramas is similar as they are both long enough for the
audience to get an image in their mind and get an
understanding of what is happening in both of the stories,
they both have a duration of twelve minutes. The main
difference between the two dramas is that the blind mans
confession is a one time show, you will know what
happens in the end of the show in one episode whereas
the archers is a radio drama that will have many episodes
to cover a story to get to the bottom of. One of the most
important traits of radio drama is its narrative structure, in
the traditional drama it clearly enabled the audience to
get an understanding of what is happening in the story
thanks to the narrator and the story dialogue in the
background when the actual characters are talking,
whereas the postmodern show, the archers, has more
episodes than the blind mans confession so the narrative
structure stretches over more than one episode.

Comparison And Conclusion

In conclusion to this essay, we have come to the answer
that the two radio dramas, the blind mans confession and
the archers both have many differences that make them
both unique and successful in their own way, the
difference that stuck out for me was the way it was
structured, this meant the way it was portrayed to the
audience, the traditional radio drama, the archers, used
much more of a narrative than the blind mans confession,
in comparison the blind mans confession used two main
techniques to tell their horror story, flashbacks and fades
are effective in telling the story as the narrator gives his,
views, feelings and emotions into telling his story.