GENRE

The term genre refers to a category or class which a creative composition can be classed under. This includes that within art, music and literature which are determined by a specific style, form or content.

The genre in which our radio drama is classed is a Tragic Thriller but sub genres of this category also include drama thriller, this means the story consists of the elements within a thriller genre as well as the drama film style. These films tend to involve a slower rhythm of activity and deal with the in depth study of the character’s personality. Plot twists and red herrings seen as part of both styles. Film examples include The Illusionist, The Interpreter and The Prestige, of course I chose to focus on radio dramas that featured the broad thriller genre as I felt I could get a better idea of this genre in a radio format.

Based on the storyline and specific characters within ‘The Unseen’, our drama can also be classed as a Psychological thriller; that (the often violent conclusion), the conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. Thus the mentally unhealthy obsession of Darius with the main character Kaitlain, evidently causing the murders of those involved in the situation at the end.

Scene 3 is good example of drama thriller as the audience is able to see the honest thoughts and concern of the otherwise professional radio show host.

KAITLAIN#: (V.O) So much for that show Ruby.

RUBY#: (D) (Cheerful) I think you were awesome Kate.

(TRAFFIC LIGHTS ARE LOUDER HERE AS KAITLAIN IS CROSSES THE ROAD)

KAITLAIN#: (V.O) (Upset) Maybe I’ll feel a little bit better if I had actually managed to help that first caller today rather than feel like I’ve failed her.

RUBY#: (D) (Sighs) (Bored) She’ll be fine.

(OTHER SOUNDS START TO FADE AND HER HIGH HEELED FOOTSTEPS ARE LOUDER. THE THUNDER FROM THE STORM CAN NOW BE HEARD IN THE DISTANCE)

KAITLAIN#: (V.O) (Unconvinced) Oh please (.) She didn’t get disconnected (.) We both know-

(OTHER BACKGROUND SOUNDS, APART FROM THE RAIN ARE GONE. WHILE KAITLAIN IS WALKING ANOTHER PAIR OF FOOTSTEPS ARE SOFTLY ADDED IN ON THE WORD MONSTER)

KAITLAIN#: (V.O) (Angrily) That monster or whatever he is cut her off. (Sombre) If only there was some way I could actually help her.

Kaitlain displays sadness at the fact that she could not do more for this woman that is clearly a victim. She shows her strong position tempered stand against the ‘monster’ of a husband who is right at the centre of a domestic violence issue. Expressing these emotions towards the past situation shows how this event, be it out of her control, still affects her after she has left her work place, and therefore demonstrates her deep desire to help others.

In addition, the very ‘monster’ she speaks so disgustedly about enters the scene on that very word – cue her stalker - who also happens to be an ex-boyfriend and one she massively dislikes. However, it is soon evident that come face to face with the very culprit of the negative acts towards the distraught caller she defended before; she is then scared away and proven matchless against Darius.


Like The Archers, a soap opera based on the everyday lives of midland settlers, The Unseen is presented in a realistic, more natural soap opera type way. It features the everyday activities and communications of the different characters, incorporating the mundane instances of life as well as the more intense moments of drama. As one would expect from a soap opera, real-life background sounds are incorporated for authenticity and music is not so relied on as a tool to create moods and tension. The whole production of The Archer’s episodes concentrates on the acting and narration of the story, as does The Unseen. The narration is not fogged by the use of music to help out, like that of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This science fiction, novel based story involving hitchhiking and aliens adopts a more un-naturalistic approach to the narrative and ultimately makes the communication of the story appear like the reading of a story. The use of a narrator, who is actually one of the characters within the story, is one thing that our radio drama also includes. Where The Archers lets the acting of the characters enact the story, a narrator is used to literally tell the story in The Hitchhiker’s Guide. It seems that the very complex storyline of the drama needs the use of a narrator to help the translation of the story to the reader. The Unseen doesn’t use a very complex storyline but the use of a narrator engages the listeners and helps deliver the story more clearly.

Another novel based radio adaption by Orson Wells, The War of the Worlds differs from the two media formats mentioned above as it was a hour long, sustaining show (without ad-breaks), thus not a continuing series of separate episodes. Y group and I agreed that a series was a better choice as we had a wide selection of ideas we wanted to incorporate in the story. Listening to the whole of The War of the Worlds was slightly different to that of the others – it was much longer than the 15 and 30 minute segments, so required more of my concentration. Ultimately the news report/ documentary style of The War of the Worlds meant that again, there was a concentration on the story being reported. Music was used a tool to break up the bigger segments of information being delivered to the listener and basically added to the news-bulletin format of the radio piece. Like The Hitchhiker’s Guide though, the story included a science fiction genre – reporting aliens and their invasion, yet still uses the very realistic deliverance of the story due to the action of live news reports. This is one instance in which a lot of detailed narration is extremely appropriate for the type and process, of which the story is being delivered to the listeners.

I found that the more three-dimensional and creative, yet clearly unnatural storylines of The War of the Worlds and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, kept me gripped. The frequent bursts of action and drama within both that can be derived from that of thriller genre, was very effective in capturing my attention. However the realism of The Archers and the live bulletin based news reports of The War of the Worlds helped connect me to the people which featured in both stories. The familiar reactions and activities of the people within these radio pieces made it easy to believe and take more interest in the happenings of the stories.

I also noticed that with this unique hoax of a story, a introductory piece of music was not used to open the radio piece. Contrast to The Archers’, light-hearted, up-tempo, bouncy 33 second melody, ours radio drama introductory music consists of a 3 second one note tension-maker sound clip. The Archers and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, both utilize their music as general theme tunes for the show – used both at the beginning and end of every episode. Our short sound clip is more specific to the thriller genre we chose for this particular episode of the drama, although we did include it and the beginning and the end of our overall recording. On listening to an episode of The Twilight Zone, I saw that background music was used all the way through the dialogue of the characters. This was evidence that the music was very much apart of the overall piece, as much as the dialogue was a needed element to make it what is. This is something my group found unnecessary from the very beginning of production. Eerie music set the tone in certain areas, continuing through as the narrator spoke. This use of eerie music was a type of sound that fit our storyline and genre extremely well.