Atching Tan and The Far side of the Moore -ensemble piece
Introduction to the radio play -content
Atching Tan
Atching Tan is about a girl called Lovvie who tries to follow a dream that has not been discovered before. With help from John the drama teacher Lovvie prepares herself to became a actress. However Lovvie is a gyspy whos sister Norah is getting married and Lovvie is suppose to help her while she is keeping secrets and lieing to her boyfriend Nelius who is persuading her to take her hand in marriage.
The first week was the casting process. I read the part of Norah which was a challenge for me with the slightly different language slang that they use. From the first time read I thought it was good to get a feel of play and I knew that I have some character work to use. I have never read a radio script before which was a bit different than acting live because it is all about the voice. I think Norah is someone that I can relate to as I have a sister who I speak to a lot. This relates to Norah and Lovvie because they have a close relationship as Norah wants Lovvie there all they way through the process of the wedding such as finding the perfect dress and being a bridesmaid and being there for the wedding dress fitting. Norah's trusts Lovvie but she knew that she is hiding something however when she finds out she gets so angry and annoyed because of what she has been doing instead of preparing her for her wedding. Researching Romani gypsy the wedding dress are very over the top and have so many layers such as Norah wants 'at least thirty layers'. Romany travellers are quite individual because they have there cultural ways live such as they have made their own traditions.For example storytelling, music and poetry. Gypsy like Lovvie live off in a caravan which explains why the Norah is shouting outside of the bathroom Lovvie and walking past.
Far side of the Moore
This radio play is based on the life of amateur astronomer Patrick Moore. Patrick Moore wrote the series of 'The sky at night'. This radio play is explaining about how he started his career and what support he had back at home.
With this play I was casted as a radio announcer. When the play was set the voice on the news had to be clipped 1950's which meant that I had to articulate my voice to emphasize the headlines. For this I had to practise constantly opening my mouth and pronouncing every word correctly and put on a news voice. Whilst I was doing this I imagined that I was a newsreader and pictured how they speak on the radio. Researching The Media Show helped me pick up a news voice because of the host announcing the headlines that are coming up in the programme.
What techniques do I have during the ensemble piece of Atching Tan?
In one scene Lovvie and my character Norah are speaking through a bathroom door. Obviously the sound is going to be slightly blocked so I need to sound far away because I am talking to Lovvie. By doing this I need to stand away from the microphone to allow distance and imagining that I am talking to the door. With the effect happening I think there will be a effect on my voice and Lovvies voice to create more of an effect for the audience and to make the scene more effective. This effect is called the proximity effect. The bass end of the microphone comes out more when you are far away from the microphone. There will be elements of Foley to create the atmosphere more because the bathroom is separate to where there caravan is located therefore there will be Foley as they are walking past. Foley is a type of sound effect which create a non computerized effect. For this specific scene foley was a sound motif as the sound is by the character such as towel drying or just turning off the shower.
What type of research have you listened to?
Panel Show-The Media Show- Radio 4
The panel show was interesting to listen to as I normally don't often hear panel shows on the radio. I listened to The Media Show on Radio 4. The Media Show started off with a introduction speaking about the highlights of the show and introducing the guests on the show. The host of the show was coming across assertive and serious with the tone of his voice. The reason being is because of his stories which are coming up later in the programme. The show also added some sound effects in. For example one of the issues were that not many female comedians are shown on TV panel shows.There was a short clip being played of the TV show mock the week. Listening closely to the voices of the programme I can hear the presenter breathing quietly compared to the guests such as Sue who was talking about the female comedians story and how her feelings are coming across by the sound of her breathing to. Her opinion sounded very honest because she has researched the point that she is agreeing with. The conversation will go on for about 20 mins but what I noticed the most was that the guests could interrupt other guests to get there point of view across. This was a good thing to hear because it sounded like a flowing conversation no stopping needed or silences in the programme. Another guest who was expressing her views by saying her background to comedy and her experiences in her career. Another technique that I noticed that all of there voices were clear and articulated in the microphone. They weren't too close to the mic because of the clarity of their voice that came across. However if the people on the show felt strongly about their opinion that would speed up the pace and have a angry tone to their voice.
How effective was the radio programme?
The panel show was a formal piece of radio as the people on the broadcast were articulating there words as they are talking about subjects that effects the audience in particular which makes the audience listen more. The person presenting the show has a soft tone the listener. The pace of the presenter is slow and relaxed because of the mood the subject. However compared to the guest she was much more assertive with her voice because she was getting her point across by debating.
Are sound effects appropriate and do they relate to the piece?
The sound effects they had were a exact from mock the week. I thought that this was effective as it was a way to introduce the subject about the lack of women that have been on the show mock the week. The sound effect was clearly of mock the week because the extract was the introduction by Dara O'Brian 'Hello and welcome to mock the week'.
What time and channel would be appropriate for this material?
The time of day The Media Show would be live would be in the afternoon on Radio 4 because as it is a debating panel show that people would listen to coming home from work and thinking about their views. Radio 4 is a type of Radio station that adults would listen to because of the subject that was brought up.
Radio Play- Bang Up By Sarah Heir- Radio 4
First of all this drama was a great example of a interesting play that pulls you in when listening. Things that I have heard was -
- Foley
- Sound effects on the voices
- Different voices and characterisation
- Voice technique
Foley
Foley is a type of realistic sound effect which sounds not computerized to make the radio sound realistic as if you could hear the scene more than just the characters talking. In this play there were so many different type of foleys. One of the foleys that I noticed first of all was the sound motif that kept repeating throughout Foley was used a good way by creating the atmosphere of a prison with footsteps to check on the prisoners, closing of heavy doors and talking by some of the other prisoners. Also the song that started of the play flowed fluently in the plot of the story. Also the moment of the piano in the background when Emma is listing her day in her diary. Foley really helped me establish where I was in the radio play because the sound is all I rely on.
