Analysis of production

1. Analysis of production Carly O’Connor- ‘Supermarket Showdown’

2. Digital Technology in my Production I have used a range of different types of technology in the planning and making of my production. I began by using Microsoft Word to lay out my story and also to write my script. This was the easiest to use as it uses simple formats when writing the story and also for he layout of the script.

3. I also used the internet to assist me with creating a blog and so that I could communicate with my teacher and send work through emails. The internet was also used so that I could do research to help me with my production. I used the following sites to help me; • http://www.ehow.com/how_4471379_write-radio-drama-script.html This website helped me with my production as it gave me ideas of how to achieve a radio drama with the typical conventions. I used it almost as a checklist to see if I had achieved what would appear to be a successful radio drama. • http://www.irdp.co.uk/scripts.htm I used this website in a very similar way to the last. This website gave me tips on how to structure my radio drama and how to create the radio drama so that it entertained the audience and kept them interested throughout. It also insured that I was able to build up my characters so that they seemed as realistic as possible. • http://www.storyinsight.com/ This was another website which was written by somebody’s own experience of writing a radio drama. This website was useful because it pointed out common mistakes the person had made and how to avoid the. • http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/faraway-tree.php This website shows the inspiration to my story. ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ by Enid Blyton inspired my story as it was able to make fairytale characters seem realistic. This website gives an outline of the magical characters and the adventures the children go on.

4. When making my production I used Sony ux 60 recorder and Sony 907 microphones. I thought this equipment was high-quality and enabled clear voices to be heard throughout my radio drama. The only issue I had with recording was that I lost some work which I then had to re-record. • Next I used Audacity to put together and edit my recording. Audacity was an appropriate programme to use for this as it was clear and easy as well as being able to enhance the sound quality of my radio drama. • To make my advertisement I used Microsoft Publisher and Paint Shop Pro. Paint Shop Pro enabled me to be able to cut and crop parts that I wished to use, where Microsoft Publisher enabled me to set out my advertisement in a clear and professional way. • The school network was also extremely helpful when making my radio drama as I was able to store large files. We used a disconnected network so that the large files could be stored safely without the computers crashing or creating problems with the all over school network.

5. Conventions of the Genre • My radio drama follows the typical genre of a children’s fairy story. It remains in linear order- starting at the start and ending at the end, with no flash backs ect. • Conventions of a fairy story is generally to include characters which are unrealistic. So for example fairies and witches or in my radio drama, vegetables who can talk. • Another typical convention of a fairy tale is to include a ‘baddie’ which is a villain like character who is out to get the innocent characters. In my play I have chosen to use the toffee’s as this character.

6. Before fairytales became a story for young children, the audience was also often adults. Because of this, I have chosen to make my radio drama suitable for both children and adults by making it magical, yet with a subliminal message that sweets are bad for you as they are the ones portrayed as the villain. • Another typical convention of a fairytale genre is ‘happy ever after’. However, I have chosen to leave my story on a cliff hanger to modernize it and go against the general conventions of a fairy story.

7. Representations • I have chosen to represent my characters as very different sorts of people so that it is easy to distinguish between them. Also this means that I can follow the conventions of a fairy story by having the classic different kinds of characters- the brave one, the scared one, the evil one ect. • I have chosen to represent Rosie as a pretty normal child, who has just lost her mother. Although she seems well behaved a more deviant side of her comes through when she eats the toffee. • I have chosen to represent Carla the Carrot as the brave one of my characters. I thought I would go against the convention of the fairy story and modernize it by having a female character be the brave one instead of a male character. I have done this by making her the character responsible and in charge of making the choices. However, I have also chosen to make her quite sympathetic, portrayed through the use of the word “dear” a lot.

8. I have chosen to make Barry the broccoli and Roy The Runner Bean similar in characteristics. Although they are both male I have chosen to make them more scared about the prospect of meeting the toffee’s. However I have given Barry the Broccoli a slightly more cowardice feel by making him seem more worried about things, for example he says; “We shouldn’t be doing this Carla. I’m finding it hard to breathe...” Giving the impression that he is more fearful. • I have made Roy the runner bean a bit more informative than the other. Roy is the character who explains to Rosie about the supermarket and the fact that its all alive.

9. I wanted to represent the character of the tofee as a mean and horrible character who was not willing to be helpful or trustworthy. I achieved this by using technical signs and spoken language to help. • When the toffee was speaking his words were slow and sly. I created this by making the actor speak slowly and quietly, yet confidently at the same time. I felt that this was the best way to represent the toffee as I didn’t want it to come across that the toffee was loud and angry, but instead quiet and sly. • I used the denotation of the gold wrappers around the toffees as a way of representing them as “gangsters”. I portrayed this by making another character refer to these wrappers as “stupid gold jackets”, and talk about how the toffees thought they were “gangsters” when they were wearing them. The “gold jacket” gives off connotations of the toffees being in a gang where they all follow the same dress sense. This means that the audience will see the character of the toffee as a character who is a bully and part of a big gang which is intimidationg to others.

10. Planning and Representation of ideas • I felt that my planning was quite successful. Although I had to change some of my ideas and add some, most of my radio drama remained the same. • I realised that I had to give more away about the characters and so added more detail about them to my script such as Rosie and her Dolly. This made Rosie sound girly, which is what I wanted the audience to portray her as.

11. Audience Feedback • I received feedback from a range of people both media students and outside of media. This gave me a clear idea of what I done well and what I could do better next time. • 92% of people said that they enjoyed my radio drama and thought that it was effective in targeting the age range I had planned. • The majority of people also thought the idea of using the sound effect of the supermarket in the background was a good idea as it made the scene more realistic.

12. To improve my radio drama people thought that the volume of all of the characters could have been the same. • Also they thought that I could have used more magical sound effects. However, this was difficult because they were extremely hard to make and also I felt that they weren’t necessary in the scenes they weren’t placed in. However, if I had more time and better technology I would definitely have liked to create the magical sound effects.

13. Technology and the Ability to Create • Due to advances in technology we are now able to communicate a wide range of ideas that we wouldn’t have been able to before. • The radio drama I have made is similar to the radio dramas I have heard. However, because the technology we use may not be as high-tech as the material they use, it was hard to make my radio drama sound as professional as theirs did. Also, due to limitations a lot of sound effects were hard to get making it difficult to use a lot in my radio drama. For example, it was very difficult to create magical sounds myself and so a lot of them I had to find that were made already.

14. Institution, The BBC and Radio 4 • BBC radio 4 is the third most popular radio station in the United Kingdom and gets 9.5 million listeners weekly. • The majority of these listeners are female and are over the age of 65. Only 4% of people ages between 15-24 listen to BBC Radio 4. • Although due to these statistics, it would seem my radio drama for young children would not fit this in fact could be wrong. Because my target audience is young children who are not included in the statistics, they would be told to listen to the radio drama by adults, teachers or parents so it is therefore quite likely that it could be played to children.