Running Date and Details

The first episode of our radio drama will be broadcast on Saturday 6th August 2011 at 9pm, and will run for six weeks. One episode will be broadcast every Saturday night. Our target audience will stay in on Saturday nights so placing it at this date and time is ideal. Being a Saturday also is appealing as it is at a time where listeners are less likely to be working. I think this is the best time to broadcast our radio drama to bring in the largest amount of our target audience.

Double Page Spread: Final Version

This is the first page of my double page spread:

This is the second page:

I wanted to keep the same feel that I wanted to keep in the poster for the feature. I used bold, red-coloured text all in capitals with a small tag-line underneath as an attention grabbing device for readers. I also used large quotes dotted on the page as another attention grabbing device. The large Polaroid pictures are also there to get the attention of the reader. I made sure to have them strewn on the page to reflect the messy feel of the drama. I made sure to include several pictures of graffitied walls, again reflecting the mood.

Double Page Spread Development

This is a screen shot during the development of my double page feature. I've used large red, bold letters as way to grab the attention of the reader along with the tag-line "a post-apocalyptic survival story" again to entice readers.
I used one of the effects in Adobe InDesign to create a shadow on the Polaroid picture:

I also used an effect to create an outline around the text to create more emphasis on them.

Double Page Spread Rough Design

My double page spread, like my poster, attempts to reflect the overall feel, theme and genre of the radio drama.

In keeping with the theme of the drama, I would have large, bold, red coloured text. In the background would be cracked, dilapidated walls. I thought that I should include Polaroid pictures of the characters with a small biography next to them, laying skewed across the page.

Analysis of Double Page Spreads

This double page feature for Doctor Who has various attention grabbing conventions. A large picture along with text deliberately made large and bold to get the reader to read on. The Doctor Who logo is used also to get the point across to the reader as to what the feature is about. There are words with red backgrounds highlighting important items on the page like 'exclusive' and 'on set in Rome'. There's large, bold text with a slightly destroyed look to it that reflects the sci-fi genre.

This one is another behind the scenes feature of The Sarah Jane Adventures. This again highlights certain things with large, bold lettering over a red backdrop. There are large pictures also with various, small pieces of text explaining and elaborating on them. Again, there's large, bold text in capitals, and pictures with loads of space-age looking gadgets in them reflecting the sci-fi genre.

This is another sci-fi Doctor Who feature. There is a lot less text on this feature, and it consists mainly of images of various characters from Doctor Who. Again, there are a lot of conventions here reflecting the science fiction genre. The lack of text may suggest a lower class demographic.

Details of Advert Placement

My poster advertisement for our drama should be in The Times newspaper. This newspaper as a younger age target audience which is similar to the target audience of our radio drama. Our audience would be more middle class which links in more with that of The Times. I think The Times would be the best place for my advertisement as that's where we would find the audience that fits our target audience.

Rest of Group Posters

This is Joe Frost's poster for our drama Under the Mushroom Cloud:

This is Lucie Glennon's poster:

Poster: Final Version

This is my final poster design:

 Like with other advertisements for dramas, I tried to make sure that the poster reflected the mood and genre of the radio drama. Because it's a science fiction, post-apocalyptic narrative, I tried to maintain this mood with various conventions. I used a grungy, grey wall with blood-red graffiti text to keep the feel of our drama. I also included the logo of the station it would be broadcast on, BBC Radio 4 Extra, but I changed the logo from being purple to the same red as the text. BBC Radio 4 Extra used to be BBC Radio 7, which was a radio station that broadcast loads of radio dramas. The re-branding was done to provide more comedy and drama and to include more family friendly content for older children.

Poster Development

To achieve the desired feel to reflect the theme of our radio drama, I had to go through several steps to make it look right. The first thing I did was edit a picture of a wall using Adobe Photoshop to make it look more grey and reflect the mood of the drama.

I did this by desaturating the image to take out a lot of colour and by using the Levels Tool in Photoshop:

On this wall I wanted to have the name of the drama, Under the Mushroom Cloud, spray painted like graffiti. To do this, first I used Photoshop's Pen Tool to draw graffiti-looking words spelling the name of our drama.

Then, I skewed the words to the correct perspective of the wall:

Then, I changed the colour to red, blended it into the wall and added some drip marks to make it look more authentic, then repeated this for the other words on the poster.

Poster Design: Rough Design

A poster for any media product should reflect the tone and genre of what it's advertising. That's why for my poster I want it to reflect the dark, post-apocalyptic nature of our radio drama.

