The forms and conventions I used in my radio drama were of a wide variety.

1. Forms and conventions use in production • The forms and conventions I used in my radio drama were of a wide variety. • I created well rounded characters that had relatable voices, who were of a normal situation, a family of 4, an husband and wife, they were believable because they talk about each other, the uncle speaks to Peter as normal but then mentions to Linda that `he isn't just a shadow, he is a ghost of the man he used to be`. Not only is this relatable because he is concerned but I have managed to get across the point that he looks like death and that he is not himself.

2. Conventions • The conventions of radio • The conventions of Radio 4- male based, middle class and intellectual • The issues to do with these conventions is that they are not getting enough of a wide audience, they are mainly getting male viewers that are of a 50 plus age range • The conventions of my Radio Dramaare, family, tragedy, middle class and death. • Because Radio4 has middles class values it made it easier for me to create my characters, Peter and Linda live in a usual nuclear family and it shows at one point that they are middle class when Peter says, “you must have been so busy doing the cleaning, cooking, and doing the school run all by yourself” this indicates that Linda is a housewife, that spends her days in the house, looking after the children, this then connects to the fact that Peter must be earning enough money for them all to live off of and therefore has a good job. • It is made clear to my audience that they are a middle class normal family.

3. It is clear that my radio drama is aimed at a middle class selection of people because my script is very intellectual. It starts off without the story being explained and it leave the audience guessing the whole way through. • Only certain types of people enjoy watching films where they are left guessing and have to figure things out for themselves. A more uneducated person would feel uncomfortable with my radio drama. • Films such a shutter island and memento are very popular because of their story lines where your left guessing. If people who don’t enjoy films like that try and listen to my radio drama wouldn’t like it because it is similar and also don’t have nice images to look at.

4. use of new media in various stages of the production of the radio drama • I successfully used word on my computer, to write and edit my scripts • power point, to do my analyse and lay out important information and research, • publisher to do my listings page • paint shop pro, to manipulate my photographs. • I use these in everyday life all the time and I am very familiar with them, using them in the stages of my radio drama helped me to feel comfortable with the technology and what I was using it for. • I also used new technology such as the recording equipment and microphone, I have never before used recorders for such a long period of time, and to have to repeat what I was recording several times made me become comfortable with the recorder in a small amount of time, I had to re record sound effects so that they sounded correct with outdoor sounds and doors closing etc. and I also had to re record some lines in my radio drama if they didn’t sound right or if mistakes were made. • Another new piece of technology I used was the adobe premiere elements, this was where I uploaded my radio drama once it was recorded and I edited it, put it in narrative order and added my sound effects. Using such a complex piece of technology for such a long time makes me feel I am quick at picking up new things and am very happy with how to change things around, and overall the editing section of my radio drama was successful. I also used things such as cameras and my blog which are also familiar to me, and I think using technology that I am, comfortable with and quite professional at using mixed with new equipment that I needed to use and get used to gave me a good balance and I felt it all came through the way I waned it too.

5. What are Radio4`s issues • Radio 4`s listeners are middle classed and middle aged, this is bad for radio 4 because they have a aging fan base, working class people will be less likely to listen to radio 4 as they feel they would be appreciated. • Radio 4 could also lose fans because of the appeal of America. The fascination with America at the moment could cause listeners in Europe to switch off if they consider radio dramas as less important. • Radio 4 need to address the issues with race, most of the actors and listeners are white. People of a different ethnicity wouldn’t like or agree with all the storylines. • Radio 4 could lose fans over some of the story lines they have. For example the archers lost a lot of listeners after they aired their gay wedding story line. Which again indicates the listeners to radio 4 are very traditional and defiantly middle aged.

6. Reflect on the representation of people, places, ideas and locations . • I was successful in showing Peter as a middle class man, when he suggested to Linda about the school run and doing the cleaning, this indicates she stays at home while he goes to work. To be able to pay a family of 4 with just one salary means Peter has a job that pays quite well indicating he is an intelligent man. Because Peter is the bread winner it would show that Linda is a normal housewife and Peter runs the show.

