Task 2: New AUDIO FICTION POST MODERN task

Look at the evaluation of TOURCHWOOD and complete the same for

each of the 4 radio dramas you have listened to.

Setting
Characterisation
Speech and words
Music
Silence

This research will be used in your TASK 3 to back up your ideas on

the codes and conventions of Radio Drama.
Make sure this task is completed by the next lesson
Open Season
Open Season is set in a small town in Vermont and is described to
be an old quiet town that has remained the same ever since the 19th
century. The narrator describes the town as being an industrial
remain with red bricks and lifeless atmosphere. The town lays on a
series of water ravines. However it is described as being similar to
any other normal towns with occasional disreputable
neighbourhoods. The story is set outside on the streets of the town
on a snowy day that is almost not travelable. The outdoor
atmosphere is signified by the sound of local ambience such as
murmuring of people talking, footsteps on the pavement and the
muffled engine noises heard nearby. We can tell the scene is set in a
town in America because the characters who are talking have an
American accent.
The characters are speaking in an informal manor giving us a hint
that they are familiar with the others characters through work. They
are speaking with a low voice as the atmosphere of the scene is
negative. However the words they use are very formal as the
characters are active in their duty and have to act professional. The
characters use a silence to create a tenser aspect to the mood, their
pauses dignify that the characters may be uncomfortable and rigid;
these breaks show the unstable emotion of what the characters are
thinking. This example does not include any music as it relies on
diegetic sounds to guide to listener to understanding the thought
processes and language the characters are emitting.

The Blind Mans Confession

This drama is set on a bendy road and is described to be a wet and
dark setting with surrounding forest; the character describes the
road as being mostly empty and quiet as he drives through it. The
narrator indicates that the surrounding area is damp and the road is
gritty. With a thick black rain soaked forest, although he says that
he recalls remembering tall lonely mountains as he was present in a
very cold lake with a old crooked woods upon him. Because this
story is set mostly outside on the road of the scene, we can hear
ambient noises such as the rain dripping as descried before with the
dark clouds. We can also hear faint noises that the character is
experiencing such as lightning strikes and brittle winds. Because of
the surrounding nature sounds we can tell the character in the story
is standing outside as appose to inside the car.
The main character in this drama is talking informally with a
colloquial manor showing us that he is not very relaxed due to his
situation he is in. The narrator is talking with a fast paste but low
voice because the story is exciting at first making the narrator sped
up the dialogue and explain t he events faster, but this leads to
disaster a the character is experiencing devastation so the tone of
the narrators voice is lowered and slowed down. However he is
using detailed descriptions to describe the pain the character is in,
for the literal pain of the accident and the emotion pain and feelings
such as fear, this way we can get an understanding of the scale of
the emotion that the character is feeling. The narrator also uses
silence to convey that the character in the scene is starting to
become more uncomfortable; this is especially true when he
describes the character not being alone and full of fear. The silence
between each action shows the uncertainty of the mood and
therefore this builds up a tense mood as the character and the
audience do not know what is going to occur next.
The Cleansed
The cleansed radio drama is set in a camp that is surrounded by
nature and forests near a bank. The characters describe seeing
rivers and deer therefore the characters are likely not to be near
cities. The events take place on a river in a canoe; this is described
as sitting on the water. We know this because the ambient noises
show water noises such as droplets of water and rivers flowing,

other scenes are set inside a camp as we can hear fire crackling and
faded background people muttering in the background. These
characters talking are speaking with sad low voices, as they are not
in a relaxed situation. The events unfolding cause the characters to
emit stressful emotions that reflect of other characters. This
depressed mood is the further exaggerated by the faint music in the
background of the drama. This music is non-diegetic and is use do
create a more distraught emotion and to aid the audience into
understanding the overall feelings of the characters.
The cleansed also uses frequent silence to communicate to the
audience and aurally describe the supressed inner feelings of the
characters; this technique makes the radio drama seem tenser. The
silence is diegetic as it is an action that is occurring between
characters but is attempting to display the emotions of the scene to
the audience. The silence is common in this radio drama as the
situations the characters are in are morally debatable making the
context between the characters very tense and unsettling. At the
same time the drama shows the characters using a mixture of
formal land informal langue based on whom they are talking to, this
tells the audience that the relationship between the characters is
not fully casual or natural. This therefore makes the atmosphere of
the drama to be irregular indicating that the emotions are
unpredictable and tense, making it more exciting to the listeners.
Blue Jam
Blue Jam starts of set in a park but is mostly set in a zoo that that
character has walked into. However Blue jam does not specify
details about the location but instead uses ambient spaced out
music to show that the character was seeing a surreal setting with
uneven surroundings that were not constant location. Blue jam
chooses to use broke language crossed with strange scenarios that
describe events in detail. They use complex words and surreal
language by mixing various words to create meanings and
emotions. The radio drama also tries to create bizarre situations that
appear to be non-linear as it has an uneasy developing storyline.
Blue Jam is heavy reinforced with the background music that it
provides throughout the whole broadcast, this constant strain of
music keeps the audience listening to stay, as it does not break the
atmosphere it is trying to create. The main elements that make this
broadcast surreal is the combination of strange stories told by soft
and uneasy voices and the looping textural background music witch
adds another layer to the story and makes it tenser. This expresses
the drama in the scenes between the characters as it shows that the
characters are in a state of confusion, the ambient music doesnt
reveal any of the background noises as the music is overlapping any

Foley. By doing this both the character and the audiences an

experience the same emotion, however the ambient music is
directly a non-diegetic factor that speaks to the audience only.