Unit 16 P2: Describe how the sound elements are produced

 

U16, P1 identify and explain the characteristics of media product

 

M1: Analyse the structure and content of a programme broadcast by a chosen radio station

 Programme Analysis

(All of these examples are from Case 1 of uncanny)

The name of this programme is called Uncanny. It was first released on 12th October and comes on every 6 days on a Saturday at 23:30 P.M. All the episodes are 28 minutes long except from the introduction that is only 3 minutes long. The audience would be people who want entertainment or want to have a jump scare. You can access this programme with BBC Radio 4 in the television or when you are in the car while having access to the radio.

The genre of Uncanny is factual and real life ghost stories, talking about real life ghost encounters that has happened in the past to him and how it affected him. This podcast/drama is entertaining for the audience because since it's ghost stories it would be interesting and amusing to hear, it would never be boring because it involves paranormal activity. It also informs and educates people telling them that ghosts are real and any paranormal activity could happen to the audience and that they would not be as surprised if that did happen to them. In BBC Radio 4 Case 1 of uncanny at 12:23 talking about how he was talking and the door and how it would make violent noises when no one was there. It is also educating because they are bringing into the podcast real life professionals like as he said in 12:38 he brings in Caroline Watt who is a professor of parapsychology at Edinburgh university and Peter Laws who writes about paranormal activity and Caroline talks about how it could be an illusion because the body might be confused if it's a dream or reality and this is educating because professionals are giving their opinions which is more right since they have studied it for years. In 17:15 he gives information about the two people that lived there before and how he was asking if they saw anything in that room and they did. The overall structure of the programme is just Danny talking to Ken and Ken talking his experiences with the ghosts and how they have impacted his life when he was a student and then there would be a dramatic scene where something intense happens and the weird will start playing to grab everyone's attention but then stops after a bit.

The content of this podcast is supposed to be like a scary ghost story and this podcast is about the guy who doesn't believe in ghosts (his name is Ken) and he can't believe that he has seen a ghost when he was a student in belfast and in this first episode he talks about how there was some events happening in his bedroom and describes it as "pure evil" and it would always happen in room 611. You can see that as soon as the main person talking in the podcast and talking about if it's "just supernatural or if it can be explained" At 0:51 and the music playing in the background gives an eerie feeling because of the bass that it is playing in and how slow it is luring the audience in because it's supposed to be spooky and interesting, it would make the audience nervous and scared about what is going to happen next, if the ghost hurted Ken or something bad happening.

At 06:13 he was talking about how he could feel this dark presence around him, seeing the ripples from the blankets, seeing it move and didn't know what it was and it frightened him, having no idea what to do. The music in the background gradually gets louder and louder creating this dramatic effect for the audience. The audience would have thought something major was about to happen because of how the music was. Then at 07:11 the music stops all of the sudden indicating that nothing happened which would have the audience shocked because they were expecting something else. At 10:49 the same thing happens again with the effect that the editor was using. In this bit there was someone in the elevator going to ken's floor and ken found that really weird and thought that maybe someone was coming to see him, but then he felt the same force of "evil" coming to him. The background sound come again while ken is talking about how he heard the footsteps the audience could also hear it making the audience feel connected to Ken in a way because they can hear whatever he heard. The sound got louder for a second then paused but this time it was more shorter than the previous example. At 11:00 the sound came back but this louder and it was stomping, kicking and punching the door making the audience feel like there's a pit in their stomach because there's just so much happening in the span of a few minutes.

With the mode of address i feel like it is a informal mode of address mostly because Ken and Danny are using personal pronouns which would engage the target audience because to make them feel as if they are talking directly at them. The audience then would feel like they are a part of this podcast. At 11:55 Ken uses the word "i" which is a personal pronoun talking about his experiences and also making the audience feel a little more comfortable with him because it's not too overly formal that it needs to be. Also using personal pronouns make the audience more engaged because if they were using formal language i don't think they would have a larger audience as they do now because it wouldn't be as impactful.

This programme was written and presented by Danny Robins. The experts which were the experts talking in the programme about the experiences are Caroline Watt and Peter Laws. The sound Designer and Editor is Charlie Brandon- King. The person in charge of the music was Evelyn Sykes. The theme music was by Lanterns On The Lake. The whole programme was produced by Danny Robins and Simon Barnard. 

U14 P2 describe the focus of a chosen radio statio.

BBC RADIO 4

This station is called BBC Radio 4 and it is owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts a whole range of programmes like news, drama, comedy, science and history. It has been on air since 30 September 1967. The BBC Radio 4 like all BBC radio stations is funded by everyone's tv licence. 

Demographics

The age audience is usually in the older range 35-56 years olds. Both Men and Woman listen to BBC Radio 4. The audience's nationality would be Citizens from the UK because BBC Radio 4 is aimed at the UK. BBC Radio 4 tries to target a larger audience but from what i see on the website the religion it usually targets to is christianity there is a programme in Radio 4 which is called 'prayer of the day' which is basically talking about christianity and starting a prayer to start the day. Radio 4 are targeting a lot of ethnicities with the different programmes for e.g. "My name is christina" and it's about junk food and how her family's is originally from ethiopia and news reports on how ebola impacted africa sparked her political activism.

Lifestyle

All the audiences have different lifestyle and it shows from the programmes they watch. Uncanny is a podcast/drama and the person is talking about he's experiences with ghosts and the audience that watches this might be because they want to entertain themselves and make their lives more interesting or they might experience seeing ghosts as well and wanting to know other people's experiences. Other audiences might be into politics or would like to do something political in the future a programme that is political in BBC Radio 4 is "today in parliament".

Spending Powers 

They are funded by everyone's tv licence. The audience would usually have a high spending power since BBC has educated content with a lot of information about different things and most of the audience would have degrees.

Listening Figures 

There is 10.8 million listeners in BBC Radio 4. The today programme reached 6.5 million listeners monday to friday. RAJAR shows that in BBC Radio 4 the population is 55,675 people. The reach size is 10,483 people and the percentage of the reach is 19%. The average hours per head is 2.1 people and average hours per listener is 11.1 people. The total hours on how much people listen to BBC radio 4 is 116,503 hours. Listening share in TSA would be 11.6%.

BBC RADIO 4 SCHEDULE

In the morning at 6:00 the programme "News and Papers" is broadcast and since people that have work they would wake up that early to get ready for their job and this helps people know what's going on in the world and would usually listen to this while having their breakfast or if the audience are morning people they can watch that. This appeals to the target audience because since it's a older age range most of them would be working and have a job. In the afternoon there is the "news quiz" playing at around at 12:30 and this could be listened when people are having their lunch. In the evening at around 7 there is "Tumanbay" playing and it's a drama and at that time most people would have finish their job if there were working in a morning shift or dayshift and it's a nice thing to watch if the audience want some drama to be entertained and this appeals to the audience because it's a older age range they would want to watch something in the evening. This show would be more suitable for the target audience that are 35 year olds.