Speech & Script Week 1 - Finding a voice...

About me...

Hi. I'm Mandy.

I'm a (not particularly consistent) writer of many things. Assignments. Theatre scripts. Poems. Travel blogs. Coffee-table books. Lists. Music. Website copy. Passionate Facebook posts.

I thoroughly enjoy performing (in theatre), though it simultaneously thrills me and sends me spinning into black holes of self-doubt.

I'm an introverted extrovert. Or an extroverted introvert. Or possibly an ambivert. I'm still figuring it out; the relevance being that sometimes I love being in front of an audience/camera/microphone, and sometimes I wish I could melt into the wall.

I genuinely adore learning and developing, and will jump into any chance I have to improve my skills. Because I'm a total and utter nerd. But I have cute glasses, so I guess that makes me one of those cool ones.

I'm ridiculously excited for this subject. I'm in my 3rd year of Secondary Education (studying History and English) and usually my degree wouldn't allow us to do this subject; however due to a frustrating-but-ultimately-brilliant screw-up in time-tabling, I get to substitute one of my literature subjects for this. Huzzah!

I'm also currently preparing for my Trinity Grade 8 Drama and Speech performance examination, coming up in May/June, so this is a fantastic time to be getting feedback on presentation and speech.


About the importance of voice...

While I don't find Julia Gillard's voice as grating as some people obviously have (as referenced in the clip by VoiceCoachGlobal's channel (2010)), I do notice the broad Australian accent, and a more nasal quality in her voice. In this clip Gillard sounds like she is reading straight from a script. There is no warmth or passion in her words. She stresses certain words, but the rhythm, volume and intonation of her speech tends to stay fairly repetitive, and I, as a listener, found it hard to keep track of what she was actually saying as I zoned out. In the ABC News (Australia) (2012) recording however, she had me hooked - though this may have been more about the content than her voice.

For me though, I felt that her voice certainly gained warmth and emotion compared to the recording from 2010. Gillard delivered a measured, yet impassioned speech attacking Tony Abbot. She varies her volume in this address, sometimes raising her voice to speak above other voices, and at times she pulls her volume right down - a technique that I felt made her both more vulnerable, but also more strong in her position. Her 'Australian' accent seems to be stronger and broader in this speech, and when she raises her voice she also seems to gain a higher pitch - something which I know many women do, and many men (particularly) seem to hate. I believe that by deliberately lowering the tone of her voice, she may have come across less 'nagging Australian housewife' and more 'steady and strong woman in power'. A voice like Cate Blanchett's would certainly have made the  delivery of this rousing address more effective - the 'Kath and Kim' quality of Gillard's voice is at least a little displeasing to most people's ears, whereas Blanchett's melodic, velvety tone is one that could be listened to with pleasure for hours on end.

Despite Julia Gillard's voice, I felt goosebumps in parts of this speech; as a woman I was carried through moments of anger and pride during the video, and it was wonderful to see Gillard so clearly depicting the way that misogyny pops up in modern Australia.


About my own voice...

You can find my voice here!

After recording my news report, I have a few things that I like about my voice, and a few things that I would definitely like to work on.

The Good Bits:

• I feel that my voice has a relatively nice sound to it, and I don't speak in they typical broad Australian accent.
• For feeling a little nervous, I sound quite calm in my delivery, and achieved what I wanted to emulate (the typical news reports that I remember hearing on radio!).
• In one recording (I only wanted to do it once, to make sure I had a good starting point) I only had a couple of very small stumbles over words, which was great.

The Improving Bits:

• I would like to learn to bring more warmth and resonance to my voice.
• I need to ensure that I am enunciating all of my consonants, and not dropping the d's and p's and b's and other sounds that Australians tend to lose at the end of words.
• I need to slow down in areas so that my words aren't blurring in together.
• It would be good to find my 'own' voice, rather than simply emulating those speeches that I have heard.

Overall though, I'm pretty happy with the recording. I've heard my voice before on recordings of phone calls, and not really liked it. However, I feel like this recording sounded quite professional, and I'm pretty proud of doing this in one take! I'm really looking forward to seeing how my voice develops over the next 12 weeks, and I'm grateful that I'll have tools that can be used in both my teaching practice and within the theatre arena.



