As you will know, there are a lack of visuals in a radio drama, to maintain the listeners attention

and evoke a certain response, they rely on words which are there to help the listeners paint an
image by describing the settings or characters as there are no visuals for them to know. I will be
discussing and evaluating two types of radio dramas: a traditional radio drama which consists of a
story lead narrative revolving around an ensemble of characters which are built as the episodes go
on and in real time thus giving the characters a chronological build up giving the listeners the
chance go through the characterisation of the characters from when theyre born till they die which
is very rare and gives the chance to the listeners to see the progression of the characters making
them three dimensional which instantly makes the narrative more personal. This type of radio
drama has a normal narrative meaning that there is an introduction, complication and finally a
solution/resolution. the archers is a traditional radio drama which has been running for a long time
and in this particular episodes I'm going to be discussing, the women are getting dressed up for an
event; simultaneously next to the main plot, theres a side plot of a married couple talking about
the step father adopting their son Henry. On the other hand, a postmodern radio drama is quite
different to the traditional as it is more ambiguous in its story telling and leaves room for the
listeners to make their own interpretations as it doesn't answer every plot point and doesn't spell
everything out the way they would in a traditional radio drama. The postmodern radio drama the
blind mans confession consists of a tragic car accident in which a police officer is killed and then
the protagonist who is narrating the story in a flashback is shot by what seems to be a criminal.
After that, he wakes up in a hospital wounded and it ends, raising more questions, which aren't
answered in the slightest. this is called a cliff hanger as the story ends on a question without
wrapping up the story and leaving the listeners stimulating possible outcomes which gives them the
freedom to come up with their own interpretations of the show thus making them even more
involved in the show. instantly, by having the protagonist narrate the story, it is clear that the events
have already occurred thus making the story have a unchronological narrative in the form of
flashbacks which are often used to fill in plot details, character build up whilst narrating events
which have already occurred.

Then voices are there in order to communicate to the listeners things such as the age, gender,
nationality as well as the emotions they might be feeling through the high/low pitch, tone and
volume of their voices as a character with a high pitch voice and low tone could be a female
character but someone with a low pitch and high tone is more likely to be a man. for example in the
traditional radio drama the archers - in the beginning, at 0:17 s two people start having a
conversation and it is clear that they are British through their strong accents, you can tell that one is
male and the other one is female through the tone and pitch of their voices and you know they
know each other well as he refers to her as Debbie thus letting us know that they know each
other and the name of one of the characters. similarly to this, in the postmodern radio drama, the
same technique is being used to develop the main protagonist character as through the accent we
know he's British, and the the low pitch of the voice that he's most likely a middle aged man and
through the tone and volume of the voice we realize that we are in a flashback as the protagonists
is narrating what happen to him. At 0:30 he starts to speak he never told me his name this tells
us that the main protagonist is male and that he had a tragic event occur in his life recently as he
goes on to say ankle deep in mud, blood everywhere this suggests a violent incident has
occurred to the protagonist as the word blood connotes death, brutality and bloodshed.
Speech which is the form in which the words are spoken to project whatever they are trying to
convey to the listeners, being anything from the accent of the speaker, to the tone or pitch of the
voice and so on. a good example is in the postmodern radio drama the blind mans confession in
which the beginning the main character is narrating in the first person about what he went through
and we see the difference in his speech when the criminal puts a gun on the protagonists head at
6:47 and says you have 60 seconds to tell me why I shouldn't press this trigger there is a sense
of self confidence, authority and power as he holds a gun demonstrating that he isn't afraid to take
someones life and clarifying his status as a criminal and the sounds that the protagonist utters in
sheer fear makes us sympathize for him hence making us care for the character which keeps the
listeners connected and interested in the radio drama.

