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 20th
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment