I AM A WRITER, A PRODUCER AND A DIRECTOR- OH YES!

 

I must say even though putting together this radio drama is challenging but it is not as challenging as putting together a documentary. My observations are that the success of the radio drama lies in the actors and the ability of the director to cast great actors. This I say because radio drama is all about drama, it is about action, and it is about the flawless interaction between the actors. At the core of a radio drama lies the actors, they drive the story, they deliver the story they allow for the listeners imagination, they allow for the story to move from one scene to the next, they drive the story to reach the climax. As I am busy editing now, I find it easy to edit it because I’ve worked with people who understood what they were doing. Yes, there are parts that could still be improved, for instance parts where the voice could be raised even higher but I could not have asked for a better end product especially after the time constraints we have had.

One of the things I find challenging is editing one of the scenes where there is a telephone conversation. I find this difficult because there are times where they are both talking at the same time. The talking over each other however works well but it also becomes a problem because I only have to change one voice to sound like the other person is on the other side of the phone. I have tried to make this work by separating the conversation. This is one of the things that I could not think of at the time of the recording, I failed to realize that something like that was going to happen. There’s nothing I can do now, the actors are done and not intending to come back so as an editor I have to see how I work with that. This is one of those things that teaches you as an editor, those mistakes that become lessons because if I were to do this again I would avoid that, I would make sure that something like this does not happen again.

What I have noticed is that, there are things that you only pick up when you are editing, just like the one I have mentioned. The other thing is people moving on and off mic, sometimes this works but when you listen to it you realize that there was actually no need for that person to move off mic. When you are writing a script you imagine how you want it to happen or to sound like and then it becomes different when you listen to the actual recording.

This leads to my next point which is about the sound effects. I have recorded all the sound effects myself. I sat down at home with my recorder on and switched the TV on to record LIVE (music show) which is one of the shows that the actors talk about. I had to switch my radio on and stand in front of it with the recorder. I was a nerve to my housemates because I asked them to wash dishes even when they did not want to because I needed sound effects. I was happy to record these sounds myself and not look for them on the internet because I want this drama to sound believable. I went to the township to capture the sound environment; I went to one of the Grahamstown schools to record the school environment. With that said, I must also mention that I am aware that the ambient sound of the pots, the school environment, the cutlery, the television and radio that I am going to use do not tell the story, the actors do. The actors are what I can call ‘the cake’ and the ambient sounds are a ‘cherry on top’, they do not tell the story but they enhance this radio drama. They give it life and also help the listener understand what is going on.

I must also mention that I had a hard time finding the right music. The beginning jingle was the biggest challenge; I wanted something fresh and vibe(y) so as to adhere to the topic of my drama “Amaxesha ngamanye” Times have changed. I finally came up with the idea that I will start it with a slow song and then change to a fresher and youthful song. I tried it and it worked.

That’s all from me and this project, it has been fun. It has been a good learning experience. I’m out.

Ciao!