References

VoiceCoachGlobal's channel (poster) 2010, Julia Gillard's voice, 24 Jun, viewed 9 March, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEybGzg1Nxs

ABC News (Australia) 2012, Gillard labels Abbott a misogynist, 8 Oct, viewed 9 March, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihd7ofrwQX0

Speech & Script Week 2 - Professional Voice

I believe that there are a number of components that make up a 'professional voice'. There is certainly a fairly broad range of 'professional' voices - those of news readers, radio talk show hosts, actors who specialise in voicing animations or those who read sales advertisements, singers and a number of other professions who would utilise a 'professional voice'. While the application of the 'professional voice' varies, I believe that there are a number of qualities that would be consistent across all of these categories.

I think that the voice itself needs to have a warm resonance to it, an enjoyable tone that is not too nasal or broad, and invites the listener to enjoy it. The voice needs to be authoritative and confident so that the audience believes that the speaker has conviction in whichever field it is being applied. The speech must be measured in pace and timing, not too fast or slow, but the pace should be varied where appropriate to ensure the listener does not get lulled into sleep; this applies also to the tone of the voice, which should change as appropriate for the content or emotion during the speech. Appropriate timing of breath and pauses should be applied, and knowledge of where to place emphases during the speech is important. The 'professional voice' should speak clearly, enunciating all consonants, and should refrain from using slang or contractions unless they are specifically written into the script. While these characteristics should be consistent through all 'professional' voices, I also believe that each voice should have a unique quality, and each speaker should strive to find their own 'voice' so to speak; if each 'professional voice' was identical then speeches would become incredibly boring and ineffective to their audiences.


The speeches referred to in this week's study guide had a number of factors that made them effective, and many of these were common across the speeches. Almost all speeches were politically motivated, though this in itself is not necessarily something that makes a speech effective. Political speeches, however, do tend to arouse passion in people, and I believe that passion is certainly key when writing a speech. Passion is not always displayed through the act of speech itself, but can come through in writing; for example President Barack Obama's speech on Trayvon Martin (The White House, 2013) was consistently calm and measured, and yet there is no denying that his words were a plea for people to set aside racial assumptions. Martin Luther King Jr.'s  'I have a dream' speech (Gokadze, 2013) was a partially improvised, impassioned appeal for civil rights.

Another common factor seems to be a 'call to action'; a request from the speaker to the audience to do something. This varied across speeches from asking generations of men to fight, asking people to drop their prejudices, asking the audience to follow a political party, or support a piece of legislation, or a new leader, or even to have sympathy or empathy for a victim. All of these speeches don't just talk at the audience, but they ask the audience to take a step further and become involved in their cause.

Though the speeches referred to in the readings represented different speakers, eras, political movements, motivations and audiences, they were all passionate speeches that engaged the audience in a call to action.


In Kate Stowell's reading of the SBS World Radio news (Kate Stowell Showreels, 2010), there are quite a number of emphases on words, a lot more than I thought there would be before I looked at it. I slowed the speed of playback down to 0.5 so I could hear every emphasis, and it is clear to me that she emphasises the key words in every sentence. I noticed that if you cut out the un-emphasised words in each sentence, you would still be able to get the gist of what is happening in the report. For example in using only emphasised words in the fourth paragraph of the news report you can still understand that 'Rob Oakeshott Tony Windsor support Prime Minister Gillard 76 seats enable form government'. I believe that Stawell enables the listener to understand what is happening even if they are not paying full attention; the emphases allow the brain to interpret the important information.

After listening back to my own recording, I noticed that while I emphasised many of the same words, I probably only put an emphasis on around half the words I had highlighted in Stowell's reading. I did not prepare for my recording and did not select words to emphasise, so I think I did well relatively speaking, but this is certainly a very interesting note to pick up. I think with planning and regular practice, selecting appropriate words for emphasis could easily become a natural habit.


References

Ilya Gokadze (poster) (2013), Martin Luther King, Jr. I have a dream speech, 28 Aug, viewed 18 Mar, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vDWWy4CMhE

Kate Stowell Showreels (2010), News reading sample, 22 Sep, viewed 20 Mar, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-qKDbNz2YI

The White House (2013), President Obama speaks on Trayvon Martin, 19 Jul, viewed 18 Mar, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHBdZWbncXI

Speech & Script Week 3 - Rhetoric

ACTIVITY ONE

Aristotle makes many excellent points in his speech Rhetoric, and I have summarised these key points below:

