Hi folks,
I’m taking another look this week at the advice offered by Erik Barnouw in his Handbook of Radio Writing (1947). This time the attention is focused on “the opening” of a radio drama. This is just a short piece gleaning insights Mr Barnau provides on the techniques of successfully opening a program.
Routine Technique – part 1
Mr Barnouw takes us through the routine techniques employed in the construction of an effective audio script: (1) The Opening; (2) The First Narration; (3) The Scene Setting Moment; (4) Keeping the Setting Alive; (5) Scene Shifting; (6) Dialogue on the Move; (7) The Radio Climax; (8) The Closing.
We’ll be looking at each in turn, but for this week we’ll restrict ourselves to the opening.The Opening
Radio shows select their listeners. In the golden age of radio it was the job of the opening to, in as succinct and straight-to-the-point a way as possible, invite listeners to give their attention to the show.
All three of the tools – sound effects, music and speech – are available for the purpose.
Sound effects can instantly suggest a characteristic setting or activity.
Music is essential to suggesting the essential mood of a program.
Speech communicates immediate, attention grabbing information (and is usually essential).
They are also useful in combination or rapid alternation.
A typical pattern might be to
1) Divide the information into at least two separate doses,
2) Divided by a brief appetite sharpener of mood-suggesting music or scene-suggesting sound effects.
The key feature of the early radio show openings was brevity. They would begin abruptly with an extremely compact opening that identified the show as quickly as possible before diving into the action.
Many shows had an ending that echoed the opening in some way providing a framework for the telling of each episode.
Of course you may be writing for a show with an existing framework in place. In this case there is no need to write one for yourself.
If you’d like to see some examples of openings in the scripts we publish be sure to visit http://weirdworldstudios.com/product-category/our-products/. We have some free samples you can download.
See you next time.
– Philip Craig Robotham
