Codes and Conventions of Radio Dramas

Words and Voices Codes: As there are no visuals in radio, there is only words and voices that keep the listeners attention. Radio has to create a mental image for the listener and has to get a reaction from the listener and the way they do this is through the words from the script and the voices that they use in the drama.

Words and Voices Codes: Good examples of Words and voices are: Breaking Bad Trainspotting

Words and Voices Codes: A bad example of words and voices is The Walking Dead. The main character Rick is played by Andrew Lincoln who is English and he has to play an American Sheriff. Not being American is hard and this ruins his character a bit as he doesn’t sound like a believable American.

Music and Ambience Codes: Just like visual media the music and ambient sounds set the scene and help the viewer realise where they are, what is happening in the scene and what the mood of that scene is. In radio this becomes more important to the whole show as it helps the lack of visual cues.

Music and Ambience Codes: Good use of music and ambience is in: The Dark Knight Star Wars

Music and Ambience Codes: Bad use of music and ambience was in Spiderman with the song “Hero” by Nickelback. It was bad because the song did not suit this kind of film.

Sound and Silence Codes: Silence is always useful to create tension in a visual media and this also works in radio as long as it is not too long that it seems like the show has stopped. Silence is also used in the change of a scene or a break in the dialogue. The sound is also very much much like silence as if you have too much dialogue and the listener cannot catch up with the speed they could get bored and switch off.

Sound and Silence Codes: Good uses of Sound and Silence in films and TV are: The Walking Dead Gavin & Stacey

Sound and Silence Codes: The worst use of sound and silence in the history of film making is “The Twilight Saga” as there is over 24 minutes of silence through out all three films. That is a waste of time! Take, for instance, this wonderfully edited selection of scenes from the Twilight Saga movies. Compiled by the YouTube channel Screen Junkies — the channel that produces the ever-popular Honest Trailers series — the following clip contains about 26 minutes of Twilight characters staring at each other. http://www.youtube.com/embed/TpU5O_Uur_c?feature=oembed

Codes: Speech This is the way in which the words are spoken to the listener. This ranges from the pitch, tone ,volume and accent of the voice.

Speech Codes: Good use of Speech in TV and film is in: Breaking Bad Forrest Gump

Codes: Speech Bad use of speech in visual media is The Room.

Aural Signposting Conventions: This is the same as visual signposting apart from the fact that aural means sense of hearing so you get sound signposts such as accents and background noises.

Aural Signposting Conventions: Good examples of Aural Signposting are: Breaking Bad Fast and Furious

Aural Signposting Conventions: A bad example of Aural Signposting was in “Birdemic” because the the sounds were obviously all the same sound with a pitch change and it didn’t sound professional.

Cliff hanger Endings Conventions: This is used in both visual and audio dramas and is where the ending of a scene or episode is left with no resolution and makes the viewer/listener more interested and want to know what actually happened and also lets them come up with their own ideas for what will happen at that part of the show.

Cliff hanger Endings Conventions: Good examples of cliff hangers are: Breaking Bad The Walking Dead

Cliff hanger Endings Conventions: A bad example of cliff hangers is 24 which used them far too often and the viewers got bored and stopped watching. season aired episodes Rank Viewers 1 2001–02 24 #76 8.60 2 2002–03 #36 11.73 3 2003–04 #42 10.30 4 2005 #29 11.90 5 2006 #24 13.78 6 2007 #27 13.00 Redemption 2008 2 (TV film) #17 12.12 7 2009 #20 12.62 8 2010 #39 9.31 This table obviously shows viewers going down.

Titles and Credits Conventions: These are the same as visual credits except of course they have to be in audio format not written and they are a simple audio list of people involved in the production.

Titles and Credits Conventions: Good examples of titles and credits are: Breaking Bad Pulp Fiction

Titles and Credits Conventions: Bad examples of titles and credits is “Birdemic” because the whole film was rubbish.

Fades & Silence Conventions: Fades or silence are usually in a radio production to tell the listener that the scene has changed and they are in a different setting or a different character or place.

Fades & Silence Conventions: Some good examples of fades and silence are: Uses of montages in Breaking Bad School of Rock

Fades & Silence Conventions: The worst example of silence was “The Twilight Saga” as there was 24 minutes of silence through out all three films so you thought it was a scene ending and you got really bored.

Narration & Direct Speech Conventions: Narration & Direct Speech A narrator is used to help out the listener with their visual imagery of the scene that they are listening to. The narrator is able to give the listener extra information they might not be able to collect from the sounds or speech or anything that would slow down the pace of the scene.

Narration & Direct Speech Conventions: Narration & Direct Speech Good examples of Narration are: Malcolm in the Middle Modern Family

Narration & Direct Speech Conventions: Narration & Direct Speech A bad example of narration is The Walking Dead as Rick’s accent wasn’t that good.

Style: Traditional The traditional radio drama has a strong storyline, a narrator and lots of characters. The main part of the story is the character trying to solve some kind of dilemma.

Traditional Style: Good examples of a traditional storylines are: Die Hard Speed

Style: Adaption This is where a script which has already been made and aired is changed to suit a different audience or different kind of media.

Adaption Style: A good example of adaption style is: Torchwood which was adapted from TV show to radio drama

Style: Post-modern Post-modern is the opposite of traditional it creates questions that the listener is led to answer for themselves.

Post-modern Style: A good example of a post-modern style is: The Walking Dead

Style: Soap The same as Kitchen Sink style except there is usually some kind of danger nearby and in a specific area.

Style: Soap I do not think there are any good soaps but a good example of one is: Hollyoaks

Style: Kitchen Sink Kitchen Sink is based around a family and their everyday lives.

Style: Kitchen Sink A good example of Kitchen Sink is: Modern Family

Structure: Duration The duration of the show is how long it goes on. In the normal show there would be a set time for it to last, but if they do a special show like a Christmas special then they could extend it and make it more dramatic and even split the episode into two to let the listener think of a way in which they could change the story and think of their own ending.

Structure: Duration A good example of duration is: Top Gear Specials

Narrative Structure Structure: The narrative structure is how the show pans out with the story line pretty much the same as the development of the plot except it is through the script and how it goes around the problem that they need to solve in the show.

Narrative Structure Structure: A good example for Narrative Structure would be: Breaking Bad

Development of Plot Structure: This is where the show starts and at the start they introduce you to the dilemma of the episode that is the start. The middle is where they start to solve the problem and then the end is when they resolve the problem or the show is left at a cliff hanger depending on the style of show.

Development of Plot Structure: A good example of a developing plot would be: NCIS