BOOK 1
Part 1

• Rhetoric (the art of effective and persuasive speech or writing) is the counterpart to dialectic (a method of discussing opposing ideas through reasoned argument to find the truth). All men (and women), to a certain extent, use both.
• Some people are naturally good at rhetoric, and tend to win their arguments easily (when backed up by fact or reason) and others have to work to accomplish this.
• Different modes of persuasion are the key to rhetoric, not merely appealing to a person's emotions to win an argument.
• It is not right to make legal decisions based on emotional persuasion rather than fact.
• Laws should be pre-determined, detailed and thorough, leaving little for the judge to rule on. This is important for a number of reasons; firstly, it is easier to find a few men who are fair in their administration of the law than a large number; decisions in the court are made quickly and don't always give sufficient time for a case to be examined thoroughly, whereas written laws are considered carefully; laws are objective and general, and allow for justice to prevail, rather than the subjective views of a jury who may be affected by emotion.
• It is important that the judge ask questions during proceedings, but they should not have to make big decisions, as they have legislation to follow. Judges should not allow irrelevant and persuasive speaking that is not backed up by facts.
• Political oratory is less likely to include unethical practices because it relates not to facts and a final judgement on a crime, but to wider issues that attempt to win a listener to the speaker's political cause or interest. They must bring the audience to their 'side'.
• Rhetorical study is the understanding and art of various modes of persuasion. 
• The most effective device in rhetoric is enthymemes (an informally stated syllogism which omits either the major or minor premise, or the conclusion), a kind of syllogism (logical argument that applies reasoning to reach a conclusion based on two or more propositions that are assumed to be true).
• Those who best understand syllogisms will also become better skilled at enthymemes.
• Rhetoric is useful because:  

1. The truth usually prevails, and if it doesn't it is likely the fault of the speaker.
2. Sometimes even the facts are not convincing, and one must sometimes use persuasion to win the argument.
3. One must employ persuasion alongside the truth of the facts, so that if someone else argues unfairly, it is easy to refute with both fact and persuasion to win over the audience.
4. People can physically defend themselves, and it follows that they should also be able to verbally defend themselves.

• Rhetoric is not fixed to a certain subject, but can be universally applied. 

Part 2

• Unlike every other art which instructs or persuades only of its own subject matter, rhetoric can be applied to almost any subject.
• Not all modes of persuasion (e.g. torture, written contracts) belong to the art of rhetoric.
• There are three parts to persuasion. The first depends on the personal character of the speaker, the second relates to putting the audience into a certain frame of mind, and the third is the truth (or that which seems truthful) provided by the words within the speech.
• If a man or woman is to master these three ways of effecting persuasion, then they must also be able to reason logically, understand human character, and understand and be able to change emotions.
• Everyone who persuades either uses rhetorical syllogism (enthymemes) or rhetorical induction (examples). These may be equally persuasive, but those using enthymemes receive more applause.
• A statement is credible and persuasive either because it self-evidently appears to be so, or because it has been supported by another statement that is credible.
• Therefore it is possible to form syllogisms and draw conclusions from previous premises or other syllogisms.
• There are allowable variables which may give probable (instead of definite) premises, contingent on other premises, but these must be supported by other premises and syllogisms to create strong enthymemes and conclusions.
• There are two sorts of enthymemes, one of which belongs to rhetoric and one which belongs to dialectic, which must be distinguished between the special and the general lines of argument.

Part 3

• Rhetoric has three divisions, determined by the three classes of listeners/audience; political, forensic and ceremonial oratory of display.
• Political oratory persuades the audience to either do something, or not do something, and is concerned with the future. Forensic speaking either defends or attacks somebody, and is concerned with the past. Ceremonial oratory either praises or censures somebody and is usually concerned with the present.
• There are therefore three distinct ends in view, one for each kind of rhetoric. The political orator aims to establish the good or bad sides of the proposed action. The forensic orator aims to establish justice or injustice. The ceremonial orator praises or attacks a man to prove whether he is worthy or not of honour.
• The propositions of rhetoric are complete proofs, probabilities, and signs.An enthymeme is a syllogism composed of these propositions.

Part 4

• A political orator can only counsel on matters about which people deliberate. There are five main matters on which people deliberate and political speakers make speeches on: ways and means, war and peace, national defence, imports and exports, and legislation.
• A speaker on these matters must know facts and figures, and understand the workings and implications of all structures, bodies, rules and methods.

Part 5

• All men and women aim for happiness and its constituents, and one must understand this in order to give advice on actions or avoidance of such.
• There are multiple definitions and conditions of happiness, and there are many constituent parts, both internal and external.

