PRODUCTION IN THE STUDIO OR OB (OUTSIDE THE STUDIO)

Be consistent - you have to match production up (in the Studio and OB outside) - to another page on this site

Think script when recording (to another page on this site)

ESTABLISH OUTSIDE SCENE (below on this page)

ESTABLISH SOUND CENTRE AT THE TOP OF A SCENE (below on this page)

effective 'close-up' (below on this page)

Getting the scene boundaries right (with music) (below on this page)

Linking Scenes (below on this page)

Signposting and establishing location (below on this page)

SOME DIRECTING NOTES - to another page on this site

ESTABLISH OUTSIDE SCENE When you work OB (outside the studio and with a minidisk and mic) you need to work effectively to establish that this is an outside scene. Otherwise you run the danger that the scene sounds like a studio-bound scene and not in outside location. The production and post-production work has to be done here to establish the sound picture outside. There also has to be key elements in the script - especially description and signposting. See http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/learning/signposting.html

ESTABLISH SOUND CENTRE AT THE TOP OF A SCENE By convention, the sound centre is established at the top of a scene by the first speaker, and this character is at the sound centre. This establishes a measure for all the other characters. We are 'with' or nearest the first character speaking. That helps us get the perspective of the sound picture in our 'view' as listeners. See http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/soundcentre.html

effective 'close-up' Make use of an effective 'close-up' - near the end of a scene, you could bring your two characters (best with two) nearer the microphone - into position number 2, and so the last phrase of the dialogue is intimate - closer to the audience, and a 'close-up' shot. You can even bring the characters (best with two) into position number 2 for longer, and place them further away again, at position number 3. See http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/closeup.html

Getting the scene boundaries right (with music) You have to answer these following questions - creatively! 1. How does this scene end and how does the new scene begin? Does the new scene establish itself immediately - a 'hard' into? Or slowly - a 'soft' into? RULE: If the new scene is a 'soft' into - then you nearly always do NOT have a silence between scenes, but a crossfade. See http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/sceneboundaries.html 2. What is the design of the episode overall? Am I building up the energy towards an exciting climax? Do I need to have a silence at a scene boundary? RULE: You need a silence (fade to silence) after a scene if you have brought something to a temporary conclusion, or if something very significant and exciting has happened. And you want your audience to have a little rest before the new scene. It would be too much if you pushed on too swiftly. And your listeners need some little time to catch up. All of this is a matter of your creative judgement and design. That is what radio drama is about! 3. Do I use a music bridge? You are required to use witty and ironic music bridges - they are a great way of adding that entertaining extra. Music bridges are essential anyway and a key part of the soap overall design we use. Examples - after a date has gone wrong - 'It's raining men'. DJ Smooth in 'The Canterbury Vampires' - 'Smooth Operator' - and he was not in the plot! Listen to previous soaps for examples. And choose some yourself, and build your scripting around these. If you use underscoring music, this could come to a climax at the end of a scene, and then the next scene is a 'hard' into. See http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/music.html

Linking Scenes - This is a crucial technique and very much part of your overall creative approach to the whole episode. You cannot go to silence between each scene, and you cannot use a music bridge between each scene. You have to vary the means to suit the creative construction of the whole episode, and the pace. You have to develop a feel for the listener and the pace of the action through the episode. If you have an exciting scene, then after it, it is a good idea to have a quiet scene, in a neutral acoustic, or a quiet acoustic. Here are the techniques for linking scenes: (1) 'Archers fade' (2) Music bridge (3) Crossfade (4) Fade down scene and straight cut into following scene ('hard into') (5) Straight cut scene and fade into following scene ('soft into') (6) 'Lightning cut'

Signposting and establishing location You have to establish the location of a scene at the top of the scene, and make this clear to the listener. You probably have to remind your audience of the location of the scene during the dialogue too. You do signposting by: (1) (Usually) fade in location atmos - as traffic on the High Street, outside Mr. Butcher the Butcher's shop, along with pedestrians walking by, and some chatter. (2) Description - suitably and skilfully in the dialogue, you describe and state where the scene is - (approaching) 'And how long have you been waiting outside the butcher's?', or 'Still digging the carrots, Tony?'. RULE: Do not wait around. Do the job of signposting at the top of the scene. Otherwise it will be too late, and the listener will strain to make sense of the atmos, but without the vital clue in the script. RULE: Do not rely on the atmos alone to do the job for you. The atmos may be distinctive - to you - like a bowling alley - but you still have to get that into the dialogue. Remember that film and TV does all this by the establishing shot. Radio drama signposting is the equivalent of that establishing shot and it is as essential. Bowling alley - get some activity into the start of the scene and you have a lively and energetic start to the dialogue. 'That's a full strike, Camilla!'. So - description PLUS signposting. See http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/technique/learning/signposting.html

INDEX TO THE SOAP SITE

 

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Radio Soap (serial drama) - HOW TO MAKE IT

Five-minute episodes - or short episodes

Step by step instruction from Alan Beck.

Learn about radio drama on this site along with my book - Beck, Alan, Radio Acting, London: A & C Black (1997) ISBN 0-7136-4631-4

This is how to make a short-form soap - entertaining (above all) and you can include issues (issues that could influence the listeners' behaviour).

Further: production, scripting, web site, marketing, focus group meetings, drop-in script, copyright material logging, trails, soap launch.

LINKS WITH OTHER SITE

Radio Drama - directing, acting, technical, learning & teaching, researching, styles, genres

This is a complete curriculum of scripts, techniques, advice, sound files - effects and atmoses (with no copyright and so free to use), detailed script commentaries, etc. -

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