Anomalia – The making of a radio play

It all started as a side project during the studies, but it became so much more: When the group of ambitious students first joined forces, none of them really expected the success that was about to come. But together, the team managed to single-handedly pull off a complete production of a radio play – and thus achieved a shared goal.

The radio play, which as of now consists of twelve parts plus demo episode, focuses on profound topics of human existence and combines these with dramatic tension and science fiction. But what makes Anomalia so special? The makers consciously decided to work with cinematic elements. Through elaborate sound design and detailed characters a captivating story is created, which “solely through the spoken word becomes reality in the head of the listener”.

Coexistent timelines, communication with long lost or about to come centuries, time travelling – these are topics, which cross our minds more and more in the contemporary age of technology and science. The thought of entering other timelines and exploring or changing the past and the future fascinates humankind for generations. For the characters in the world of Anomalia this thought became reality, and for the makers of the radio play a dream became true.

The Story – In the world of Anomalia

The renowned scientist Dr. Elisabeth Ambrose created a sort of portal, which enables the user to enter and explore different timelines. This discovery results in amazing possibilities for medical and technological sciences, politics and community. But as groundbreaking this discovery may be, it also brings with it dangers and obstacles: People from other timelines keep appearing randomly in the world of Dr. Ambrose, so called anomalies. The government desperately tries to cover these accidents, but to no avail. Their last resort is a cold-blooded agent, whose aim is the killing of all people involved. To save all anomalies, her team and herself, Dr. Ambrose decides to build a new home in Anomalia, a place where people from different timelines and cultures can peacefully coexist. But the anomalies keep increasing, and the government closes in on Ambrose. Her rescue operation turns into a life-or-death struggle, and the clock is ticking. She needs to find a final, all-changing solution…

The Project

Project Anomalia has its roots in the year 2016 and started out as a crossmedial collaboration by students of United POP. Ever since the small radio play project turned into quite the success story: Shortly after the release of the demo episode “Reset” in 2017 a contract for 12 episodes with Lübbe Audio followed, one of the main audiobook publishers in Germany. Then, in 2019, the first six episodes of the radio play were released in digital and physical form. A promising start – and the first groundbreaking success wasn’t far: In the summer of 2019 Anomalia became one of the finalists of the 17th international radio play competition. Beginning 2020 the team received a contribution from the Aventis Foundation und Kulturfonds in Frankfurt Rhein Main, which ensured the production of six further episodes of the crowdfunding-based audio series.
Despite the growing success of the radio play, a closeness to the listener and the fun at work stay in the foreground.

„We want to lead our audience away from their daily lives and, together with our characters, into the world of Anomalia – a place where different personalities and cultures meet“

Ann-Christin Blum tells us, who, amongst other things, functions as author and dubbing actress for the radio play.

True Teamwork

Different personalities are also found in the core team of Anomalia. Behind the series stand eight individuals coming from different creative backgrounds, seven out of which are alumni of United POP Frankfurt. Together, they created a complete audio play production on their own. Every team member adds special skills to the project – this way, all areas of production are covered by the team; from script, casting and recording to cutting, post editing, marketing, sound- and music design. Such a complete production requires lots of time and energy, especially because most team members work a full time job. However, the hard work pays off for the Anomalia team: The fans love it and can barely wait until the series is continued.

The work on the project offers a lot of insight and fulfillment, and turns out to be rewarding on a personal level as well:

„I would almost say that Anomalia brought me closer to my meaning of existence“

Writes Ann-Christin Blum on the Anomalia Blog. Next to selected actors the cast partly consists of United POP alumni who completet the dubbing artist courses.

The right place at the right time

But how did such a talented team come into existence in the first place? A major influence was their study at United POP:

„United POP brought us together as a team and majorly contributed by equipping us with the necessary skills and material to create this series“

Tells us Lars Eichstaedt who, amongst other things, is the initiator, author and dubbing artist for Anomalia. Because there are so many creative fields taught at United POP, the only things missing were some organization and a common goal.

„So many different fields under one roof, you don´t find that very often“

agreed Agnes Berndanner, who mainly is in charge of management and marketing for the audio series. Especially in the creative branch, it is important to develop many valuable contacts early on. These contacts can later lead to successful collaborations and open doors for various projects – team Anomalia provides us with the best example.

„If there is a chance to work on something crossmedial during the study, you should take it. There is always the possibility of something great coming out of it”

tells us Agnes Berndanner. Eventually, the combination of creative diversity and coordinated work in the right place at the right time led to the success of Anomalia.

To be continued…

In April 2020, after an eight month creative break, there will finally be new adventures and intrigues from the world of Anomalia. The excited fans can look forward to further six episodes of the series. But how will it be continued? Without taking away any tension, the team revealed the following:

„The story has an open end, so there are many possibilities for further events. In any case, we are flexible and ready for anything!“

Finally, a tip from the Anomalia team for everyone who is or wants to be part of the creative industry – be optimistic and work towards your goal:

„In the more than two years we have been working on this project now, there were always moments in which our optimism was rewarded with positive development“.

For everyone, who got curious about the world of Anomalia - the most recent episodes and more information can be found here: http://anomalia-das-hoerspiel.de/