Part 6

• The political or deliberative orator's aim is to determine what is most useful to do, what is the good thing (which can be the acquisition of a good thing, or the removal of a bad thing).
• There are good things which can be disputed because something which is good for one person can be bad for another.

Part 7

• There can be a relative goodness or relative utility; something can be more useful or more good than other, and one must learn to judge which is the greater or lesser.
• One must also be able to distinguish which category or class takes superiority over the other in order to judge the relativity.
• One thing may be shown to be more important than another from two opposing points of view, and both can be correct from each of those views.

Part 8

• The most important element of success in persuasion and public speaking on the topic of public affairs is to understand all forms of government, as well as their respective customs, institutions and interests, as well as the aims and ends of each government.

Part 9

• In order to effectively persuade the audience to trust ones own character, one must understand virtue, vice, the noble and the base.
• The noble is that which is desirable for its own sake, worthy of praise, and that which is both good and pleasant. Virtue is therefore noble since it is both a good thing and also praiseworthy.
• The base is then undesirable actions or undertakings that are not praiseworthy, and a man's vices stem from the base.

Part 10

• In looking at forensic oratory, there are three things that must first be ascertained; the nature and number of the incentives to the crime; the state of mind of the criminal; and the kind of persons who have been hurt, and their condition.
• Wrong-doing can be described as injury voluntarily inflicted contrary to law. The causes of deliberately harmful acts contrary to the law are either vice or lack of self-control.
• Every action must be due to one of seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reasoning, anger or appetite.

Part 11

• Pleasure is a movement by which the soul is consciously brought into its normal state of being. Pain is therefore the opposite. 
• All of the seven causes of actions can be categorised under either pain or pleasure to the soul, as can all actions.

Part 12

• There are a number of states of mind in which people do wrong to others. In doing wrong, they suppose that they can get away with the crime, or that if they are found out they can escape punishment, or the pain of the punishment will be less than the pleasure of the crime.
• The kinds of people to whom wrongs are done can also be categorised into the following: those who have something that the criminal wants; those who are trustful instead of cautions and watchful; those who are too easy-going or lazy to prosecute a crime; those who have a history of being wronged but haven't prosecuted in the past; those who have been attacked many times previously and are too frightened to speak up; those who are friends of the criminal who may not speak up; those who are enemies of the criminal. 
• There are also many kinds of wrong that are done to others regularly and universally.

Part 13

• There are two kinds of law: particular law, laid down by a community, and applied to its members, and universal law, the law of nature, mostly unwritten.
• In order to be wronged, a person must a) have suffered actual harm, and b) suffered it against their will.

Part 14

• The worse of two acts of wrong-doing is that which holds the worst intention behind it.

Part 15

• There are five non-technical means of persuasion that apply to forensic oratory; laws, witnesses, contracts, tortures, and oaths.

BOOK 2

Part 1

• There are three things which inspire confidence in the orator's own character; good sense, good moral character, and goodwill. 
• To affect emotions in others one must understand three things. For instance in anger,  a) the state of mind of people in anger, b) who the people are with whom they usually get angry, and c) on what grounds they get angry with them. These can be applied to all other emotions.

Part 3

• Once one has ascertained an emotion (e.g.) anger, one can ascertain the opposite characteristics in order to use this to effect others.

Part 12

• There are various types of human character; youthful, elderly and in their prime. These effect the way in which these humans interact, receive information, process and judge.

Part 15

• There are Gifts of Fortune which produce effects on human character. These include good birth, wealth and power. 

Part 18

• The use of persuasive speech is to lead to decisions, and each of the main divisions of oratory has its own distinct purpose. 

Part 21

• Maxims can be used as part of enthymemes, but should only be used by those experienced in the area of the maxims, or older generations.
• Some proverbs are also maxims.

Part 22

• There are two kinds of enthymemes: one kind proves some affirmative or negative proposition, and the other kind disproves one.

Part 25

• An argument may be refuted either by a counter-syllogism or by bringing up an objection, which can be raised in four ways: by directly attacking your opponent's statement, by putting forward another statement like it, by using a statement contrary to it, or by quoting previous decisions.
• Enthymemes are based on one of four kinds of alleged fact: 1. probabilities, 2. examples, 3. infallible signs, 4. ordinary signs.

BOOK 3

Part 1

• In making a speech one must study three points: a) the means of producing persuasion, b) the style or language to be used, and c) the proper arrangement of the various parts of the speech.
• The style of expression is the delivery of the speech, and can be managed through voice (volume, pitch, rhythm, modulation, diction etc.)

