The document provides research on existing radio dramas and horror podcasts, noting their use of sound effects, music, and voice acting to set mood and immerse the listener. It then outlines an idea for a radio drama about a group of teenagers who have strange experiences after using a Ouija board on Halloween night. Daily reflections begin documenting the production process.

1. Audio
Alfie Ingram

2. Story
Ghost story

3. Existing Products Research
• We’re alive
– Analysis
– This is a zombie radio show.
– Features one of the main characters as the narrator. He goes into a lot of detail so you can imagine what
is happening
• Use of sound effects
• Voices speaking on walkie talkies so you know it’s the police
They have created an eerie atmosphere through the use of sound effects such as cars honking and alarms.
When they are in a car there is a loud engine so you know what they are doing.
Zombie noises of zombies moaning
Noises such as cars,knocking.
Gunshots
• Music
• The music is intense and it gets fast paced when the characters are in danger to make us feel afraid and tense.
• The music often is similar to the mood- for example when the main character sounds sad there is gloomy
music playing
Performance
Relies heavily on the voice acting and talking for you to know what is going on and how the characters are feeling.

4. Existing Products Research
• Short cuts
– Analysis
– Music suggests the mood and tone of the story like
whether it is meant to be taken seriously or not. Music
often changes for a change in mood. The music was
usually quite classical sounding.
– Uses sound effects on narrator when he is saying what
another person said so it sounds like he is on the phone.
– Narrator/storyteller goes into good detail so we can
picture the situation.

5. Existing Products Research
• The Archers
– Analysis
– Sound effects- uses farm sound effects such as crows,
cows etc to create the feel of an outside countryside
farmland area.
– Music- There isn’t much music, I think this is to help
emphasise how the people are feeling through their
voices. The theme song is quite classical and this might
suggest they are in quite an upper class area or a very
British area e.g countryside
– Performance- Relies heavily on good voice acting so we
can tell how the characters are feeling.

6. Existing Products Research
• Show Name Here
– Analysis

7. Bibliography
1. . https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qpgr/episodes/player
2. .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMhWAF_dkEw
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01mk3f8/episodes/player

8. Planning

9. Idea Generation/Initial Reaction
Group of teenagers exploring creepy area such as
countryside in the middle of nowhere. Find abandoned
house or abandoned town. Find a creepy cult. (Like Texas
Chainsaw Massacre kind of)
Staying in creepy hotel that has had a dark history of
murders- it is haunted.
Walking through Paris catacombs at night. Goes past where
Tour guide is and gets lost and is alone. Very creepy.

10. Idea Generation/Initial reaction
Paris catacombs- Two friends are doing a tour of the
Paris catacombs. It is the last tour of the night so after
it is over they stay inside and try to explore them
theirselves. They forget which way they came in and
which way they came out and they start panicking.
Eventually they lose each other and they begin
hearing creepy noises.

11. Haunted hotel
A group of young tourists exploring the USA are
looking for a place to stay the night and they
come across an old hotel. As they find out the
hotel is empty and

12. Ideas
A group of British travellers in
the USA stop off at a creepy
hotel with a history of murders
and they all have strange
events happen to them whilst
they are there
Two people walking around the Paris
catacombs at night after splitting away
from tour guides. Quickly gets lost and
finds that the further in they get the
more they are going insane. Starts
hearing things. By the end of their time
their they die, but are so deep into the
catacombs that nobody notices...
Ouja board reddit story
https://www.reddit.com/r/LetsRea
dOfficial/comments/83t852/true_p
aranormal_never_play_with_a_ou
ija_board/
http://ghostsnghouls.com/2013
/11/19/road-trip-from-hell/

13. Proposal
Working Title: Nick’s Ouji Board
Audience:
Who is your audience? Be very detailed; age, gender, social status, psychographic etc. Use the Audience Classifications PowerPoint on
Blackboard to help you develop this section.
Why would your project appeal to this person? Discuss each audience element in relation to content (why would your product appeal to the age
group? Why would your product appeal to the gender? Etc.)
Age group: Teenagers (15-24) This story would appeal to this age group as all the characters are teenagers and people of this age group may be
able to relate to the characters having fun on halloween night. It may also appeal to teenagers as the genre is horror and many teenagers like
horror movies. It is also a true story which may interest people of this age.
Social status: Working class and skilled working class. It will appeal to this social status as since it is on the radio it is free to listen to so will be
easily accessible
Gender: Male-since all of the actors I used are male this may appeal to a more male audience.
Sexuality: Will appeal to people of both sexualities as there is no reference to sexuality in this, the listener doesn’t need to worry about the
characters sexuality. May appeal to heterosexual women as all the characters are male. May appeal to homosexual men or bisexual men or girls
also for this same reason.
Psychographic:
Uses and gratifications: Entertainment- people listen to this as they want to be entertained. Many people find horror movies to be entertaining
as they enjoy being creeped out.
Personal identity- Maybe people will like to listen to this as they can relate to the characters messing around with a ouji board and relate to
them having fun on halloween night.

