UNIT 39 Assignment 2: Writing Original Scripts

Scenario: You have been commissioned to write two original 4 minute radio script for a production of a specific audience.

• Children
• News feature
• Sports feature
• Drama

TASK

Show that you can understand the conventions of scriptwriting for different radio genres. Be able to originate and develop 2 different radio scripts using appropriate expressive language. Carry out research for your script, bearing in mind the requirements of the commission. Develop evidence of the research, then write your script.

• Skills Expression: speech (received pronunciation, dialect, slang, regional accents, colloquial language); buzzwords; jargon; politically sensitive terminology; verbal shorthand.
• Clarity: ambiguity in original english; innuendo; hidden meanings; suggestion; implication; inference.
• Copy based on original material: continuity script; narrated documentary; feature production; informative items (for magazines or music sequences).
• Copy based on existing materials: adapting scripts to radio from other media forms (print, internet, television, cinema); genre change of a script within radio conventions (serious or spoof); turning data from other sources into readable scripts (e.g. music charts, film ratings).
• Support copy (background research): continuity links for live broadcast; trivia scripts for sports reports or similar broadcasts; background for significant events or other commentaries; atmospheric or descriptive writing; sight-readable scripts.
• Development: from original concept to original scripts; different scripts (differentiation by content, genre).

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SCRIPT 1 - NEWS FEATURE RESEARCH

A news feature on radio is often organised so that the more ‘softer’ stories take place at the end in favour of the more ‘harder’ or serious news topics. Made so that they are softer for radio and often last under a minute, as they are condensed to fit the radio time frame. With this assignment however, I am tasked with creating an original news feature of my own making. I can take an existing news story but must ensure I write the script on own original script. The following is a link to the news story I wish to adapt to an original piece: British voters furious after being denied right to vote for first time in history over controversial ID scheme

The Script

(Intro cue) Opening with radio show intro: Your listening to 103.4 SUN FM’s 6 o’clock news feature with your host, [INSERT NAME].

Controversy has risen over the issue of UK citizen voter IDs, a scheme which has been implemented by the current government as being part of combating electoral fraud; however, critics of the plan have argued that the scheme would only disenfranchise voters and suppress turnout. They object that the elderly, migrant communities, asylum seekers and disadvantaged people would have a much harder time voting if they could not verify themselves with any form of valid identification.

One such voter who fits in the disenfranchised category is 76-year-old Peter White, who says of the scheme, “This is a nonsense scheme,” adding that he’s angry because he doesn’t believe in carrying voter ID. “Having the vote is a basic human right in a democracy, and this is supposed to be a democracy”, is how he put it. He says that he will now choose not to vote because of the scheme.

A group of 40 charities this past March demanded that the plan be rethinked, as the Electoral Commission shows that only 28 allegations were made from last year’s vote, with only one conviction made. This is out of the near 45 million votes casted in that election.

You have to imagine going forward that this isn’t such a good idea, given that people like Peter White are becoming disenfranchised and are now choosing not to vote because of this. And he’s just one of many, I’m sure there are more seniors, more migrants, more asylum seekers and disadvantaged people unable to vote because of this. So something must be done.

(Outro cue) Close with radio show outro: You’ve been listening the 6 o’clock news feature with [INSERT NAME]. 103.4 SUN FM.

SFX	Directions	Narrative
(Intro cue) Opening with radio show intro (Outro cue) Close with radio show outro	Intro What the feature is about? Who is being affected? What is being done about it? What is next? What is the future?	Your listening to 103.4 SUN FM’s 6 o’clock news feature with your host, [INSERT NAME]. Controversy has risen over the issue of UK citizen voter IDs, a scheme which has been implemented by the current government as being part of combating electoral fraud; however, critics of the plan have argued that the scheme would only disenfranchise voters and suppress turnout. They object that the elderly, migrant communities, asylum seekers and disadvantaged people would have a much harder time voting if they could not verify themselves with any form of valid identification. One such voter who fits in the disenfranchised category is 76-year-old Peter White, who says of the scheme, “This is a nonsense scheme,” adding that he’s angry because he doesn’t believe in carrying voter ID. “Having the vote is a basic human right in a democracy, and this is supposed to be a democracy”, is how he put it. He says that he will now choose not to vote because of the scheme. A group of 40 charities this past March demanded that the plan be rethinked, as the Electoral Commission shows that only 28 allegations were made from last year’s vote, with only one conviction made. This is out of the near 45 million votes casted in that election. You have to imagine going forward that this isn’t such a good idea, given that people like Peter White are becoming disenfranchised and are now choosing not to vote because of this. And he’s just one of many, I’m sure there are more seniors, more migrants, more asylum seekers and disadvantaged people unable to vote because of this. So something must be done. You’ve been listening the 6 o’clock news feature with [INSERT NAME]. 103.4 SUN FM.

