Radio Ensemble Piece

Different Genres and the reason why we chose comedy:

Before the class got into our groups and decided which Radio piece to perform we looked at different Radio genres, for example, Radio Dramas, Comedy Sketches, Interviews and Documentaries. One of the Radio Dramas we listened to was The Abbey Grange (Sherlock Holmes) it created the right atmosphere and was very believable as a radio drama. I think a big part of this is the narrator as the way he tells the story describes everything you need to know, for example, "Her blue eyes were full of terror." He described what the eyes looked like and than he goes on to explain why they were filled with terror, making us picture the woman's eyes in our minds. One comedy sketch we listened to was Party, the way the same actors used their voices to create different characters and make them believable was excellent, as changing characters is always difficult, especially if they're the complete opposite to each other. Comedy sketches are allowed to push the limits more than Dramas are and the audience can hear that by the different music of the piece, the language they use and how outrageous the characters can be. That is what attracted me to comedy the most, being able to push the limit and show my versatility in creating different characters.

Me and my group decided that we want to do comedy sketches, because the piece itself would be lively and fast pace, making us enjoy performing it. We also have a range of versatility to perform from. We didn't have time to make up our own script, so we looked at different radio shows and found That Mitchell and Webb Sound. We picked this show as we knew it would give us a range of characters to choose from. My characters are: a game show contestant, a slug and a woman on her first date.

Research:



That Mitchell and Webb Sound is a comedy sketch show on BBC Radio 4 which started on 28 August 2003. The series became adapted for television as That Mitchell and Webb Look in 2006. The series stars David Mitchell and Robert Webb also write a fair amount of the material. Mitchell and Webb are a British comedy double act, composed of David Mitchell (born 14 July 1974) and Robert Webb (born 29 September 1972). They are best known for starring in the Channel 4 sitcom Peep Show and their award-winning sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look.

The 21st Century is the time that Radio Comedy Shows and Sketches were more risky with their content. For example they talk about sex more freely, occasionally swear and are not afraid to talk about political or social problems. This definitely made me more freer with some of my characters for example my first date character talks about sex as if she's talking about dinner, it was all a breeze and this changed my way of performing it

Character Study - The Game Show Contestant - Claire

Things I know about my character:

The scene starts with the Game Show Host introducing me, "Tonight's contestant is Claire. She's a twenty-nine year old working mum and she's still got a great body!" She has no pets and usually gives short sentences.

Voice I used for my character:

I made Claire very short, direct and forceful. I based my character on Lauren Cooper from The Catherine Tate Show. I made my voice a little deeper than hers but kept the attitude and the way she draws the words out, giving off a very comic effect. Because I made her sound common my diction was sometimes off on some places, but those were deliberate choices that I made, for example one of the lines is, "Think so." Instead of saying "Th" I instead pronounce it "F" to make it, "Fink so."



Character Study - Slug

My character is a slug child who is listening to her father telling her a story. My voice is very high to give the effect of childlike innocence and because of the slugs height, seeing as slug's are very small. The slug I found out was the easiest to do consistently but when we spoke together the audience couldn't make out what we were saying, for example on of the things we say as an ensemble is, "Please" before we used to do it really drawn out and stopping at different times but it sounded messy so to solve that problem we thought of putting in beats for how long we say it, so we could all stop saying it at the same time, which made it sound better and the audience could understand what we were saying.



Character Study - Woman on her first date

My character is a woman who is out on a first date with a man, so it has the right touch of awkwardness to make it relatable. I did the most voice work with this character as this was my biggest speaking part. I tried out many different vocal tones and accents. I first tried it very nasal, I think it worked as it brought more comedy to the scene but something was missing, so I tried the scene again but this time with a southern accent. It made the scene sound more sexual and smooth but I don't think it was bringing the humour into it like the first voice I did was. I finally went with a very posh accent which made the scene go smoothly, the audience could understand what I was saying and it brought the humour as there's something funny about a very posh woman talking about sex so freely. "Oh god yeah, I'm an absolute sex-nut!" I go very breathy here to show my character losing her cool and I use many pauses to heighten the tension for example, [GASP, Pause] "I LOVE SEX!" This pause made the sentence following even more funny, as the audience think I gasped because he's offended me, while really it's the opposite.

Overall my characters had great versatility between them, showing my range in voice and character work. My first character, Claire, was very low and harsh sounding, with poor diction, while my slug child was sweet and high, conveying the emotions perfectly, and my last character had a posh accent, giving me a soft tone and brilliant diction.

