Location Details

Our radio drama 'Under the Mushroom Cloud' in the United Kingdom. This would be relatable to our target audience, rather than doing an 'American' drama which could potentially outcast and alienate the whole of our main audience. We did some research into actual fallout shelters and where they were located in the UK, which meant we could focus our narrative on one very specific location. We chose on the fallout shelter in Brentwood, Essex. We chose this because it could be a focal point in our story, the aim of the plot was for the survivors to get to this shelter. We decided the the whole story could emitate from London. Not only is this the capital but this is also an iconic location for an audience to recognise. Brentwood is 53 miles from London, which meant the dialogue could take place as the journey along the deserted and destroyed roads commenced.

Story Development

We decided to create a six-part drama and write and record the ending and conclusion. We created four characters that can interact and have an emotional and physical journey throughout the six episodes. Our group decided to have a twist in our narrative which could make our drama not only dramatic, but also memorable. In the early stages of development in our story, we also thought of many conventions we could use. We came up with using radio broadcasts in our radio drama. We thought about doing this because it meant the narrative could be clearly explained and the story would flow much better but in an interesting way. I also thought that using radio broadcasts made the drama feel much more realistic and easier to imagine and connect to it. We also decided of a target audience aged 18-30, mainly male and also the majority of them being middle class.

We also decided on a name for our drama - 'Under the Mushroom Cloud', we felt this reflected the drama perfectly and it was a unanimous decision across our group.

Characters

We developed four characters Jen, Ryan, Nick and Daniel. We decided that each character could go on a journey throughout our drama. Their aim is to survive and to get to salvation which gives each character a change to develop.

Jen is the only female in the group, however she is a strong individual and does not depend on anyone else, until she gets into trouble that is. She's slightly fearful but does not bring that to the surface. She seems somewhat shy at first and is very intelligent. Jen being a female brings a balance to the whole plot.

Nick is an outgoing scottish character with a proud heritage. He is very brash and in your face and could get on other character's nerves perhaps. He is fairly aggresive and always tries to act the leader but noone follows his orders.

Ryan is the obvious leader of the group. He is very confident and very strong and brings a level of calm to the group as he can sort situations out and provide solutions and answers. He hates to lose and can be aggressive in certain situations. However, he cares for every individual and wants to get them all to safety and that is his one and only aim. He is the main protagonist.

Daniel is also the last character in the group. He is very shy and quiet and doesn't contribute to the group much. Noone really knows much about him and all the other characters are slightly wary of Daniel. He could also be seen as an antogonist.

Theme

The theme we chose for our radio drama was post-apocolyptic adventure, taking influences from genres such as sci-fi, action and also horror. Listening to radio dramas such as Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and War of the Worlds definately helped and influenced when deciding on a theme as all of the group members loved these two dramas in particular. We originally thought of a zombie apocolypse horror, however we thought the whole story and ideas were a bit predictable and not original enough. We wanted to create a drama that would be memorable and individual and felt this was not the direction to go in. We all agreed that a theme such as a nuclear fallout was original and interesting, and could be portrayed in such an intriguing way on the radio.

Influences

My group (Alex Martin, Joe Frost and me) all came to the conclusion of a zombie/post-apocolyptic/nuclear sci-fi thriller kind of radio drama. We decided that this was influenced by the game 'Fallout 3'. We also took inspiration from films such as Cloverfield and 28 days later.

The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone was originally a very successful television series and then much later was developed into a radio drama in 2002. It is that of the science fiction genre, which influences from the horror genre also.

The episode I listened to was 'The Thirty Fathom Grave', I was geniunely scared by this radio drama and therefore found it very interesting and enjoyed listening to it.

Much like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and The War of the Worlds, The Twilight Zone relys heavily on sound effects. For example, this particular episode was set on a ship, and we heard sound effects that you would normally hear out at sea. This gave us a sense of location, even though we didn't have visuals.

Theories

Throughout learning about radio and in particular radio dramas, I have learnt about many different theories that I can apply to my drama. Theories such as Todorov and his 'equilibrium' theory, Strauss and his 'binary opposites' and Propp and his fairytale characters. These can all be applied to radio dramas and helped massively in the creative process.

Todorov:
Todorov stated that all films/programmes etc should begin with an 'equilibrium' (a state of calm), then an 'agent of disruption' comes along and causes a disequilbrium (a period of distress). This problem should then be resolved by the protagonist and therefore causes a brand new equilbrium. This is narrative theory and can sometimes be classed as 'The Hollywood Narrative' as it is the most common.

Strauss:
Strauss suggested that the main focus in a narrative is conflict and he stated that this can be caused mainly by binary opposites clashing. A few example of these are 'hell and heaven', 'good and bad', 'black and white' and 'fire and water', but these are often represented through actual characters.

Propp:
Vladimir Propp conducted a theory in the twentieth century about narrative and character representation. He stated that their are eight key characters and these are he hero, the villain, the donor, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the princess and her father. A character can often have a few of these traits in a drama.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a hybrid genre combining science fiction and comedy. It was a series written by Douglas Adams and aired in 1978. I particularly enjoyed this radio drama as I hadalready seen the feature film and read the books which were later adapted after the radio drama was an absolutely huge success.

I found that in this particular drama the sound effects were absolutely vital to the piece as it enhanced the location and let our imaginations run (which is a key component when thinking of radio dramas). As the drama is set in space, we hear futuristic and unusual sounds that we would automatically associate with space and science-fiction.

Another convention used heavily in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is the use of voice and accents. They are a very effective tool when there is no visual to focus on. An example of this is when the 'Vogons' are speaking, the antogonistic characters in the drama speaks with a more upper-class accent with a ruthless tone presented into their voice. This is a complete contrast in comparison to the demolition workers with their regional accents which implies their lower class status and perhaps are seen as more vunerable.

War Of The Worlds!

War of the Worlds was a radio drama aired on Halloween in 1938 by Orson Welles. This particular radio drama cause a huge controversy and buzz and may be known as one of the most critically acclaimed dramas ever to be made on the radio.

Due to the clever scheduling times, many listeners tuned in after the drama had already started, and therefore what they heard they believed to be real. Listeners had missed the initial introduction stressing that this drama was fiction. The context of the drama was completly misinterpreted causing mass hysteria and a sense of general panic. War of the Worlds was recorded in the style of a normal radio broadcast (which explains why listeners were confused). The theme was a horrific alien invasion, and when listening on air, this seemed geniunely real.

There were very typical radio drama codes and conventions included in ‘War of the Worlds’, for example the address was mainly used in a direct nature, this makes us feel more involved as listeners and gives the impression of reality. The accents were typically recieved pronunciation American,which were more common accents in the 1930s. There are also plenty of effective sound effects such as explosions, cannon fires and screaming. These all add to making the drama seem more real, and in the horror genre, seem more scary. However the music throughtout was very misplaced and extravagent, but Welles did this to create the effect of a real radio programme of the time.