Evaluation

As part of my coursework for A2 Media Studies, I was required to compile and produce the first 5 minutes of a radio play, supported by a promotional web page and radio advertisement.  This process involved fabricating, to a certain extent, a profile for the fictitious radio station for which the material is being produced; developing and scripting the plot and promotional materials; recording and sourcing relevant audio and visual content and consolidating the source content, after suitable editing,  for later broadcast and publication.

I adapted the profile for my radio station, 'The Voice', from what little I knew about the plans for Channel 4 Radio.  As such, this was a relatively straightforward process and provided a suitable framework for the project, since 'The Voice' (and Channel 4 Radio) are primarily intended to broadcast speech-based content such as radio plays.  I also drew on my knowledge of BBC Radio 4, a station to which I have listened for a number of years.

In terms of the radio play itself, for the most part I believe that I have conformed to standard radio conventions.  This differs greatly from last year's project, where I deviated grossly, and has thus improved my understanding of how the radio industry operates with respect to radio drama.  For example, I did not limit myself to recording on-scene, I allowed myself to record scenes out of chronological order and I used non-diegetic music at times.  However, I would not begin to suggest that the process was easy and, indeed, there were definite areas in which I could improve in the future:

Perhaps most significantly, I believe that it would have been in my best interest to have made more decisive decisions, particularly with respect to casting, much earlier in the production process - in actuality, I did not decide upon my cast until several months after the script was drafted.  This meant that some of the cast was not entirely satisfactory in terms of vocal performance and, on top of that, the recording and production process was a little rushed.  For example, the part of Aaron was played by Jack Blackmore and, though he certainly has a very distinguishable voice, it has not yet broken, so it does not portray the part particularly well, and his diction was a little muffled at times.  There were also several issues with Lucy Birley, the person who was originally cast to play Mary, not arriving for recording sessions, which eventually resulted in the need to select Lysette Chapronière as an understudy at short-notice.  I wonder whether, had more thorough research about cast members been carried out, Lucy's unreliability might have been predicted or, at least, whether Lysette could have had more time to familiarise herself with the script had I allowed more time for the recording process itself - as it was, there was a great deal of stuttering, which made it difficult to edit.

The processes of scripting and recording both significantly improved my general understanding of radio drama techniques.  A particular line in the scripts directions made reference to 'china mugs', for example, which I now realise is unnecessary.  I also learned the value of post-production work - I originally planned to record the scenes on an Edirol R09 portable recorder, which I believed would capture the stereo imagery and general ambience and minimise the need for post-production work, but I realised that there was far too much hiss from the microphone preamp for this to be a satisfactory recording arrangement and thus decided to undertake recording sessions in a controlled studio environment.

The aforementioned non-diegetic music took some time to select.  It was sourced from a selection of royalty-free music which I acquired from the Internet, but it was difficult to decide which piece from the selection was most suitable.  As a musician, the process caused me to consider music in a different way - instead of simply realising that the piece is in C sharp minor, for example, I needed to consider the impact of the crescendos, suspended chords and even the instrumentation used.  This was invaluable in broadening my understanding of media and music, and I have already applied this understanding to musical performances.

There was a very minimal requirement for sound effects; the effects I did require were available through a resource of free sound effects compiled by the college.  The actual selection and insertion process was, therefore,  very straightforward as there were generally only two or three suitable sounds from which to choose.  Having produced the play, though, I wonder if some other sound effects would have added texture - for example, the sound of traffic outside in the first scene when Aaron is talking to Mary, or the sound of a washing machine in the background when Mary is talking to Mark.

Nevertheless, despite the many issues and shortfalls documented herein, I still believe that the play is, overall, produced to a high standard, though this is perhaps because the script itself is very simplistic in its requirements.

The production of both the radio advert and promotional web page were much simpler processes, since I have had experience of producing these materials in the past.  However, the radio advert in particular relied on audio from the play, so its production was still a little rushed, though not nearly as much since the overall product is shorter.  Having said that, for the most part, the advert used music which was already selected for use in the play - the only selection required was for the extract from the advert for the listener survey 'six months ago', and as this was very short I did not need to take as much care.  The selection of sound effects was also much simpler as I had a greater idea of the desired outcome.

Dialogue specific to the advert was recorded on an Edirol R09 digital recorder so, as specified earlier, there is some undesired background ambient noise.  However, for the most part, this is hidden by the music bed and so I decided not to re-record it.  The only parts where the ambience is particularly noticeable is at the start, where the voiceover says 'Six months ago...' and 'And now...'  It might also be noticeable in the extract from the 'listener survey' advert, where there is some reverberation from the room in which it was recorded.

I am very happy with the quality of the voiceover, which was read primarily by Paul Green, with intervention from myself when required.  However, in the future, I believe it would still be beneficial to allow a little more time since, if it was read by a less experienced reader, things such as expression may need to be corrected.

In terms of the website design, the most complicated aspects for me were those of a visual nature, such as colour contrast and the use of images, since the text of the web page itself was derived from the script for the radio advert.  I required more help at this stage to ensure that colours contrasted and images were displaying correctly; indeed, I did not incorporate any images at all until the idea was suggested to me, and even then I was not entirely sure of where they should be positioned.  As such, this was a particular learning curve for me and I believe that I have made significant progress in this area.

In conclusion, my overriding views about this project is that it was successful in that I was able to produce the required materials to a high standard, but that the standard could have been improved had I used my time more constructively.  In particular, allowing more time for the actual recording process would have been extremely beneficial.  To this end, if I produce a similar project in the future, I will endeavour to produce and follow a weekly plan so that progress can be monitored more efficiently and preparations can be made weeks, rather than days, in advance.