Ensemble Group Radio Project (Seeing Beyond)

The play we have decided to perform for our radio project is called "Seeing Beyond" it was a piece taken from a staged play, in which we have adapted to suit the radio genre Radio Drama. The piece looks at a psychic, Maya, who hasn't been able to see the dead for 10 years, but all of a sudden Felicity, the sister of Tom who is attending the seminar, appears wanting to make contact with her little brother, however Tom's Wife, Becky, who is sceptical of the whole situation is constantly intervening, little does Tom know Felicity has come to tell Tom a dark secret about Becky, which involves Felicity's death.........

Mediums, Psychics, and calling the dead from beyond dates back to early human history, however popularity grew noticeably within the 19th century. This popular entertainment, or also bring peace to family's, was soon started to be investigated, with many cases finding that the "Mediums" were in fact frauds, who weren't contacting the dead, they were just using cheap parlour tricks to make audiences believe they were, a very famous medium investigator was Harry Houdini, who after losing his mother set out to find a way of contacting her, but instead actually became persistently irritated with people being frauds that he perused as many as he could uncovering whether they were the real deal. Situations such as this still continue to this very day.


The time period of this play however is set in the present time, and so with television's in every household anyone can watch this "phenomenon" on shows such as "Psychic Sally" or "Colin Fry", the shows tend to now have less to do with moving objects, creepy voices and gushes of wind, and more to do with "talking" to the dead, this is also another widespread debate that these "psychics" actually have a team backstage researching audience members, this point is brought up within the play when Becky says "she got them of our reservations" after Maya mentions their names, "ill bet she has a whole team of researchers who look into people before they come to the show", these two quotes are in my opinion the reason for this play's creation it's looking into the controversy of these shows, this does come through mainly with the character Becky, but also at one point Maya says she hasn't seen a ghost or spirit in 10 years, which means for 10 years she has been faking her shows.

 

Tom is 32 years old, he has no longer got any biological family relations, hence the fact his sister means a lot to him. He has been married for 12 years to Becky, but sadly his sister past away when he was 22.

The relationship between him and his sister was very close, considering they had grown up together alone, his sister was the parent of the siblings, as Tom is a bit of a push over, he tends to follow the lead instead of taking control of the situation himself.

His relationship with Becky isn't something he is in control of, Becky likes things done her way and so Tom would be found following after her every command, Becky did not like the way Tom looked up to his sister and the bond that they had, so we came to the conclusion she killed Felicity off, and that's what Felicity has come back to tell Tom.

The reason I think that Tom is a push over, and caring of other people, is because of lines such as "Lets go" Becky says, immediately Tom says "Yeah I'm getting really creeped out" the only time Tom doesn't do what his wife says is when Felicity is mentioned, in fact he practically begs Becky saying "Please do this for me", this is the attitude that I don't think Becky liked when Felicity was alive, because he stood up for himself and wanted to do something for himself.

Solo Radio Project (7-11)

7-11 Advert

Who? This is targeted piece of text I believe to be targeted at people my age, maybe starting university, or settling into a new house, I think this because of the lines "It's 2:00 in the morning" people my age tend to be up this early in the morning, "you think about cooking, then you remember the 3' alarm fire you started last time you tried using the stove", older generations would be able to cook.

What? It's an advert for a shop that sells food 24hr's a day.

Where? There is no setting to this advert, so the sound effects I've used are to entertain the audience, as well as make them remember the advert, as that's what adverts are about making your audience remember them, so that they buy your product.

Why? I chose this piece because it differs from the other texts, its short sweet and has a different outcome to the piece, the target audience is very different from the other pieces and the piece itself relies on sound effects to amuse the audience.

Voice:

Normal tone and pitch, to make it relatable to audience members. I want to create a voice that audience members would remember something catchy.

So it’s 2:00 in the morning...

*Alarm clock beeping*

and you’re starving.

 Nothin’ in the fridge, and nothin’ in the cupboards.

*Cricket insect noises*

You don’t even have dog biscuits hangin’ around.

*Barks*

You think about cooking, but then you remember the 3-alarm fire you started last time you tried using the stove.

*Fire alarm, followed by fire truck noises*

Well, check out 7-11. There’s gotta be one right near ya’. They have everything from burgers to tacos...24 hours a day...7 days a week. 7-11. Think of it as your own personal walk-in kitchen.

Normal tone and pitch: I want this piece to be as normal and relatable to the audience as it can so that it does its purpose, people will buy something they need if they can relate to a certain person in a certain scenario they find themselves in.