For my poster I want to have the name of the drama, 'Under the Mushroom Cloud', to be sprayed in red paint onto a cracked, dilapidated wall. In the background behind some iron railings there would be a faded mushroom cloud in the sky.

Analysis of Posters

This advertisement for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reflects heavily on the genre and theme. We can clearly see the night's sky in the background with lots of stars. This reflects the sci-fi genre of Hitchhiker's Guide. The typeface is used again to reflect the genre. Large, bold, capital letters have action/science fiction connotations.

This is an advertisement for another science fiction drama, The War of the Worlds. Large, bold letters are again used on top of a picture of an alien vessel firing a laser, reflecting the theme and genre of the piece.

The Archers, being a completely genre to War of the Worlds and Hitchhiker's Guide, looks completely different. It is calmer more chilled out with small, white text displaying the name, along with the bright image of a field in the background. These things reflect the theme and genre of The Archers.

Production Log: Editing

To edit our radio dramas we use a program called Soundtrack Pro.

Soundtrack Pro is a very sophisticated program for editing audio. In the segment I edited I cut up the audio into different pieces using the Blade tool. With this I can move and edit individual sound pieces. There are a lot of various sound effects which can be dropped in to create realism. I added several sounds of doors closing to  and foot fall sounds to give a sense of action and movement. At the beginning of scene 3 a character experiences becoming concious after being knocked out. To achieve this effect I faded in the audio to give the impression of slowly becoming more aware, and I also added an echo to the other character's voice to give a sense of disorientation. Echo is also useful to give the an impression of space, particularly in radio drama where there is no visual representation of it. I also used the echo to do this to give the audience an impression of being in a large, hard-surfaced room.

Radio Drama: Listen Party Version

Edited Sound Clips

Raw Recording

Sound Clips

Details of Studio

With the studio we can record directly into Soundtrack Pro to create a raw recording. To record we must ensure that all plugs are on. Then move up all three sliders and turn them on. Then a location must be selected for the recordings to be saved. Before recording anything, it must be made sure that recordings are of the right volume by recording a small test sample and seeing what the peaks are like in Soundtrack Pro. After recordings are finished, they must be exported as an .MP3 at 192KPBS.

Production Log: Final Script Draft

SCENE 1

RYAN:                                   Have you got that radio working yet?

NICK:                                     I’m trying! Bloody political war, breaking my equipment!

(RADIO TUNING IN, EMITTING STATIC)

NEWS BROADCASTER:     (D) …The nuclear fallout has swept across the world leaving devastation in its wake. We have reports that America has been all but destroyed...

NICK:                                     I’ve got it!

RYAN:                                   Shh! There might be something important!

NEWS BROADCASTER:     (D) …Listeners are reminded to stay in groups for safety reasons. Do not go anywhere near irradiated zones. These areas are usually highlighted with signs surrounding the area...

NICK:                                                 Ahh, it’s the same as all ways.

NEWS BROADCASTER:     ...We are happy to report that several fallout shelters have opened up all around Britain. What follows is a complete list of all shelters that have opened: Norfolk, Torquay…

NICK:                                     Ahh! They’re too far.

NEWS BROADCASTER:     …Suffolk…

NICK:                                     Come on! (STATE OF PANIC) Please, please, please!

NEWS BROADCASTER:     …Brentwood: Essex…

NICK:                                     YES! Ryan, did you hear that? We’re gonna’ be ok, we’re  

                                                gonna’ be ok...

RYAN:                                    I heard it. Come on, leave it, we can’t afford to take it with us.

                                                 …Jen, Daniel! Where are you guys?

JEN:                                        What’s all the commotion? …What are we doing?

NICK:                                    I’ll tell you what it is, Ms Jennifer! Bloody Salvation! Hah!  

                                               We are leaving this hell is what we’re doing!

DANIEL:                               We’ll be safe?

JEN:                                       You’re kidding?

NICK:                                     I am most certainly not. Ask Ryan if you don’t believe me.

JEN:                                        Is it true Ryan? Well, I mean, where are we going? What are  

                                               we going to do?

RYAN:                                   Don’t worry I’ve got it all worked out.

JEN:                                  But…it’s way too dangerous out there! There’s irradiated areas, and who knows what else!

RYAN:                                   Just calm down, it’s going to be fine, like I said, I have a plan.

                                               

SCENE 2

JEN:                                       Oh my god! I can’t believe it! Everything’s been destroyed!

DANIEL:                               I remember a park was once there.

RYAN:                                  Come on, we need to keep moving.

JEN:                                       How far do we have to go?

RYAN:                                  We need to get out of the city, I’d say at least 2 hours of

                                               walking. Come on, let’s get moving.

