Hi folks,
Does anyone have any experience producing one of these? Also what was writing the script like? Any unforeseen challenges? I'm considering wetting my foot in that territory but get the feeling writing-producing-directing will all be under one hat.
I don't mean the old school classics like the shadow but more recent podcast darlings like Welcome to Night Vale and Snap Judgment.
A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts.
Do you have a chance of getting an internship or volontariat? Or perhaps you can offer your -unpaid- help to someone thereby learning the ropes...
shareYeah I'm helping a friend of mine who is doing a game podcast but it's not quite the same. Most of the other projects in my area are talk based and not necessarily performance based (ie don't really need a script or actors). Not a bad idea though, it'd be nice to jump into a live audio production and see it from start to finish.
A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts.
Novelists have more tools. :P
I also found templates for the BBC version of audio drama. This is going to be an interesting format to learn:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/bbcradioscene.pdf
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/radious.pdf
A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts.
Been some time, but I did a fair bit of radio play work. Thing to do is listen to them first of all. It's a different medium, with the idea being 'theatre of the mind'. Consider what you can't see in horror movies. That backbrain lizard response is what you want.
Also, if you're doing it yourself, know your actors. Work with what their voices can handle. Consider that animated series are recorded as if radio plays, with the actual animation following. Listen to some without visuals and really hear what the actors are doing. You have to know that toolkit before anything else.
Also, while CBC does some decent stuff, it's not easy to find. Look at BBC Radio 4 and check out some of their audio drama. And of course, listen to the great classic that rewrote many of the rules, The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
My earliest experiences with the form was back in my high-school days. A bunch of us would sit around, trading ideas, drinking, and listening to BBC sound effects tapes we got from the library. "Red-hot poker in eye" was the one that made everyone cringe. I was lucky to have a good group to write with as I learned the form. If you're new to it, I suggest doing one or two-minute pieces so you can produce them and hear how the page sounds. You need to know that before you'll be able to do longer pieces that work.
All roads lead to truth if you're willing to travel honestly.
i just started a radio drama course i would imagine there are things you can do in radio drama that you cant do in other mediums(and vice versa)
its good for learning and i would imagine it would be easy to make a radio drama with your friends even easier than film
Absolutely on both counts. Consider Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It likely wouldn't have been made in any other medium first. As well as it was adapted to the BBC-TV series and then the book, the concepts were written to work as radio.
And fantastic that you're taking a course in the form!
All roads lead to truth if you're willing to travel honestly.