How to Write a Radio Serial Drama for Social Development- PDF

94 Chapter Six: Developing the Setting
Sketching the Setting
For a television series, the settings (or “sets” as they are called for short) are
drawn in detail by an artist so they can be built for filming. Even though
radio settings will never be seen by the listeners’ eyes, they also should be
sketched. The drawings need not be as detailed as those for television,
however, nor drawn by a professional artist. Writers can make their own
simple sketches that locate various objects within the setting. The sketch
helps the writer create references in the script that eventually build up a
complete picture of the location in the listeners’ minds.
If the interior of a room is a standard setting, for example, the writer
should make a sketch like the one below that shows what is in the room and
the relationship of various objects to one another. Most writers also like to
keep written notes on the things that are in the room and what they look
like.
Drawn by Daniel Volz
Creating a Location Map
As well as sketching places that appear frequently in the serial, experienced
writers also like to prepare maps of the villages or towns where main scenes
are set. This helps them avoid inconsistencies in details such as how long it
takes a character to travel from one place to another.
The following map shows the small village of Kyerewodo, where most of
the action of the Ghanian Enter-Educate serial, Family Affair, took place.