Script Analysis

Skills Expression:

• The speech is meant to incorporate colloquial accents to fit that of a more local radio news station broadcast, with certain language perhaps being politically sensitive as the narrative takes the side of trying to come up with a better solution to the problem at hand.

Clarity:

• There isn’t so much as implications or ambiguity to the language, so much as the script taking a side in the argument that there must be a better solution found when it comes to voter ID.

Copy based on original material:

• This script is not based off of any original material of my own, but adapted for the purpose of the written piece itself being original.

Copy based on existing materials:

• British voters furious after being denied right to vote for first time in history over controversial ID scheme - this is the article I used to base around for the radio news feature.

Support copy (background research):

• Supporting material would include this Business Insider UK article on the issue, adopting what was reported on by The Independent. In addition, Electoral Reform Society back up the claim of, “a group of 40 charities and academics said Electoral Commission figures showed there were only 28 allegations of impersonation out of almost 45 million votes in 2017, and one conviction.”

Development:

• Not much has changed from the original concept.
• The idea was always to pick a serious news topic, with political policies involved in order to make the subject controversial.
• The idea for the end part is more of an opinion piece found on more niche radio stations, and would probably not be found on SUN FM; however, it is mostly neutral and not too politically sensitive.

SCRIPT 2 - DRAMA PLAY RESEARCH

Helpful guide: http://www.thewritersguide.co.uk/radio.html

Drama plays on radio are dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story: "It is auditory in the physical dimension but equally powerful as a visualforce in the psychological dimension." They rely on dialogue, sound effect and music to help visualize the story for the listener. An example of a radio play drama would be The Archers. It is the world’s longest running radio soap opera with well over 18,000 episodes. Here is an example clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MezXemeBcs

It is very dialogue heavy, with distinct voices ensuring that people know who is speaking. When this isn’t enough, characters make sure to respond to who they are talking too by name. New scenes open with new background sound effects, to let the listener know that we are somewhere different.

The Script

SFX: Wind blows strongly and waves crash on the shores of a beach. Seagulls can be heard as children laugh and a crowd of conversations occur in the background. An ice cream trucks siren can be heard among all the commotion, and all seems calm and peaceful, the waters washing in and out. But then the sound of an atomic bomb, cutting through the atmosphere, ringing the ocean water and freezing the wind for a split second. Shrieks, gasps and screams can be heard as people begin to panic. The nuclear warheads sound echos and encroaches closer and closer on the listener’s ear, until the sound blends into that of a radio screeching out of tune, stationless. Morse code then takes over as the broadcast begins to fade out, and then we are left with the beats of morse code. The signal eventually dies out.

Morse Code translated to a spoken person on the radio: "I can't believe they've actually done it. Not long left. They were warned, but they just had to keep pushing the boundaries. The noise. I can't take the noise anymore. And the light, dear God! The Universe is slowly unraveling around us. I'm not going to wait for death. I have a pistol in the attic."

SFX: The radio broadcast ends with a fuzz. A new voice, that of a soft-spoken yet gruff elderly man, enters the atmosphere.

Narrator: The cars are on fire and there are no more drivers fit for the wheel. The land is filled with over a hundred thousand lonely suicides. And a dark cloud has fallen overhead. It is here, on an old stretched roadway that the children of the country live in the company of themselves, by themselves. Two boys sit side by side, legs-crossed, both slopped up against an overturned vehicle on the highway. A makeshift tent has been made from old cloth draped lazily overhead from the top of the vehicle to the side railing of the highway road. Rain falls and pierces the thin cloth, filtering through and dripping to the floor with the lightest of touch.

SFX: Gentle yet heavy rainfall can be felt upon the ear in the background, encompassing the atmosphere, as we get into the dialogue of our characters.

Tyler: Michael?

Michael: Yes, Tyler?

Tyler: I’m hungry.

Michael: Yeah, me too. Should we find something to eat?

Tyler: Yes, please.

Narrator: Both Michael and Tyler get up and exit their little den, fastening up their little raincoats and making their way out into the bleak daylight with grey skies.

SFX: The sound of rain fades ever so slightly behind out character’s dialogue, with their marching feet making step sounds.

Tyler: You think that we’ll find any vans with food on the highway?

Michael: Aye, we should do. Road’s littered with them. But they might’ve already been taken. But we’ll che-

SFX: Sound of a flare gun going off up into the sky and exploding like a firework, cuts off Michael.

Narrator: Michael and Tyler freezes to a stand still as they watch the flare go up and out in the air, their small eyes tracing it back down to the ground until they catch a group of bigger boys standing stretched across on top of a overturned truck, armed with an assortment of melee weapons. One stands above the rest in a bright red hoodie, a cricket bat in hand, with a masked man flocked behind him to his side. The man in the centre speaks first to his masked friend.

Keiran: Hey, Tom?

Tom: Yeah, Keiran?

Kieran: They look delicious don’t they?

Tom: They sure do!

