My
idea to create a radio drama stemmed from my love of supernaturally
base cinematography. I felt that horror films regularly contained
unnecessary amounts of violence and gore which would immediately ruin
my ability to immerse myself as a watcher of the film. In my opinion;
if written well a film could be just as gripping without a single
drop of blood, in a way that Alfred Hitchcock was able to do so. A
quote that particularly interested me when looking into writing a
supernaturally based piece, referenced Alfred Hitchcock and his use
of suspense. “There is a distinct difference between 'suspense' and
'surprise', and yet many pictures continually confuse the two”
(Hitchcock,
2011, p27).
So instead of creating a film with the aim of instantly scaring
someone through surprise, I wanted to create something with suspense
to keep the audiences attention. I thought this would be more of a
challenge to do with audio only. I also felt that the age range for
radio dramas sometimes excludes younger listeners, so I made this
with a view to it appealing to a younger demographic. I wrote the
script myself and utilised a feature I had read in Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet, of storyline guidance through a poetic description.
The poem's throughout 'Lively House', functioned as a guide for the
audience of the mood and tone for the each scene.
The
key emotions I wanted to portray before embarking on the project
were: Unnerving, Supernatural, Confusion/ Apprehension, Social
Isolation/Rejection and Realism. Obviously in 11 minutes this was
hard to encapsulate, and I actually felt that the story itself had
real potential, and that it would be a shame to cut it short, so I
decided to write the script as Part 1 of a series. For this
individual project I have only made and am only submitting Part 1
(See Fig 1 for script breakdown example and organisational material
used prior to recording).
Aside
from the 4 actors I used for each character; in terms of
organisation, I enlisted Scriptwriter Craig Busek and Composer Marina
Ivanovic. Craig reviewed my script and advised me of changes that
could be made. This was useful where the fluidity of sentence
structure were concerned. Marina was then pivotal in helping my
vision come to life. Her music helped me to aurally pinpoint changes
in the tone of each scene. I gave her a very precise and detailed
break down of the style of music I wanted for each scene and how long
each should be, as it was to be broken down scene by scene. This was
effective in guiding the suspense. (See Fig 2). After this had been
done I was able to distribute all the scripts amongst the
participating. Actors. I highlighted their individual parts and
printed these off for the recording so that they had a better visual
aid for their parts.
Using
a sound proof studio for vocal recordings meant that the clarity of
each character was sharp, therefore providing the perfect 'blank
canvas' to place that character within the designated room per scene.
Doing the majority of the foley myself was challenging because;
unlike a film, I had no visual reference and despite creating an
extensive SFX/Foley list per scene, often thought of new things that
needed to be recorded! I tried to keep sound effect library usage to
a minimum. The mono SE Electronics SEX1 microphone used, was an
ideal condenser for vocals, as it's cardioid polar patten kept the
chance of spill from any externals noises like people talking quietly
in the studio, to an almost unnoticeable minimum. Foley/SFX recording
with a Zoom H4n was necessary; as it needed to be done at home.
Despite the light recorder noise; when in a room that was as
acoustically dead as possible, it provided quite clean stereo audio
that was ideal for foley and effects. Using a studio for foley would
have been ideal but for this project I was limited to doing it at
home. I don't think the piece suffered at all from having to do this
and using a Zoom H4N was quite a practical way around having to rely
on sound libraries.
I
tried to keep plugin usage simple; as I wanted it to sound
naturalistic to the location in the scene. Therefore I used different
EQ and Reverb settings to take my 'blank canvas' audio and make it
sound less like it had been recorded in a vocal booth! I took
multiple takes of vocals so that I had a choice, I learnt from
previously having made a Radio Drama of Dr Faustus, that recording
multiple takes, gives you more options creatively. I was then able to
swap and merge clips together which was good when a whole take wasn't
said in a way that I wanted. When initially starting out, I recorded
a guide track to estimate place markers for each scene and work out
how long each musical segment needed to be. I then double checked
this with a stop watch and collated a document for Marina to base her
music around. This planning meant that when it was recorded
everything was labelled and ready to be synced up to the guide track
and Marina's music fit with each scene.
HITCHCOCK,
Alfred., LEITCH, Thomas., POAGUE, Leland. (2011)
A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock.
1st
Edition. West Sussex UK. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. P27
Fig.
1
- Script
- Plot Summary
- 'Who was in each scene for recording day'
- Recording Day Equipment 'Tick off' Checklist
Fig.
2
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