PROPOSAL DRAFT:
Group names/roles
Jasia Byatt: Producer
Lee Roberts: BA and Assistant Producer
Brian Alcorn: Director
Title: The Gingerbread House.
Station/website to be broadcast on and when
BBC Radio 4, women’s hour.
Synposis of the story
A one-off adaptation of a traditional fairytale however this is a contemporary version.
Harry and Georgia live with their single parent mother in a big city, easy for children to go missing. The children are off school for summer and their mother has to find childcare whilst juggling two jobs. An old widowed woman lives on her own she is confused and lonely. A panic stricken mother returns from a shift at work to find her children missing. Flashes between the mothers panic and the old woman’s happiness at the children’s delight.
Treatment
This story is set to show to points of views. We have a single parent mother who is struggling to balance her two jobs and children during the summer holidays. Then we have an elderly widowed woman who is confused and alone in her old broken home. We feel sorry for both woman and their struggles with life.
The story begins in a small flat where the children are playing, we are introduced to the mother as she is sorting bills and cooking dinner when she receives a call from work. Sound effects such as a distant television set, cooker hobs boiling, papers rustling, writing and phone ringing. We are connected to the mothers stressful life which most mothers can relate to, working and having children without family or a partner to help.
The mother leaves home and her children promising she will return in a few hours and warning them not to leave the house. The children ignore their mothers words and venture out to the park across from their flat. We have a build up of city sound such as cars mixed in with a eerie park (squeaky swings and howling wind). We are introduced to an elderly woman talking to herself. She begins mumbling about how much she misses her husband, she pleas for a child of her own to nurture. Here we have a flashback with music from the 1930’s/40’s the woman and her husband with their child, a happy moment. The children see the friendly woman watering her plants on her overgrown garden. Georgia is mesmerized with the overgrown fairytale looking house and begins to approach the house. Harry hesitates then leaves he remembers from a book to leave a trail incase they get lost. Georgia asks the woman lots of questions as Harry is irritated and wants to go home, the old woman invites the children inside for a gingerbread man that she has been baking. We then flash to the house as the mother returns home, and begins searching the house, ringing the police in a panic. She runs outside to search the park to find her sons trail, along with the police officer she approaches the old woman’s home.
Technical Arrangements/Considerations
The Microphone set up will consist of a pair of AKG 414’s set to the cardioid pickup setting, and positioned at 90 degrees to each other, creating a stereo pair that picks up the entire recording space. This setup allows actors to physically move around in the space changing their position within the audio field.
Narration is to be done in the studio. The indoor scenes are also to be recorded in the studio however the park scene is planned to be recorded using a marantz on location. When the mother is recording we will have her move around the mic setup as she is moving around the kitchen.
Sound effects will include city surroundings such as busy traffic and crowds of busy people. Home sound effects as the mother is preparing dinner and the children are watching television. We plan to create soundscapes to show flashbacks from the old woman. Also a soundscape of the mother through her panic.
Critique of similar productions/podcasts
As part of our research we listened to a variety of radio dramas on BBC radio 4, one particular series that caught our attention was ‘The Tennant of Wildfell Hall’ which is broadcast during ‘Women’s hour’. This kind of adaptation for radio is what influenced us to make our drama suitable for broadcast during women’s hour. We also considered making the piece a comedy, and listened to pieces such as ‘Listen against’ and the ‘Heresy’ series. The overall treatment and style of these was completely different to the other dramas we had listened too, and we decided that it would be very difficult to achieve a successful comedy adaptation of our fairytale, it would be much better suited to the Women’s hour slot.
PROPOSAL FINAL COPY:
Station/website
BBC Radio 4, women’s hour. This piece is suited to this slot as we focus on the main character being a single parent, struggling with day to day tasks. Women’s hour want to move from women’s literature, this fairytale is normally targeted at children however this piece is to tick the boxes of what BBC Radio 4 want for their listeners. Women like to hear content they can place themselves in also subjects they are interested in. this piece is simple yet different to what is normally played during women’s hour, as they say “simplicity is the key”.
As this is an assignment this will not be broadcast on BBC Radio 4. However we will upload the final project on ‘SoundCloud’ and ‘Audio Boo’ using ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’ as advertising.
Synopsis of the story
First in a series of adaptations of traditional fairytales however this is a contemporary version.
Harry and Georgia live with their single parent mother in a big city, easy for children to go missing. Their mother has to find childcare whilst juggling two jobs. An old widowed woman lives on her own she is confused and lonely. A panic stricken mother returns from a shift at work to find her children missing. She goes out searching and finds a clue to her children’s whereabouts. Will her discovery be as sinister as it seems, or is it a simple misunderstanding?
Treatment
This story is set to show to points of views. We have a single mother who is struggling to balance her two jobs and children. Then we have an elderly widowed woman who is confused and alone in her old broken home. We empathise with both women and their struggles in life.
The story begins in a small flat where the children are playing, we are introduced to the mother as she is sorting bills and cooking dinner when she receives a call from work. Sound effects such as a distant television set, cooker hobs boiling, papers rustling, writing and phone ringing. We are connected to the mothers stressful life which most mothers can relate to, working and having children without family or a partner to help.
The mother leaves home and her children promising she will return in a few hours and warning them not to leave the house. The children ignore their mothers words and venture out to the park across from their flat. We have a build up of city sound such as cars mixed in with a eerie park (squeaky swings and howling wind). We are introduced to an elderly woman talking to herself. She begins mumbling about how much she misses her husband, and how she always longed for a child of her own. The children see the friendly woman watering her plants on her garden. Georgia is mesmerized with the fairytale looking house and begins to approach the house. Georgia asks the woman lots of questions as Harry is irritated and wants to go home, the old woman invites the children inside for gingerbread men that she has been baking. We then flash to the house as the mother returns home, and begins searching the house, ringing the police in a panic. Hysterical she runs outside to search the park where she finds her sons glove. She asks someone if they have seen her children, they direct her to a nearby cottage. As she approaches the cottage she hears her children yelling and screaming. She runs to bang on the door and verbally harasses the old woman. This is like every fairytale, we plan on the happy ending. The mother is reassured by her children that the old woman is innocent, she is lonely and the children enjoy her company.
Technical Arrangements/Considerations
The Microphone set up will consist of a pair of AKG 414’s set to the cardioid pickup setting, and positioned at 90 degrees to each other, creating a stereo pair that picks up the entire recording space. This setup allows actors to physically move around in the space changing their position within the audio field.
Narration is to be done in the studio. The indoor scenes are also to be recorded in the studio however the park scene is planned to be recorded using a marantz on location. When the mother is recording we will have her move around the mic setup as she is moving around the kitchen.
Sound effects will include city surroundings such as busy traffic and crowds of busy people. Home sound effects as the mother is preparing dinner and the children are watching television. We plan to create soundscapes to show flashbacks from the old woman. Also a soundscape of the mother through her panic.
Critique of similar productions/podcasts
As part of our research we listened to a variety of radio dramas on BBC radio 4, one particular series that caught our attention was ‘The Tennant of Wildfell Hall’ which is broadcast during ‘Women’s hour’. This kind of adaptation for radio is what influenced us to make our drama suitable for broadcast during women’s hour. We also considered making the piece a comedy, and listened to pieces such as ‘Listen against’ and the ‘Heresy’ series. The overall treatment and style of these was completely different to the other dramas we had listened too, and we decided that it would be very difficult to achieve a successful comedy adaptation of our fairytale, it would be much better suited to the Women’s hour slot.