Benjamin Wincup proposes an audio drama project inspired by radio soaps of the early to mid-20th century. He will focus on sound design skills and create a spy thriller set during the Cold War in Moscow. Research will include reading spy novels and biographies, listening to audio dramas, and studying the history of the KGB. The audio drama will be evaluated through peer feedback questions and quantitative social media surveys. The project timeline spans 4 months of pre-production research, production experiments, draft feedback, and final evaluation.

1. Proposal
1
Centre Name and Number:
York College 48357
Student Name and Number:
Benjamin Wincup 351602
Project proposal title and date:
Working Title: Lies and Deceit
February – June 2020
Main area of activity:
I will predominantly be working in the audio medium, focusing on my skills of sound design. There
will be visual sections, i.e. making a title card to display said product.
Rationale:
Over the past 2 and a half years of my college education, I’ve developed an understanding and
appreciation for the production of sound. This first came around during my first year at college
where I developed a radio presentation based on the D-Day landings. I learned a lot of things
during that, such as where is appropriate to record and how to record, and decided that for my
FMP that year, I’d make an audio book. Making the audio book was a huge step forward, as I had
to write and read a script, which I’d never done properly before. I will be using both my script
writing and my knowledge of locations to help make my project this year.
Project Concept:
I will be making an audio drama heavily inspired by the radio soaps of the early and mid-20th
century. It will be a spy thriller/espionage procedural set during at the beginning of the Cold War
when tensions between the USSR and the USA were rising and both powers had agents in every
corner of the globe. I want to try and set it in Moscow, perhaps in the KGB headquarters and
create an atmosphere of tension, uncertainty and paranoia by having characters with
untrustworthy characteristics. To add to the oppressive ambiance, I am considering setting the
whole show within a single interrogation room, save for perhaps the introduction. The concept of
the story will be inspired by existing stories, real events and conventions and staples of the spy
genre. To fully understand this, I will be reading Ian Flemming, John Le Carre and Ben Macintyre
to research existing products and real-life spies. I will then be looking at existing research into the
spy genre so that I can understand the conventions. One final piece of research I will be doing is
listening to some audio dramas both modern and old so that I understand how they’re made.
There will also be research into the period, so I understand how spy work was done at the time.
How will the project be evaluated and reviewed:
To conduct reviews, I will send three in-depth questions alongside the audio to three of my peers
to gather qualitative feedback. Doing this will help me to see, in detail, what others like about my
product. To gather some quantitative feedback, I will be looking at reaching a wider audience on
social media and asking concise questions to get simple answers. This can be done in multiple
ways, including asking family and friends to share, posting it online and giving it to my college tutor
to provide to students. I will then compare this final piece to my first college audio project and talk
about the ups and downs. I’ll write, in detail, what I enjoyed and what I didn’t enjoy so that I can be
aware of what I’ll be doing in the future.

2. Proposal
2
Bibliography:
1. Macintyre, B. (2018) The Spy And The Traitor (Penguin Random House UK)
2. Le Carre, J. (1974) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Hodder and Stoughton)
3. Flemming, I. (1959) Goldfinger (Penguin Books)
4. Wright, P. (1987) Spy Catcher (Heinemann)
5. Ratner, P. (2018) The History of The KGB And It’s Legendary Methods. Available At:
https://bigthink.com/paul-ratner/what-was-the-kgb-and-why-did-it-terrify-the-world (Last
Accessed on 3rd Feb 2020)
6. Wikipedia. Cambridge Five. Available At: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Five
(Last Accessed on 3rd Feb 2020)
7. Ivankin, A. (1999) Sworn To Secrecy: Secrets of War. (Series 1, Episode 27: Stalin’s
Spies)
8. Ament, V.T. (2014) The Foley Grail: The Art of Performing Sound For Film, Games,
And Animation. (Routledge)
9. Beck, J. (2010) The Routledge Companion to Film History (Routledge)
10. Price, T.J. (1996) Spy Stories, Espionage And The Public In The Twentieth Century.
Journal of Popular Culture
Week Tasks to be Completed: Specific Tasks
1 Pre-production  Proposal and background research
2 Pre-production  Research- primary and secondary
3 Pre-production  Research- primary and secondary
4 Pre-production  Experiments
5 Pre-production  Experiments
6 Pre-production  Pre-Production and planning
7 Pre-production  Pre-Production and planning
8 Production  Production and reflections
9 Production 
10 Production 
11 Production  Draft peer feedback
12 Production 
13 Production 
14 Production 
15 Evaluation  Evaluation
16 Evaluation  Evaluation
17 Evaluation  Presentation
18 Moderation 
19 Show Preparation 
20 Show 