FINAL EVALUATION

Jude Elliott

The Henley College

Creative Media
This is the final evaluation where I will be evaluating my overall production.

For my final major production, I decided to create a radio drama purely because I think they
are a great way of showing creativity and I enjoyed making a radio drama when we did them
for unit 5. The radio drama I have created for my final major project is about some
teenagers who end up exploring an underground railway system and in the end, one of the
characters goes missing and we never find out what happens to them. In terms of who I
worked with, I worked with George Wilson and Joe Ruffell. They and I played the roles of
the characters in my production, more specifically I played the character of ‘John’ and that’s
the character that ends up going missing. George Wilson played the character or ‘Billy’ the
fairly confident character of the 3, and Joe played the character of ‘Billy’ who is not really
sure about the situation because when you listen you discover that he is quite nervous.

For this part of the feedback I created a survey and asked peers to answer some questions
to generate some feedback.
In this question I asked the respondents what they thought of the editing in terms of
how well the piece was edited together, and how well the Foley and background music
were implemented into it to fit with the dialogue. The respondents all said that the
editing was good in terms of it sounding realistic with the sound effects that I put in there.
Personally I think that I did well will the editing because it wasn’t necessarily difficult but I
learned how to add reverb and echo which was useful as the characters go underground
where it is quite echolike.

As you can see in this small snippet I have

added an echo/reverb effect where it says
“fx” which I have done for most of the
clips and I have also added a fade which is
the curved yellow line, and I did this so
the dialogue and Foley would sound
smoother. Personally the editing went well but in terms of improvements I think that I
should have rerecorded some dialogue because the dialogue wasn’t loud enough and I
couldn’t make it louder whilst editing, another thing is that I tried to add echo to the
characters when they are outside by adding an effect called ‘outside reverb’ but it sounds
too echolike for it to be outside.
In this question I asked the respondents what they thought of the narrative and whether
or not they thought it was entertaining, because from previous surveys I have learned
that people do not like radio dramas as they are boring and I wanted to make mine
entertaining so people would stay interested and enjoy listening to it. Personally I changed
my idea whilst I was writing up my script because I thought that it wasn’t that interesting
because all the questions are answered but I changed the idea so that there are un
answered questions which means that they will not be answered leaving the listeners to
wonder what happens next, I also decided to leave un answered questions as it fits with the
mystery genre a lot better. I think as an improvement I could have made the narrative a bit
longer because at the end the entrance closes and they have realised that their friend is
gone, and I could have extended the idea where the remaining characters are clueless
because they cannot get to their friend and they are still in shock.

The image above is from my

target audience survey and it
is evidence of respondents
showing that they don’t
particularly enjoy listening to
radio dramas because I asked
the question “do you like
radio dramas?” and all the
respondents chose “no”
which shows they don’t like
them. In the other question I
asked “what do you prefer?”
and then out of “podcast”
and “radio drama” all the
respondents chose podcast
which suggests that they
enjoy listening to podcasts
more than they listen to
radio dramas which again
shows that they do not like
them so I have tried to make
my radio drama interesting
for the listeners and I feel like I have done well to make people interested.
 For this question I simply asked the
respondents if my radio drama fits
with the mystery genre which is what I
was aiming for in terms of its style and
narrative. In terms of improvements
however, I think I would have I think I
would need to add maybe some more
eerie sound effects just to help make
the genre clearer as to what it is
because I think my radio drama seems
like an action and/or horror.
Personally I think I have done well to
make the narrative fit with the genre because I have added a fair amount of suspense and I
have made sure that there are some unanswered questions at the end.
This image above is a snippet from the end of my script demonstrating how there are
unanswered questions because the character ‘Pablo’ asks: “Where is John? And the listeners
don’t get to find out what happens to John which means that they will have to try and
imagine what happens to John. The character ‘Pablo’ then asks: “well… what do we do now
then?” and then after that question the radio drama ends leaving it on a cliff hanger which
leaves the listeners to wonder what happens next and they then think of questions to do
with the piece. Personally I liked the fact I left it on a cliff hanger because that means
that you sit there asking questions to yourself about what the next likely events are, and
sometimes I think not knowing what happens next because I feel like it is interesting
because sometimes it is enjoyable not knowing things.

