Evaluation

LO1
I understood from the brief that I had to plan and create a short film without the visual
footage, to be targeted at an audience of 16-25 year-olds, including the Foley sound effects.
It would have been aired before the 9pm watershed on a BBC station and therefore must be
appropriate for younger audiences.
I was able to provide an analysis of the four aspects of audio; music, dialogue, sound effects
and silence, in three given case study radio productions. I explained how each one used has
an effect on the audience. For example, when I was given three radio productions to analyse
I used the table provided to present my analysis. From this I learned that guitars played
badly do not sound creepy at all, which in turn will help if I decide to make a production of
the horror genre. I learned that the sound of feet running through mud are important to
distinguish between when the subject is standing still, walking and running. I learned that
ambience is important as it helps put a clear image of the location in which the story takes
place even when the audience cannot see the scene, such as in a radio drama.
I learned about the codes and conventions of radio drama, including (however not limited
to): words spoken, such as expositional language to reveal the plot of the production, voices
used, which has an effect on the narrative as the listener will know which character is
talking, a different character saying a line may completely change the meaning of the scene,
the nature of the speech, which reveals the mood of the character and to an extent what
they’re doing and where they are, and the sound effects employed which reveal the largest
part of the location and actions carried out
I used the software, Audition, to demonstrate an ability to gather and implement sound
effects effectively and to compose them into a radio drama of which is effective in that it
paints a clear and complete picture of a WW1 British trench in the minds of listeners. This
will be useful for my main production as I shall be using that same software to edit and
finalise my production. I encountered the problem of being unable to find a sound effect of
multiple rifle shots, the teacher showed me a method for layering the audio to make one
shot sound like many so if I need to make one thing sound like many in a future production,
I can easily do that.
My research, which consisted of a survey inquiring about people’s opinions on various
aspects of radio drama, was helpful as it helped me decide upon a story that sent a
message, which would ordinarily be quite difficult to hear, to most audiences. This has had
the effect of increasing the apparent quality (i.e. effectiveness, how believable the story is
and how strongly it can trigger emotional responses in listeners) of my production.
The information I have gained will help me to create an effective production which could
make listeners feel emotions of sadness and empathy at the events leading up to the death
of the character Edward.
I could have used better questions, such as “should a historical war story be told in the first
or third person?” In the survey, I neglected to ask any questions directly relevant to my own
radio production, preferring questions more to do with people’s own experiences with radio
productions, such as “have you ever seen a radio production? If so, did you enjoy it?” One
such question I should have used might be “what qualities do you look for in a radio
production?”

LO2
The pre-production (for example the script or the cast list) could have been improved by
making it more coherent and easy to identify with the addition of titles and by putting it all
together at the top of the page. I did not manage to adhere to the production schedule,
however I did complete the production of the radio drama on time.
The script was effective in that it for the most part gave a good idea to the actors of the
emotions behind the words, allowing them to infer the intended tone behind the words.
I think that the actors I chose were well suited to their roles, their natural voices were
similar to the voices I imagined the characters would have so minimal instruction was
needed.
The rehearsals were effective in that they allowed for any mistakes to be identified and
rectified, for example the sergeant wasn’t shouting loud enough or sounding angry enough
during rehearsals so the fact that it was just a rehearsal gave me the opportunity to correct
that. I did change the script after the rehearsal, I rearranged some of the words in a few
lines so that it would make more sense; for example I changed “after the battle, Edward was
put into a holding cell pending his court martial” to “Edward was put into a holding cell
pending his court martial after the battle”
The sound effects I used were effective in that they accurately built a scene for the listener,
save for a few missing sound effects that could have made it even better, such as a wind
sound effect, or a charge sound effect. I think that the panting and breathing sound effects
worked the best of all for a few reasons: the fatigued grunting sounded very similar to
Edward’s voice, they were layered well to show that they start grunting part way through
the run, and they sounded like they were approaching.
I did not make enough use of ambient (background) sound, I could have included a wind
sound effect, or a low-level muttering sound effect and a ‘shuffling feet in mud’ effect
before the charge and a shouting sound effect during the charge. I did however make good
use of music at the beginning and end of the production, which I believe accurately set the
mood at their respective points in time.
Had I included more different sound effects and edited with a bit more care then the
production would most probably have been of a higher standard. That said I am proud of
the work I have done.
Many people from my class have expressed pleasure at listening to the drama due to the
believable story which they claimed stirred up feelings of sadness and empathy for the
unfortunate soldier.
In future, to improve my work, I would create a more comprehensive list of sound effects to
make the picture painted in the mind of the listener more vivid and complete, I would try to
find more realistic sound effects than the fairly simple ones I currently have, I would
attempt to create more of the sound effects myself if I could, then use a sound editing
software to make them more perfect for the situation, for example I could record the sound
of one person walking on mud then edit it to sound like many people, or to sound like
running etc.