RADIO DRAMA

By Janine Yaddehige

WHAT IS RADIO DRAMA?

Radio drama is a dramatic piece of an acoustic performance, (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre) either broadcasted on the radio or published on audio media, such as a CD.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS

SPEECH:

Narration is a key element to setting the scene.

The audience can easily relate to this because they’d have a strong image in their head of what is happening and also get a positive vibe for the mood of the scene.

Also a quicker and more detailed way of describing to the audience what is happening rather than using direct speech.

Direct speech is used in nearly every radio drama because it is pretty much the only way to explain to the audience what is a happening in the radio drama.

VOICES AND ACCENTS:Radio drama doesn’t include visuals therefore the voice needs to be fitted to the character, so the audience can visualise this and differentiate it from other characters.

Accents determine where you are from and helps the audience to understand where the drama may be situated.

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MUSIC:

In radio dramas, music is vital as it sets the mood for the scene. There are different types of music played throughout. To show a change of scene, it could be the music at the beginning of the drama.

Another example is if something good was happening in the radio drama you could play an upbeat tune to give the audience the positive vibe feeling.

Non-diegetic and Diegetic.

SOUND EFFECTS:

Ambience which is background noise is important when producing a radio drama.

For example if the script said the location of the scene was at a park, adding background noises such as the wind blowing or bird noises would make it clearer for the audience as there aren't any visuals.

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ENDINGS:

Cliff hanger endings are a good way of getting the audience’s attention and making them eager to see what happens in the next episode.

Flashbacks are a good way of telling a short story to the audience that requires little time and explains a lot.

Scene changes are short silences or a theme, which signals the audience that the scene is changing.