For the next question in the survey, I asked the respondents what they thought of the
characters and if they thought whether or not they were convincing. Even though I was in
my own production, I think that even I could have improved on my own characterisation as I
have acted in other productions and I don’t think my characterisation was as great as it
could have been because I didn’t sound that enthusiastic for it to sound like I was actually in
the situation. The feedback I received from teachers lead me to understand that my friend
George Wilson’s characterisation was great and as an improvement, my other friend Joe
Ruffell and I need to work on our characterisation as we weren’t as loud or enthusiastic as
George. I think personally in future I should get someone else to act in the production
instead of me because I am not the best at acting. I don’t think that we did too badly with
the acting because the respondents talked about how they thought that the acting was
good and they said that there was good character development which I can agree with to
some extent because I know that the acting could have been slightly better. I also
noticed that the respondents liked the characters, which is good as I want my radio drama
to be enjoyable.
For this question I asked the respondents if they enjoyed the radio drama or not. All of the
respondents answered with ‘yes’ which means that they enjoyed the piece, I think this is
good as I was aiming to get people to enjoy it because I know that most people don’t
particularly enjoy listening to them as they can become boring quite easily. I was trying to
make my piece interesting for the viewers so that they would enjoy it. Personally I think that
the dialogue could be improved to sound more realistic for next time because I think it

doesn’t sound as good as it could have been. Overall I think that my production is enjoyable
because there are suspenseful moments and the dialogue is interesting, also I think that it is
enjoyable because there aren’t any silenced parts which would make it boring.

The next question I asked the respondents was ‘what do you think about the piece in terms
of aesthetics?’ and I understand that the term aesthetics is to do with how it looks but my
piece was a radio drama so there aren’t any visuals. For this question I meant aesthetics in
terms of how smoothly it runs and luckily the respondents understood what I was trying to
say. Looking back at the responses, it looks like they all thought that the piece was quite
good. As an example for the aesthetics I tried to make the dialogue smooth by adding fades
and using the correct timing so that it would sound smooth when you listened back to it and
also so it sounds like the conversation that the characters are having between one another
is realistic. Even though the dialogue sounds quite smooth when you listen to the piece, I
personally feel like the characterisation could be a lot better than it currently is because it
doesn’t sound like they are in the situation at various points throughout the radio drama
and they don’t sound convincing at some stages. Even though I played a character in m y
own production, I feel like I could improve on my acting skills because it doesn’t sound like I
am enthusiastic enough and I feel like that would make the radio drama less aesthetically
pleasing. One of the respondents talked about how they thought it was effective which I can
agree with to some extent because I feel like it has effective qualities but there are parts
that do let the radio drama down a little bit e.g. the dialogue.

This question was about what the respondents thought of the techniques that I used in the
radio drama for example a technique I used was echoing/reverb and I asked the
respondents what they thought about them. I had to use echo/reverb to make it believable
that the characters were in an abandoned underground railway station by making the
characters’ voices echo and I feel like this technique was used successfully. One respondent
talked about how they thought that the use of echo/reverb was good and it was very
believable which I can agree with because I also think that the reverb/echo makes it
believable because of how it sounds. The fact that all the respondents thought I did the
techniques well, confirms the fact that I had good use of techniques. One thing I will try to
improve for the next time I do it, is the fact that the echoing/reverb I put on the dialogue
when the characters are outside doesn’t make sound like they are actually outside.

The reason I asked this last question was because I feel like a radio drama is one of the best
ways of showing creativity and that was one of the reasons why I chose to create a radio
drama for my final project. I asked the respondents if they thought that the radio drama
was creative because I wanted to find out their opinions on the piece itself. Most of the
respondents responded with yes and one respondent confirmed that they thought it was
creative as the said “yes as it displays creativity and sows innovation” which confirms this. I
personally feel like I was fairly creative with this piece because I made it more interesting in
terms of the narrative, and because it’s in the mystery genre I made sure that there were
unanswered questions to leave the audience on a cliff hanger so it keeps them wondering
about what is going to happen next I also did this because I think it is interesting not
knowing the answer to something. Overall, I personally feel like the piece was creative but I
know that there are elements of the production that need improving for example some of
the dialogue wasn’t very convincing because it wasn’t loud enough and/or the acting skills
weren’t great for some of the lines. I know that I need to improve my acting skills because
my dialogue wasn’t that loud and I had to increase the volume in editing to match the other
actors. Personally I feel like I could have made

For the last question I asked the respondents “how well do the background sounds fit?”
They said that the sounds fitted very well and they also said they were appropriate for it.
One respondent suggested that they fitted well but they said that I should add more
background noise for next time which I will do as an improvement. I think my choice of
background noise was fairly good as all the sounds were relevant.

For this next part of the evaluation I will be talking about what went well and what I can
improve on.
In terms of what went well I think the piece as a whole was quite good because I have been
told by my teachers that the piece has been edited quite well and I also feel like I have done
a good job in terms the way its edited, my Foley I did myself and finally the choice of
background music and/or sound effects. I personally feel I did well in terms of the dialogue
because I made it sound convincing in terms of the language used and what the
characters say to each other, I feel I did well with the language in terms of the target
audience because for example there isn’t any swearing which means it is suitable to be
uploaded. I feel like I did well with the editing because I made the dialogue sound fairly
smooth and I made sure that the dialogue from each character is timed so that the
conversations they have sound convincing and I also made sure that the Foley is timed
correctly so that they fit with the actions of the characters. One thing that I feel I did well
was the fact that I changed the idea so that it fits with the mystery genre a lot better
because before I changed it all the questions were answered by the end so I changed the
idea so that there are unanswered questions which I think is a lot better. Overall I think that
I made a good choice in terms of the production because I feel like a radio drama is one of
the best ways of showing off your creativity and I feel like I was fairly creative in this
production as I have made sure that you wouldn’t be able to film it if it was going to be a
short film I also made sure that the sounds I used were creative because it makes it more
interesting for the listeners.