Radio Solo Pieces

For Radio we do a solo and an Ensemble piece. In this blog I'll be writing about my Solo piece and why I chose each piece.

First Piece:

My first piece is a monologue from the play Flowers in the Desert  by D. M. Larson. The actual monologue itself is called The Not So Perfect Child. The playwright D.M. Larson has been writing plays since high school and acting since junior high. In 1988, his first play "Nicolas Brooks" had instant success by winning the Youth Division at the Spokane Civic Theatre Forum Festival in Washington State. After that he wrote many other plays, to name a couple: A Man and His Plant (1990) and The Redneck (2004). In all his plays most of his characters are very relatable and that's why I picked the monologue of Jamie.

Jamie is a teenage girl who has run away from a conflict at home to stay with her Aunt Betty in order to have some time to think things out. The play opens up with Jamie’s Monologue so you know from the very beginning what’s bothering her character. The conflict at home is her mother loving her sister more than she does her. That's one of the reasons I picked this play, for the fact that she's a relatable character. Another reason is because it's suitable for Radio. The audience doesn't have to know the scenery or what I look like, they just listen to my voice and get the effect of the scene by my emotions.

This is my annotated script for my monologue and the monologue itself has the emotions written on it all ready, but for some of them I didn't do as I didn't feel the emotion would come off correctly, considering I adapted it for radio. For example, near the bottom of the monologue it says, (Cries... Sadness) I didn't want to cry as I think seeing people cry is more powerful than hearing it, so I softened my tone to show my sadness and grew more quieter, so you could tell the change between the emotions. When I was furious my voice got louder, my tone harder and my words pacier.

I used no sound effects for this piece as I think my voice can create the tension the scene needed on its own, and I was worried that the sound effects would take the intention away from the words.

Second Piece:

My second piece is a children's book written in 1955 called The Happy Family by Nicole. Not much is known about the author of the book but at the time the book was written happy families were rare to find. There was a study done on the 22nd of February 2005, it was titled, "Mothers Alone: Poverty and the Fatherless Family, 1955-1966". The book Happy Family completely contradicts to what is happening in society then, which I think made the book even more magical to children.



My voice for this piece became softer, more soothing and gentle, a voice usually used to tell a child a bedtime story. For the characters I changed my voice, for the children I adapted a higher pitch, and a more upbeat pace, for example on the line, "Daddy, Daddy! Hello, Daddy!" I said it as if they were running excitedly up to him, while for the mother I went more softer, with a harder tone to sound strict, for example I did this on the line "Wash your hands, everybody! Dinner is ready!" and with the father I went deeper by doing this I brought my pitch down and slowed the pace.

I used sound effects for this piece to create the environment of a family home, for example some of the noises were a clock chiming, a dog barking, a cat meowing and sink running water.

Third Piece:

My third and final piece is an advert which I wrote myself. I wanted to bring humour to my piece so I made it almost like a mock advert.

Below is my advert:

Are you a stressed out parent who just can’t get your kids to sleep? If that’s the case than The Happy Family is the Audio book for you! It keeps your children entertained, with colourful pictures and funny voices the person does to be the whole family. All of this for just £4.99! Bargain! And if all of the above fails you can always knock your child out with the book! But for that you’ll need the hard copy for only £6.99! More yes, but it’s worth it! (Moves away from the Mic) What do you mean I can’t say that? (Comes back) Just buy the book!

I listened and watched adverts to hear how their voices usually sound and most of them come off as energetic and upbeat, using persuasive language to encourage you to take on what they're selling. My voice was upbeat, loud and pacey for this piece to come off as a stereotypical salesman. I emphasised on the words like, you, just and bargain, as this was my persuasive language.

I had to work on my diction the most for this one, as when I speak fast my words sometimes mumble together and don't make sense. I made my diction clearer by saying tongue twisters twice a day. Some of the tongue twisters I use are, "I want a proper cup of coffee, in a copper coffee pot." and "Which Witch Watched Witch Watch?" By doing this daily I've really improved my diction as my articulation has become more clearer.

I have upbeat music playing in the background for this piece to help create the happy atmosphere my advert needs, it's a catchy tune which will stick in the audiences head, this is another clever persuasive devise used for the audience to come back to the product I am selling, so I had to go through a lot of songs to find the one that was right for my advert and this is the one I picked:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4GQ5GW88I4

All together I think all of my pieces show a different contrast between each other and show my versatility in my voice work. My first piece it's my own voice but with emotion in it, my second piece is a much softer, smoother tone, emotionless as I'm the narrator, while my third piece is upbeat and energetic, with enough emotion in my voice to make it sound put on and fake.