SWOT First Draft analysis

 STRENGTH

The radio delves into the challenges brought on by social media, basketball pressure, and wider social expectations struggles that many viewers are likely to relate to, as they mirror common experiences in today’s society. By focusing on Shiloh’s personal journey, the audience is given a window into his emotions and internal battles, allowing for a deeper understanding of how these pressures can affect young people. This perspective encourages viewers to reflect on their own challenges or those of people around them. The supporting characters, particularly Shiloh’s friends, play a crucial role in this narrative. Their efforts to comfort and support him highlight the importance of friendship and emotional connection during difficult times. This dynamic adds authenticity and relatability to the video, showing how a support system can make a meaningful difference. The visual storytelling and emotional tone also help reinforce these themes, making the audience more empathetic and engaged. Overall, the radio not only tells Shiloh’s story but also opens up a broader conversation about mental health, peer support, and resilience in the face of personal and societal pressures

Weaknesses

The radio drama primarily centres on Shiloh's internal emotions and his sense of sadness, but it offers little insight into how he behaves externally or how he interacts in different environments or with various people. This narrow focus on his inner world may limit the audience’s ability to fully connect with him, as it lacks the contrast and development that come from seeing a character in diverse situations. Additionally, some lines are delivered without enough energy or emphasis, which can affect the pacing and make certain moments feel flat or un engaging. Enhancing vocal expression and showcasing more of Shiloh’s external behaviour could make the drama more dynamic and relatable.

Opportunity

The drama could be strengthened by providing more context about the ranking system specifically, how it impacts the characters and what advantages it offers. Additionally, offering more background on Shiloh's final game would add emotional weight to his story. These elements would give the audience a fuller understanding of his struggles and motivations, allowing them to form a deeper emotional connection with him. As a result, viewers would be more likely to emphasize with his journey and feel a stronger sense of sorrow and engagement throughout the drama.

Threats

A potential threat to the radio drama’s effectiveness is its heavy focus on Shiloh’s internal emotions, which, while powerful, may risk alienating some listeners who seek more varied character dynamics or external conflict. Additionally, the intense emotional tone and themes around mental health, social pressure, and personal struggles though relatable might be too heavy for certain audiences who prefer lighter or more action-driven narratives. There’s also the risk that if the vocal performances (especially those portraying emotional depth) aren’t strong enough, the intended impact may be lost, leading to disengagement. Finally, with so much media already addressing youth mental health and social issues, the drama could struggle to stand out unless it offers a fresh, unique perspective or particularly memorable storytelling elements.

first edit

 

Developed initial ideas

In this idea, I explore a basketball player named Shiloh who was once on track to go pro, but his confidence has been shaken after a public mistake that went viral online. During a big training session, we see him laughing with his teammates, but he’s secretly checking the rankings on his phone and feeling the weight of past failures. He’s insecure and distracted, and his performance suffers. When his friends ask what’s going on, he brushes it off, but it’s clear he’s hiding something.

Later, they bump into a rival player, Kermit, who mocks Shiloh and exposes a viral video of him missing the final shot in a previous championship game. The friends are shocked, and Shiloh finally opens up about being cyber bullied over that moment. He confesses how it ruined his self-esteem and made him feel like he didn’t belong. Despite the tension, his friends rally around him and challenge Kermit to a five-on-five game, showing their loyalty.

For sound, I’d use foley like phone typing, basketball bouncing, crowd ambience, and sudden silences to highlight Shiloh’s inner conflict. The viral video could be heard faintly playing in the background, distorted like a bad memory. Wild tracks of friendly banter would shift into tense silence or mocking laughter from Kermit. The score would begin upbeat and confident, but drop into emotional or suspenseful tones during Shiloh’s confession. A voiceover from the narrator would guide the audience through his past and his emotional state. The theme music could start with energetic drill or trap beats but fade into something reflective as the drama builds.

P2 Foley sound and wild track experiment/ evalutation

Equipment 

USB Microphone – The USB microphone stood out for delivering very clear and smooth audio recordings. Compared to both the iPhone and the camera, it offered the highest sound quality. It also connected to the camera quickly and easily. Overall, it had minimal downsides, making it a highly effective tool for sound recording.

Camera – The main advantage of using the camera was its convenience and user-friendly operation. While it did manage to record the necessary audio, the quality was only average. In contrast to the USB microphone, the camera’s sound performance was noticeably lower in clarity and richness.

iPhone – Like the camera, the iPhone was simple and accessible for audio recording. However, it had a key disadvantage: the recordings were often quiet and lacked clarity. The sound came across as muffled, and it didn't capture audio as effectively as the camera or USB microphone.