Catchy sound effects: I want the piece to be to the point and quick, just like the text suggests, so sound effects that are easy to listen to and understand straight away are perfect for a snappy advertisement such as this one.

Solo Radio Project (The Cat In The Hat)

Transcript Key:

*SFX*

Voice Techniques

(Vocal Prompts)

The Cat in The Hat

Who? The target audience of this piece was obvious from the start, this piece is aimed at young audiences, so the energy of this piece needs to match theirs, which is why this piece challenges my vocal techniques of all three, purely for the fact that if the piece isn't fun and silly, then the young audience will not be engaged.

What? The piece is taken from the famous children's book "The Cat In The Hat", by Dr Zeus, the extract I have taken is from the first chapter, and its a lot of setting the scene, and introducing characters.

Where? This piece is set in the young boys house.

Why? I chose this piece as the variation of vocal techniques I need to use are challenging, but this also makes it differ from the other piece, which is why it fits perfectly in my transcript alongside the other texts.  

Voices:

The Narrator:

Deep tone with clear diction. I want it to sound as if he could describe every detail, he should have a raspy tone to his voice kind of like the dramatic trailer voice over. But light, kind of like the narrator from the new version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The Boy: Higher pitch, his diction will be average and the will be a tone of boredom to his lines.

The Cat: The Cat has a deep tone to his voice, that frequently spirals out of control into higher pitches, its slightly psychedelic.

The Fish: Raspy high pitch tone, with a fast paced moaning noise.

SPEECH:

*Rain can be faintly heard in the background* (28 Seconds)

The sun did not shine. it was too wet to play. so we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day.

I sat there with sally. we sat there, we two. and i said, 'how i wish we had something to do!' too wet to go out and too cold to play ball.

(Bored Tone, slowing the words, like whining)

*The Sound of a ball bouncing* (2 Seconds)

so we sat in the house. we did nothing at all.

so all we could do was to sit! sit! sit! sit! and we did not like it. not one little bit. and then something went BUMP!

*The Sound of a bump* (One Bump)

how that bump made us jump! we looked! then we saw him step in on the mat! we looked! and we saw him! the cat in the hat!

(Excited, Pace quickens, pitch high, lines sharp)

And he said to us, 'why do you sit there like that?' 'i know it is wet and the sun is not sunny. but we can have lots of good fun that is funny!' 'i know some good games we could play,' said the cat. 'i know some new tricks,' said the cat in the hat. 'a lot of good tricks. i will show them to you. your mother will not mind at all if i do.' then sally and i did not know what to say. our mother was out of the house for the day.

But our fish said, 'no! no! make that cat go away! tell that cat in the hat you do NOT want to play. he should not be here. he should not be about. he should not be here when your mother is out!'

(Telling of the character, Loud, high pitch tone.)

*Swishing of water is heard* (3 Seconds)

'now! now! have no fear. have no fear!' said the cat. 'my tricks are not bad,' said the cat in the hat. 'why, we can have lots of good fun, if you wish, with a game that i call up-up-up with a fish!'

(pitch gets higher on each up)

*Swishing of water* (3 Seconds)

The Narrator:  I had chosen these aspects because it distinguishes the characters from the narrator easily, which is important because the switches between them a quick and pacey, the diction is important as the narrator as he is describing the action. I wanted him to have a dramatic edge to his voice because, all the characters are meant to be drastically different from one another, to make it quite quirky and bouncy.

The Boy: The boy's tone it's self is pretty self explanatory, it had to be high so that listeners could tell who he was just by the sound of his voice, now his energy has to be high because he is a child but his diction is interfered with boredom, so the things he'll say will be a little whinny and so strong diction isn't a must for this character.

The Cat: The Cat In The Hat, needed to have the weirdest and wackiest voice, it's got to be something the target audience can remember, as he is after all the main character, so what I have done is played with the pitch and tone and instead of constantly being at one level, I use my vocal folds to create different levels.

The Fish: In my opinion the fish has to have a funny voice, because it will make the audience laugh as they wouldn't expect a normal household gold fish to sound like that, so I've gone for a high pitch voice as they are small animals, with a quick pace to his lines, because it is almost like he is telling of the kids and the cat all the time.

Solo Radio Project (David Attenborough)

In the next three blogs I will be talking you through the three extracts I have complied together to create a 3 minute radio piece. I will be explaining why ive picked them and how each one contrasts from the other, I will also be talking you through the vocal techniques and sound-effects I am planning on using and showing you why I am doing this.

