Duration: 19 or 29 to include opening and closing announcements from continuity

Transcription

1 BBC RADIO 3 COMMISSIONING BRIEF Programme Title: Between the Ears Day: Saturday TX Time: c Estimated no. of programmes available: 12 Duration: 19 or 29 to include opening and closing announcements from continuity Commissioning Period: April 2016 April 2017 Guide Price: Commissioning Editor: Matthew Dodd RAP Commissioning Brief Reference No: This strand forms part of Radio 3 s WOCC (Window of Creative Competition) and as such is open to both independent and in-house producers. EDITORIAL GUIDE Between the Ears is Radio 3 s home for the most imaginative feature-making and adventures in speech, music and sound. It s a place for today s feature-makers to display their virtuoso skills, their creative instincts and to try and fulfil the potential of the radio feature. At the heart of the most memorable Between the Ears are powerful stories, seductive sound and themes that matter to the listeners. This year we went Way Beyond Black with the memories of a forensic investigator and the murders he tackled; Harriet Walter awaited the end of the world on a boat in Eschatology a rare live edition of Between the Ears; Sean Borodale worked with Bellatrix to create a poetic hive; John Cooper Clarke delivered a monologue on the suit; and we imagined what would happen if one of Franz Kafka s characters surfed the net. Both the everyday and the out-of-the-ordinary can excel in this slot when sophisticated and surprising production are at the programmes heart. In Coma Songs we heard the bracing stories of those whose family members are in a persistent vegetative state; the oral history of The Simpson Ferrograph revealed a reel-to-reel tape player found in a charity shop that was both everyday and extraordinary; and Kim Addonizio took us to the self-styled world capital of mouthorgans in Germany in School for Harmonicas. 1

2 Between the Ears may take many different forms and mix genres within a programme. Lenny Henry starred in Dear Mr. Eliot: When Groucho met Tom which mixed drama, documentary and a new musical score. We do commission new radio poems for Between the Ears this year we broadcast new radio poems from Lemn Sissay in Deliverance as he followed a group of expectant mothers as they awaited birth in his own poetic style; and from Kate Tempest as she followed the spirit of Derek Jarman on Dungeness Beach. However the majority include elements of recorded interview and actuality rather than relying wholly on commissioned writing. Between the Ears also gives significant artists working in other fields a space to develop creative ideas for radio. A number of recent collaborations have been with distinguished sound artists and composers a trend we would like to continue. But this is not the place to propose commissions for new music alone or short drama commissions. Proposals should include: It is important to tell us what the programme will be about and how it will sound. This does not mean you have to give a literal account but all proposals should give a treatment of the structure and ambition of the programme and how it will engage an audience. Please make it clear in your offer why you are proposing the programme for Between the Ears and not another speech strand. Some proposals in this slot seem to have at their heart good stories which have been unnecessarily overburdened with an experimental treatment. If you are going to use a presenter please include a note on their role in the programme as well as the usual details of any broadcasting experience. Also, if the proposed producer is unfamiliar to us, please include notes, CDs or downloads of their background and experience. Offers are invited for individual commissions of 19 or 29 minutes. Please indicate the appropriate length for your proposal. We are not looking for any series ideas in this strand. Supporting Material We welcome recordings which give a flavour of the proposed programme style or music. If you are suggesting a collaboration with an artist, some background material would be appreciated CDs, mp3s, websites - and the nature of any previous work you ve done with them. 2

3 Pre-Offers All proposals should initially be submitted via Proteus as a Pre-offer of only 200 words, entered in the short synopsis box. We will re-request only those pre-offers that we d like to see developed further as full offers. You can then submit a longer proposal by the closing date. The commissioning editor is available to discuss proposals. Proposals should include notes on any collaborators or contributors, particularly if new to broadcasting (the qualities you think they will bring), the producer (if unfamiliar to the station), and the theme of the programme. Please also include some notes on the treatment. Online Production teams are increasingly adept at providing excellent images, text and audio for online and social media. Please let us know if you have particular online ideas to accompany your programme proposals, that are realistic within limits of resources. The Podcast All editions of Between the Ears are made available as a podcast as soon as the programme is broadcast. Please let us know in advance if there are any rights reasons why your programme cannot be made available as a podcast. Budgets The guide price for Between the Ears is between 4,000 and 7,200 according to length and we will be looking to commission programmes at different points along this scale. Please submit a price (entered into the Notes field) that is realistic for your proposal, with justification if necessary. At the point of commission a formal price offer will be made which, if accepted, will result in a contract being issued immediately at that price, without the need to have budgets analysed and approved. Recent and forthcoming programmes include: Wake Up Baby With the baby monitor at its neurotic heart, and using interviews, archive and sounddesign, this feature explores the stressful relationship we have with the "reassuring" technology in our lives. A Beastly Midsummer Night As the last daytime sounds fade on Midsummer Night, nocturnal creatures begin their work. The clinking of empty milk-bottles on porches gives way to the music of 3

4 bats, mosquitos and moths. We hear the - usually inaccessible - small-scale sonic opera of British midsummer nights played out in the dark: competing tales of seduction, love, betrayal and entrapment. An ultrasonic, harmonised choir of scuttling mice, coaxing spiders to their brutal deaths Bilious Nightmares - A live radiophonic drama inspired by Waugh's 'The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold' Pinfold' emerged from Waugh's side-effects from anti-depression medication. In this radiophonic story set in inspired by Waugh - a novelist descends into hallucinations on a train voyage intended to cure his depression.. We Are Writing A Poem About Home Listen - this is a journey in the voices of Britain. In just one school, Britain talks to itself in 54 languages. Britain writes Lithuanian, Nepalese, Hungarian, Kiswahili, Ibo and six kinds of Arabic. This Britain is writing a new poem about home. White Rabbits in Sussex - Alice in Wonderland Goes Psychedelic 150 years after Alice In Wonderland was published, David Bramwell steps through the looking glass into Ditchling, East Sussex, where in 1969 psychedelic folk met Lewis Carroll head on. Including a never before heard tape recording of the show, we hear a collision of creative forces, in a legendary Am-Dram performance. Alice at Crackpot Hall A haunting portrait of the beautiful, desolate Crackpot Hall in Swaledale, featuring the newly dramatized voice of Alice, a mysterious young girl said to have made her home there within living memory. The Three Second Rule An exploration of the idea that we are governed and guided by a 3 second rule - once hearsay, now seemingly being scientifically proven. Artist Susan Aldworth and neuro-scientist Miles Whittington, scan brains, play games, and test rhythms of the mind, the ear, the heart and the eye. Into the Valley Monument Valley is a real place made legendary by the camera of John Ford. It is one of the great spiritual homes of the Navajo, America's most populous tribe. Mark Burman takes a sonic ride through its many histories and meanings. 4

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