Monday, 28 April 2025
Rationale
I chose the idea "On the court" because I wanted my radio drama to have some sort of reliability to me seeing how I'm a teenager who plays sports and enjoys basketball in particular. The radio drama is aimed towards other teenagers like me who have some sort of connection between the sport. Unlike other dramas that exaggerate elements found in their stories about bullying, On the court explores this subject in a more up to date version which showcases bullying through social media exploring the negatives and pressure that it comes with. Shiloh's being in a mood throughout felt like an authentic storyline that a teenager usually goes through, how social media effects teenagers. We see his passion towards basketball and how much social media matters to him when it comes to where he's ranked and how he's viewed in the public eye. Highlighting real life issues with college players who look at ranking and wonder how they're viewed by the public. This story was built for educational purposes allowing room for themes like pressure and expectation set on them.
Sunday, 27 April 2025
Treatment
Radio: ON THE COURT
On the Court follows the emotional and competitive journey of Shiloh, a talented young basketball player trying to rebuild his confidence after a humiliating moment from his past went viral online. Haunted by a missed shot that cost his old team the season—and led to intense cyberbullying—Shiloh struggles to hide his insecurities even as he trains with his new friends.
I would utilize sound to create a more realistic and engrossing environment for the audience when listening to On the Court. One of the key ways to accomplish this is through the use of environmental sound effects that take on the environment. For example, when there is training time when Shiloh and his friends are active, background sounds like bouncing basketballs, the squealing of shoes upon the court, and some laughter far away to set the scene just right and have the audience envisioning that they are with the characters. The same technique was used in the BBC Radio 4 15 Minute Radio Drama, where paper flicking was used to subtly indicate a therapy room this added realism and assisted grounding for the listener, which is what I aim to do. Dialogue would also be of prime significance.
I would use dialogue not just to further the story, but also to reflect shifts in mood and surroundings. For example, when the group is going from training to hanging out and talking about rankings, such a change would be signaled by shifts in tone, pace, and ambient background noises (like conversation dying down when they exit the court). At the tense scenes, like when the antagonist is battling Shiloh, background sounds would soften to place more focus on dialogue, emphasizing the tension Shiloh is undergoing and making the scene more tense and intimate to viewers. Music would be the other essential conveyor. I'd use bass-reverberant music, similar to what is being used with the fight scene, to signal impending battle and warn of increased tension. The theme music for the show would be anything but hugely upbeat, the better to recognise the heavier-of-heft issues of cyberbullies, insecurities, and pressure for young players.
I would also use wild tracks and Foley sound effects to further create the feeling of realism. For instance, when Shiloh and his friends argue or psych themselves up, you could have the noises of other basketball games going on in the background, sneakers squeaking, or even phones ringing as clips and rankings are being shown all little details that make the world feel real and inhabited. These subtle layers would keep the viewers engaged and emotionally invested in Shiloh's story.
The target market for On the Court would be young people aged 13-24, both male and female, and living primarily in England.
Despite addressing mature topics including cyberbullying and low self-esteem issues, the programme is highly accessible to young people, especially those attuned to the social media sphere and comfortable with the sport culture and online critique ethos. Through using a multicultural set of characters and depending on audio to deliver the realism of what they are experiencing, the show would create a chance for listeners across the board to be able to identify with the tale and stay completely immersed.
Friday, 25 April 2025
Thursday, 24 April 2025
Production journey
I started by opening GarageBand on the iMac and playing around with it for a while because I wanted to become familiar with the audio recording program I would be using. Understanding how everything operated made the recording process much simpler later on, particularly when it came to recording sound effects and the lines of the voice actors. I ran into way fewer problems because I already knew my way around the software. GarageBand also let me tweak the audio settings to boost the sound quality when needed, which really came in handy. Overall, it was a solid way to kick off the project, and once I felt confident using it, I was ready to jump into recording my audio drama.
I then gathered my performers and recorded their lines for my radio drama, re-recording them as necessary as the script progressed. This brought all of the audio into one location, allowing me to use my understanding of GarageBand to alter the level and quality of the actors' voices. Some of the actors were talking too loudly, while others were a little too quiet. After all of the recordings were finished, I saved the files as.mp4 files to the cloud storage, where I would later transfer them to "Final Cut Pro," the next piece of software I would use to edit the audio clips. I have already used this software outside of school, so I don't need to familiarise myself with it.
