VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 3:55 pm Post subject: Buzz words and jargon - begone!

I just tried to record an audition from V123 and after the fourth sentence filled with nothing but buzz words and jargon, I decided that I just didn't want to read it.

What is wrong with companies who allow this kind of script to be produced?! Back when I was writing scripts for corporations, it was a different time, and I am sure if I look back at some of them, they would be equally as ridiculous, but times have changed people!

It was only about 4 minutes of buzz and jargon, but I simply had no patience for it. Perhaps it is because it is 110 in my studio at the moment. Perhaps not.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 6:43 pm Post subject:

I don't mind jargon if the intended audience consists of people who use that terminology on a regular basis. Of course, that means I have to either understand the jargon or sound like I do. If it's for a general audience, then, of course, jargon doesn't belong.
What bothers me more, is the erosion of language skills by the people who write some of the copy I see. Some people write as if they've never heard of a comma, are unfamiliar with most of the rules of grammar, or just phrase things awkwardly.
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 7:48 pm Post subject:

I find my tolerance for inane nonsense is inversely proportional to my comfort in the studio.
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Mike Harrison · Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 8:37 pm Post subject:

Whether it's an excess of jargon, employing all the bells and whistles of various software simply because we can ("Hey, look what I can do!"), finalizing a video edit and forcing the narrator to conform to the ridiculous timings of a scratch track recorded by an over-caffeinated non-talent...or whatever it is, there's an awful lot of blather and precious little effective communication.
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Philip Banks · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 12:54 am Post subject:

We should form the national Association For Louche Artiste Voix - NAFLAV.

Rules - During cold reading we light a Gauloises, sip a Calvados and brush people aside with disdain

"Bring me another ..SCRIPT ...I do not care for this one. I have taken a shipbuilder from Gdansk as my lover and we will be in my caravan ...Away oh petty scribblers!"

Scott Pollak · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 4:32 am Post subject:

Gotta admit, I'm with Lee on the horrible grammar and inability to spell even the most basic words anymore. People constantly mix up things like "their", "there", and "they're". