Your work as a radio drama director
CHECK
OVER THE SCRIPT - REDRAFT AND REDRAFT
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'Reality-test' |
Problem spot |
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Be adventurous - look for more possibilities and techniques |
Avoid clichés? |
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Sound out your use of key music clips, etc. |
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SCRIPTS - training scripts
- radio soaps (short-form serial dramas) - LIST OF SCRIPTS ON
THESE SITES
DIRECTING THE ACTOR -
objective, obstacle, subtext, adjustment, choices, objective
70%
of the work is preparation before you go into the Studio
Look for problems.
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Take as many decisions as possible beforehand. |
Be flexible. What is left for post-production? |
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Consult your Studio Manager, and technician. |
Problem-spot |
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Prepare your directing notes, particularly those for the
actors' characterisation: 'personalisation', 'particularisation',
for picturisation-work by your actor. |
Check equipment |
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'Diamond' notes ( the special creative notes that identify
and solve problems, and unblock your actors' problems) |
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Work out a time schedule for everything, especially for
the sequences (sections) in your script. |
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Quality work comes from quality actors
You are required to be your own casting director.
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This demands social skills and networking. |
Make the most of AUDITIONS |
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These are crucial skills for your development & self-professionalisation. |
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You are responsible for getting the best voices and acting. |
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Use the appropriate directing terms. Such as beats and
moments, and terms to do with voice and characterisation. |
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Discover new Acoustics
Do you need to make a wild-track?
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Do you need to go out with recording equipment? |
Be more individual. Be adventurous |
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Should you record outside the studio? OB |
Discover more acoustics in the studio |
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Discover movement and location |
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SCRIPT
Your script(s) should show range and make
technical demands
Not just 'talking-heads' scenes - discover
movement and embodying
Embodying - getting
the character's body into the dialogue
For all these terms - see the RADIO DIRECTING
TECHNIQUES site.
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Get the feel of the script and the genre and the mode |
Be adventurous |
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Get pace and rhythm, related also to subtext, beats and
moments |
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Pay especial attention to signposting and description |
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You often have to inform your audience by description |
Do not confuse your audience |
PRODUCER
You are your own manager - director and producer
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Casting-director |
Production manager |
Scripting and adapting |
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Pre-production (casting etc.) |
Production (in the studio) |
Post-production (editing) |
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Broadcasting |
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Getting in and out of the Studio
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Good professional relations with everyone. |
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Clear up after yourself. |
Directing style
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This is crucial. You have to suit your
style to the script. There are a series of creative decisions
here. |
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You have to decide : Mode, Genre, Serious or not |
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What is the mode - realism? Standard production? Non-realism?
Which of the non-realisms? Expressionist nightmare? Mix of realism
and interiorisation? There could be a mix of modes. |
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What is the genre? Thriller? Sci-fi? Comedy? Farce? Tragedy?
Children’s radio? Domestic? Problem play? |
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There could be a mixture of genres. |
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How serious is this? Comic? Farce? Mixture. You have to
signal this from the top probably to the listeners. |
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Discover the structure, the rhythms of the whole and each
scene, and how to build and find the climax. |
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This comes down to looking at each beat, discovering the
moments, and looking at the whole flow of each scene. |
The greatest danger areas, and the most exciting
for creative directorial decisions, are the following:
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Choice(s) of music, especially at the top,
where you must send out a number of signals. |
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Beginnings and ends of scenes (scene boundaries) - where
one scene meets another.
Scene boundaries - 'hard'
into / 'soft' into - silence - music bridge |
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These choices for scene boundaries are crucial. Your choices
are - straight-cut, crossfade, fade out to silence and fade in
or The Archers fade, or music bridge, or another bridge. |
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You can lose the energy of the play here, or you need to
fade to silence to sustain the pace and it needs this gap. |
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Subtext
You realise the need for this in the subtlety
of the acting and directing.
And that you relate this to the rhythm of
the sequence and the whole.
Maybe leaving a gap, a pause, or even quickening
up.
Credits in the radio play
CONSIDER:
Does this need an introductory credit?
Does this need an announcement after it ends - technically
called the ‘back anno’ (back announcement).
Some other notes:
WARNING: If your piece is for children, you must specify the
target audience. Children change so fast.
Ditto other audiences, such as teenagers.
If for broadcast, you probably should respect
BBC Editorial Guidelines
Alan Beck is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