7. Continued. . . • Originally indicated that Peter is the man of the house is reversed once we find out Peter is in hospital and the nurse says “your wife has been here everyday since you were admitted” this shows that not only have the nurse and the doctors been looking after Peter but Linda has too, she is the one in charge of bringing him the things that he needs, he no longer has any responsibility. With Linda now being the one who `wears the trousers` this is backed up by an argument she has with George her brother and Amy her sister. “Amy he has to face it, he needs to know the truth” and then Amy responds “I don’t think this is the best idea” Linda is showing her authority here and is shouting at Amy letting her know she will do what she wants to do at the end of the day. George then says “come on Amy lets just do as she say” this indicates that George might even be a bit scared of Linda, and he wants to give her what she wants.

8. Continued. . . • Now that Linda is 100% on her own she has had to learn to face people and come to term with the tragedy that has just happened to her. Peter cant remember and her children are gone, she has to cope on her own. • Having Grace play the part of Linda was a great choice, she read the script and connected to her part right away. She played the part angry when she needed, sad when she needed and overall hurt. The way she pronounced her words

9. Continued. . . • Using different sound effects was very successful. I used road sounds that I recorded on a road by my house, so in the background of people talking there are car noises and you can also hear birds tweeting and wind. This indicated very well that my characters were outside. When I played it aloud my peers all knew they were outside and gave me very positive feedback. Something simple like this would be understood by all classes or people and so is easy for anyone to understand.

10. Continue. . . • The effect that Peter was in a hospital was very clear, I had back atmosphere sounds and beeping from a machine that you would find in a hospital. The doors closing and opening with a slight echo works out well because it sounds like if they were in a corridor of a hospital ward when in fact I recorded it in the corridors of my school. • Also the sound effects I recorded in a lift in my school was very well received when I played it to my peers. The sounds such as ¬doors closing` `doors opening` `lift going down` were very effective. This was placed under their talking voices to create a very effective sound.

11. Continue. . . • To create the sounds that my characters were walking I used gravel sounds that I recorded myself just outside of my house I also recorded regular floor footsteps. • To create the effect that my characters were getting in a car and driving off I recorded myself closing the doors to my car and I did several versions to make sure the timing of them was good. I then got in the car and recorded the sound of me starting the car, and driving for five minutes including indicators and parking. These came out very good and when I replayed them people thought the were very effective. Car doors shutting Driving noises

12. Continued. . . • To do the sound effects of my flash back I recorded myself a fast car on the motorway, I put this in just after Peter had realised that he had killed his children so that the audience will know that this triggered the flashback. The sound of the fast car triggered the flashback of which peter relives the whole crash and he remembers everything about it. For this part I used a crash scene I had recorded and s girl screaming, this makes it sound like his children were in the car when he crashed. To end my radio drama I used grace, who plays Linda, to say peter as she was walking away from the microphone. This way the sound that she was making was a faded away sound as if she was trying to wake peter up. She was calling him in concern. • When I played this aloud to my class they thought it was very clever how I had connected a speeding car, to trigger a flashback and then to use screams and faded out voices.

13. A reflection on the decisions you made to cut words, cast characters, edit the drama, making and use of sound effects, cuts to make scenes to redo and in general the process of creating a complex and subtle media text. • I had to cut parts of my radio drama in-between speeches because we had turned pages and spoken to each other. This was easy because i had told my group when to stop by saying end and letting them know when to start again by saying start. This way the sections were easy to cut out and then the speeches flowed really nicely. When one of my characters said something in the wrong tone or they had made a mistake I asked them to stop and start from the nearest point or the beginning of the sentence. This way I knew exactly when to cut and I replaced the speech with a new recording that was done correctly. • I thought my casting was done very successfully as all my actors related to their character and they made it happen. I thought Peter was acting very confused as if he doesn’t really know what is going on, which was how I told John, the actor, to play the part. He did it perfectly. Grace was very convincing as Linda as she acting as if she knew everything and was very strong and taking charge. This was very well played as this was exactly how I wanted it all to be done. A newly strong woman in the making. Amy and George were suppose to be a little resentful towards Peter but also very sympathetic to Peter and Linda. • Making sound effects was quite difficult at first. I kept recording in places with background noises so they didn’t come out very clear. I also made the mistake of going to places where people would be walking in and out a lot so I kept getting disrupted. Once I had all my sound effects they way I put them into my radio drama was actually quite simple, I had all my vocals on one line and then layered my sound effects over it, this way it was easy to hear all the sounds that were going on. I was able to edit my sound by turning them up at parts and lowering them at others, many times I also used the volume to fade out the sound.