14. Script
Nick: Now this story happened on October the 31st, on halloween night. I was in my third
year in highschool and we were at the schools annual halloween party. It all started when my
friend George brought over his ouji board.
George: (music playing in background) “Look what I got”
Joe: “Is that a ouja board”
Kyle: Where should we use it?
Nick: Go under the tree, everyone has heard who was buried there.
George: “Is anyone out there?”
George: “If there are any spirits here then please talk to us.”
Absolute silence
“AAAAAaHHhHHHHH!!!” someone screams- everyone starts laughing.
“Shut up” someone says jokingly.
“Aah this is bullshit”
Wind begins to get louder
Dogs begin barking loudly
Everyone: AAAH! (runs away)

15. The next day we were talking and realised that something strange
had happened to us all that night after experimenting with the ouji
board.
Frank: You know I had a weird experience after that ouji board.
Frank:(trying to find keys) Aah. No keys.
Frank: (uses phone) Hello. Could you let me in please forgot my keys.
Me as brother: Yeah, good one. Go away
Frank on phone: Don’t be an idiot, just let me in.
Brother: You have been in for the last hour, I saw you walk in.
Optional: Daniel, that wasn’t me.

16. (Alternatively)
Frank: Aah I forgot my keys (sound of him looking for
keys in pockets)
Knocks at door
I open door. “Frank. When did you leave the house?”
Frank: Like 3 hours ago. I told you.
Me: But I just saw you walk around downstairs 5
minutes ago? (creepy music plays)

17. Kyle: You know, something happened to me as well. When I got
home, I was heading up the stairs going up to my room and the lights
started flickering. (Insert steps and flicker noise here) I thought it
must just be the wires, but then I heard the door to my room open
(creak sound) and then I swear a giant dark figure was just stood
there staring at me.
Joe: Something happened to me aswell. I was sleeping on halloween
night and I woke up feeling really uncomfortable. It was like
everything was stuck in a TV like static. (TV noise goes here) I could
barely see. The room felt heavier and darker than usual. I looked
around the room and thats when I saw it: out of my window there
was a bloody face with evil red eyes smiling at me.
Nick: I couldn’t believe everything I was hearing because I had a
terrifying experience that night as well; I almost had a run in with
death.

18. After the night with the ouji board, I was in my mums
car, fast asleep, when I felt the car swerve. I woke up
instantly to see we had been hit by a huge oil tanker. I
panicked and jumped out of the car. Thankfully me
and my mum were okay but the car was a wreck. I still
have no idea why these things happened to us, but
thank god nothing else happened after that.
To this day I have never been anywhere near a ouji
board since.
Note: When I recorded this I gave George the lines that say Nick and
Nick the lines that say George.

19. Sound Effects
Sound Effect Needed How I Will Create the Sound
Footsteps Record my footsteps going up the stairs
Dog barking Record my loud dog barking
Screaming Get my friends to scream
Music in distance Edit music so it sounds quieter than
normal as if it is in the distance
TV white noise Record my TV making that noise
Voice speaking through phone Talk on phone to someone in another
room, get them to record it.
Running Record my footsteps running and play this
same clip multiple times to give effect of
many different people.
Wind Record the wind
Phone ringing someone Ring someone and record my phone
making the ringing noise

20. Resource List
Resource Owned/Cost What sound effect will it be
used for?
Shoes Owned Footsteps
Tv Owned White noise
Dog Owned Barking
Mobile phone Owned Phone call

21. Music
Band Name Track Name Link
Stoto Still can’t sleep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3nRnlqfVOs

22. Production

23. Daily reflection day 1
Thursday
Today we started this topic and we researched existing radio dramas. I researched a radio drama called The
Archers, a radio drama called Short Cuts and a radio drama called We are alive.One thing I found they all had in
common was music that showed the mood of the show so I will use music as a key factor in my radio drama.
Another thing they all had in common was when describing things the characters go into great detail so the
listener can picture what they are talking about.
We also researched foley artists. Foley artists are people that record the sound effects for film and TV. They often
use strange techniques to get sounds similar to the real thing,
They often record sounds that sound similar to other sounds, but aren’t actually the thing that make that sound.
For example, they can make the sound of horses walking by clapping coconut shells together to sound like
hooves. Or they could snap a stick of celery to make the sound of bones breaking.
We will be trying use foley methods ourselves in our own radio drama instead of just using effects found online.

