P3: Develop ideas for sound elements for and identified media purpose.
I was given the opportunity to pick a brief for this unit and I decided to go with option 2 which is the following:
"Cambridgeshire Police and Council have invested money into creating a series of public information radio plays. They feel this should be a 3-5 minute radio play aimed at 18-25 year olds, which they can hear on their commute to University of work. These plays should feature dialogue, music and sound effects to keep the audience engaged. The plays are public information themed and should encourage more responsible drinking on nights our or the dangers of drink driving."
"Cambridgeshire Police and Council have invested money into creating a series of public information radio plays. They feel this should be a 3-5 minute radio play aimed at 18-25 year olds, which they can hear on their commute to University of work. These plays should feature dialogue, music and sound effects to keep the audience engaged. The plays are public information themed and should encourage more responsible drinking on nights our or the dangers of drink driving."
Below is a mind map of ideas that I made for my brief.
The brief asks me to make a radio play for 18-25 year olds to act as a PSA in order to encourage safe drinking and inform about the dangers of drink driving. I am planning to centre this radio play around a group of friends who go out drinking one night and party late before their exam. After the party they drive after drinking and in a rush to get to their exam they are involved in a fatal crash. I think this would be an effective idea as the topic of partying would instantly appear to the target audience who are 18-25 year old university students. I think this would entice them to listen into the radio play and focus on it up to the point that the tragedy happens and the combination of the narrative would effectively shock them into avoiding drink driving.
I plan to use my classmates as actors as they are a similar age to the target audience. I think that having actors that are relatable in terms of age or social status is effective in any piece of media as it attracts an audience to consume that piece of media. I plan to use party music in the background in the car as the radio or maybe at a party as the party music. I think that using music that the audience has heard before will further invite them to follow the narrative of it more rather than just passively listen to it whilst commuting in the car.
I plan to use my classmates as actors as they are a similar age to the target audience. I think that having actors that are relatable in terms of age or social status is effective in any piece of media as it attracts an audience to consume that piece of media. I plan to use party music in the background in the car as the radio or maybe at a party as the party music. I think that using music that the audience has heard before will further invite them to follow the narrative of it more rather than just passively listen to it whilst commuting in the car.
Below is my gantt chart which I will use to help organise my time around creating this radio play.
.
Below I have also attached an assets table which features the sound I will use and it's source and purpose
P4: Generate planning materials for the intended production of sound elements
Below you'll find the first draft of my radio script.
Below I have attached my final draft of the radio script. I have highlighted the parts which have been edited since the first draft
I had made a wide range of edits to my original script after receiving feedback following a presentation of the script that I made to the actors, family, and friends. One of the first edits I made was to shorten some of Craig's lines. This is because the actor to played Craig had a difficult time performing some of the wording in the lines that I made. I think that by shortening some of the lines the radio play also flows better and the conversations seem more natural. I was also told that my sound effects weren't inclusive enough and didn't feature enough detail so I went ahead and I added to most of the sound effects so that the script would appear more polished and so that the actual scenes would sound more believable and immersive.
I also completely changed the lines for the EMT's in scene 5. I did this because I received feedback that the EMT's lines don't give off the narrative that they are in fact EMT's. I decided to change their lines to include more medical terminology and to sound more like what you'd hear inside of an actual ambulance. I think this will be an effective change because it will allow the audience become more immersed into the radio play and in turn this should make its purpose, to educate people on the dangers of drink driving, more effective as the audience would take it more seriously.
I also completely changed the lines for the EMT's in scene 5. I did this because I received feedback that the EMT's lines don't give off the narrative that they are in fact EMT's. I decided to change their lines to include more medical terminology and to sound more like what you'd hear inside of an actual ambulance. I think this will be an effective change because it will allow the audience become more immersed into the radio play and in turn this should make its purpose, to educate people on the dangers of drink driving, more effective as the audience would take it more seriously.
In order to create this professional risk assessment I used a template courtesy of www.hse.gov.uk under the link http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/index.htm. The template can be found on the right side under the "Resources" section and is titled "Risk Assessment and Policy Template".
Below I have attached screenshots of an email correspondence with the head of the media department at Oakes College Cambridge about gaining the permission to use the sound studio there to record my radio play.
M1: Identify resolutions to the legal and ethical issues for production
One of the main legal issues that I need to be mindful of are the issues regarding copyright law. I think that the copyright law will be the most significant legal issues for this radio show because it states that I must not use any assets that aren't made by myself unless I have the rights to it or it is royalty free as in my case I am a no profit organisation who is isn't profiting from anyones work. I think that copyright issues will especially impact me because I will be using music and sound effects sourced from third parties which don't include myself. This means that if the content I will use isn't royalty free then I will be putting myself under danger of legal action. In order to avoid this from happening to me I will make sure to only use royalty free music and sound effects and to get it from credible sound or music libraries which have a valid license and terms and conditions.
As I am making this radio play with the intention of being played on the radio I also have to be mindful of the content that I choose to broadcast. This is because there is no watershed on the radio which means that I can't broadcast any explicit content that would be inappropriate for children. This would apply to my radio show because it targets 18-25 year old university students who are a mature audience and the language they use may sometimes be inappropriate to play on the radio. In order to make sure that I avoid this issue I will make sure not to include any swearing in my script as well as any sexual references. I will also make sure that things like drugs or alcohol and explicitly referenced by name and are also portrayed in a negative light rather than a positive one to stop children from wanting to partake in drinking alcohol or taking drugs. If I were to fail to do so I would be fined and possibly taken off the radio by Ofcom.
As for the ethical issues I think that one of the main ones that could effect me is the issue of representation/misrepresentation. This issue could occur if I were to not represent a certain group of people in society, such as a minority. It could also occur if I were to misrepresent one of these social groups in a negative light which may cause offence to some people. This will certainly apply to me as my radio play is supposed to target a wide range of genders and ethnicities aged 18-25. I think that if I were to misrepresent or not represent a certain social group enough within my target audience then I would risk not appealing to a lot of people and in turn my radio advert would not be as effective in it's purpose. In order to avoid this issue I need to make sure that the content which I broadcast can't be perceived as offensive to any minority groups, genders, or ethnicities. I also need to make sure that I have actors that represent as many different genders and ethnicities as possible.
As I am making this radio play with the intention of being played on the radio I also have to be mindful of the content that I choose to broadcast. This is because there is no watershed on the radio which means that I can't broadcast any explicit content that would be inappropriate for children. This would apply to my radio show because it targets 18-25 year old university students who are a mature audience and the language they use may sometimes be inappropriate to play on the radio. In order to make sure that I avoid this issue I will make sure not to include any swearing in my script as well as any sexual references. I will also make sure that things like drugs or alcohol and explicitly referenced by name and are also portrayed in a negative light rather than a positive one to stop children from wanting to partake in drinking alcohol or taking drugs. If I were to fail to do so I would be fined and possibly taken off the radio by Ofcom.
As for the ethical issues I think that one of the main ones that could effect me is the issue of representation/misrepresentation. This issue could occur if I were to not represent a certain group of people in society, such as a minority. It could also occur if I were to misrepresent one of these social groups in a negative light which may cause offence to some people. This will certainly apply to me as my radio play is supposed to target a wide range of genders and ethnicities aged 18-25. I think that if I were to misrepresent or not represent a certain social group enough within my target audience then I would risk not appealing to a lot of people and in turn my radio advert would not be as effective in it's purpose. In order to avoid this issue I need to make sure that the content which I broadcast can't be perceived as offensive to any minority groups, genders, or ethnicities. I also need to make sure that I have actors that represent as many different genders and ethnicities as possible.