END

SFX	Directions	Narrative
Wind blows strongly and waves crash on the shores of a beach. Seagulls can be heard as children laugh and a crowd of conversations occur in the background. An ice cream trucks siren can be heard among all the commotion, and all seems calm and peaceful, the waters washing in and out. But then the sound of an atomic bomb, cutting through the atmosphere, ringing the ocean water and freezing the wind for a split second. Shrieks, gasps and screams can be heard as people begin to panic. The nuclear warheads sound echos and encroaches closer and closer on the listener’s ear, until the sound blends into that of a radio screeching out of tune, stationless. Morse code then takes over as the broadcast begins to fade out, and then we are left with the beats of morse code. The signal eventually dies out. The radio broadcast ends with a fuzz. A new voice, that of a soft-spoken yet gruff elderly man, enters the atmosphere. Gentle yet heavy rainfall can be felt upon the ear in the background, encompassing the atmosphere, as we get into the dialogue of our characters. The sound of rain fades ever so slightly behind out character’s dialogue, with their marching feet making step sounds. Sound of a flare gun going off up into the sky and exploding like a firework, cuts off Michael.	Intro Morse Code translated to a spoken person on the radio Narrator Tyler speaks Michael replies Tyler answers Michael answers back Tyler Narrator Tyler Michael Narrator Keiran speaks Tom replies Keiran answers Tom answers back	I can't believe they've actually done it. Not long left. They were warned, but they just had to keep pushing the boundaries. The noise. I can't take the noise anymore. And the light, dear God! The Universe is slowly unraveling around us. I'm not going to wait for death. I have a pistol in the attic. The cars are on fire and there are no more drivers fit for the wheel. The land is filled with over a hundred thousand lonely suicides. And a dark cloud has fallen overhead. It is here, on an old stretched roadway that the children of the country live in the company of themselves, by themselves. Two boys sit side by side, legs-crossed, both slopped up against an overturned vehicle on the highway. A makeshift tent has been made from old cloth draped lazily overhead from the top of the vehicle to the side railing of the highway road. Rain falls and pierces the thin cloth, filtering through and dripping to the floor with the lightest of touch. Michael? Yes, Tyler? I’m hungry. Yeah, me too. Should we find something to eat? Yes, please. Both Michael and Tyler get up and exit their little den, fastening up their little raincoats and making their way out into the bleak daylight with grey skies. You think that we’ll find any vans with food on the highway? Aye, we should do. Road’s littered with them. But they might’ve already been taken. But we’ll che- Michael and Tyler freeze to a stand still as they watch the flare go up and out in the air, their small eyes tracing it back down to the ground until they catch a group of bigger boys standing stretched across on top of a overturned truck, armed with an assortment of melee weapons. One stands above the rest in a bright red hoodie, a cricket bat in hand, with a masked man flocked behind him to his side. The man in the centre speaks first to his masked friend. Hey, Tom? Yeah, Keiran? They look delicious don’t they? They sure do!

Script Analysis

Skills Expression:

• The narrator’s rough voice is received pronunciation, a accent common in the UK.
• Slang isn’t present in the script, though the dialect and accents of characters would fit that of the north east region of England that the story is set (though the exact location remains anonymous).
• There is nothing else that applies from the brief to this script.

Clarity:

• There are implications made at the end of the script as to what will happen to the boys i.e. “They look delicious don’t they?”
• This suggestion reinforces the ambiguity of the script, as the exact location is not known.

Copy based on original material:

• This is an original script of my own making.

Copy based on existing materials:

• The genre is that of a post-nuclear drama.
• Typical codes and conventions found in such genres remain somewhat the same in the radio script i.e. dark, dreary world and setting, suicide, orphaned children, cannibals, food scarcity etc.

Support copy (background research):

• I have no such support copies available, but do have scripts with genre in mind.
• One eerie example would be the intended PSA by the BBC in the scenario that the country be attacked by a nuclear warhead.
• I couldn’t find any existing post nuclear radio drama scripts, adding to the originality of the idea. I think this would be a great way to get across the horror of such an event, as radio, a since dwindling product when the internet came to play, would find new life in such events and be used to advertise such PSA’s such as the BBC’s in event of nuclear attack.

Development:

• The original concept was always meant to be a radio drama focused on post-nuclear events in Britain.
• The idea of having two children as leads was to show just how alone and desolate the world is now. These children are orphans. No clear backstory yet but the two are friends, that is clear. And hungry.
• As research went on so did my initial developments and ideas for the script. It surprised me that I could not find any similar exemplar scripts of any post nuclear radio dramas. Radio itself, in any other medium involving nuclear holocaust, always plays a noticeable background role for me. They often broadcast PSA for the public, especially in such films or games like Threads (1984) or the Fallout series.
• Morse code is also used on radio to often translate mayday messages. I put this to use as the opening dialogue of the script in order to reinforce how hopeless the situation is. It is a grime reality, using alternate language in a world broken by ourselves.