Techniques

In order to ensure the fire and water sounds were loud and clear, the microphone had to be placed in close proximity to the source. A downside to this approach was the time it took to adjust and achieve the optimal positioning. The recording was done in a very quiet setting, which helped highlight subtle sounds like rainfall and the crackle of fire. However, locating such a quiet space proved to be difficult. That said, the presence of natural background noise actually enhanced the fire recording by making it sound more authentic and realistic.

Role of foley effects

To produce the fire crackling sound, I used crumpled paper and gently squeezed it in my hands. This method was fast and straightforward, but I had to be careful to handle it softly so the sound wouldn’t come across as too intense. For the rain effect, I gently poured water from a cup, which created a soft and realistic rain-like sound. This technique was also easy and effective. To replicate the atmosphere of a restaurant, I recorded in the school canteen by lightly tapping metal cutlery on plates and tables. Although simple, I had to make sure the tapping wasn’t too forceful to avoid a harsh or aggressive sound. For the crowded street ambiance, I also recorded during a busy time in the canteen. While it didn’t perfectly imitate the sound of a street environment, it was the best option given the available resources.

 

P2 sound element production report

P1 Sound elements

 

focus group + analysis

 Following the presentation of my radio drama to a focus group, I conducted a series of questions to gain feedback on how well the story, themes, and characters were conveyed. The feedback provided valuable perspectives, offering insight into what aspects of the piece were successful and highlighting areas that could benefit from further development.

When I asked the group for their opinions on the storyline, the feedback was mostly positive. They described the narrative as interesting and easy to follow, which gave me confidence that the structure was effective and coherent. One participate mentioned how the dialogue felt "Disney like" meaning that he felt as the dialogue was staged and not realistic I took this and tweaked some of the dialogue in order for it to flow naturally. 

I asked a question on how effectively were the themes of the radio drama shown and the gave a positive response which reassured me on how it perfectly was portrayed, the aim was for the message to be pushed out in a way where it wasn't complex for the audience to understand and when I was able to communicate this to the audience I felt a sense of relief knowing that the message was translatable for the audience to interpret.

There were some criticisms regarding the sound quality of the radio drama, which became a noticeable concern during the focus group session. One participant specifically pointed out the presence of white noise in the background, stating that it disrupted the immersion and took away from the overall realism of the piece. They mentioned it gave the impression that the drama wasn’t recorded with enough care or professionalism. This feedback highlighted an important area that I needed to address. Sound plays a crucial role in shaping the atmosphere and emotional tone of a radio drama, so any technical flaws can significantly impact the listener's experience.

In response, I made it a priority to improve the sound quality. I revisited my editing process and carefully listened for any inconsistencies or unwanted background noise. I even arranged for the actors to return to the recording space to re-record specific scenes. This not only helped to eliminate the white noise but also gave me the opportunity to refine the performances and ensure better overall sound clarity. Moving forward, I plan to be more meticulous in my recording setup and post-production process to maintain high audio standards and preserve the authenticity of the storytelling.

When I asked the group whether they felt engaged with specific characters, the responses varied. Some participants felt a strong connection to certain characters, while others didn’t feel as emotionally involved. I viewed this range of reactions as completely normal, given that different listeners connect with different personalities and storylines. What was most important and reassuring was that all participants clearly understood the role of each character and their background within the story. This indicated that, even if emotional engagement differed, the characters were well-defined and effectively communicated their purpose in the narrative.

Unit 16 P1 (uses of sound).

 Educate: 

Narration is a sound used to help the audience understand process what they’re being taught and helps with them retelling what they’ve been taught it’s a good method in terms of memorization and the understanding of facts, commonly used in documentaries and other things that require an explanation. An example of narration being used for education the audience is BBC iPlayer’s Planet Earths which is narrated by David Attenborough who is a British broadcaster and biologist. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006mywy/planet-earth). 

The show educates audience members about our planet and the different species we live among and how their way of life is different amongst others. Its primary focus is animals and how they normally behave in the wild and follows the course of nature and how each animal adapts to their habitat. The narrator explains that “We must change our diet. The planet can't support billions of meat-eaters.” Touching on the importance of animals and why they’re important to us educating the audience through the use of narration (sound). 