14. How have you used linked ideas to create this synergy that goes with the product? • I showed my themes throughout all of my production including my advert my listings page and my radio drama itself. In my advert I have used the words `she wanted him to remember, he wanted to forget` this indicates my themes of memory loss and that something bad has happened that he wouldn’t want to remember. This is also shown in my listings page when I say `he has no recollection of the past few weeks 'and also `Linda's relatives don’t think it is the best idea`

15. Breaking conventions of radio play • I used flashbacks within my narrative structure, I hoped that this would confuse my audience slightly and challenge them to think about it. I was successful in indicating when my flashbacks were because I used a speeding car to show peter fainting and reliving the crash scene. I hope that my surroundings would also confuse my audience because my flashback did not change place. My characters are already at the crash site when peter faints and relives it, so my audience will have to grasp for themselves that this is the flashback, the missing piece of the puzzle from the beginning. • By placing what was suppose to be the beginning at the end of my radio drama would effectively challenge my audience to see what is happening now and what happened two weeks ago. They need to place the pieces together to work out the ending. • By breaking the normal conventions of radio play I hoped that this would grip my audience into listening, the challenging nature and shocking story line I hope will bring new listeners to radio 4 and in so making my radio drama very popular.

16. Continued. . . • Radio dramas are usually quite explanatory to the audience the whole way through, so the audience can judge by normal narratives what's going to happen at he end, but I created one that confuses the audience, I didn’t want my story line to drag out, I wanted it to be quite quick at explaining the end so they will feel a sense of relief once its over. I wanted to make it quite new and upcoming so that it would attract a younger audience to radio 4. • Having Peter as a quite man I intended to get the audience to feel sympathy for him. Before the accident it was clear that peter was a strong man but as my radio drama starts it becomes clear that Linda is the new strong one and peter is stuck since the accident. This is shown when George says `oh my god Linda, its worse than I thought. He isn't just a shadow he is a ghost of the man he used to be` this shows he isn't the same and has changed dramatically since the accident.

17. Connotations and denotations

19. how has digital technology made it possible for you to become producers of media texts? • Using the blog I was able to organise all my work in date order and place all my research and information into different categories. It helped me improve from piece of work to piece of work over time and know where I was at all stages of my course work. • The microphone helped me capture all the sound I needed clearly and effectively. I used movement when I was recording such as I told people to stand close when it was a loud scene and got one of my characters to walk away as she said the word `Peter` this created a fading away sound. • The portable recorder allowed me to go to the exact places I needed to go to record all my sounds and it was very simple to use and to upload all my sounds onto the computer and then onto my radio drama. • Using Adobe premiere elements was great, it allowed me to cut out the sounds I didn't want and paste and edit all the sentences and sound effects I wanted. This was done quickly and with a lot of ease. • Paint shop pro was very helpful when doing my advert and my listings page. I used it on my picture for my listings page because I needed it in black and white and I had to use paint shop pro for that. I also used it for my adverts page to change certain colours and insert pictures.