Part 2

• The style of the speech must also be clear, concise, appropriate to the audience, positive and natural.

Part 3

• There are four forms of bad language use; the misuse of compound words; the employment of strange words; the use of long, unseasonable or frequent epithets; or the inappropriate metaphors.

Part 5

• The foundation of good style in correctness of language includes five categories. One, the proper use of connecting words and the arrangement of them in natural sequences. Two, call things by their own special name, and not by vague general ones. Three, avoid ambiguities. Four, observe classifications of nouns. Five, express plurality correctly.
• Write so that the speech can be easily delivered.

Part 10

• Using metaphor and simile to create a new image is good, but be careful to make it clear and simple.

Part 12

• Each kind of rhetoric has its own appropriate style, both in variations between political and forensic oratory, and also between that or written prose and spoken oratory. Ensure that the delivery (either written or spoken) is appropriate to the audience and the category of oratory.

Part 13

• A speech has two parts; one must state the case, and then one must also prove it. One cannot omit either of these parts if it is to be effective.

Part 16

• In delivery, one must ensure that narration of the speech is at the right speed and is not continuous, but intermittent.
• It must make use of the emotions, and must show character.

Part 19

• A conclusion has four parts; it must make the audience well-disposed towards the speaker and ill-disposed towards the opponent; it must magnify or minimise the leading facts; it must excite the required state of emotion in your hearers; and it must refresh their memories.

ACTIVITY TWO

The story of how I used rhetoric to convince a Year 9 boy that the skills he was developing in drama were applicable to his selected career as an engineer.

Please find the audio recording here.

ACTIVITY THREE

Rhetoric is quite often misunderstood as either the province of the ancient Greeks, or the tool of tricksters to pull the wool over someone else's eyes. Unfortunately, these misperceptions stem from a misunderstanding of rhetoric and its use in our everyday lives. 

Rhetoric is "the study of technique to use language effectively" (ClemsonEnglish, 2011). It is not only the words and facts we present, and also includes our body language, and the emotional appeals we make to our audience. By examining our own practice, we can tailor our skills for a range of situations that occur in our everyday lives. A good understanding and application of rhetoric will assist us in being more persuasive in job interviews, writing essays, teaching others, presentations, discussions, and even improve the effectiveness of our Facebook rants! 

Rhetoric helps persuade others to understand, believe or agree with us across a range of subjects. Although traditionally rhetoric was applied to politics, law and persuasive speeches, it now has a range of applications in technology, psychology, advertising and many other areas. Epistemic rhetoric helps us to adjudicate between competing knowledge claims to make an informed decision in our life. It allows us to understand that facts are not solid; facts are raw data plus interpretation, and therefore should be examined carefully. 

While many believe that rhetoric is something that slimy politicians use, it is in fact a part of our daily lives. If we are able to understand and apply rhetoric, we are able to communicate more effectively, and can use it to analyse facts and knowledge to make better, more informed decisions. Rhetoric is not just for the ancient Greeks.



References

Aristotle (350 B.C.E.),  Rhetoric, Rhys Roberts, W (trans.), viewed 31 March, 2016, http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.mb.txt

ClemsonEnglish (2011), In defence of rhetoric video.flv, 27 June, viewed 31 March, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYMUCz9bHAs&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

Speech & Script Week 4 - Performance

Activity One
You can find the re-recording of the news script here.

Activity Two
I found the re-recording of the news script extremely interesting. I naively assumed that by studying the original recording, finding the emphases in the text, and putting some thought and work into improving my voice further I would find a second recording easy!

Wrong.

The week one recording, which I was fairly happy with, was completed in one take. I just found a quiet corner, sat down and did it, without really thinking about word emphasis or anything else. Because I do a fair amount of acting and public speaking, I also didn't put any thought into breath or posture, and I recorded it at my natural voice speed (which is often a bit on the fast side). In re-recording I wanted to focus on word emphasis, a nice round non-nasal voice, and slowing down.

For the second recording I decided to spend a few minutes humming first, and I had been sipping on a hot herbal tea (warm water helps the throat). I also chose to stand up while I was recording to allow for maximum diaphragmatic breathing. I was using the news script I had with all of Kate Stowell's emphasised words highlighted. I figured I was ready to ace the recording in one take.

Wrong!