Transcript Key:
*SFX*
Voice Techniques

The first extract I have chosen is a piece from one of David Attenborough's documentaries.

Who? Who is the target audience for this piece, well the age range itself could vary due to the content being an informative documentary about nature, this means the audience member could be any age, all they need to do is show an interest in the subject matter. So the fact that I have picture nature enthusiasts as my target audience, means that I have to excite them, because at the end of the day you don't want something you enjoy to sound dull, especially a very informative text, as it will bore listeners.

When? The piece itself is a modern factual documentary, however through the use of sounds I do try to make the audience feel as if they are in the 19th century. 

What? This piece is taken from a documentary about nature, more specifically the Large Blue Butterfly, documentaries are intended to inform the audience with a grouping of facts.

Where? This piece isn't set anywhere, but because of the texts descriptive take on a documentary, and the target audience needing to be engaged, I have chosen to take what is being said such as "sneaked turf of hills and heaths", "During the 19th Century", "Clergyman Wrote in Triumph" I have chosen appropriate music and sound effects, such as peaceful nature sounds and 19th century sounds so that audience members can imagine the setting themselves.

Why? I chose this text because the subject it's self doesn't interest me, so I found that it would be interesting on how I could create my own version of it, via the use of my voice and creativity with the piece, to interest other listeners.


David Attenborough.
Voice:
Slow paced for clarity to the listener.
Clear voice with a clear soft tone.
Diction slowed down so that all the letters are pronounced.
Pauses are key so that the listeners can follow the information with ease.
I want the voice to sound informative, but delicate given the nature of the text.

Speech:

*Peaceful background music, with bird tweets and insects buzzing faintly heard.*

The large blue butterfly is actually quite small.

About an inch and a half across, it is however bigger, just, than the common Blue or any other species of blue butterfly, that you might see fluttering over the sneaked turf of hills and heaths of southern England. "PAUSE"

(Soft Tone, make the audience feel at ease)

Those two qualities, the rarest and the biggest, are of course an almost lethal combination for any animal. "PAUSE"

Collectors find the coupling irresistible and during the 19th century.

*Current background music stops and changes to 19th century street sounds*

When Butterfly collection was a passion possessed not just school boys, but almost every kind of Victorian Gentleman who had the time to spare, the Large Blue became one of the most sought after of all the British Butterfly's. "PAUSE"

The zeal with which these collectors perused their prizes was extraordinary. "PAUSE"

(Excitement on this line)

*Music Fades out, and is replaced by scribbling on paper, this is heard faintly in the background.*

One Clergyman wrote in triumph to fellow enthusiasts saying that he had found a large blue colony and had taken 100 specimens from it in a single day. "PAUSE"

Not Surprisingly the large blue became rarer and rarer, by the middle of the last century it was clear that species was approaching extinction.

*Any music stops, this is the end of this piece.*

The reasons for choosing the vocal attributes I have are as follows:

Slow Paced: I've decided that the pace of the piece needs to be slow because the text its self is very informative, which means the listeners don't want to miss out on the vital information. A slower pace allows the audience to follow the text easily, I've also placed pauses within the text so that they can follow with ease, and this also gives me breathing space between lines, so that I don't trip over words in lines because I am out of breath.


Clear Voice and Soft Tone: Given the nature of the text, I've pictured the delivery to be soft and gentle considering it is about butterfly's, this once again benefits the listener as they can relax to audio. However if id chosen a sharper tone not only would it not make sense with the text, it would be uncomfortable for the audience to listen to.


Diction: Diction within this piece is very important, as ive already said the text is informing the listener with facts, so if the audience cannot hear what I am saying clearly, then they may get confused by the rest of the text.


The voice overall that I have chosen, is very formal and informative, this is so it fits with the text, if I was to use slang and poor diction with a lower tone than it would not fit with what I am saying, but if I was trying to make my audience laugh, for instance a mockumentary this polar opposite of what I have chosen would work.   

I've chosen the sound effects within the script, because I want it to set the scene for what I am talking about, the peaceful outdoor music is to relax the audience and help them picture the lush outdoors, the Victorian street music is because I change where I am talking about, and finally the scribbling on a piece of paper, is to symbolise the clergyman writing down his find.



Overall the piece I've chosen is modern and quite recent, however down to the target audience I have chosen, elderly people or people interested in nature, means that I have adapted my voice and the sound effects to suit the audience themselves.