Evaluation:

Comparison to researched productions:

I think my production has come pretty close to the standard of some Sci-Fi audio dramas,
specifically OZ 9, one of my researched audio dramas before starting my production. When
coming up with the idea for my audio drama I did use OZ 9 for inspiration on more of the
‘wacky’ side of my idea, as the style of 0Z 9 is more cartoony. This is what inspired me to
create the character ‘Zlax’ as he was the comic relief character in my production. Another
reason why Zlax was comic relief, was because I added an over-exaggerated backstory, that
helped sell him as that character type.

The radio drama of choice I used heavily for inspiration was Marsfall. I used this one more
than the others as this was the one which leaned on the Sci-Fi genre, more than the others. I
liked the sounds used in this one as it was more of the metal/spaceship sound effect which I
knew I wanted to be a sound that was very prominent throughout my whole production. I
do feel like Marsfall did pull the sound effects off better than I did, but with my limited
materials and knowledge of creating sounds, I think I did manage to create the sound pretty
well.

The sounds used in Marsfall where the back-bone of my idea. To me the sounds used helped
create the atmosphere so much better than dialogue or music could. When I was
researching Marsfall, I knew that the way I wanted to convey the genre would be by using
vast amounts of sounds and Foley. This is what it think helped the narrative get further.
Further cementing the idea into the listeners.

Even though my chosen genre was Sci-Fi and comedy, I did want to still have some aspects
of a dark/more realistic Sci-Fi, shown in my researched drama ‘The Bright Sessions’. I think I
achieved this to a good standard with the engine sounds and the ship sounds. This helped
show the genre to its extent, and not just being a comedy Sci-Fi, which is what I wanted for
my production.

Production strengths:

Another strength I was told was how the narrative was strong, from the part where the
character enters the bar to where the officers enter the story is where peers have said was
the confusing part. Every other part of the story and narrative were easy and simply to
follow/understand.

Some of the strengths I got from my production was how all my sounds, music and dialogue
conveyed my chosen genre well. When I added sound that didn't quite give the effect I
wanted, I went to add effects to fully show the effect I wanted from that sound. During the
editing process, I kept the idea of creating the atmosphere with focusing on the sounds and
not so much the dialogue or music, this enabled me to make a very atmosphere heavy
production which put the listeners in the story. One of my peers had said that during the
crash of the ship, the sounds engaged the listener making them more on edge. Another
point the listener made was how the transition between the crash site and the busy
street/bar was good as the atmosphere changed along with the music, changing to more
calming relaxing music made the listener relax whilst listening.

When the main character had made his way into the bar, the music and sounds immediately
created a imagine of the bar and the atmosphere.

Production weaknesses:

Another point I got from a peer is that the sound effects are too loud compared the
dialogue. Some of the sounds like the engine noises or background noise where too loud
covering the dialogue. After listening through a couple more times, I identified the sounds
and dialogue they covered up and turned the volume down on the sound effects, and to
further help the volume, I turned the volume of the dialogue up to make it even more clear.

Some of the feedback I got on my Audio drama from my peers was how some times when
listening the music would play for a little too long before the dialogue plays leaving a gap in
any audio. That gap in audio would also be too long making the story and the narrative feel
disconnected. This simple mistake is easily fixable, it’s as simple as moving the files
containing the sounds a bit to the left so it removes the gap creating the silence.

One last bit of feedback I got on my audio drama is that through some parts of the story the
narrative gets a bit hard to follow. A reason why this could be is a lack of experience of story
writing or a making a production purely out of sound. Another reason would be not being to
find or record the sounds needed to fully convey the story.

Did you meet your goals?

One of the goals I had set myself, prior to starting my production was to be able to identify
the genre within the first 2 minutes, give or take. When I chose Sci-Fi as my genre I knew
that it’s a very big genre for any type of production so I wanted to do the genre justice by
going to the limit with sounds and music that can be identified immediately.

With the way I had envisioned my production I did want to also implement some more
funny sounds to keep the comedy aspect but also keeping the more realistic side as well. A
way I feel like I could improve this goal it achieve higher would be to instead of trying to find
spots that need sound or forcing sounds that don’t fit into the production

Another goal I set myself was to be able to have the story followed throughout the whole
production. This, I feel like I didn’t fully achieve as some of the feedback I got showed how
the narrative was hard to follow through some parts. What I could improve next time for
this specific issue is, when writing the script, try not to make scenarios that cannot be
created with the skill set I have currently or with the sounds or visuals I have.

Self-Evaluation:
Overall, at the end of the unit, I do believe that I was successful with creating my
production. For the first attempt at an audio drama, I think that I managed to convey the
Sci-Fi genre. With Sci-Fi being such a big type of production for dramas or film and there are
so many ways to make a Sci-Fi production, I think I managed to show it off well.

Have only found a couple things I could improve upon, such as sound volume, gaps in my
production and script writing. All things that with more experience can be fixed. I feel like
my characters were developed well and connected with each other. They also fit the genre
and narrative.