Audio Unit // Archers

We looked at the Archers, which is a popular radio drama. There are lots of characters, with extensive backstories, so we researched some of this. Dylan, Jess, and I were in a group, so we looked at scripts that had 3 people in them. We found one with the characters Tom, Helen, and Kirsty. My character was Helen. We did some research on the characters, because this effects how we play them. For example, Helen and Tom are siblings, so they would interact in a different ways than strangers would. On the website there are character profiles showing their likes, dislikes, and relationships. It says that Tom and Kirtsy are exes, but in this scene they seem really civil and are doing things together, so we have to assume they are still together at this point. There are some things we don't know from the script, or from the research we've done. From our stand alone scene, we can make assumptions about the characters, and things that have happened, For example, we talked about Helen and her affair with Rob. In Kirtsy's dislikes, it says Rob, but says she is friends with Helen. We talked about this, and I said we could do the scene as if Kirsty knows about the affair, which is why she keeps changing the subject away from Rob.
As the characters are all pretty much family, we need to show the audience this by the way they interact with each other. Talking with family comes so easy, so I did a relaxed voice. Also, there is a bit where Helen's son comes in. Although in the script it doesn't state this, I showed this by talking to him like you would a child. Talking with a softer voice and a little bit slower would show this.

Next, we talked about foley. There are a lot of sounds in the script, such as throwing reeds on the trailer, moving through mud, sounds of gloves, and sounds of a scythe. We talked about different ways we could show this:

We didn't do a recording as we decided not to use it for the final piece, but it did help us gain a lot of knowledge about recording. We went through the script and talked about accents, as it's set in the country. Just because it's audio acting, doesn't mean you don't act as well as you would in person. It's different from the other types of audio we have done. It's a lot harder, and things like foley are more advanced for this.