all the blood in my veins radio play

Synopsis

The play is about the story of Viola, a fourteen year old girl, with responsibilities beyond her age.

The play introduces the family and the main character and then follows her through her everyday life. They use monologues to further explain what is going on and show the main characters feelings.

This helped me with my play as it showed a radio play about a problem family with a teenager who has to take on responsibility early.

Natural dialogue makes it more realistic and believable. It is a Family situation and could help develop my play.

The play would evoke sympathy in the audience when hearing about her life. It contains Teen friendships and relationships.

Technical elements

·        The use of telephone voice is a good idea to use.

·        The transitions show the passing of time.

·        The use of music to further the emotion

·        The use of monologues explains how she feels in the situation And helps established characters.

·        Good use of microphone to show the distance between characters.

·        Also the change in frequency means that you understand that you are on the phone.

·        Use of sound effects to make transitions is effective.

 This play links to my play because it shows the problems of a teenager in her personal life.

Also, her responsibilities at a young age like in my play.

The characters will help me develop my own because it shows teenagers in real life situations.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vy37d

characterisation of Chris in my play

Characterisation: robbie in Dirty Dancing relates to my character of Chris in my play

 

 Robbie finds out about a woman who has been seeing is pregnant, but he refused to acknowledge any responsibility and he accused her of sleeping with lots of other men, any one of whom might be the father. In fact, Penny has been faithful to Robbie during their relationship and knows for sure that she became was impregnated by him. Robbie broke off his relationship with Penny and refused to help her with her pregnancy or an abortion. Penny decided to have an abortion, but did not have the $250 (1963 dollars) to pay for it.

In the next scene, Baby confronted Robbie in the resort hotel’s dining room and asked him to give Penny the $250 for the abortion. Robbie refused, saying “some people count and some people don’t.”

The character of Robbie relates perfectly to my character Chris as he goes out with lots of women and believes himself better than them. he does not consider any of their feelings or the consequences of his actions on the woman.

chris is the same in my play and the reaction to the pregnancy parallels Robbie's with them both saying that they don't believe they are the father and it could be anyones baby. This attitude of Robbie enhanced my character of Chris and made his reactions more realistic and emotional for the girl in my own play.

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0009403/

http://dirty-dancing-analysis.blogspot.com/2008/12/medical-students-philosophy.html



less than zero film

Less Than Zero is a 1987 American drama film loosely based on the novel of the same name by Bret Easton Ellis. It stars Andrew McCarthy as Clay, a college freshman returning home for Christmas for the first time since Thanksgiving, when he found out that his ex-girlfriend Blair had been having sex with his high school friend, Julian, who is also a drug addict Now at Christmas he finds Blair still trying to recreate the good times, as if nothing has happened and Julian sinking further into drugs and being hassled by his dealer  to whom he owes money. The movie presents a look at the culture of wealthy youth in Los Angeles and has a strong anti-drug message.

Less Than Zero received mixed reviews among critics. Ellis hated the film initially but his view of it later softened. He insists that the film bears no resemblance to his novel and felt that it was miscast with the exceptions of Downey and Spader.

This relates to my play as like the novel it bases itself around troubled teens and major events in their lives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8TsEr7CK9s

less than zero novel

The novel follows the life of Clay, a rich young college student who has returned to his hometown of Los Angeles, California for the winter break during the early 1980s. He spends much of the novel going to parties and doing drugs with his friends. During this time, he must decide whether or not he wants to restart a relationship with Blair, for whom he is uncertain about his feelings. Meanwhile, Clay has one night stands with a few men and women on the side while his relationship with Blair goes downhill. At the same time, he attempts to renew his relationship with his best friend, Julian, who has become a prostitute and drug addict. Throughout his descent into the netherworld of the L.A. drug scene, he loses his faith in his friends, and grows alienated with the amoral party culture he once embraced. He is greatly disturbed by four events. Eventually, these events lead him to leave Los Angeles, possibly intending never to return. It was first published in 1985 by Simon & Schuster.

Review

Ellis was viewed as the voice of a new generation and critics dubbed the book as "the first MTV novel". Less Than Zero is very fast paced and divided into brief scenes much the same way MTV is fragmented into short videos. Additionally, the characters of the novel refer constantly to songs and artists. Songs provide additional meaning to the novel, like, for example, an Elvis Costello song, which is the novel's title. Like the novel the song conjures up an atmosphere of a world out of joint, pervaded by mass media, drifting towards ultimate chaos.

This novel links to my play as it explores teen relationships and some of the more extreme problems that were experienced in the 1980s.
My play focuses on teen problems today, but teens attitudes towards relationships and their families were similar in the 1980s and this book  has given me ideas about teen relationships which has enhanced the characters in my play.

stepmom- mother/daughter relationship

Stepmom

 

Anna and Ben, the two children of Jackie and Luke, have to cope with the fact that their parents divorced and that there is a new woman in their father's life: Isabel, a successful photographer. She does her best to treat the kids in a way that makes them still feel at home when being with their dad, but also loves her work and does not plan to give it up. But Jackie, a full-time mother, regards Isabel's efforts as offensively insufficient. She can't understand that work can be important to her as well as the kids. The conflict between them is deepened by the sudden diagnose of cancer, which might may be deadly for Jackie. They all have to learn a little in order to grow together.

