RADIO DOCUMENTARY

A very prominent feature of radio programs is the production of Radio Documentaries. As

radio features may be prepared again and again on a given subjects, the documentaries are

generally produced only once. Usually these documentaries consume 10 to 15 minutes; the

producers who are generally handling the current affairs program are assigned the task of

making radio documentaries. But it is not a hard and fast rule, any producer who shows

interest in accomplishing such programs may be asked to do it.

Types of Documentaries

Narrative

Here a talent will describe the subject matter with facts, figures and articulate the narration as

to create interest about the topic. If the documentary is about the Texila ruins, it needs so

many facts to be told to the listeners to keep their interest intact. Listeners would be keen in

listening as when the Texila civilization came into existence, how the people lived there, and

what type of artifacts have been recovered from that place. It would be very interesting to find

in the documentary what language those people used to speak and if still there is any one in

any part of the world who could understand that language.

Musical

A type of documentaries which explains the topic in a script frequently, punctuated with

musical insertions. This is done when a documentary is required on a personality closely

linked with music; secondly it is on birds, rivers, nature and tourism. Your voice superimposed

on musical notes enhances the value of script and enthralls the listeners better than a dry

description for long spells of time.

Documentaries which are made about tourist resorts or fascinating places otherwise are

frequently marked with musical notes to highlight the points not through words but by creating

an atmosphere which makes the listeners understand about those places in a rather lighter

way.

Dramatized

At times an impression of drama is essential to elaborate the theme of a documentary, though

this is done sparingly. Some documentaries on historical wars may carry some impressions in

words or sound effects to create a sense of excitement and to make the audience understand

the historical facts close as they might have happened. Over doing dramatic effects may

remove some of the gloss of a radio documentary.

Imagination

In documentary production, the producer has to show his/her imagination in giving treatment to

the subject matter. It is not as ordinary an approach as writing down a script and reading it to

impart information on the subject. But putting in imagination does not mean that a producer

takes the documentary to an extent where the elements of objectivity are over shadowed by

the subjectivity. In such a case a documentary may not be able to keep its essence as the

piece of broadcasting.

Introduction to Broadcasting

Insertions

A good radio documentary is punctuated with insertions from the relevant material. If there is a

mention of some paintings, you may have quotations from the books, or talk to experts who

know what it is all about. This trend is getting very popular lately. In fact interviews of a number

of people concerning with the subject matter of the documentary are conducted. At first all the

irrelevant matter is discarded from the interviews and then the answers are inserted in the

documentary in a manner of inter-cutting. This means that instead of taking long talk with a

person at one go, only a brief piece of answer from the interview is inserted at an appropriate

point in the documentary. Obviously making a documentary in this style requires more

application of mind and an elaborate post production. A very dedicated production team is

required to complete the task of making a documentary of this type.

Close to places

Like features, a producer is supposed to be visiting the place to get a real feel of the

surroundings to involve the listeners in this type of radio production. It is always different if you

are making a documentary on mighty River Chinab by walking along the river and stopping

where it is necessary to mention some very particular thing about its surrounding. The

producers who believe in sitting in a studio and making the documentary by having certain

sound effects can't reach even a shade of a documentary which is made by actually visiting

the river.

Same is true if you are assigned to make a documentary on Minar-e-Pakistan. The feel of the

beautiful sight of the Minar in its very picturesque surrounding of Lahore Fort, the Badshahi

mosque and the River Ravi on the other side, would be available in the documentary only

when one would go to that place. And it will be possible to talk to the people coming from all

over the country to visit the Minar-e-Pakistan only when you are there. This is a task not

possible to be accomplished by sitting inside a studio of a radio station.

The documentaries are about people, places and events of historic value.

Post Production

They need more care in post production for they are usually placed in archives and kept there

as a future reference as well. When a documentary is made, its various elements are recorded

in a very lose form. Some one, while giving impression about a place, might have said things

which you do not desire to include in the final cut of the program. Similarly there have been

sounds in the background which are not making it possible to listen to the narrator's voiceover.

or some time when you are recording voices of certain elements, the voice level goes

extremely down and does not remain worth broadcasting. All these flaws are removed during

the process of post-production and it is also possible to include some voices and observations

at this stage of production. There is hardly any program which does not go through the stage

of post production for it is the last stage where a mistake is corrected