JEN:                                       2 hours?! Is there no transportation?

RYAN:                                  No! Look around Jen, everything’s blown to hell

DANIEL:                              I’m not too keen on walking.

RYAN:                                 Well we need to get out of here now!

NICK:                                   Yeah so get bloody movin’!

Ambience

NICK:                                   Watch that gap Jen.

JEN:                                      How long are we gonna’ keep going like this?

RYAN:                                 Stop. Did you hear that?

NICK:                                   What is it Ryan?

Falling debris between them

RYAN:                                 That building is going to collapse! We need to go, move!

Footsteps, running and heavy breathing

NICK:                                      Where’s Jen?!

RYAN:                                     She’s fallen! She’s over there!

NICK:                                       C’mon let’s get her.

Footsteps, running, sound of dragging body.

Building collapses.

NICK:                                        (Heavy Breathing) Why didn’t you help us Daniel?!

DANIEL:                                   Oh, I, um…

RYAN:                                       We’re supposed to be a team!

SCENE 3

RYAN:                                       (D) JEN! CAN YOU HEAR US? JEN! JEN!

NICK:                                         You coward Daniel!

DANIEL:                                    I already said I’m sorry, I didn’t know the building was 

                                                    gonna’ collapse…

NICK:                                         She could have died!

DANIEL:                                    But she didn’t, did she?

NICK:                                         You’re towing a fine line. I’d be careful what you do.

JEN:                                            Euurgh, what’s going on? Why are you shouting?

NICK:                                         This coward just left you underneath the building as it was 

                                                    collapsing.

DANIEL:                                    ...It’s…It’s not like that…

NICK:                                         Oh! So how is it Daniel? Because to me, you just left her to

                                                    die!

DANIEL:                                    I’m sorry…

JEN:                                            Where are we anyway?

RYAN:                                       It’s an old library; we thought we could rest here for a while.

NICK:                                        That’ll be a challenge. This is falling apart.

JEN:                                           Have we got any water?

RYAN:                                      Yeah sure. (RUSTLING OF BACKPACK)

JEN:                                           Thanks (GULPING OF WATER)

NICK:                                        Let’s just try and get some rest.

DANIEL:                                  Err, sure.

SCENE 4

NICK:                                       Jen, are you sure you’re ok to carry on? We’re nearly in

                                                  Brentwood.

JEN:                                          (BREATHLESS) …Just a few more steps.

RYAN:                                     I see it!         

(SOUND OF RUNNING)

NICK:                                       C’mon let’s get inside. Quick Jen, Hurry up Ryan.

(DOOR SLAMS BEHIND THEM, ONCE ALL INSIDE)

RYAN:                                     So this is our salvation eh? No food, no water, nothing!

DANIEL:                                 No, the shelter’s underground! See that hatch there? We need

                                                 to go down there… But I’m not so good with heights, you 

                                                 guys go first. I’ll be right behind you.

RYAN:                                    C’mon then, we need to go down here. Watch out, it’s pretty 

                                                dark…

(SOUNDS OF CHARACTERS DESCENDING LADDER)

(DANIEL REMAINS)

                                                 …You coming Daniel?

DANIEL:                                 Not today, Ryan!

RYAN:                                    What?!

JEN:                                         (SHOUTING) Ryan! We’re at the bottom, but theres nothing 

                                                 here! It’s a trap!

RYAN:                                    NO! DANIEL, WAIT!

(SOUND OF HATCH BEING LOCKED FROM OUTSIDE, TRAPPING THEM IN THE SHELTER)

SCENE 5

Sound of mobile phone beginning to record and Daniel Filming himself.

DANIEL:                                They don’t understand, this is hell. No, this is worse than hell.

                                                Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide when things get rough. We’re

                                                all just better off dead. I just don’t know who I am anymore. 

                                                They were naïve. They thought everything would be fine, yet

                                                most of the world is DEAD! This isn’t a movie, it’s real life!

                                                We may as well just give-in now. After all, it’s only a matter of

                                                time before we get poisoned by radiation anyway... Do you like

                                                my gun? Found it in that drawer over there. Hah, shall we listen 

                                                to the news? I think we should...

(DANIEL TUNES A TRANSISTOR RADIO IN)

NEWS BROADCASTER:     (D) ‘…With the face of the earth in ruins, only wastelands

                                                remain. Be vigilant, be alert, and most importantly, be safe…’

(SFX OF RADIO DYING)

DANIEL:                               (*SIGH*) …Goodbye.

(SFX OF GUN BEING COCKED, WITH A SINGLE GUNSHOT, FOLLOWED BY SILENCE)