 

 

Entertain: 

The sound element involves entertaining its spectators; this engages the audience more into the media text. An example could be seen in “Avengers: Endgame” a theme song plays whenever something heroic will happen and we see our heroes on screen it works as a sound entertainer for the audience as its very uplifting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pFUP0HZwWM)  for example from 1:22 to 3:23 the music is being built up and this entertains the audience because its normally played when the whole group has now regroup and they’re going to do a comeback on the enemy forces. 

 

 

Inform:  

This type of sound provides information and example could be some news it’s used to inform and the dramatic sound at the end and the start of the news programme it’s a key convention or trope of news production. It’s loud and intense sound signifies urgency towards the audience (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x53lfkuP044) In this example we can see that the sound is important because when we are here this sound at the start, we know that it’s going to be ‘BBC news” related. Informing the audience on what’s about to be aired. 

 

Sell Products: 

This sound helps companies make their brand more recognizable towards their audience whenever an advert is played to promote their products, this is called a jingle and an example of a company using it could be McDonalds (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE1B3N_a7fE) in this they use a jingle to sell their products, the music makes the audience more attracted to the food shown on the screen and enhances the vibrant tastes.  This also helps them sell their products more efficiently.  

 

Wild Tracks:  

A wild track is an audio recording intended to be synchronized with film or video but recorded separately. An example of this could be ‘NBA 2K’ where there are crowd noises in the background where they chant and make realistic sounds which give the game a realistic touch to it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbu_6inbcX0) This improves the gaming experience for its players, and it improves the realism as every one of the characters engage themselves into the game even more as the crowd engages making it more interesting. 

 

Atmospheric Sounds: 

This sound element is used to create a certain mood. Atmospheric sounds are mostly used in Horror/thriller movies such as ‘The Hurt Locker’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRPaNM6qlUE). The scene where the find the body of the dead boy the sound is tense adding suspense to the narrative and intensifies the atmosphere even more. Therefore, this makes the audience feel the tension in the scene which puts them on edge as the sound feels like your being suffocated by your surroundings, it feels as if something unexpected or shocking will happen. And the music is used to keep the audience engaged with the narrative. Which is what makes it more entertaining.  

 

Sound Effects: 

These are imitative of sounds called for in the script of a dramatic production. Sounds effects are usually in films, an example of this could be ‘Star Wars The forces’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8VnCcg1t7w) The use of gunshots and how the laser sounds they make suggest that it’s a sci-fi film. And because of the lasers being fired it could signify that someone is fighting creating an interesting atmosphere. This example shows that they have used simple sci-fi effects to create a troublesome atmosphere. 

 

Dialogue: 

This type of sound is usually a conversation between two or more people as a feature of a Film, TV programme, radio show etc. An example of a text that uses dialogue is TV show like Netflix’s ‘The Good Place’ () Dialogue helps the audience to understand the narrative better and makes the audience to better show the characters personality/feelings in show. For example, in the show when Eleanor confronts Michael about the place, they’re in being a ‘fake’ good place she says “How could you” in a painful tone which suggests that she’s been hurt and she’s in distraught This helps the audience to understand what is happening and how the character is feeling. 

 

Music: 

This is the vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. This enhances the audiences visual experience with the advert, making the media better as a whole as you have more of a thrill towards the products which pushes you wanting to buy it even more than before. An example of this are the adverts for the beat’s headphones, they use music to sell the product as that’s what the headphones are for and they use visuals to add more of an effect to this. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWE0_DutDWA) This advert was produced to make the audience be aware of their new Beats studio pro wireless. The advert uses the song (RIOT ROWDEY PIPE’N by A$AP ROCKY) which has a very deep bass which works well with the advertisement as it isn’t a distorted type of bass but when which is well mastered. 

 

Use of silence:  

Silence in a film is usually used to build tension and make the audience think during the time of silence. Usually used in horror movies where silence is used to build on the narrative. An example of this could be the film “Quiet place” which is a horror thriller movie which uses silence to create suspense in the narrative (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPY7J-flzE8). In the trailer we can see that the film circles around silence for example at 1:07 the girl coughing is stopped by a man who covers her mouth as the abnormal creatures that are roaming around the world seem to react to sound and hunt down their prey with its help. Educate: 

Narration is a sound used to help the audience understand process what they’re being taught and helps with them retelling what they’ve been taught it’s a good method in terms of memorization and the understanding of facts, commonly used in documentaries and other things that require an explanation. An example of narration being used for education the audience is BBC iPlayer’s Planet Earths which is narrated by David Attenborough who is a British broadcaster and biologist. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006mywy/planet-earth). 

