Week 1: (02/02/2018)

This week we spent the morning going though each script. The afternoon consisted of us selecting which role we wanted to do. There was a number of roles i would be interested in. I decided to go for the role of director as i have a good ear and like to input my creativity. I was put into group 4. (Fantastic four plus one)

Director – Lucy Lavery

Producer – Matt Toulson

Studio Manager – Bernice Collings

Script editor – Stephanie Kamale

Production Coordinator – Zineb Sekkat

We started organizing ourselves straight away exchanging numbers and setting up group chats as well as making a google drive.

I started messaging a couple of actors i was aware of that lived in London to start the casting process. I suggested that everyone must read through the script and think about adaptions before next week so we could start the production process.

Week 2: (09/02/2018)

The morning was spent listening over to audio to give us inspiration and ideas for our own pieces. Then we went over production guidelines, including pre-production and casting. Zineb was absent from the morning which was unfortunate as all the morning was full of very important information that is applied to her role in particular.

We contacted the writer peter to see if he was able to brainstorm script changes with us. We had a meeting where i inputted the idea of having a new character and mixing up the script slightly, as although the story-line is strong there are adaptions that should be made in order to make it more suitable for audio drama format.

We have planned to have this meeting at some stage within the next week. hopefully the meeting will be successful for brainstorming ideas and editing the script so it is ready for recording.

Week 3: (16/02/2018)

This week we all met apart from Zineb to discuss changes to the script. I had a clear vision for the story and being the director i was excited of the prospect of recording the scenes and bringing the off the paper. We called peter the writer to discuss changes and get a further understanding of the vision that he had while writing the script. Stephanie was not confident when briefing so passed the phone over to me and i chatted to peter in detail. It was very helpful and ended the call looking forward to seeing the finished product with the edits we had discussed. I felt that the changes suggested only came from myself with some of the group not even having read the full piece which was unfortunate as they could not join in with the exchange of ideas.

The afternoon was spent in the studio experimenting with sound and ways in which we will record the actors. It was very useful to give Bernice confidence driving the desk and helpful for myself getting Jeremy’s help playing around with how we can replicate different sounds and settings in the studio. We experimented with different techniques but came up with a good plan of how we record the scenes in the car.

Week 4: (23/02/2018) 

I asked for everyone to meet at 10 to discuss updates on the script and commissioning actors. Unfortunately Stephanie had not been in regular contact with the writer peter so didn’t have an update for us.

I wanted to start planning what order we would be recording and generally thinking out how i was going to create sounds but without the script it was very hard to do so. I called the writer myself and Peter said he would forward on the emails to me so he had a reliable line of communication and after speaking to him on both occasions during meetings we had already built up a rapport so although this is not my role I decided to step in.

I worked with peter helping with structure and finalising any questions he had. I have arranged for him to send the finished script to both myself and Stephanie so i am able to get the script out to the actors as soon as possible so they can prepare and i am able to make a recording schedule for the day and number up the scripts.

Bernice and myself have both looked online and asked Jeremy the best ways to certain challenging sounds. We plan to record some early next week before recording and some after so there is plenty of time to source high quality audio and have lots of time for the group to edit.

Week 5: (02/03/18)

This week has been very busy, i feel many members are not taking the time to plan for the record so this week i have been checking and formatting the script myself. I sent the formatted script over to Zineb so she could send it out to the actors and i sent it to the writer peter so he could have a copy for himself.

Myself and Bernice have been looking into how we are going to create certain sounds, some seem to be challenging but i look forward to playing around with different sounds and putting together the final piece.

Unfortunately due to the weather recording had to be cancelled, we waited for an update of when we would be recording so we could get more actors in as a few said they would not be available to record at a later date.

Week 6: (09/03/18)

This week we had confirmation that our new recording date would be on the 16th March. Myself and Bernice went through the new casting sheet and selected the actors that we thought would be best suited for the roles. We passed on the details to Zineb but we found on Thursday that they had not been contacted so Bernice sent over emails with scripts to check their availability. That afternoon all actors had been confirmed so i updated the casting list and let all other members of the group aware.

Week 7: (16/03/18)

This week was our recording week. I felt very alone while making preparations and i felt other members of the team were too laid back due to lack of help i was given.

The producer was supposed to make a recording schedule for the day but when i arrived in the morning this had not been done. So i took it upon myself to make a schedule to get the team organised. I decided to plan the scenes according to mic placement and also the actors needed. This was so that actors could leave earlier and not have to wait for every scene to be recorded.

