Thursday, October 17, 2019
Production: Website Aesthetics
The BBC house style for programme websites is largely utilitarian rather than centred around a specific aesthetic. However, since the purpose of my programme is to attract a new audience I have diverged from the house style and instead opted for a more friendly, youthful pastel colour palette with a welcoming sense created by bold and clear text spread across large screen real estate.
Production: Feedback on First Edit
The main takeaway upon the feedback I received from my peers was to reduce the amount of dead time between exchanges and the length of other audio such as sound effects and to create an overall faster pace. I intended for a sense of awkwardness due to the decontructive/parody nature of the program but I realise that it was in excess and came at the expense of the overall quality of the product.
The characters' names and the evidence of two different social groups were also a matter to address. The characters now explicitly refer to each other's names at the start and Alex's preference for they/them pronouns is also shown in the initial back-and-forth. I intend to make this aspect evident in the web pages as well
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Production: Reflections upon the product midway through the first edit
I have as of now created most parts of the initial edit, save sound effects and lines from CRT. I have found as of now that I may not approach the three-minute duration that the brief requires. Without sound effects, transitions and the two lines from CRT, but including the show title, intro jingle and episode title, the edit now approaches two minutes. However, I have more than enough material that was initially planned for the original audio content as I did not realise that it had a 30-second limit. The content initially intended for the original audio content now approaches around the same duration as the main show, so I shall be taking some of the best material from that and adding it to the main show. In the event that I cannot seamlessly edit these jokes within the existing ebb and flow of the main show, I shall have to record more content, but finishing the initial edit is currently my first priority.
Planning: Scripts
The final master scripts of the show and the audio content can be found here. I have used the scriptwriting tool Celtx to create the script. It may be closer to the style of a film or TV script as that is what I am personally familiar with and the Celtx tools are designed for but based on my experience of recording the audio tracks it serves its purpose well
Planning: Character Updates, Show Title, Episode Conceit, Audio Content Idea.
Jeffrey's name and character has been left as is.
Rain's name has been changed to Alex. I wanted to use a more common but still gender-neutral name for them. I planned them as non-binary as they are an under-represented group in the media, even among LGBTQ+ focused media. It also made sense for audio-based representation as aside from having 'male' and 'female' voices which is a very cisnormative view of representation, pronouns are sensible and elegant identity markers. This allows me to focus on the writing rather than think about ham-fisting a reference to class or ethnicity into the script, and is an issue I am personally passionate about.
They met each other at Board Game Society, not Tabletop now as Monopoly makes for a wider point of comedic reference than Dungeons and Dragons, but I still keep an intertextual reference to a D&D based webshow in the final script.
New Character: CRT. A CRT Television, inspired by a recent American news story I encountered.
https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2019/8/13/20804541/human-wearing-tv-head-leaves-tv-porch-virginia
Adds a menacing touch and a sense of magical realism. While Radio 4 comedies are traditionally grounded in reality, I am tasked with courting a new audience and to do that I have to expand the possibilities of genre and tone of the Radio 4 comedy.
The show is now called 'On Air!'
Episode Conceit: The episode title is now "You've got to have a featured guest!". The opening will focus on the state and continuity of the podcast as of now, what exactly the duo want to do with it and them stumbling upon a featured guest, who is of course, neither featured nor a guest - CRT.
For the original audio content I plan a Q&A segment, which will largely just be more jokes with a plug at the end of asking for questions from the audience. I plan for this to be the point of cross-media convergence as the website will have a form to submit questions as well as links to social media to submit questions as well.
Rain's name has been changed to Alex. I wanted to use a more common but still gender-neutral name for them. I planned them as non-binary as they are an under-represented group in the media, even among LGBTQ+ focused media. It also made sense for audio-based representation as aside from having 'male' and 'female' voices which is a very cisnormative view of representation, pronouns are sensible and elegant identity markers. This allows me to focus on the writing rather than think about ham-fisting a reference to class or ethnicity into the script, and is an issue I am personally passionate about.
They met each other at Board Game Society, not Tabletop now as Monopoly makes for a wider point of comedic reference than Dungeons and Dragons, but I still keep an intertextual reference to a D&D based webshow in the final script.
New Character: CRT. A CRT Television, inspired by a recent American news story I encountered.
https://www.theverge.com/tldr/2019/8/13/20804541/human-wearing-tv-head-leaves-tv-porch-virginia
Adds a menacing touch and a sense of magical realism. While Radio 4 comedies are traditionally grounded in reality, I am tasked with courting a new audience and to do that I have to expand the possibilities of genre and tone of the Radio 4 comedy.