It took me about seven takes to get a recording I was happy with. While I had done all the right things in warming up vocally, standing to allow for correct breathing, slowing down a little, and keeping in mind which words I was emphasising, I ended up sounding too slow and very forced. Multiple times I would stumble over words because I was trying to emphasise my highlighted words, coordinate breathing, keep a conscious tab on how fast I was talking, and keep myself in a neutral position with good posture. After a few attempts I realised that my mind was stressing over it, and when I stress my stomach tenses up and I can't breathe properly, which was affecting how I was speaking. I tried a couple of physical stretches (spinal rolls etc.) to loosen up my tense muscles, and tried again with an un-highlighted copy of the script. This worked a little better, I stopped stumbling over words and emphasising the wrong ones, but the recording still sounded quite forced when I listened to it back, particularly compared to the first recording.

I decided to try one more take and allow all the things I had learnt to sit in the back of my mind, rather than the front, and just relax. I still stood, but instead of keeping my arms at my sides, I imagined that I was performing in front of my theatre kids as an example to them (because this is a comfortable space for me), and I used my hands to gesture. I also tried smiling a little bit during the report to warm my voice a bit. This actually worked really well - I relaxed and sounded much better than I had been. The emphasis were definitely better when I stopped thinking about it (though I missed a couple that I had wanted to include), and there was only one sentence where I got the breathing wrong. This attempt has improved from my first one I believe, thought it is not perfect, and I learned a LOT about how I work at my best for recording. For me the key is to not analyse what I should be during while I am recording, but allow myself to subconsciously filter what I know into the recording and relax into it. This exercise has been brilliant in helping me refine my performance practices and techniques.


Activity 3

In a World… (2013) is an American indie comedy film written and directed by Lake Bell, which tells the story of a female voice coach who is trying to break into the all-male Hollywood voiceover industry. Carol Solomon, the protagonist, who is also played by Bell, fights the chauvinistic put-downs of her father, Sam Sotto, the current ‘it’ in the industry, and his endorsement of another male voiceover actor, Gustav Warner. After years of being unable to get voiceover work, Carol finally lands a couple of children’s movie trailers and ends up in the running for a teen action quadrilogy called The Amazon Games. As Carol, Sam and Gustav all end up vying for the same role, the story beautifully contrasts the female warriors fighting for their life in the trailer to Carol’s own struggle to beat out two successful male voice actors for a role that a newcomer to the industry is unlikely to get. At an awards night where Sam is being honoured with a lifetime achievement award, the movie trailer is dramatically launched, revealing that Carol was the successful actor. When Carol chases after her father, who is distraught at losing to his daughter, she bumps into the executive producer and thanks her for giving her a chance. The producer tells Carol that she was not given the job because she was the best voice actor, but because it was most important to have a female voicing a pseudo-feminist teen movie in order to empower teenage girls. At the end of the movie, Carol is shown to use her vocal coaching skills to help women change their voices in order to be taken seriously in the workplace and in life.

Bell does an excellent job at portraying the all-too-real struggle of females in more ‘backstage’ roles in Hollywood. The film also gives the audience a glimpse into the cutthroat world of voiceovers, and the work it takes to achieve. In a World… showcases a number of techniques that are frequently used by vocal coaches and actors to alter the sound of a voice. Particularly in the first part of the movie, Carol follows people with interesting accents around with a voice recorder to get sound bytes of their accents for her collection in order to improve her own vocal work. Carol, Sam and Gustav all use facial exercises which stretch the muscles, and Sam is seen massaging the muscles around his cheeks and jaw. Both Sam and Carol employ tongue exercises to strengthen the tongue, which is also a muscle, for better vocal control, and the women in vocal training at the end of the film are given a ‘north, south, east, west’ tongue exercise. All actors use humming, lip and vocal exercises like sirens, trills and sputtering to warm up their voices and mouths in preparation for the audition tapes they record, also incorporating movement and different body postures. Carol is also given hot lemon water to help with her croaky voice in the morning. The film does not show the effectiveness of these techniques on the voice, however one woman in the film who has a ‘sexy baby’ voice does seem to have changed her voice when she is seen again in Carol’s classes at the end of the film. The importance of voice training is made clear though in the montage as the actors prepare for the audition, and is also shown in the twice-repeated statement that Sam makes: “A voice is not just a blessing, it’s also a choice”.

