VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

patfraley · Guest

As promised, here's the link to the interview with Phil Crowley, "Poster Boy" for Long Form Narration. Interesting process. Enjoy, Pat

http://www.vo-bb.com/demos/LongfrmNarr.mp3

bobsouer · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 5:59 pm Post subject:

Pat,

I'm listening to this now. Absolutely amazing! Thank you. (And thanks to Deirdre for making this available and to Phil for sharing so openly.) I'm especially intrigued by his comments about music.
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Craig · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:33 pm Post subject: cold read

Thanks for posting this Pat.

I'm intrigued that he reads much of his work cold.

Sometimes, for practice, I'll grab a book and start reading and I've noticed the cold read is often, in my mind, better than subsequent takes. There are certainly more flubs as well, but it is interesting to hear such a seasoned pro prefer a cold read.

Craig
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patfraley · Guest

To rehearse, or not rehearse.

It's intriguing. Kathe Mazur, a stellar audiobook reader doesn't rehearse non-fiction books. Hillary Huber also, on occasion, does not, and I produced an audiobook and directed actress, Lisa Renee Pitts while she read at least half of it cold.

What all performers who do this mention is that cold reading challenges them to keep alert and focused and believe that their interest is transferred to the performance.

Being a world class poor cold reader (I have had a reading disorder all my adult life), I'm unable to experiment with this concept.

I do know this: With rich text, and material that has theme, it is impossible to realize the author's intent without rehearsal. With rehearsal a performer/reader can achieve something that is near magic.

My personal example comes from my performance of Huck Finn. One of the many themes, which winds through the book, is "loneliness." As I rehearsed, I decided that every time any character said the word, "lonesome," which occurred several times, I would infuse the word with the sound of being lonesome, treating the word as if were onomatopoetic. This is a technique I learn in acting school years ago and have used for 35 years. I didn't get caught (until now), and I am confident, in a small way, advanced the author's intent in the audio version.

But Long Form Narration ain't Ibsen or Twain. I think that if a performer is very facile at finding the correct words to emphasize to reveal specific meaning, they can get away with it. Most facile cold readers do something I call, "Clumping." They emphasize more than what they need to so they don't get caught reading something they don't really understand.

PF

Gp · Guest

Hey thanks Pat, great stuff. I caught the end of an episode of "Centurians" on Boomerang. An interesting story of time travel and the theory of relativity,
Craig I feel that same way about cold reads sometimes.

COURVO · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:24 pm Post subject:

Pat,

Thanks for sharing this, and for offering all the other tips you have recently in other posts. I was so impressed, I blogged on all the things you have going on and coming up.

CLICK HERE

BTW, cold-reading is my middle name....an absolutely necessary skill in delivering news copy on-the-fly. I have delivered entire newscasts sight-unseen...AND (I think) sounded convincing doing it.

CourVO
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roger · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:41 pm Post subject:

Pat,
Thank you so very much for sharing the link. I'm a big fan of Phil's work.
I, too, am interested in long-form narration, although a novice. There is not an abundance of info on this paqrticular segment of VO. I guess it is not as sexy or fascinating as commercial or game work.
Any more pointers in this area would be appreciated. Coaches and talent names specializing in this area, for instance. Names of some of the better VOs in the field.
Thanks for all you give back to the community, especially us newcomers.
-roger
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bobbinbeamo · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:22 am Post subject:

Pat played this clip for us Saturday. I am so glad there's a place where I can listen again. Thank you, Pat.
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todd ellis · Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:42 pm Post subject:

pat - super-big thanks for teh link!
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paddyo · CM Joined: 12 Jul 2006 Posts: 975 Location: New York City

Pat,

Thank you for sharing so much info in this section. Great stuff.

Paddyo