The show is now called 'On Air!'
Episode Conceit: The episode title is now "You've got to have a featured guest!". The opening will focus on the state and continuity of the podcast as of now, what exactly the duo want to do with it and them stumbling upon a featured guest, who is of course, neither featured nor a guest - CRT.
For the original audio content I plan a Q&A segment, which will largely just be more jokes with a plug at the end of asking for questions from the audience. I plan for this to be the point of cross-media convergence as the website will have a form to submit questions as well as links to social media to submit questions as well.
Planning: Reflections Upon Generic Research
Based on the research I have conducted on other Radio 4 comedies, I have informed my production in the following ways:
The characters are young adults, which fits in with the 16-25 year old age range the brief requires as the prospective audience.
Humour is derived from a sense of fragility. The amateur nature of the young people's endeavours is what leads to the humour.
A sense of backstory and camaraderie between the cast that's organically delivered.
The house style for the intro sequence is followed.
There is a recurring joke that is made multiple references to, either explicitly in dialogue or through environmental storytelling.
Ultimately however I want to be sympathetic to the young people being portrayed. That could actually work in attracting that age range to the station as opposed to simply making them the punchline to a cruel joke.
The characters are young adults, which fits in with the 16-25 year old age range the brief requires as the prospective audience.
Humour is derived from a sense of fragility. The amateur nature of the young people's endeavours is what leads to the humour.
A sense of backstory and camaraderie between the cast that's organically delivered.
The house style for the intro sequence is followed.
There is a recurring joke that is made multiple references to, either explicitly in dialogue or through environmental storytelling.
Ultimately however I want to be sympathetic to the young people being portrayed. That could actually work in attracting that age range to the station as opposed to simply making them the punchline to a cruel joke.
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Generic Research: Two Episodes of Mash
Two Episodes of Mash
Two Episodes of Mash is a sketch comedy series created and performed by Diane Morgan and Joe Wilkinson who are the members of the stage comedy duo of the same name. It began life on Radio 2 but was then moved to Radio 4 in its second series.
It is a self-aware, metafictional work as the ongoing narrative of the show, that being two characters who supposedly have their own radio show bumbling through BBC Studios, is interspersed with the sketches the duo are known for. Presenters of other shows on Radio 2 and Radio 4 often make cameo appearances as the characters move from set to set, as well as BBC technical staff who also make appearances in order to set up the show and make its conceit work.
I am less interested in the sketches and more interested in the larger metafictional and intertextual conceit the sketches are framed around. Jokes largely revolve around how dysfunctional the production is, such as a character's excitement of receiving a theme tune for the show - one week later than it was supposed to be received.
The audio design is also played around for laughs at times, as mic taps, test audio and other imperfections are left as is to create the sense of a dysfunctional production. Other traditional sound effects and voices are used in the sketches, such as dog barks at a veterinary clinic.
In terms of representation, Morgan and Wilkinson are of course of different genders but the other characters are usually white men. Of course, this has to do with the intertextual nature of the show with other BBC Radio 2 and 4 programmes, most of them having white male presenters. I am less limited by the auxiliary characters in my production due to emulating, and being, a production of a smaller scope than a studio-wide BBC crossover.
It is a self-aware, metafictional work as the ongoing narrative of the show, that being two characters who supposedly have their own radio show bumbling through BBC Studios, is interspersed with the sketches the duo are known for. Presenters of other shows on Radio 2 and Radio 4 often make cameo appearances as the characters move from set to set, as well as BBC technical staff who also make appearances in order to set up the show and make its conceit work.
I am less interested in the sketches and more interested in the larger metafictional and intertextual conceit the sketches are framed around. Jokes largely revolve around how dysfunctional the production is, such as a character's excitement of receiving a theme tune for the show - one week later than it was supposed to be received.
The audio design is also played around for laughs at times, as mic taps, test audio and other imperfections are left as is to create the sense of a dysfunctional production. Other traditional sound effects and voices are used in the sketches, such as dog barks at a veterinary clinic.
In terms of representation, Morgan and Wilkinson are of course of different genders but the other characters are usually white men. Of course, this has to do with the intertextual nature of the show with other BBC Radio 2 and 4 programmes, most of them having white male presenters. I am less limited by the auxiliary characters in my production due to emulating, and being, a production of a smaller scope than a studio-wide BBC crossover.
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