voice over help an suggestions,

[Simon B]

Gidday Brains trust,

I find myself in a situation where a very good friend of mine wants to do some voice over, for a tv show she wants to put on channels 31,

the problem stands is she is Slovene, an has a very thick European accent, and my suggestion of getting a voice over person to do it wasnt well received. She is a journalist that has had lots of tv work, with her accent it is too quick an hard to understand I am just wondering if people have any suggestions or exercises she might be able to do to get the accent a lot less unintelligible.

any help would be great ful, and it just may include beer for people if I cross their path......

[Manning]

Go to VCA and find an acting student willing to do voice coaching. They will have studied it themselves, and acting students will usually work for flattery alone (consider throwing in some stale bread if you're the generous sort).

[Simon B]

I just had a big laugh at that, well played.

[jkhuri44]

what you're looking for is the "art/craft of elocution"...or "speaking clearly"...

i dont know how offensive it is to ask her to do shit like that...but...your choice, there are lots of courses, and poems online, a classic being "how now brown cow" which basically exercise each of the phonemes, (or how ever the hell you spell that word) of the english language.

these courses are done by english speakers too, but in the context of your comment, i hope asking her to do something like this isnt seen as offensive.

[jkhuri44]

link/example:

http://www.communication-skills.info/elocution-lessons.shtml

[tony]

You Are probably looking for an accent /vocal coach. We use them in theatre alot, a good one will cost however they will quickly identify what the person speaking is doing (wrong) and have techniques to change there accent. From my limit experience watching them work it's would seem each accent has certain styles and shapes to it and an accent coach can identify which ones to keep and which new ones to try, and have simply explained techniques to do so. I just opened a show called Pygmalion which is based on the idea of elocution being able to change a person stature in society, interesting idea, and meant I got to watch a cast of actors quickly learn to have multiple accents and different level of precision off those accents. I hope that helps.

[Manning]

I wasn't actually being flippant when I suggested an acting student. A mate of mine used to teach Acting For Camera at NIDA (he's teaching in LA now) and he farmed students out (voluntarily) for this sort of thing all the time.

You'd get better results with a professional accent coach obviously, but given that it is for Channel 31, I assumed there was little to no money available.

[tony]

I agree Manning, thats a cool idea for a price point.

[Chris H]

Go to VCA and find an acting student willing to do voice coaching. They will have studied it themselves, and acting students will usually work for flattery alone (consider throwing in some stale bread if you're the generous sort).

...............sour dough?

[Simon B]

Thanks heaps lads,

Manning, a VCA student is an awesome Idea an I knew you werent being flippant I just thought it was a pisser! being that she likes to be in complete control I dont think she would use them,

Thanks heaps Jamil, that link is very helpful,

and Tony, I think you are right on the money, and she needs to invest in an accent coach as a long term investment.

Thanks heaps once again, Very helpful indeed.

[Manning]

... being that she likes to be in complete control I dont think she would use them.

Ah, the joy of having a client who already knows more than anybody else will ever know.

Didn't Rick write an articles about these sorts?

Good luck. Sincerely.

[JamesM]

Just put subtitles on the screen, if she asks why just say "what?.... Cant understand you". (little brittain)



I was watching UFC the other night and they put subtitles up when they were interveiwing the pommy fighter wtf? Maybe the queens english is a foreign language.

[jkhuri44]

australians have been subtitled in america for years.