As previously mentioned, I began editing the clips after importing all of the audio files into the program I would be using. To ensure that everything made sense, I took care to concentrate on the narrative's flow. Since there are no images, I had to make sure that they could readily picture what was happening during the radio drama. To do this, I added wild tracks to make the listening experience more genuine. I received comments on what I should modify from a third viewpoint after finishing the first draft, and I made the changes they suggested would improve the episode as a whole. Following their revisions, the final document was altered.
Monday, 21 April 2025
Launch date
The best way to reach the target audience, in my opinion, would be to release (Not decided on name yet) during a holiday season, as this would optimise the number of potential viewers. In light of this, I propose that the first episode air on Thursday, August 1st, 2024. The fact that this date is near the weekend and falls within the holidays is important because many parents restrict their kids' phone use during the school week. A strong launch and large initial viewership are more likely when it is released on a Thursday, especially during the holiday season, when children are more likely to have access to their devices.
scheduling and alignment
Scheduling.
My show "On The Court" will be aired on a Friday evening. The reasoning behind this will be because school has just finished and we'll be going into the weekend so they wouldn't have to worry about missing another episode. It'll leave those who are listening something to look forward to after a long weekday. The target audience for this show will be toward 13 to 18 year old's, this is my target audience because i believe people in that age group can relate heavily to the content and gain some sort of connection from it, the story is both entertaining and educational so this is a further more reason as to why it suits that age demographic. It'll teach them to not be a victim of social media and realize that it isn't the end of their lives they can always bounce back from this and that their loved ones will be there to support them.
"On The Court" will air at 19:30 GMT, i'll air it during this time because it's the time where majority of teenagers will be at home after doing what they needed to do during the afternoon. It gives them time to have dinner, complete homework and even arrive from any after school activities allowing them to look forward for something after, so i believe that's a valid reason as to why it should be aired around that time.
Overall, this is the explanation as to why i chose this date and time of day.
initial ideas
Initial ideas
IDEA 1
A student is regarded as the number 1 basketball player in the country and his face is all over social media. He's very cocky and believes that nobody can stop him one on one until a kid in this same class as him is upcoming he's of course is in a lower rated team compared to the main character but he has determination to become the best in the country. His story starts when he challenges the number player at a park in a 1v1. Who will win the match up.
*The locations of these will be around a school court, gym, park etc.
*The microphone will be on camera.
IDEA 2
A girl is getting bullied online which results to her death. Her death goes under deep investigations and we found out that there are 3 suspects which could be related to her death. They all say they haven't done anything and are being accused for reasons they aren't familiar with. The schools advices the teachers to not talk talk about what happened and as a result the students rebel against the school.
*The Location will be at a school.
*Recorded in a studio
IDEA .3
Two boys are upcoming in the entertainment industry and are gaining a lot of traction to their work. One of the boys are circulating around social media for bad reasons and accused of saying his friends music is trash. This is true, but boy no.1 declines these claims, eventually this creates a rift in their friendship group and now the tension between the two spills onto social media. How will this be resolved?
*Location will be in a music studio
IDEA 4
2 boys and 2 girls are stuck in detention after school, the teacher leaves to go to a meeting but warns them that if any of them leave before she comes back it'll result into their permanent exclusion. The group all have different ideas on what they should do and their personalities clash constantly resulting into many arguments. the silent boy however getting mimicked by the other students for this one of the students begin to provoke him but mid way the teacher walks in and catches him in the act.
*The location would be in a Library, class room or common room.
*school uniform with bags and books
Script
On the Court.
Aksanty introduces the show as
it’s narrator, stating the production team involved (MvR Productions) and the
title “On the Court”.
The Narrator will speak about Shiloh (The main character) and
cover his past whilst he’s in training going through.
(Shiloh is having a laugh with his friends whilst the drill is
going on and you can hear the laughter in the background).
(We get
flashes of Shiloh during training).
The narrator will then go on to explain how Shiloh has the
potential to make it to the NBA. And how he struggles with confidence.
Typing on his phone can be heard.
(Xavier )
Yo Shiloh
what’s good bro, what you looking at?
(Shiloh)
Huh, nah
it’s nothing I was just looking at the rankings.
(Xavier)
Oh really?
Where was you ranked it was high isn’t it.
(Shiloh)
(Insecure
cough)
Yeah, it
was high man I didn’t really see though I was scrolling quite quickly.
Friend no.2 and 3 now approach them.
(Raymond)
Ay guys, I
beg we go eat or something man my stomach is rumbling man I haven’t eaten in
days.