24. Daily Reflection day 2
Friday
Today we began to come up with ideas for our story. Our story needs to be a ghost story. I at first tried to come up
with ideas myself and I came up with a few ideas such as a haunted hotel and the Paris catacombs but I
eventually landed on a story I found on reddit about a ouji board. I chose this as I thought that I could record this
with my friends and it could go well since it is about a group of teenagers. I think that since we are all teenagers it
could seem more realistic and a lot less forced. This story is a true story which I think makes more interesting
knowing that this story is supposedly real.

25. Sunday
Today I recorded some sound effects for my work and also I
recorded the speaking with my friends. I recorded using the
voice recorder on my ipod.
I think that the voice acting for my work isn’t great, but I
recorded this with my friends and none of us do acting so I
wasn’t expecting it to be great. I recorded some of the sounds
like footsteps and my dog barking at my house, as these were in
the original story and were easy for me to record. I think some
of the sound effects sound pretty good like the footsteps going
up the stairs and the TV white noise. I think these can help
make a more creepy atmosphere around my audio drama.
One method I used when recording was I got my friend to call
me and record this so it sounded as if he was talking on the
phone to me.

26. Daily Reflection Day 3
Tuesday
I begun editing my work today using Adobe Audition.
I sent all the recordings to myself so I could download
them when I got to college. I hadn’t used Adobe
Audition before but it wasn’t really hard to get the
hang of.
I needed to download some songs and sound effects
from youtube as I couldn’t record some of the sound
effects myself such as a car crashing for example.

27. Daily Reflection Day 4
Wednesday
Today I finished putting together my work. I added a
few more sound effects such as a creaky door.
I am reasonably happy with my work although I think
the voice acting could do with a bit of work.
I went out and recorded a bit more sound also with one
of the recorders as I wanted some background noise
also I needed some footsteps so it sounded as if there
was running. I recorded my footsteps and I played the
clip multiple times at the same time so it sounded like
there were multiple people running. I also sped some of
the clips up so it sounded like people were running
faster.

28. Daily reflection day 5
Thursday
Today I added some more sound effects to my
work and finished editing. I added my work to
my blogger post and sent the link to my friends
to listen to.

29. Friday
Today I edited the volume of my work as yesterday I realised
when listening to my work on my phone I had made many
mistakes to the audio. My dog’s barking was too loud and the
music at the beginning was so loud that you couldn’t hear any
of the characters talking. I Edited the volume making it more
quiet. There is a volume levels bar at the bottom and we
were meant to have all the volume at around the number 12
and going back through my work I saw a lot of mine was way
higher than 12 meaning you couldn’t hear anything else. I
sorted this out by lowering the volumes to some of my audio
so that most of the audio was at around 12. This helped a lot
as now the audio is a lot more balanced out.

30. I also lowered the volume by dragging this
down on some of my audio as this brought
down the volume.

31. Sound Effects
Sound Effect Needed Link
Horror Movie Violin Sound Effect https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=BDmmraANLOA
Car Skids and Crashes Sound Effect https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=3e9nkH6eYKc
Scary Sound Effects https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=8OQtJaV54bs&t=6s
Creaky door https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8f1
8JFWDv4
Light flicker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYU
s2rJAQvo

32. Evaluation

33. Research
For me I believe the biggest strength of my research was that I listened to three successful radio
dramas and I tried to find things that they all had in common. (For example, music creating a
mood, or lots of description) By finding the things they had in common I knew that I could include
these in my work as they may be key things in the success of a radio drama.
For example, I found many of the products tried to create a mood or a tone through the music so I
tried to use some creepy music in some scenes to create a creepy atmosphere and also I used some
dance music at a scene where they are at a halloween party so you could tell they were at a party.
Also I think another strength of my research was
I feel like the main weakness of my research was I researched products of many different genres
when I should have researched products more similar to mine like horror dramas for example instead
of shows like The Archers. By researching products more similar to mine I could have found things
that many horror radio dramas had in common and could have added these things to my own ghost
story radio drama.
I think another weakness is that I only researched 3 products. I think I should have researched more
as this may give me a better idea of how to put together a radio drama.
One thing I should have done in my research was look through the internet for information on radio
dramas. I really just listened to a few radio dramas and wrote down the things that they had in
common, sound effects they used etc.

