February
23, 2009
Radio Serial Update
For
those of you who have been following my exploits since last year, you'll recall
one of my secondary projects was to write a radio serial. I found
four students willing to undertake the project with me. It has taken
a while, but I'm proud to say the first episode is “in the can” or, I should
say, “on the disk.” I heard it today and although I didn't
understand much because it's in Russian, the voices sounded great and the
special effects were nicely done. A couple of script adjustments had
to be made because of language, but nothing that altered the intent of the
script. For instance, I made a joke about a notebook (one you write
notes in) and a notebook (laptop computer). But, it had to be
changed because “notebook” as a computer doesn't translate the same in
Russian. No one would get the joke.
What
makes this project so satisfying, aside from the fact that everyone is nice as
can be, is that most of the people involved are teenagers. The voice of
the 43 year-old father is 15. The 21 year old daughter is
14. And they sound fabulous. I've been told they really
liked the script and love their characters. And it didn't take them
long to start behaving like actors. They've already started making
demands. The actress who reads the role of the mother wants to have
an affair. Actors are the same the world over. :-)
The
2nd episode has been written and is currently being
translated. I'm in the process of writing the
third. School resumes tomorrow after a two month break, so
hopefully my student writers will be back on the job. The station
wants six episodes recorded before they put them on the air. They are also
going to produce a “making of” show, which should be very interesting.
The radio serial we created and produced at the
local community radio station defined my Peace Corps experience. Not
surprisingly, probably, because it involved playwriting. It was a true
collaboration with a group of eager locals who were as dedicated as me to make
“Kok Asman” a worthy project. We all expressed our opinions on topics and
changes to the scripts. I recall only a couple of times when I had to override
their suggestions, mostly because they, the actors, thought more in movie mode
than radio drama. Their ideas would have been better off filmed than broadcast
on the radio.
In the book I give all the background on the family in "Kok Asman," episode topics and some information on the "making of" project.