The show educates audience members about our planet and the different species we live among and how their way of life is different amongst others. Its primary focus is animals and how they normally behave in the wild and follows the course of nature and how each animal adapts to their habitat. The narrator explains that “We must change our diet. The planet can't support billions of meat-eaters.” Touching on the importance of animals and why they’re important to us educating the audience through the use of narration (sound). 

 

 

Entertain: 

The sound element involves entertaining its spectators; this engages the audience more into the media text. An example could be seen in “Avengers: Endgame” a theme song plays whenever something heroic will happen and we see our heroes on screen it works as a sound entertainer for the audience as its very uplifting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pFUP0HZwWM)  for example from 1:22 to 3:23 the music is being built up and this entertains the audience because its normally played when the whole group has now regroup and they’re going to do a comeback on the enemy forces. 

 

 

Inform:  

This type of sound provides information and example could be some news it’s used to inform and the dramatic sound at the end and the start of the news programme it’s a key convention or trope of news production. It’s loud and intense sound signifies urgency towards the audience (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x53lfkuP044) In this example we can see that the sound is important because when we are here this sound at the start, we know that it’s going to be ‘BBC news” related. Informing the audience on what’s about to be aired. 

 

Sell Products: 

This sound helps companies make their brand more recognizable towards their audience whenever an advert is played to promote their products, this is called a jingle and an example of a company using it could be McDonalds (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE1B3N_a7fE) in this they use a jingle to sell their products, the music makes the audience more attracted to the food shown on the screen and enhances the vibrant tastes.  This also helps them sell their products more efficiently.  

 

Wild Tracks:  

A wild track is an audio recording intended to be synchronized with film or video but recorded separately. An example of this could be ‘NBA 2K’ where there are crowd noises in the background where they chant and make realistic sounds which give the game a realistic touch to it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbu_6inbcX0) This improves the gaming experience for its players, and it improves the realism as every one of the characters engage themselves into the game even more as the crowd engages making it more interesting. 

 

Atmospheric Sounds: 

This sound element is used to create a certain mood. Atmospheric sounds are mostly used in Horror/thriller movies such as ‘The Hurt Locker’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRPaNM6qlUE). The scene where the find the body of the dead boy the sound is tense adding suspense to the narrative and intensifies the atmosphere even more. Therefore, this makes the audience feel the tension in the scene which puts them on edge as the sound feels like your being suffocated by your surroundings, it feels as if something unexpected or shocking will happen. And the music is used to keep the audience engaged with the narrative. Which is what makes it more entertaining.  

 

Sound Effects: 

These are imitative of sounds called for in the script of a dramatic production. Sounds effects are usually in films, an example of this could be ‘Star Wars The forces’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8VnCcg1t7w) The use of gunshots and how the laser sounds they make suggest that it’s a sci-fi film. And because of the lasers being fired it could signify that someone is fighting creating an interesting atmosphere. This example shows that they have used simple sci-fi effects to create a troublesome atmosphere. 

 

Dialogue: 

This type of sound is usually a conversation between two or more people as a feature of a Film, TV programme, radio show etc. An example of a text that uses dialogue is TV show like Netflix’s ‘The Good Place’ () Dialogue helps the audience to understand the narrative better and makes the audience to better show the characters personality/feelings in show. For example, in the show when Eleanor confronts Michael about the place, they’re in being a ‘fake’ good place she says “How could you” in a painful tone which suggests that she’s been hurt and she’s in distraught This helps the audience to understand what is happening and how the character is feeling. 

 

Music: 

This is the vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. This enhances the audiences visual experience with the advert, making the media better as a whole as you have more of a thrill towards the products which pushes you wanting to buy it even more than before. An example of this are the adverts for the beat’s headphones, they use music to sell the product as that’s what the headphones are for and they use visuals to add more of an effect to this. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWE0_DutDWA) This advert was produced to make the audience be aware of their new Beats studio pro wireless. The advert uses the song (RIOT ROWDEY PIPE’N by A$AP ROCKY) which has a very deep bass which works well with the advertisement as it isn’t a distorted type of bass but when which is well mastered. 

 

Use of silence:  

Silence in a film is usually used to build tension and make the audience think during the time of silence. Usually used in horror movies where silence is used to build on the narrative. An example of this could be the film “Quiet place” which is a horror thriller movie which uses silence to create suspense in the narrative (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPY7J-flzE8). In the trailer we can see that the film circles around silence for example at 1:07 the girl coughing is stopped by a man who covers her mouth as the abnormal creatures that are roaming around the world seem to react to sound and hunt down their prey with its help.