In terms of improvements I feel like the narrative could be a bit longer as the production is
only 6 minutes long and I feel like the idea that I had gone for had a bit more potential
because even though it ends on a cliff hanger I feel like there could be more to the ending of
it. More specifically I feel like the dialogue let down the piece a little bit because some of
the dialogue was quiet. One actor known as George Wilson had the best dialogue because
his acting skills are good and he was suitable for the role, also his dialogue was at a fair
volume. The next actor known as Joe Ruffell has good acting skills but sometimes you could
hear at points where he lost enthusiasm and it makes the character he was playing seem
less convincing and in editing I had to increase his volume slightly but overall his acting skills
are good. I being the final actor, need to improve on my acting skills because you can hear
that I didn’t have a lot of enthusiasm at points during the piece an in future I need to
improve my own acting skills because I feel like I could do a lot better. One thing I feel I
could do better is the reason as to why the characters would go down underground in the
first place.

In terms of what I would do differently, I would try to make the narrative a lot longer as it
has a lot of potential and I think it would be a lot better if the idea was longer because this
means that it gives the audience a lot more to listen to and think about, also it is a mystery
genre piece which means that if it is longer I could make it so that either some questions are
answered or I could leave the audience some more unanswered questions. For next time I
will try to improve my acting skills because I feel like they could be a lot better and I could
be a bit louder when recording my dialogue. In future I might think about having someone
else act instead of me because like I have said I am not the best at acting and having other
people acting might be better as I know people who could easily be more enthusiastic than I
am.
For this next part I will be comparing my radio drama to a radio drama I have looked at as
part of the research.

The radio drama at the top is called “a drop in the ocean” by The Truth podcast and they do
a range of different podcasts and radio dramas, for this piece they have done, the narrative
behind it is where there is some characters in a submarine and in the end they get infected
by some strange disease which is unexplainable and whilst I was listening to it, I found it
hard to understand what was going on in the piece because of all the different characters
and Foley they used which was a good thing because it kept me interested and I really
enjoyed listening to this even though I wouldn’t listen to radio dramas normally. I personally
tried to make my radio drama similar to this in terms of the unanswered questions and
overall mystery of the piece because my radio drama is also in the mystery genre. In terms
of the differences I think that the sound quality of A Drop in the Ocean is a lot better than
mine because they have had more practice doing radio dramas and working with better
recording equipment. A Drop in the Ocean is almost 3 times as long as mine, I like it because
always gives you something to think about in terms of the events in the piece and what
conflict there is between the characters. I have tried to make my piece interesting because I
feel like the piece becomes a lot more interesting and entertaining when you have a
question you want answered or you are given something to think about. I feel like these two
productions are similar in terms of the genre and overall feel to them because they are both
quite eerie because of the narratives and background sound effects and music which are
used. In terms of differences I think that the radio drama by The Truth Podcast is of a better
quality in terms of the variety of different characters and voices used in it, because there
are more characters and the acting is more realistic. Another thing is the sound quality of
the dialogue and background Foley have better sound quality and you can easily tell the
difference between the sound quality of both mine and The Truth Podcast’s radio dramas. In
terms of the sound quality for my radio drama you can hear the interference in the
background of some of the audio and I feel like it makes the piece seem less interesting.
Also A Drop in the Ocean is roughly 3 times longer than my piece which means that there Is
a lot more to it.

This is the final section where I will be talking about how suited to the media industry I think
I am and what parts of the production I feel were strong and helped me to be more suitable
and parts I feel were weaker and made me not so suitable to the industry.

I feel like I’m fairly suited to the media industry in terms of the quality of the overall
outcome of my radio drama but I think my suitability falls in terms of my production
organisation because I think I could’ve had better audio quality for some of the dialogue and
most of the Foley because you can notice some irrelevant background interference which
wasn’t great. I feel like I did well with my piece as I managed to record my Foley and the
dialogue in a short amount of time, I also edited the piece in a short amount of time which I
feel was quite good. I didn’t take long to edit because I enjoy editing and I managed to get
my head around the basics of Adobe Audition because I was able to implement the
techniques that I wanted to include. I think that I made the wrong decision of filming in the
second week rather than the first because I didn’t give myself the time to improve on any
parts of the radio drama which I feel like I should’ve done but other than that I feel like my
production was fairly suited to the industry, one thing to keep in mind is the fact that I acted
in my own production and I feel like that makes me less suitable and in future I will have to
have someone else acting in the piece instead of me to make it more professional