During the construction of their radio drama, the students spent significant time recording and re-recording dialogue in the studio to improve the quality. They used various media technologies like microphones, a sound deck to control volume, and a handheld recorder for flexibility. Feedback received was incorporated, making the construction process longer than anticipated but improving the final product. Evaluation included uploading drafts to social media for target audience feedback, and receiving feedback from their teacher which led to positive changes.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. Radio DramaWe used ‘Clare in the Community’ as our main example of a radio drama based around a woman, trying to work in social care. This was a much more middle class drama than what we were aiming for, so just used some of the traits and common characteristics that we found when listening to this.Clare in the Community however, was performed in front of a large audience, so they were able to use the laughter of the audience as a way of using a transition between the scenes. We however, had to use a fade to show the transitions.Delilah Does Dating was a quite similar format, however centred around the idea that this was a woman, unlucky in love, who each week, found herself in a different, comedic scenario as a way to try and find a man. We chose to do a series, as thereare mainly series dramas on BBC Radio 4, which is where our Radio drama would be played. A series also enables the audience to establish a relationship with the character, and listening to the show becomes a form of ritual and part of an everyday routine for listeners. It challenges the conventions, in the way that it is a lot younger, in the idea as a whole, to what is normally played on BBC Radio 4. However, many of the males that we included in the speed dating, and Delilah herself conform to many of society’s stereotypes – a lonely woman, a nerd obsessed with Star Wars, a “camp” male who loves shopping etc.

3. Double Page SpreadThe only real example of Double Page Spreads are those on BBC Radio Times Magazine.Although lots of the examples that we looked at were for tv shows, it is the magazine that our article would most likely be in so we took many of the characteristics of these magazines.The whole layout of the double page spread is based upon the ideas that we saw in the examples. The main characteristic that we have used is the use of a picture as the main focus of the double page spread, Many of the articles used a header on the main photograph of the article, we also mimicked this style in our own work.We were sure to include the BBC logo to ensure continuity and enable to audience to see what company was broadcasting the drama.We used the “Behind the scenes” idea, as the article contained lots of background information about the show, this is similar to many of the examples.

4. Newspaper AdvertNewspaper article.We had relatively no examples of newspaper advertisements for radio dramas, which was slightly negative as we had no idea where to start with it, however it had a major positive that we were able to use our own ideas and initiative and create something different to existing media products. We were able to use David Liddiement’s recent report as part of the BBC Trust to our advantage here, he said; “Listening among audiences aged between 35 and 54 has been falling over recent years. In 2000, it was 33 per cent of Radio 4's audience, and last year it stood at 26 per cent.I pick that statistic because this age group feeds Radio 4's future core audience in evolution of the demography of audiences and all broadcasters keep an eagle eye on those listeners who will form their core audience in years to come. It would, in my judgment, be negligent not to.Radio 4 has always worked hard on ways to sow the seeds of listening amongst this group. Our report endorses management's latest set of recommendations for ways to do this, including making Radio 4's production less studio- and London-based and continuing the drive to make the network's tone more welcoming, spontaneous and at times a little less formal.”

5. The advert looks young and appealing and gives a sense of what the character is like, the “Putting the D into Disaster” is an effective slogan that many would be able to relate to. Again, we used the BBC logo to enable audiences to see where the drama would be broadcasted.

6. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

7. Radio DramaWhen creating ancillary products to go alongside our main radio show we wanted the styles to represent current trends within our target age group, bold styles that would grab the public’s attention and something fresh to mirror the way in which we were trying to change the public’s perception on radio drama's hence trying to stylize it towards a younger audience. When taking this into consideration we felt neutral colours with splashes of vibrancy would fit perfectly as it would not be too harsh but yet would still stand out amongst a newspaper. We feel that the combination of our media products merge well together and create a link between both the audio and visual sense of the public therefore engaging them in wholly as opposed to maybe instead of a newspaper poster a short snippet or advert for the show on the radio.

8. Here is a screen grab of our magazine double page interview, we loosely stylised this on other such adverts for television drama's as there were no interviews or articles based mainly on radio drama shows therefore could work on a blank canvas and create something completely new. Double Page SpreadThe tick boxes on the spread make the article look very authentic and true to an edited piece of magazine media this also further emphasizes and helps back up the idea that the radio show is not a one off but part of a series entitled Delilah does...appealing to the readers sense of suspense and want to know what other delights Delilah will try and conquerHere we used a quirky font to represent Delilah's modern slightly middle class character and as a way of introducing the basic plot line into the magazine page without giving too much away. Here we made up a quotation in order for it to look like a genuine interview, the usage of bold colours against each other here and the differing italic texts also shows the importance and draws the eye to the positive quotation.We felt it would be necessary to include the bbc radio 4 logo as a means of advertising on the page and also to encourage the reader to possibly tune into other shows on the channel.

