Definitely, undeniably. And we all know who the one true master of voice is, but being in the sound studio yesterday confirmed one more time that hearing a good voice does make my ears jump. I also found out that it doesn’t really matter what a voice is saying, nor if it is a man or a woman. It has to be British though …
We had one page of text that needed to be narrated. It was so badly written (not by us mind you) that my brains disconnected after reading the first 2 paragraphs. Badly structured, needlessly overcomplicated, too many difficult words and way too long sentences. I know I am a foreigner, and English is not my first language, but trust me I wasn’t the only person with this opinion.
The voice over artist (a woman) stepped in. We warned her about the terrible shape the text was in. She stepped inside the recording room, which is closed by 2 very thick doors, not to let any other sounds in. She rehearsed it a few times. And then just read it with this most amazing voice and the text suddenly made sense. And that is really an accomplishment if you looked at the text.
It sounds so simple, read a text in a microphone, but trust me, being a good voice artist like she is, that’s a craft. We will work with her again soon, I look forward to listen to her again, and besides that, she is also just a very nice person.
On the ongoing when-am-I-going-to-make-my-own-short-film front there is some news. I have to make a short short (about 1-2-3 minutes I guess) for my work, showing what it is exactly what we do here. I can use a camera man and an editor, and we have to come up with something funky. Scary, but a very nice way to gain some more experience and training before I am going to make my own. This short has to be finished around the end of August, so that’s relatively fast. I’ll link it up when it’s done.
I am neeeeeaaarly finished polishing my script for my own short. If that’s done, I will concentrate on things like location scouting, casting, and finding a crew. Once things are rolling I will tell you more about the story too. I plan to document the whole short film making process, so be prepared for a lot of writing about film making on this blog in the not too far (I think) future.
Being on a single track road makes it easy to focus. I hope it gets me where I want to be, eventually. But I can’t deny that I am on my way. 6 weeks ago I was still hacking away on a keyboard behind a computer all day, things have changed quite a bit already.
Hey, your visions take more and more shape. I am sure you’ll pass with flying colours. I am looking forward to everything you write on your block. As long as it is reported with your usual verve, you could be writing about the annual meeting of the rice wine society. I am rather a phrasing fetishist…
Nice to hear how work is coming along, Ingrid. Happy to see you pursuing it all.
Here in Holland it seems there are just a few narrators. Several programmes are voiced-over by the same people. Is it such a hard job, or are there not many voicilicious people available?
I am not sure it is a hard job, but it definitely requires a lot of talent. A lot of narrators here in London are actors, but still not all actors are great narrators. It’s a craft in itself.
@Zazz – thank you. Not too sure I will report on the rice wine society, but you never know!