The use of music/ silence is essential as it helps smoothly transition from a scene to the next or to
help make clear what the location of the scene is. for example, in the blind mans confession- the
sound of the bikes engine as the bike breezed faster and faster with rock music helping indicate
towards the speed hes going at which at times diluted what the narrator was saying thus creating a
sense of thrill before crashing into a car and going into silence at 1:26 which is suggesting
something tragic has happen through the sudden and abrupt change in sound making the listeners
hypothesize on scenarios that couldve taken place. The music helps transition the scene from one
place to the other. similarly in the traditional radio drama the archers the background sounds help
differentiate the different locations at which the scenes are set making e.g. the silence in the
background hints at the fact that they are in doors but then one of the characters mentioning there
isn't enough space in the kitchen leaves no room for speculation of the location of the scene. this
helps make it self-evident when the setting changes as the noise pollution changes in the
background e.g. when the couple move out into the park as you can hear noises in the background
and the aural signposting further adds to it as at 5:25 a person speaks on a stage whilst rehearsing
and you hear the crowd rumble during his speech.

When it comes to ambience in the blind mans confessions , the sound of rain and thunder help the
listeners realise that the location is outdoors as well as the weather in the scene as the main
character rides his bike through the woods thus connoting something bad is going to happen as
lighting and thunder are often used as a symbol of tragedy in various forms of media like films and
radio dramas. in the archers the ambience is set through background music as we can hear
glasses clinking in the background when they're in a pub which is heard 8:43 into the show which
effective as it helps the viewer understand that they are in a pub because not stated in the scene.

Aural signposting, which is when things are signified to the viewer through sound that isn't clear
through dialogue. In the archers, we hear a door opening and closing, which points towards a
character leaving, or entering a room, 2:45 into the show which is effective as the viewer knows, if
someone has entered the scene before the characters tell us. moreover, sounds can help set the
scene as well as we can hear birds chirping 1:02 into the show, which helps tell the listeners that
theyre outdoors, as this hasnt been signified in any other way.

Silence can be used to signify the changing of a scene or the typeof relationships two characters
have as in the archers, silence is used to portray he awkwardness between two characters at 12:14
as pauses of silence are used between dialogue to showcase awkwardness between the two
characters.
fades are used to change scenes by having a fade in/out as this is a very effective way to change a
scene. in the archers, at 6:44 there is a fade in/out of sound connoting the changing of a scene
making a fluid transition from one location to another. this is also used in the blind mans confession
as a fade in/out is used when we start to hear speech from other characters and the narration
stops, the audio fades in and out and direct speech is used. The narrator throughout is talking to
the viewer. I think this works well as it helps the viewer to feel like they are there with the narrator
thus making the show more personal and intimate as they are making the viewers feel as they were
there and part of the narrative

The target audience is for this particular postmodern radio drama are younger audiences as it
deals with a serious topic as fast driving and the consequences, although in a tighten manner yet it
can be educational for them, Its more engaging than soaps thus the listeners listening would need
to pay attention as a lot goes on at once. the shows duration is 12 mins which is appropriate for the
radio drama as it gives it enough time to build a narrative and characters, give a complication and
solution, without making it too long and boring which could kill the listeners interest in the radio
drama and the listeners wouldnt be interested in it if it was too long as they wouldnt have time to
for the radio drama. its a one off drama, unlike the archers which is a linear multi strand realist
drama, whereas the blind mans confession is a nonlinear realist single strand drama. The archers
is probably for a more mature and feminine audiences as the show has been running for a really
long time so they are more familiar with the show than the younger generations. Also, I specify the
gender because in this episode there was a lot of woman empowerment chats going on as they
mention things such as the suffragettes which was a huge movement for equal rights for women.
the archers is mainly aimed at people who are retired as it airs in the middle of the day as they'd be
at home at that time and its only 15 mins long thus making it easy to keep their attention as making
it too long could bring the burden of making the episodes too dry and boring as there wouldnt be
enough interesting things for our characters to do or it could get repetitive which, would make the
listeners stop listening to the show. Even from a production point of view, the episodes would cost
more thus increasing the budget of the show, increasing the chances of loss. This show airs weekly
on BBC radio 4 as well as iPlayer, incase people want to listen to episodes later or if they want to
catch up or start listening.

Mood can be created in many different ways, through dialogue as two characters could be arguing
which would make a tense atmosphere, sign posting is used to create a calm and normal everyday
household environment ion the archers as you hear doors opening and closing, 2:45 into the show
which is effective as the viewer knows, if someone has entered the scene before the characters tell
us making a tense atmosphere as the listeners dont know who it is and is wondering who it could
be. The use of ambience sound, music is also effective in creating a mood as a romantic
background score could create a romantic atmosphere or having long silences with ambiguous
sound could build a creepy mood.

In the archers, there are no narrations an consists of the characters speech. However they do
narrate through sound if its harder to make the listeners understand. Christie just pulled up in the
car park this is preparing the audiences to look forward to another character so they know the
character when they join in the conversation and avoid any confusion. This is very effortful as the
use of words is done very naturally making the conversations between characters feel very real
and at the same time help move the narrative forward and introduce characters just with speech.
this also helps understand the different characters and separates them from one another as each
individual speaks differently thus giving us an insight into their education which thereby lets us
know what socio economic group they belong to amongst their appearance, religion and so forth.

the music played at the beginning and end of the archers episode helps set up the tone and
atmosphere of the show to get the audience ready to listen to the show as well as a good way to
tell audiences the end of the drama. this music plays for 16 seconds at beginning and end of the
drama, also by having the same music, it gives the radio drama a sense of continuity and makes
them associate the music with the drama. they don't have much background music apart from the
scene in the theatre whilst they rehearse which is there for the sole purpose to help the listeners
understand the location which is done at 3:40 into the show. in the blind mans confession

speech helps set up scenes in the narrative thus helps listeners visualize what is happening. My
pulse quickened 1:10, spoken in a fearful way which helps the viewer to understand his emotions.
This helps the viewer visualize how the protagonist is feeling in the drama. The main voice in the
drama is a clear English accent making the drama more relatable as its aired in England. The
character is narrating what had happened, rather than conversations between characters like in the
archers hence helping the listeners visualize what had happened more vividly as the narrator can
go into more detail

Development of plot consists of exposition, which is when a character or a group of characters are
introduced and a narrative is introduced building a relationship between the characters and the
listeners. Then there is a complication which makes the plot move forward which usually consists
of a problem or dilemma the main character is dealing with and finally there is the solution which is
as it says the solution to the complication that the protagonist comes up with which concludes the
narrative. However, in radio dramas like the blind mans confession, the narrative isnt fully
concluded as it ends on a cliff hanger which is a popular way of ending narratives as it allows the
listeners or viewers as this is used in films and TV shows as well because, it leaves the audiences
to make their own ending and hypothesize their own interpretations of what they think the ending
meant and they try to re watch/ listen the show to pick up on things they didnt pick upon the first
thine to see if there are any clues for them to find out if the ending is being explained or mentioned.
On the other hand, with a radio drama like the archers which keeps on going, they keep on
repeating this formula again and again with new plots which keeps the show fresh and entertaining.
By doing so, this gives the creators a creative freedom to try new things in the show in order to
keep the audiences and maybe bring new ones in.

Titles are used in order to identify the production and acknowledge who produced it. This is used at
the beginning and end of the Production.

in conclusion, the thriller the blind mans confession has an open ending meaning that its a
cliffhanger leaving so people can make their own interpretations the way they sometimes do in
movies too. However, it also leaves a couple of plot holes as well because we aren't told how the
protagonist gets to the hospital, when the sound of the bullet is made, who is shot and so on.
Dramatic reconstruction is used in the whole drama which helps the viewer feel like they are there
with the narrator making it more emotional and scary thus catering to its genre ; the drama style is
horror, this is clear through the use of background noise, dialogue, location and characters. this is
completely different from the archers even from a narrative point of view as it has a nonlinear
narrative meaning that everything doesn't happen in chronological order as the protagonist
narrated the incidents after they have happen whereas the archers have a linear narrative which
means everything happens in chronological order. Flash backs and direct speech are only used in
The Blind Mans Confession, which works well for it as it makes everything more emotional and
dramatic. although the archers do use aural signposting, characterization and chronological
development in order to create clear story line, and create a realistic narrative with normal everyday
situations in the a household which are done chronologically with the actual time in Britain as they
follow the real calendar meaning that when its Christmas for us its Christmas in the radio drama
meaning that it has a chronological narrative even with the episodes that play, they play in real
time, so if the episode begins in the morning, itll end in the evening or night. This has been the
case in the archers for its full run on the radio which is over 2 decades which means any character
that was born 16 years ago is 16 yrs. old now.