(Jay-Jay)
Bro shut up
man all you think about is food man food, food, food do some push-ups or
something.
His Stomach began to rumble, and the rest are laughing.
(Friend 2)
(Jay-Jay)
Forget this
joke man, ay Shiloh where’d you rank bro.
(There’s an
awkward silence in the room and Shiloh has his head down zoning out).
Yo, Shiloh
you alright.
(Shiloh)
(Deep
breathe)
Yeah, I’m
cool man I’m just mad hungry bro I’m with (Friend 3) man lets go eat for
real.
(Narrator)
(The Group leave the court and are
on their way out where they see their other friend playing ball with random
people before going to eat food, they go to greet him. It’s still obvious that
Shiloh is down about something.)
(Felipe)
(Breathes
heavily)
Nah you guys
violated what took you so long.
(Xavier)
Athletes’
life bro we’ve got to become the best team in the borough. You know this stop complaining.
(Shiloh)
(On his
phone)
I mean we
aren’t even doing bad now man, look we are in the championship.
Types of programming
Talk/Music –
Talk and music normally usually consists of conversation with the public over a phone and discuss topics which either surround politics or the latest trends when it comes to playing music and other stuff which are currently the hottest topic. For example, radios like LBC in their website they have a home screen where they put a story in the middle of the screen. On top they’ll have trending subjects in the UK and underneath will have other stories which cover other subjects which aren’t as popular at the moment. During the day they also have a Live talk which goes on depending on what time it’s around in which you can listen to and also phone-in to include yourself into the subject. Music is played in between breaks to give the hosts a break oftenly the music is not as old but new and upcoming artists get featured as well to give them exposure.
Sport
Sport radio’s such as Sky Sports News Radio will only discuss topics which centre around sports only. Each presenter has a unique skill on this radio to help improve and better the viewers experience when it comes to listening to the latest sports news, it features debates, the latest transfers and even have after game discussions with players to get their point of view in things. Sky Sport News Radio is broadcast live online every day and is available 24/ 7. Non-Sky subscribers who can't view Sky Sports News can now hear it. What's more, they can do it from the comfort of their home or workplace.
Current Events
News radio’s such as CBS News Radio brings you the news you need such as Breaking news, continuous coverage and round-the-clock reporting. They cover news regarding things that are currently happening in the world. They are structured in the same way on how news on television would be and provide you with information in the same way as well. They report subjects which are important to our day-to-day basis, and example could be Weather or politics. This is normally
targeted towards an older audience and usually listened to people who are on their way to work.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle radio’s area radio’s that are more relatable for the public listeners. They talk about what they’ve recently been through or usually have a co-host on to keep the conversation flowing with the subject that is being brought up. On Heart for example on their website they have different topics which are more personal to the listeners and viewers with subjects such as parenting, money, beauty, shopping and more. It’s mostly common in podcasts however more than it is on radio hence why on the website they also suggest podcasts to listen too.
Dramatizations
Dramatizations such as BBC radio 4’s “The Archers” are radio programmes that create a narrative for entertainment purposes. The key goal is to create a story which will have the audience entertained but also to educate at the same time as they have to follow the BBC’s ethos. These stories could normally have breaks so it can allow the host to explain the narrative.
Comparing “The Archers” to the “CBS news radio”
The Archers and LBC are very different types of radio programmes one’s sole purpose is to entertain its listeners and the others is to inform its listeners with information, through this we can both see that they follow some sort of ethos and go by them. Another difference could be how the archers use sound to communicate with its audience to make them feel as if they’re apart of the show in contrast to how CBS news radio interacts with its audience members to rise up a debate on growing issues and go over current matters. Not only this but the CBS news could also share a common interest between its listeners whether its politics or other stories where as The Archers would only focus on the storyline which may not attract different audiences. The Archers are also different to CBS radio because with The Archers you’d have to watch previous episodes to understand the narrative in the next episode whereas CBS each day has a different focus depending on the matter which will be easier for audience members to understand.
Not only this but the presenters and news reporters on CBS are much more present than in comparison with The Archers, as in the Archers the presenter only speaks in fewer moments to explain the narrative quite frequently. We also hear the presenter announce the show they’ll be listening to which makes it easier for viewers to follow. What makes The Archers different is that they wouldn’t add things to the narrative in fact it’s direct throughout the entirety of the show. Unlike CBS news radio where the narrative changes throughout the time it’s being aired.
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I started by opening GarageBand on the iMac and playing around with it for a while because I wanted to become familiar with the audio recor...
