RADIO FEATURES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 October 1941, Page 7

RADIO FEATURES

development in recent ■ YEARS role of control panel. 8.8.C.’S PROCEDURE. The British Broadcasting Corporation is now putting out about two hundred feature programmes a year, porn in the Home and the Overseas services, writes Jane Allison. A few years ago the radio feature was a kind of Cinderella; today it is one of the most POP ul p x and interesting of broadcasting media. This new child of the radio family which has grown so fast and looks like having such a brilliant future, has a mixed ancestry. It derives something from the talk, something from the running commentary, something from the “outside” broadcast which records actual happenings, and much from the nlay It even derives something from opera, for it uses music not merely as accompaniment, but as dramatic expression. These mixed strains give it vitality and versatility. Perhaps the simplest description of this extremely elastic form is a dramatic picture m S °Between 1928 and 1931, the development of the control panel made it-pos-sible to produce quite elaborate plays, specially written for broadcasting.. Hitherto only one studio could be used- now with central control several studios could be brought into play. Actors, music and effects were distributed in various studios, and by means of the panel the producer would “mix his effects and balance his voices just as a conductor can balance the different ir j’ struments in an orchestra. The development of the control panel was as important to the dramatic side of radio as the invention of the sound track to films. It gave it, as it were, a new dimension. ~ In a little more than ten years, the feature has grown from a mere conjuring trick on the sound panel to a form which makes possible a complicated full-scale programme such as Laurence Gilliam’s “Christmas Under Fire” of 1940, which involved actuality recording” on every front from Iceland to Cairo. , Few people realise the hard work, the- ingenuity and the actual risk involved in preparing the wartime features that play such a big part in the 8.8. C Overseas programme. Laurence Gilliam, who runs the Overseas Features Department, has a team working for him who go out after their story with reckless enthusiasm. The dramatic episode you hear, sitting peaceful y in your home, may only last fifteen minutes. 1 But it probably took fifteen days’ hard work to collect the raw material and involved script-writer and producer in some dangerous situations. For example, the “Freedom Ferry” series was not created by people sitting in armchairs reading books of heroic exploits. On. the contrary, producer and script writer had to go off as part of the crew on the corvette, destroyer or cruiser which they were to describe in their feature and take all the risks of being bombed or torpedoed that a seaman takes in any voyage these days. Actual recordings have been made in submerged submarines, in bombing planes, in towns during heavy air blitzes, in fact, in any place where an exciting topical situation could be dramatised. Dozens of “actuality” records may be made, of which only a few minutes’ worth of sound may be woven into the programme when it is eventually produced in the studio. Roughly, the building up of a feature proceeds on these lines. First, the idea is suggested by producer, script writer, or both. Next they go out after their quarry—the blitzed town or the convoy ship or whatever it may be. They spend days soaking themselves in the atmosphere, making notes, making records of actual conversations, noises and events. Returning to headquarters, the script is drafted, with its proper balance of narration, dramatic music, and effects and “actuality” insertions.' Lastly, it is rehearsed till it runs perfectly, timed to a split second with a stop-watch, and put out on the air. |