Radio Analysis

By Ben Matthews

Documentary Name

Target Audience

Tone of Voice

Ban Theft Auto

(ex- Student
documentary)

This trailer has a selection of 2 possible

target audiences.
Firstly this trailer/documentary could be
targeted towards the parents of possibly
under 18 year old children who may let
their children play GTA and not know the
consequences of playing the game which
the documentary in centred around. This
can be backed up by the stern tone of
voice used which would be appropriate
when advertising to an older audience
(eg-parents)
On the other hand the TA may also be the
people who actually play the game which
can vary, but especially the younger
audience (12-21). This is because the
topic itself plays on the belief that people
dont know the risks of playing such a
game. And also the features such as the
attention grabbing VPs which may appeal
to a more curious mind like a young
persons, or the modern/fast paced style of
the music used which would be more
likely to associate with a young audience
who are likely into this style of music in
the first place.
The tone of the narrator in this radio
trailer truly reflects both the issue from
the documentary, dialog said in the
narration and the intended target
audience (Seen above). The tone of voice
used was very serious, clear and concise
without any real emotion other than

Sound Effects
(SFX)

Use Of Music

negative ones. This helps to reflect the

issue of violence in video games which is
being discussed which is considered to be
a serious widespread issue. By introducing
the documentary in a serious tone of
voice it shows the audience both the
severity of the issue and the documentary
itself. This would likely compel the listener
to tune into the program as the tone
would help the listener question
themselves and ask if they themselves
are effected by the issue or what impact
the issue is having on them. The serious
tone also links well to the chaotic tone of
the beginning of the trailer (see below).
The tone is also appropriate to the dialog
said in the narration. For example the line
Women seen as hookers is very
impactful, especially with the inclusion of
a somewhat taboo phrase such as
Hooker. Lines like these which give a
brief impactful snippet to the TA cant be
thrown away and must be took seriously
by the audience which fits the serious
tone which again makes the narration
more impactful and noticeable.
In this trailer only uses one real sound
effect in its entirety. This sound effect is a
digital glitch kind of sound which helps
split the Voxpops and the narration. Due
to the chaotic overlapping nature of the
voxpops which have phrases such as
Guns and violence which illustrate the
problem of playing GTA. This sound effect
cuts the noise from the VPs to silence
which lends itself to the narration which
needs to be easily understood by the
listener so they can gather important info
such as viewing dates/times.
The use of this electronic glitch type
sounds also has some underlying
meanings due to the nature of the radio
content. This is because the glitch style of
the SFX can make the vox-pops prior to
the SFX (Which are the opinions against
GTA) seem more outspoken or
uncovered/abnormality like the a glitch in
a computer. This can gain interest from
the TA as if these opinions appear In this
way with the SFX and carry this image it
can make the TA more intrigued into what
the opinions are saying as it is presented
like new/uncovered information in the
topic of Grand Theft Auto
The use of music in this trailer is very
slight and somewhat more subtle than

Vox-Pops

Sound Levels

Length

normal radio trailers. The music is only

introduced half way at the point where the
narration starts. The music is quite
modern, this fits well with the GTA issue
as this issue is quite modern to fit with the
music. The fast pace of the music also fits
with the pace of the voxpops to start and
the pace of the narration. This helps
maintain the flow of the trailer without
losing the audiences focus.
The Vox-pops within this radio trailer were
unconventionally used. This is because
conventionally vox-pops are used to
backup points and gives brief clear
snippets to the target audience which
gives them an idea of the content within
the program. This was not used in BTA as
the VPs in this case were used for effect
to grab the audiences attention. This is
because they were overlapped over one
another gradually to make it sound more
and more chaotic and the content from
the VPs less audible. This chaotic style
helped illustrate the severity and extent
of the issue of violence in Grand Theft
Auto. This would help grab the attention
of the target audience who would likely
feel more compelled to watch the
documentary and hear more about this
issue.
The sound levels in this example radio
trailer vary throughout this radio trailer,
by having varied sound levels it allows to
give effect to certain features within the
documentary. In this radio trailer it starts
with Vox pops which are at a volume
which is easily audible for the listener, but
the effect which they used was of
overlapping voxpops was used to
illustrate the issue by overwhelming the
listener. So to amplify this effect the
sound-level was gradually raised with
more vox-pops overlapping one another
which made the idea of grabbing the
audiences attention. Once the effect has
been fully achieved the and the narration
was brought into to trailer after the SFX
which cut the chaos effect the levels were
lowered. This made the important
information such as program info and
viewing times easily listenable to the
audience so they could absorb the
information better with it being at average
speaking level of sound
(Insert actual length actual time here)
The length of the documentary is

conventional to most professional radio

trailers. By having it this length it meant
that many important features such as voxpops, expert interviews and narration can
be included without losing the radio
trailers focus. Furthermore this length
makes the information and content short
and concise which helps keep the
audiences focus throughout, whilst gibing
them all the relevant information.