BEN SNELLGROVE

My Story

When the husband and father of a

close family passes away whilst
fighting for his country during the
First World War, mum-of-one Gwen
has to support her three year old
son. Too young to even remember
him, James aim is to carry on his
fathers footsteps, despite his
mothers aim to not lose her only
child. Too determined, he goes on
to battle in the next World War,
but little does he know what hell
find on his return home.

Statement of Intent

I believe that my ideas, creations and

character profiles fit the bill of the
Radio Drama that Im trying to produce.
Nothing is over exaggerated or out of
line, everything is in line of situations
that families actually went through nearly
a hundred years ago. I think about indepth detail, such as a scenario for the
death of the father, and how the child had
to help his mum by working from an early
age. I havent just set my radio drama in
one period of time, its stretched out to
over thirty years. My choice of sound
effects and fits the message Im trying to
get across to the audience. Ill use
flashbacks and time lapses to try and
make my drama flow and not drag.

Gwen

A single mother whos trying to live a normal

life despite the awful events that are
happening around her. At the age of 40, Gwen
losses her husband Brian in the late stages of
the First World War. Struggling for money, she
has to work long hours leading into time after
the war had finished. Bringing her son with
her, James struggles to get an education, and
starts work from the age of 14.

James

James is the son of Gwen and Rupert. His

father died when James was three years old.
He attended school up until the age of 14,
and went to work in a local coal yard. His
friends were limited, and this wasnt helped
by the environment he was brought up in. As a
lonely child, James never went out, and
worked to help his mum bring in money. Once
he found about the story of his fathers
death, James only ambition was to follow in
his dads footsteps and go into the next World
War. He makes it through, but doesnt quite
expect what he finds on his return.

Rupert

The father of James and husband of

Gwen. Was forced to go into War in
1914 and died two weeks before the
end of the War in 1918. Working on
the frontline, he was fortunate
enough to last as long as he did,
losing many friends along the way.
Before the war he worked on a local
farm with his wife, whilst paying for
his son to go to school. He suffered
an injury in 1915, and was expected
to return home. However, they
declared is injury reparable and he
was back fighting within 5 weeks.

Format

My radio drama will be a single play. Ive chosen to only

do the one show because of the potential ending to my
drama. I could have chosen to leave my show with a cliff
hanger, but found it very difficult to come up with an idea
of an ending as to why the mother has disappeared, so a
closed ending seemed a much better option. The reason it
fits into a single play format is because of its content.
The ending is closed, and it doesnt leave the audience on
edge waiting for a possible next show. It explains the
story in one go, giving you every piece of detail that I
could possibly think of.

My idea is appropriate to its genre because of its

storyline and content. Creating an idea that keeps you on
edge, but is also touching, people feel connected to the
story. Another factor I had to take into consideration was
the story itself. I wanted an idea that people could relate
too

Target Audience

The intended target audience for my radio drama is an

older generation. The reason behind this is that they
will have more of a memory of the war. They would
have been told all about it when they were growing
up, and their mums or dads might have been in the war
also. This is the reason behind an older generation
for my target audience. My next reason is because of
technology. The older people that Im aiming my radio
drama at arent normally too keen on the latest
technology. However, most do have a radio, and will
listen to that a lot of the time. This therefore
creates another reason as to why my intended target
audience is of an older age, as younger people will
only normally listen to the radio for music, not a
story. Depending on what time I chose to air my show
will also depend on the viewers I have. Older people
would be retired by now, so spend much more time at
home than anyone younger than them.

Budget

Actors The actors will cost around 190 for six hours, depending on
the work they have to do. A bigger role will obviously cost me more
money towards one particular person, but if the roles are spilt, then
the money is spilt also. If I use three actors, and my drama will
take around 4 hours to produce, then this will cost me 400-450.

The cost of the studio might vary, depending on the equipment you
want to use and the amount of time you want to actually hire it for.
Studios can cost up to 80 per hour, but most come in around 60. But
this is just for a weekday, from 8-4. If you want to hire it in the
evening or on a weekend then you could see your cost price rise to
around 140 an hour. If you dont know what youre doing with the
equipment, then you will need a studio engineer. This would increase
the price of your studio hire by around 25.

The downloading of sounds can vary in price, depending on how many

you want, the length of them, but most importantly their quality. To
get the best radio drama possible, youre going to need high quality
sounds, and youll need to pay the money if you want them. For sounds
that last around 6-7 seconds, youre looking at around 4-5 for the
top of the range stuff. The lower the quality, the lower the price.

All in all, realistically my radio drama would probably cost me

around 400 for the actors, 320 for the studio, and say 100 for
sounds. This would come to a total of 820.

Station Choice

The radio station that I think is

appropriate for my radio drama is BBC
Radio 4. The listeners of this channel
are exactly the ones Im looking for,
and having a time slot of 14:15 would
be just right, especially as this
would be right after The Archers. The
reason behind me choosing this time is
because of the programme before me.
The listeners of The Archers are of an
older generation also, and therefore
they would continue on the same
station to listen to my show
afterwards.

Why I chose my idea

I've been wanting to create a story for a long

time that people, maybe not so much from this
generation, but older could relate to. I wanted
to try and put my own version of how I think
things went 101 years ago, and try and make
people engage and believe my story. The one
thing I didnt want was to come up with a story
that people didnt know much about, so they
were just a bystander. People have heard
stories about the war for years, even people as
young as us, so creating a story that we know
something about, but not quite everything,
allows people to have an insight to how people
lived back then, and how times have changed.

Thank you