This film truthfully and comedically portrays the struggle of women in the Hollywood voiceover industry, a workplace dominated by men and their 20^th century thinking.  The film also showcases the ongoing physical and vocal training that is needed to pursue and maintain a career as an actor, whether for voice, screen or stage; it is clear that a voice can be trained and it takes work to evolve. Bell’s film In a World… directs a clear voice to women, and indeed to all hopeful voice actors: it’s your choice, but you do have a voice.

References

 In a world... 2013, motion picture, Stage 6 Films, Culver City, California.

Week 5 - Institutional Talk

Activity One

 I talk. A lot. It's a big part of my job (drama coach), and my future career (high school teacher). Most of my talk is done with students and friends at Little Seed Theatre Company (where I work), and its a very community-oriented institution. As teachers we are relatively informal with the students, teachers and parents, and many kids come up to get hugs or hi-fives on their way out of class. This, and my natural effusiveness, affects the 'institutional' talk which I use, even carrying through to other areas or institutions in my life. I am very friendly and open, and often use terms of endearment with people (usually women or girls).

If I am with friends, or working at Little Seed, I will often greet by saying 'hullo gorgeous girl, how are you?' if it's a young girl or a younger friend of mine that also works there, or use a nickname in place of an endearment for others (such as my boss, boys, some of the teenagers). 

Signing off depends on the context, but often I'll say 'see you later beautiful/honey/name/nickname)'. I sometimes add a 'I'll see you next week' or 'tomorrow' and often 'have a great day/week'. Sometimes if they're a friend I'll blow them a kiss in addition. 

I find uncomfortable moments really interesting, because I personally believe that everyone gets too caught up in trying to fill every blank space in conversation, rather than just enjoying a silence if you don't have anything to say. So when awkward silences occur, I just smile and try to radiate peace and contentment to stop the other person feeling uncomfortable. If I can see that it's not working (usually if they are young, like my teenage students) then I will try and make them feel more comfortable by asking them an easy question about themselves (e.g. what they're doing on the weekend, what they like to do, what they think about a certain topic), or by telling them a funny anecdote, using humour to alleviate the awkwardness. I think I do use humour quite frequently, though definitely not consciously. I probably also transition by saying things like 'it was so nice to catch up with you again, I promise I won't leave it so long next time' etc. Sincere niceties I suppose you might call them.

Activity Two

Two compare and contrast interview styles, I chose a recent Ryan Reynolds interview from the Ellen show, and an ABC Australia interview conducted by Leigh Sales, talking to then Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the day of a leadership spill motion.

a.     How was the interviewee introduced?


Leigh Sales interview – Leigh says “Welcome, Prime Minister, to the program”, and then goes straight into the first question, “Are you a dead man walking?”

Ellen interview - Ellen introduced Ryan Reynolds with details of his recent achievements relating to Deadpool, which was geared toward the content of the interview she was going to conduct. Then the trailer for Deadpool (his most recent movie) was played.

b.     What types of questions were asked?


Leigh Sales interview – Very direct questions meant to confront and provoke. She also makes very strong statements and then allows Abbott to combat them.
“How can you go on together when, as I say, more than half of your own backbench doesn’t think you’re up to the job?”
“Prime Minister, you’ve been in politics all your life, history would suggest that you cannot recover from such significant vote of no confidence within your own side.”

Ellen interview - Less direct questions, often quite open ended, asking him to explain. Or questions that trail off half way through to allow elaboration and explanation from Reynolds.
“Tell everyone what the movie is about.”
“Were you hurt? How many days did it take to shoot the fight scene?”

c.     How was the potential for conflict managed (if any)?


Leigh Sales interview – Sales makes quite challenging statements and comments to Abbott, Abbott gets a little defensive and sidesteps by saying that he will talk about it if that’s what she wants, but then starts speaking on something else about policy. In another part of the interview Abbott states that he doesn’t want to play word games with Sales, and then there is a few moments where Abbott is trying to talk over Sales, trying to avoid her direct questioning.

Ellen interview - None.

d. Was humour evident, and how?

Leigh Sales interview – No humour. Ellen interview - Yes, lots of jokes from both Ellen and Reynolds. Funny stories, poking fun at situations, self-deprecating humour.


e. How did the interview conclude?


Leigh Sales interview – Abbott finishes answering a question, and then Sales says “Prime Minister thank you very much for making time to speak with us on such a busy day”.

Ellen interview – the interview concluded with Ryan Reynolds falling into a dunk tank for $25,000 charity money, and Ellen presenting the cheque to Reynolds. Music played and the audience was applauding loudly.

f. What were the differences, if any, between the types of 
interview?