Sound effect on the voices
In this play there is a lot of conversation on the phone with Emma's dad. the sound effect has changed the voice to make it sound like a person on the phone which gave the listeners more imagination to think about. In the script the voice is stage directed as (robotic voice) which means that they want a different voice for a purpose.
Different Voices and Characterisation
Bang Up had so many minor characters that were based around the prison. From what I could hear you could tell the difference between which character that were talking because of the tone and the slight accent from each of them. Such as the guard had a low tone. I think the low tone of the character the guard worked as in a stereotypical police officer mainly has a low tone. This helped the audience instantly as they could hear the contrast between the voices. Such as the main character Lee was rough character as he spoke short sentences most of the time such as "dunno" and "miss"to his teacher. I think this gave Lee a quiet side to his personality. However when hearing the dialogue to his friends he is completely different.
In the play there are times that Emma is reading her diary to the audience such as 'Friday 4 th November morning: Put rubbish out. Do ironing. Find waterproof spray for shoes'. as a lot different to her natural voice when speaking to voice. The list of things are in a monotone way. The list is also in order of what she is going to do. It is a routine of what she is doing. Her voice contrasts to her natural voice to when she is teaching. Also reading the script the monotone voice that Emma uses is always in short sentences which is the same as Lee when he is around Emma. When she is teaching she uses a understanding voice because she needs to gain Lee's trust.
Emma's Dad Bruce was a great example about characterisation as the use of the pauses that he makes he is frustrated or worried about Emma because the lack of response back to his phone calls. By pausing I could hear that he was trying to calm down because of the relationship between a father and daughter has a friendly relationship instead of a angry tone.
Voice Technique
I thought the voice was very clear with the play as you can understand the content of the play. The character Emma articulated her words. I could connect to Emma as she sounded like a teacher as she spoke a calm way with Lee. Lee uses his character to show the way he spoke. He had a slight dialect on him like a lower class way about him and uses slang such as 'dunno'. However at the end when he was reading his story he sounded more comfortable and spoke very clear to tie the end of play.
What was good about Bang up and The Media show that you can consider in Atching Tan?
From my research I could see now that Atching Tan is similar to Bang up because there are scenes between Lovvie and John which are intimate scenes because of Lovvie finding her talent whereas in Bang up Emma and Lee are talking about English and how Emma is supporting Lee. Listening to other radio play has helped my character to because I can hear that feeling by pausing or breathing fast or slow to match the mood with the scene. For example when Norah first is seen in the play she is in a bad mood about 'the Markham coming to mi wedding'. This part of the play I am playing Norah annoyed as she grumpy about the Markhams coming. However in more soft scenes such as the bedroom scene when Lovvie and Norah are sleeping Norah is whispering because the scene needs a soft scene as it is night time and quiet.
What have learnt by doing this radio play?
As this play has Romani gypsy the dialect is different to our normal way we speak. There are words which they speak which we weren't familiar with. Words such as lubnie means prostitute so we had to put the expression and imply to the meaning of the word lubnie to that sentence. Other words such as dordie means 'oh god' means that your expression had to be shocked whilst saying this sentence. In particular one scene Lovvie is stressed when she is with John and shouts 'Oh dordie'. Rokkering means talking which had to be like a casual conversation. At first the getting to grips with the language was really hard as I had no idea how to say some of the dialogue but once I got familiar with the language I made it as if it was my own.
What notes were given to you in the rehearsal process?
Personally I struggled in the rehearsal as I find sight reading hard which was a disadvantage as it meant I stumbled over my words sometimes so my constant was to slow the pace of my voice down so that my emotion could come out more in the performance. However throughout the process I got more and more confident with my words and felt more comfortable coming to the real recording. Also sometimes the way I would say sometimes a sentence that didn't sound quite right. For example there is a scene when Lovvie can't meet up with my character Norah as she is secretly rehearsing with John and in this scene I said 'what?'. I said this part as if I couldn't hear her whereas I was supposed to be a little annoyed that she cant make it and that she needs a reason.
Horrid Henry Audio Book
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85CbQqHv8mw
How effective is the radio programme?
I think this is a effective radio programme because in the audio book there are variety of voices that make the audience hear different characters. For example when dad speaks the actor puts on a upper class voice by changing his pitch slightly. The narrator articulates his words very well by announcing certain letters in the words such as ' Henry snitched' the word letter 's' as it is a verb. Another verb such as 'pushed' put focus on the 'p' sound. This part of the book were very short and sharp sentences which gives effect. The audience for this audio book is aimed at children aged 8-13 years old. With this type of audience short sentences helps the audience to use their imagination.
Use of vocal technique
Other vocal technique are a variation of different voices to show different characters. Such as to show the dad the narrator gives a more upper class voice saying ' what are we going to do about our horrid boy'. The word is more weighted by the 'h' sound. This made the actors voices more cross and higher status to henry and you could hear the disappointed in the mums voice. The mums voice could show the social class she is trying to convey. However the dad was slightly lower compared to the mother.
Changing the voices by the pitch makes it easier to find out what character is speaking. For example when Perfect Peter his character is a sweet and innocent little boy which allows Perfect Peter to have more of a high pitch voice to make him sound younger than the other characters. I thought this was clear as it had a contrast to the parents role that was heard previously.
What age would I recommend this audiobook?
This audio book is mainly for young children aged 6-10 years as it allows the audience to use their imagination. Also the pace of the voice allows the children to follow in a basic term so the picture can be seen in their head.
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