Internet-Created Free Audio Dramas?

fraser_joat asks: "The other day I finally took the time to watch Starship Exeter, previously reported on Slashdot. Coincidentally, I also revisited the BBC's excellent radio adaptation of The Lord Of The Rings, following the hype caused by the recent movies. The two of these got me thinking: while _Exeter_ was clearly a huge effort, it looks like they had a lot of fun making it. In many ways they are scratching the same sort of itch that generates free software. So what about audio drama? The technology needed to produce it is freely available, things like Ardour and Csound. So is it possible to produce an audio drama based on free texts such as those from Project Gutenberg in a distributed fashion, with contributers from all across the Net, just like with software? Would they even be useful as an introduction to classic fiction or just as pure entertainment?"

"While the technology exists to cut a play together, I see several possible problems:

• High-quality audio recording equipment is expensive, and homes are not ideal environments. Can source material of sufficiently good quality be generated without professional facilities?
• Since the actors could be widely separated, can they act in isolation in a sufficiently convincing manner that they can be cut together later, in the same way that film actors must pretend that the special effects exist during shooting?
• Are there good (royalty-)free sound effect libraries available?

I think the possibilities are interesting, if people can be gathered together to actually do it. Imagine the subtle horror of Poe's The Cask Of Amontillado, or the adventure of Stevenson's Treasure Island, all staying as faithful to the book as possible, without Hollywood's story-twisting and sensationalism spoiling it all.

It would need to be a real community effort - I fancy that I could produce a passable script adaptation of a book and help with the audio production and sound effects, but I'm no actor, nor do I have equipment at home that even approaches what would be required. What about it?"

Anime Fanfiction Radio Plays

[Bonker]

http://www.nabiki.com/radioplay/ [nabiki.com]

Radio plays made by people who write anime fanfiction. Yes, this is the *pinnacle* of geekdom!

Make more!

[Anonymous Coward]

Because I really want to see poorly coreographed lightsaber duels with AfterEffects glow slapped on top.

Set to a bastard child combo of John Williams and Fatboy Slim and you've got a hit! You're an internet movie star, baby!

Don't get too excited

[Entropy_ah]

Just remember that internet radio can to terribly, terribly wrong [thesync.com].

Re:Make more!

[Randolpho]

Because I really want to see poorly coreographed lightsaber duels with AfterEffects glow slapped on top.

Rent Star Wars. ;)

Re:And Webcomic Radio Dramas

[Bonker]

My god... I think we've found a new slot for inclusion on the Geek Hierarchy [brunching.com]

People Who Draw Anime Webcomics
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People Who Read Anime Webcomics
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People Who Act in Radio Plays Based on Anime Webcomics
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Furries

Re:I had to chuckle...

[Anonymous Coward]

I had to chuckle when I saw how you appear to have misread the article. I think the author was aware that radio dramas have existed for some time. Note, for instance, that ey refers to "revisiting" the BBC radio adaptation - the sort of action one might expect to be taken by someone already familiar with the work.

Your condescending attitude... That wasn't worth a chuckle.

Re:Way ahead of you

[Kelerain]

I would have called it RTFB.

*sorry*

Re:Cartoons

[Anonymous Coward]

Aren't cartoons done in a segmented fashion?

Yes.

A real-time, linear production puts a terrible strain on the animators' wrists.