The two interviews are completely different. Ellen’s interview aims to be light-hearted, funny and make audiences feel as if they know Ryan Reynolds more intimately. Leigh Sales’ interview is designed to be hard-hitting, confronting, putting Tony Abbott on the spot and allowing viewers to see how he answers questions that throw him in a bad light. Ellen uses easy, open statements and questions, allowing a very friendly conversation to take place, where as Sales uses provoking direct statements and questions to make Abbott defend himself.

Activity Three
There are a large number of excellent points that Heritage and Clayman (2010) make in their article that are particularly interesting and useful for my future speech writing and performance.

• Eye contact is essential for effective speaking; interaction will be shown through the audience looking back at the speaker, smiling, nodding and possibly writing things down. Sometimes there may be additional responses in the forms of laughter, clapping and cheering, booing or jeering.

• Audience members sometimes band together and form one collective party, which can respond to the speaker in a two-way interaction.

• Perceptions of popularity are important – applause and cheering is an indication of a good speech, and the subsequent endorsement of the speaker by the audience. Being perceived as popular will make further actions taken after the speech more effective.

• Applause usually lasts for 8 seconds. Any less and it the applause is quieter and feebler, any more and there is an uptake in intensity and perceived happiness/passion in the audience.

• The speaker needs to leave a slot for the audience to coordinate with each other and start to generate applause – if the speaker does not leave a space, then they cannot be expected to clap. The audience also needs to feel that others will clap with them, because members will avoid isolation in a response.

• Using a rhetorical device such as an antithesis (starting with a negative statement, leaving a pause and then following with a positive statement, also allowing a slot for the audience to respond). This can also be used in reverse to show another person in bad light. Contrast is a highly effective tool in speechmaking.

• There are four types of contrasts – contradictions “not this but that”, comparisons “more this than that”, opposites “black or white”, and phrase reversals (e.g. "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”).

• Contrasts are four times more likely to be applauded than non-formatted sentences.

• Lists also allow the audience to predict applause, and are effective for emphasis. There is a basic norm of a list of three. Applause is most effective when allowing a slight pause before the third item to indicate to the audience to prepare. Lists are twice as likely to be applauded than non-formatted statements.

• The puzzle-solution is another important format. First it gains the interest of the audience by establishing a problem or puzzle, then delivers the point as the solution to the puzzle. The speaker needs to allow brief pauses for the audience to receive the advance warning that a solution is coming so that they can applause when the solution is given. This technique works well in conjunction with humour.

• These three devices are commonly used to their greatest effect in combinations with each other; combinations are five more likely to receive applause than unformatted statements.

• If a list or other device fails to work (due to technical construction or delivery), sometimes this can be rescued by repeating the main point and allowing a slot again for applause.

• Structuring an audience’s expectations towards applause at the correct time involves three main levels of action.  The first is staking positions within the argument structure, often against opponents. The second is building a level within the structure at which particular points are made and build towards a particular applause spot. Finally, one should use a micro-structural level of intonation, rhythm, timing and gesture to guide the audience towards responses at the appropriate time. Great speakers integrate all three levels for effective speaking.

• It was found that 2/3 of all applause was evoked by seven basic rhetorical formats.

• Audiences prefer refutation to advocacy – people want to hear what the speaker is against more than what they are for.

• Content is a necessary condition for applaudability, but not always a sufficient one – an audience really needs a formatted speech to get the most out of the content.

• Journalists need to condense extensive spoken and written material into packages or sound bytes that are catchy and effective for news audiences. Contrasts and lists solve this compression problem.

• Long-lasting impacting quotes and ideas are usually made up of contrast in combination with a list.

• Charismatic speakers use all the same techniques, but instead of allowing applause they talk through it, then appear to be overwhelmed when the storm of applause stops them from continuing. The innocent appearance implies a natural and untainted leader.

References

ABC News (Australia) 2015 Exclusive: Leigh Sales interviews PM Tony Abbott on 7.30, video, 9 Feb, viewed 10 April, 2016.

Degeneres, E 2016 Ryan Reynolds Interview on Ellen, video, 27 Feb, viewed 10 April, 2016.

Heritage, J & Clayman, S 2010 'Chapter 18 Interaction en masse: Audiences and speech' in Heritage, J & Clayman, S, Talk in action: interactions, identities and institutions, pp. 263-287, Wiley-Blackman, Chichester, West Sussex.