20. My Listings page After Before Here I used Paint shop pro to manipulate my picture for my listings page. I thought black and white made it much more professional. Paint shop pro helped me a lot in manipulating pictures and I was very successful at doing so

21. By using words such as Up and coming write makes people intrigued to see what she might come up with. Saying that her friends would be interested in a story like this attracts a younger audience straight away because judging by the picture she is in her early 20`s so it seems like a younger audience would like this story. The short description on the story line already gets the audience interested. And using sentences such as `as peter gets closer and closer to the truth we understand the devastating affect the truth will have on him and his family. This sounds like a very interesting story and makes the audience already want to know what the ending is. Using Columns sticks to the normal form of a listings page, it makes it look serious and easy to read. This would attract people to read it, also the bright colours act as an attractant. This makes the play seem good, if a middle classed very famous newspaper thinks it is good enough for 5 stars

22. My advert I then went on paint shop pro and tried to do something with the background to make it more intense. At first this didn’t really work because the red didn’t cover everything and it didn’t look how I had imagined in my mind. I worked harder on getting the picture how I wanted, I also imagined something faded in the background. I had to stay on paint shop pro for a while to figure out what all the different buttons did and how I would use them in my work. I originally took this picture for my advert, I thought it had many meanings behind it. Its featured just outside of lift doors, which is where a scene in my radio drama is set. In the scene in my radio drama where they are waiting for a lift, this is where Peter notices Linda's cardigan and so I made my model wear a black cardigan to tie in with all the connotations that go with that. I though this picture was very successful. Even though I think this picture is good I wanted to use paint shop pro to manipulate it further.

23. Once I had got the image to look like this I knew I was on my way, I thought the red had so many denotations to death, tragedy and danger. I felt this picture was good enough to be my advert final picture but I wanted to add something extra. The lift to signify going down or a sudden drop. Black cardigan, denotations to death and sad memories.

24. This is my final advert, I added small writing to show who wrote it and what time it will be on, I added the radio 4 logo so people automatically connect it to radio 4. and the tag line `She wants him to remember, he wants to forget` this has such meaning it is bound to grab anyone's attention who sees it, they will think what does she want him to remember? And what does he want to forget? Just below the girls that are faded on the lift is the word Facing, the dot of the letter I is a moon and the black around it indicates a cloud. This connects to the title moonlight and the heavy cloud over the moon denotes to something bad is about to happen, there is bad weather ahead. I think I was very successful in bringing across all these messages, some in a clear way and some in an indirect way which will make my audience have to think about the situation and the connections between all the clues. In this picture I added the title facing the moonlight and added the children in the background and faded them out, I did this to show them looking forward at their children who are now dead. The way the girls are faded shows them like a distant memory which connects to peters lack of memory, how he doesn’t remember the accident.

25. How was your advert constructed to sell the product and what was the values and conventions of the arts page of the publication it would be published in? • I wanted to present my advert as a thriller but with a family theme to it, I wanted to attract normal radio 4 listeners but also a younger audience, I think my radio drama has the ability to do that. • Making my advert colourful and clever, the colours will hopefully attract people to look at it initially and then read more and decide they want to listen to it. The faded away of the little girls is very clever and all people would be attracted to special affects like that. • The picture I used is uni-sex and good for all ages so hopefully it will attract most people and repel none.

26. A reflection on the decisions you made to cut words, cast characters, edit the drama, making and use of sound effects, cuts to make scenes to redo and in general the process of creating a complex and subtle media text. • I had to cut a lot of sections of my radio play out when we stopped to turn pages, we also had to stop sometimes for me to give them more direction of how to play the part and it just kept recording over that so I had to cut these sentences out. This was very simple to edit out as I knew exactly when to stop and when to start again because I had said stop and start to my actors. • I was very successful with the actors I got to play my parts, I thought they all connected very quickly with how they had to play the role. • Every was very easy to work with and were confident when they were speaking and didn’t make a lot of mistakes. I thought the level of concentration was amazing and they all did very well. • Creating sound effects at first was tricky but once I got used to how the background noise had to be and where the best places were to record it came very easy to me. I was very successful at recording all my sounds and think they all represent the scene very well. I found it quite easy towards the end.

27. How did the preview use narrative hooks to entice the listener? • I used suspense in my preview to entice the reader into my radio drama. I wanted them to engage with it and want to know the ending and so they would tune into my radio drama.

28. The end