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 “shifting the scene” of a radio drama by combining the techniques discussed so far (or combination transition). These techniques are common sense but nonetheless easy to overlook.

Combination Transitions

A combination transition is a complex transition in which sound, music, and narration are combined to curtain the scene.

Advantages

By combining transition techniques the shift between one scene and another can be made much more immersive and dramatic.

Disadvantages

Complex transitions of this type, if not directed carefully, can be very confusing for the audience.

A note on consistency in transitions

Never feel constrained to use one and only one transition. Non-naturalistic transitions (like music and narration) should probably be established early, but transitions are tools and should be selected for their contribution to the telling of your story and not for the sake of consistency.

Conventional Symbols

Some sounds have taken on a conventional meaning over time. The slidewhistle and chime both can indicate a magical occurance. The chinese gong or cymbal crash often indicates a dramatic transition. A harp glissando often indicates the shifting of time (into the past and backagain) for flashbacks etc. Be careful of using these conventions, however. Their very popularity has made them into something of a cliche.

The combination transition is not one we have employed in our scripts.
If you’d like to see some examples of how scene setting is handled in the scripts we publish be sure to visit http://weirdworldstudios.com/product-category/our-products/. We have lots of free samples you can download.
See you next time.
– Philip Craig Robotham

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