This links to my play as there is a conflict in the mother and daughter relationship increased by the events that take place in her life. the father offers minimal support which is similar to my play. the conflict between mother and daughter is similar to my play. Jade and her mother are arguing as Jade is rebelling and distancing herself from her parents.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGBtEVaq4SA

relationships father/daughter and characterisation

Everybody's fine-relationships

Widower Frank Goode has had to make plenty of adjustments since losing his wife about a year ago, but maybe the hardest one has been maintaining his relationships with his four adult children. It would seem that Frank's wife was the glue who held the family together, and when all of the kids bug out on a planned visit home, he decides to set out on a trip around the country, dropping in on each of their lives in order to help put things right. But their relationships aren't as simple as they once seemed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBWVRFEikO8 trailer

this links to my play as it shows the struggle of relationship of a father and his children. Their relationship is getting strained and the father expects too much of the children.

My play shows the father and daughter who argue over what she will do with her life when she gets pregnant. He wants her to have a career and education. They part on bad terms and they do not speak because the father cannot accept her choice to have the child.

He is shown as expecting too much of her which is similar to this film.

Characterisation

The subject matter of fractured families is hardly original territory. That's perhaps because these days family bonds seem to be more frail than they once were. In Everybody's Fine those bonds have been strained by the geographical distance between the siblings and their father.

Robert De Niro Everybody's Fine Interview

INTERVIEWER
Are you so at home being a father?

ROBERT DE NIRO
Well, I'm not, I'm not at home. I think, you know, it's tough. Eh, there are good moments and not so good moments. Anybody who has children knows that. So, it's just life. I, I needless to say, but as long as you have children, there's going to be a problem. You know, that's something.

http://www.femail.com.au/robert-de-niro-everybodys-fine-interview.htm
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780511/

The father in this film is very similar to the one in my play becuase the relationship with his children is strained and it is the same as the father in my play. they both struggle to find common ground to work on in thier relationship with their children.
the confilct within father/daughter relationships is common and this film and Robert De Niro's character shows this. it helped to influence the character of Jade's father in my play.

characterisation

Characterisation: Nikki reed and rachel wood in Thirteen relate to my characters of Anna and Jade

Character Evie:Nikki Reed 

Describe Evie’s character…
Evie is insecure. She definitely grew up too fast and was faced with a lot of things. You never really know what’s going on with her because she lies a lot. Obviously, she’s been abandoned and she’s in survivor mode. She takes what she needs because all her life, she had to take care of herself. I saw her being four-years-old and watching her mother O.D.’ing on the carpet, or something like that. It was hard things like that that we shouldn’t see when we’re young. So her insecurities come out, fortunately for her, as being very confident. Putting other people below her makes her feel like she’s on top of the water and that she can breathe. I just think she needs a mom and someone to take care of her. Hopefully, she’ll find it one day in her life, like a household that’s stable.
Talk about the struggles you faced when you were 13, and then talk about the Evie-type character in your life.
There wasn’t an Evie in my life. There were a couple of girls in my life, and a couple in Catherine’s life – Evie’s actually the only girl in the movie that’s a composite character. The other ones are too, of course, things can [written] in. Like if Holly Hunter is playing her Melanie, then of course Holly brings herself into it. Evie is the only character that doesn’t have a specific character to match.
I went through a lot of things. The story’s not autobiographical, Tracy is very close to me and to a lot of stuff I went through. But it’s a movie. It’s an hour [and a half] long and you can’t have someone’s entire life or personality put into something that’s going to be on screen.

http://www.cinecon.com/news.php?id=0308201

Character tracy: Rachel Wood

By contrast, Evan Rachel Wood is quieter and more shy, rarely looking up when answering questions. Wood, of course, is more polished and has more experience with the whole press thing; a star of the short-lived “She doesn’t appear jaded either, but she’s certainly got a darker edge than her costar. One could even say she resembles her on-screen character as well." Wood has made a habit of playing the sad, introverted teen, a choice she seems to acknowledge. “It’s just a type I enjoy playing”, she says, smiling. “But I don’t want to be typecast as the misery chick for the rest of my career. I guess I have to watch out for that.

Both of these characters link to my characters of Jade and Anna both are rebellious and best friends. they support each other and try and ghet on woth their lives even though sometimes they are confused.

the character of Evie relates to Anna as Anna is very strong, confident but very independent with no additional support form parents. She lends support to her best friend Jade. this is similar to the character of Evie in Thirteen.

The Character of Tracy in Thirteen is similar to my charatcer Jade as they are both quieter, shy and emotional.
these characters helped me see the rebellious side to teenagers and hepled with some of the dialogue in my play when writing it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wScczSXpM4k