34. Planning
One way my planning helped my product was by having a script already prepared as this
meant that when I got my friends together to record the lines I knew what I wanted each
of them to say.
Also having planned out what sound effects I needed to record based upon the real story this
meant that I knew what to record and so I could easily record things like my dog barking at
home.
Another strength of my planning was that I came up with and found a few decent ideas I
liked. This was useful to me as it meant that I had a choice of a few different storylines for
the radio drama I made.
Weaknesses of my planning: I think I should have made the script more original as I did take
some things directly from the original story instead of rewriting them. By rewriting some
of the lines I could have made them sound more natural when read out.
Another weakness was that I didn’t come up with names for all of the characters. I think
having names would have a positive effect as it means the listener could choose a favorite
character and feel more engaged with the show.
I think if I planned this again I would have planned to use more foley techniques as I didn’t
use any.

35. Time Management
I think I managed my time well. I spent about 1 day researching about the different
products and about foley artists, and Tuesday to Friday I spent editing my work and
writing in this pro-forma.
I got all the speaking recorded at the weekend so I had it all ready to edit for
Tuesday.
I had the audio done and ready on time but I think that this pro-forma could have
improved if I had additional time as I think I was more focused on getting the audio
done than this pro forma.
If I had more time to do my work I would have created my own idea instead of using a
story I found on the internet. I began to come up with some ideas for a story but I
didn’t want to waste too much time on this so I decided adapting a story that already
existed would give me more time with things such as editing.

36. Technical Qualities
Similarities Differences
Music used to show the mood. In my work there is
creepy music playing.
The characters in Ghost Hunt are talking to each other
in a much more conversational tone, like in a TV Show.
Lot of description by characters so you can imagine
what is happening. For example, in my work there
In Ghost Hunt the radio host and Dr Reid are describing
what the haunted house is like and what he is doing in
the house in great detail.
Ghost hunt relies a lot more on dialogue than it does
sound effects. A lot of the creepy atmosphere was
created by the radio host talking to himself so we can
tell he is going crazy.
I think my work relied as much on sound effects as it
did dialogue.
Sound effects to create a creepy atmosphere in both:
Sounds such as doors creaking, footsteps etc
In both my work and Ghost Hunt the sound effects often
are of what the people are describing. For example
after someone mentions stairs, you can hear steps

37. I created most of my effects just by recording the real thing. I recorded footsteps going up the
stairs for this same effect, I recorded my dog barking for a dog barking etc.
I also got some of my sound effects from the internet, for example a car crash, as I had no
way to record this and no foley method to sound like this.
I think for this reason it is not as complicated as I would have liked it to be as I should have
included some foley effects. I just thought if I already have something that can produce that
sound effect, I might as well record the real thing instead of something that just sounds like it.
I recorded most of my audio using the voice recorder on my iPod touch. I also borrowed a
voice recorder in college to record sounds like footsteps and background noise.
I did not use many foley methods as for most of my sound effects I could just record the real
thing, and for others I had no way to make a similar sound to what I wanted so I just used
sound effects from online.
The one foley method I used was I recorded my footsteps running and I played this same
audio clip a few times all at the same time so it gave the effect of more than one person
running when it was actually just me. I planned on using foley methods for a creaky door
sound and I looked around for things that might make a similar sound, such as drawers and
wardrobe doors but I couldn’t find anything with the same effect. I tried to use a foley method
for the light bulb flickering by recording the sound of the neon lights at the Everyman cinema.
The voice recorder on my phone was terrible however so you couldn’t hear this properly and I
didn’t include it.

38. Aural Qualities
I think my work sounds pretty good. The voice acting is not great but I think the fact that there are good sound
effects and a good amount of description when the characters are talking about their experiences makes up for
that.
One of the aspects of the audio I liked is the music at the start when at the party. It is louder at the start so you
can tell that the characters are inside, and when they go outside you can hear the same song playing apart from
the volume is much quieter. This creates the effect that the music is playing further away so the listener can tell
they are outside of the party.
Another aspect of the audio I liked was the running footsteps as you can tell by hearing this right after the
characters all scream that they are all running away.
I think that when the characters are describing what happened to them after using the ouji board, it works well that
I added sound effects of their description to this (e.g when describing walking up the stairs there are footsteps) as
this means the listener can imagine clearly what happened.
Weaknesses: At first I messed up the audio as the music was so loud you couldn’t hear any talking and there
were moments where the sound went from quiet to extremely loud. I changed this however and it sounds much
better now.
I would have liked the music playing at the start a bit louder as it is a bit quiet but if I made it any louder you
wouldn’t be able to hear what anyone was saying
The voice acting was not very realistic. If I had more time we could have maybe learned our lines so it sounded
better.

39. Audience Appeal
One way I have appealed to my target audience is through the characters. They are all teenagers at high school
so this appeals to the target audience as they are the same age as them.
The setting also may appeal to the target audience since the setting for some of the story is at a halloween party.
Teenagers may also relate to this since a lot of teenagers go to halloween parties so may have experienced
things like playing with a ouji board with their friends.