Programme Analysis

Programme Analysis 

Programme Name: Fake Psychic.

Type of Documentary: Drama Documentary

Average duration: 30-60 minutes.

Days airing: A new Podcast released on the 1st of February with all episodes available to listen to on BBC Radio 4's website (BBC Sounds); however, a new episode is aired every day on the schedule (with episode 2 being the latest aired.)

Fake Psychic usually airs at 14:15pm or sometime in the afternoon each day.

The target audience for Fake Psychic would be people interested in physic abilities, otherworldly abilities and activities. Fake Psychic would have an older and mature audience interested in true-crime as Fake Psychic has some upsetting themes that may be distressing to some individuals. 

What is the structure of the program:

The programme is structured like a documentary and covers the life and confessions of the 'M. Lamar Keene' a Psychic fraudster. The audio documentary presents information on: Who Lamar Keene was, the purpose of the documentary, what the narrator has found, dramatizations of extracts in his book to keep the viewer entertained and give some life into the story so that listener does not feel bored played out by actors. The documentary also covers how he operated and gives information from other sources to prove its validity.

What is the purpose of the show: 

The purpose of Psychic Mafia Episode 1 is to: inform, educate and entertain people on the Psychic crime ring that operated many years ago. Throughout the podcast, the viewer is educated about the criminal that the narrator will be looking into and how he was successfully able to get away with his crimes and how he fooled people into believing he could speak to the dead; the viewer is also informed on how this manipulation works and how people believed Lamar Keene's lies. 

Throughout the documentary, sound effects are used to bring the documentary to life and accounts from people in interviews are played out by actors. 

So that the listeners do not get bored, dramatizations of extracts from the book are played out to give life to the story. Appropriate sound effects and music such as eerie music is used when the narrator speaks about the crimes of Lamar Keene to keep them intrigued and engaged. 

Meanings created throughout the programme 

Throughout the podcast, eerie and low music is played throughout; as what is being said is quite disturbing, this music is used to make the user feel unsettled as the context of what is being said in the documentary in rather unpleasant. (Example- Timecode: 15:34) 

Sound effects are used when moving onto different scenes such as echoey like sound effects to catch the listeners attention as they re moving onto the next part and create suspense as they learn about something sinister or something Lamar keen was going to do. (Timecode 14:11)

Throughout the Podcast, sound effects are used to bring the Podcast to life.

For example: Timecode- 1:23 She says she types on her keyboard and a sound effect of typing is played. 

Timecode- 10:35 In the dramatisation where they are in the restaurant, clinging of plates, a waiter talking to them and idle chatter in the background is used to make the user envision them inside a restaurant. These sound effects are used to make the scene look real and make the listeners feel like they are there. 

Mode/Address

The narrator talks in a formal tone whilst presenting the information on what she found. She speaks in first person accounting what she did to find this information and how she did it.

However, when the dramatisation came on the tone of language was informal as a scene was being acted out from the extract of the book. 

Who was involved in the making of the programme?

The credits in the description of Fake Psychic are as follows: (they are also listed at the end of the podcast)

'Lamar-Edward Hogg

Bill-Michael Begley

Ken-Neil McCaul

Waitress-Jasmine Hyde

Ruthie- Tillie Murray

Written and reported by Vicky Baker

Drama written by Nick Perry

Sound design by Peter Ringrose

Produced by Sasha Yevtushenko

A BBC Audio production for BBC Radio 4'

Content/Running Order: 

Opening	Jingle to open the program ‘BBC Sounds’ to inform the user of what provider they are listening to and the stuff that do.
Title	The programme introduces the title of the show: Fake Psychic and what episode they are listening to.
Introduction	The Narrator introduces herself (Vicky Baker) and tells the viewers what encouraged her to make the show and what will be investigated in the episode.
Story	The narrator then talks about the story of how she was able to dig up the story of ‘The Physic Mafia’ and what information she found out about it.
Real Life Recordings	The viewers are presented with real recordings of the confessions of one of the criminals.
Information	The narrator gives more information on the criminals and what he did to make him so infamous. The narrator continues to give background on: how he operated, how he looked like, his name, etc.
Prologue Ending	The narrator talks about what will be covered in the 6-part podcast and her main goals on what to find out about Lamar Keene and anything else that she and the viewers would like to learn about Lamar Keene.
Acting/Drama Narration	Someone acts out as the voice of ‘Lamar Keene’ inciting what was said in his book where he confesses to his crimes.
Acting/Drama Scene	For entertainment, a scene from the criminal’s book is acted out to the viewers covering the events of one of the fraudsters encounters.
Interview	The narrator introduces and conducts an interview with one of the people close to Lamar Keene to ask questions about Lamar Keene and what he did and how he was like.
Information	As the podcast progresses, more information is given about Lamar Keene.
Transcripts	More extracts are brought to life from the book to tell the story of what happened in the tales of Lamar Keene’s ‘Psychic Mafia’
Music/Sound Effects	Different sound effects are used such as wind blowing sound effects and slow and eerie music when appropriate.
Audio snippets	Audio snippets/recordings are taken from other Psychic fraudsters and clips from real life events of these ‘readings’ being taken place
Epilogue	Ends on a question that the viewers can think about when the podcast ends.
Up Next	The narrator talks about what will be discussed in the next episode of the podcast and a preview snippet from it.
Credits	States who wrote the drama and credits the actors who played in the audio recording scenes and where footage was taken from for the show.
Title	The show ends with the title again.
Another show	A snippet from another show on BBC Radio 4 is presented to the listeners to interest them into listening into that podcast too and where to listen to it.