I was frustrated during recording as the group arrived late to the script read and the script editor didn’t print off the script so luckily i decided to print backups so everyone had a copy. Due to everyone being late to the record i had to arrange the room on my own to make sure we were ready to start on time.

During recording the script the producer was in the studio but was on their mobile for the majority of the recording so there was a lack of focus which got in the way of my communication with the actors. Due to this i decided to just run between studios myself so i could communicate and position the actors clearly and precisely. Stephanie and Zineb had no input on the recording and i did not receive any notes or feedback from them even after requesting these days after. Limited with the amount of help and feedback i received from my team i was happy with the recording.

I built up a strong relationship with the actors and had a laugh in between takes and have them as many breaks as possible within the schedule. i made sure to keep up moral with them and made sure to give them a proper thanks and show my appreciation at the end of recording as they all performed very well and i was pleased with especially how Jordon really brought her character to life.

I agreed to meet with Bernice on Tuesday to do our first edit. She was not very present in the studio so i went on and started editing without her present as i was conscious that we have a lot of audio to get through and source and i want a lot of time to edit to make sure it is done to a high standard and not rushed.

I agreed to edit each scene individually and send it through to the other members of the group for them to listen to. This way it is much easier to edit in chunks and i wanted to transition in between scenes in a creative way. I asked Bernice when she is available to edit but it seems she is busy with work so intend to do some editing alone to keep the project moving forward.

I did not get a chance to speak to Tim and Nihara during recording as they had left their office but i made sure to see them the following day to say thanks for setting up the room and for Nihara helping move the mics around during recording.

Week 8: (23/03/18)

This week Myself and Bernice met on a couple of occasions to edit. We focused on scene 5 this week which was the second police station scene. We already had the elements saved from previous editing sessions so we spent time fie tuning this scene along with the other we have already started.

I selected which scenes to do in which order as i wanted to leave the more challenging scenes for later on once we had really got into the structure and feel of the drama.

I suggested to Bernice that some of the music needs to be foreshadowing the upcoming events. We spent time researching into good music that would sound nice in the background of the car while still building drama. I found a good piece that i shared with Bernice called ‘Buried in the murder’ i thought it fitted well and would sound great for both into and outro Bernice agreed and i sent the audio across. We spent time then putting together the script read for the intro, I had suggested Charles Carroll to read this as he is known for radio 4 content and has a lovely commanding voice. I emailed him and asked if we could borrow him next week to record the introduction, outro and also the news story section for the service station scene.

We finished off the days editing by putting together scenes 1 and 2. The second scene was problematic and bernice was getting frustrated matching up the music so i offered to do this and this the outcome of matching the speed and pitch worked well.

Week 9: (30/03/18)

This week i had confirmation that Charles was happy for us to record, Bernice and I sat down to go over the script once more, i had already written the news script but wanted another pair of eyes to look over it.

Charles spent around 10 mins in the studio with us, we got a few takes just to be safe and i was happy with the overall sound. We sent the rest of the day editing all other scenes apart from the final one.

Me and Bernice took it in turns to do editing while the other one sat beside and gave feedback and suggestions. All the prep i had done sourcing sound effects saved us a lot of time and is happy with all the scenes we had done so far.

I asked Bernice if she was able to do the intro and outros without me to save time as they are easy edits and will mean we can focus on the final scene during the final week.

During the editing process I had invited other members of the team to listen to the audio on the drive so they are able to have some creative input however we received no feedback so went ahead with the edit.

Week 10: (06/04/18)

This week we focused on the final scene.

Bernice and I rough cut the audio, to select the best takes. We then had to go through the long recordings we had taken of the cabbage stabbing and select the most realistic ones.

We spent the entire rest of the day fie tuning the stabbing scene, sourcing and recording revs and the best sounding footsteps finding interesting ways to add texture to the scene.

The paperwork had not been done by Zineb and Matt had sadly not completed the PRS, i chased them both. Zineb said she had finished all the paperwork but then when i checked and it was full of grammatical errors and missing important info. So me and Bernice did the paperwork instead as I wanted to submit well before the deadline. We were still waiting for Matt to finish up the PRS, so i clipped all of the scenes together on audition to make sure the transitions were smooth, I then normalized everything and listened to the piece several more times to check nothing had been missed.

Once again i gave the team chance to listen before submission but this was not done. Myself and Bernice then checked we had all the correct paperwork before i sent it off to Jeremy for submission.

Once this was done i emailed all of the actors and the writer with the finished audio and said thank you to them all once again, praising them on their performances and thanking peter for letting us use his script.