9. Newspaper AdvertThe quirky style of the Polaroid’s also furthers the representation on Delilah as living a modern lifestyle, also the images and mise en scene also helps create the image of Delilah being a mid thirty year old possibly not having the best of luck in life helping support her as the protagonist in the radio show.This text is very large bold and striking it will help to capture the newspaper reader’s eye and draw them into the advertising campaign. The same text was used on the magazine spread showing the continuity and connection between the two products. This helps build up Delilah as a brand and would possibly become a recognisable figure when referencing the show making the public familiarise with the styling and associate it to Delilah and her lifestyle.Here handwritten font is used in order to make it look like Delilah has written these comments herself; they are both dry and witty furthering her character within the radio show. They also represent her inner thoughts, or though track something that is often used in the radio show in order for the audience to connect with Delilah and hopefully these captions on the photos could have the same effect.Yet again we used the BBC radio 4 logo and changed the colours to match in with our theme; we made sure that both dates on the poster and magazine spread were the same in order to save confusion. We also hoped that it would encourage some positive reaction towards BBC radio 4 attracting a younger and more modern audience.

10. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

11. We uploaded the original versions of both of the ancillary pieces to Face book. This is because the majority of each of our Face book friends fit within our target audience, therefore the advice they provided would be highly valued. We changed some things following the criticisms we received.

12. We asked our teacher for feedback following our first draft. Following his criticisms we made a lot of changes accordingly.First DraftFinished copy“It looks messy and unorganised, although the pictures used are effective and I like the timer idea, maybe one picture would be more useful? Or look at more recent TV listings and see how these look, I think it looks unprofessional.”“This is a real improvement on the previous one. It is eye – catching and all fits around your theme. The picture has provided an effective foreground and allowed the text to come second, which is the same in Radio Times. The fonts you have used are effective and I love the tick box idea! Well Done!”

13. How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

14. During the construction stage of the process, we spent a lot of time in the recording studio. We re-recorded several scenes following feedback and what we thought sounded better after re-listening to pieces of dialogue that we had recorded. We believe it was enjoyable although very time consuming. The construction process was longer than the editing process which was something we were unaware of before we began.

15. New Media Technologies: EquipmentMicrophoneSound DeckHandheldThe sound deck was also used in the construction stage and allowed us to control the power an volume of the speech. For example, we could control when certain characters should sound louder, or when people needed to seem closer or further away than others.The handheld recorder allowed us to record small pieces of dialogue that we wished to edit into our show at a later stage. It was convenient and let us easily edit our work without having to book studio time just to record a small piece of dialogue.The microphone was used in the construction stage and allowed us to record the relevant dialogue for our radio drama. The ‘popper’/ cover for the microphone made our voices sound clearer and removed slight noises that may have been made during general speech.

16. New Media Technologies: Software12345

17. 1) Adobe Premier Pro: This programme was easy to adapt to as it had been used by members of the group during AS coursework. The software allowed us to control the volume, overlap and layer sound effects and dialogue and add effects such as fading to our recordings. The continuity proved quite difficult at times yet the software allowed us to pinpoint specific stages of the dialogue and iron out any problems.2)Microsoft PowerPoint: We decided to use this software for our evaluation as it was the programme we were most familiar with and we felt it would be the quickest and most convenient to move around our text and images within the allocated time.3. Audacity : This software was the initial programme that our mp3 files went to after recording. We could immediately trim any dialogue that we knew we wouldn’t be using. It was very easy to use and the controls (play, record, stop etc.) were very recognisable.4. Blogger: As we had all used this programme previously, this year we found this programme easy to work with. We were able to present our work in an attractive way, as well as successfully keep track of whereabouts we were up to in the process so we could quickly continue at the start of each lesson.5. Adobe Photoshop: This programme was used to edit images and create the newspaper advert and double page spread. As we had used it before, we were familiar with the tools etc. We believed this was the most appropriate software for what we had in mind as it’s simple to move things around, and the most accessible software in college.