Whisper of a Psycho
In the 1920s, a newly appointed Doctor is assigned to psychologically evaluate a female patient in a mental institution. When he sits down with her however, he quickly realises that not all is as it seems...
"The blind medium of Radio in its unique upon the ear of stimulating the imagination makes for the kind of drama which can embrace subjects that film and theatre may never approach."
John Drakakis
About Whisper of a Psycho
This is an early project for me, with production taking place in late 2020. I was working very closely with a friend of mine and frequent collaborator, Ffion Hutchinson. She took the lead on the writing process whereas I took the lead on Directing and Post-Production. This was both of our first times within the world of Radio so it was a very interesting and challenging experience.
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The process of exploring Foley Sound alone was something that I found very creatively fulfilling. Finding the right sounds to go with what we needed in the project at the time. We did all sorts of things like walking on an upside down table in flat top shoes, screaming extensively in the corner to give the illusion of distance.
"Foley sound serves two broad function: first, to replace and reinforce sound effects from the production track and match synchronization with the original recording; and second, to ‘sweeten’ and enhance sound effects such as footfalls, props, and cloth movement by dramatizing the smallest of sounds and turning them into significant sonic moments." This is a quote that really sums up our process here, going to great lengths to find the exact right sound that would fit that specific moment in the script, to give the audience that audio-visual moment when they are listening to it.
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We settled on a story revolving around a woman in the 1950s who had been sentenced to a mental hospital due to her sexual orientation. We went through many different versions of the story but finally agreed on one about a doctor going in to interview her and then deciding to help her. This story is intended to be the first of three instalments, with the story carrying on to eventually the patient getting out.
I'd argue this was my first really thematically deep project, with everything before this being early projects of me finding my footing as a creator. I really enjoyed making this project as radio is a fun format to create content in, diving into Foley Sound and messing around with delivery of lines to allow the best version of the story to be told.
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This story is definitely something that I would like to revisit in the future.
Cast
On the left:
Livvi Parsons as the Patient
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On the right:
Joe Spoors as the Doctor
Inspirations
There were two main media inspirations we looked at when crafting this story:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - A film from 1975 starring Jack Nicholson, about a man who is purposely institutionalised to avoid a more severe punishment. We wanted to borrow from the idea of someone who is in an institution such as this because of their own choices rather than an actual mental illness. In this case, the sentence was placed upon the patient because of her sexual orientation, as this was seen as an "illness" back in these times. It also acts as a commentary on the treatment of homosexuals in the past and in some cases in the world, the present. How people can go so far to try to subdue something that disagree with rather than letting people live their own lives. ​
The Short BBC Sounds Stories - We listened to a lot of these in order to better understand the sound design for radio, as we were both new to it at the time. It was through listening to these that we discovered directional hearing, making the sound come through one ear depending on where the noise is coming from. This informed our decision to have the listener act as a centrepiece in the conversation, having the Doctor come through one ear and the Patient through the other.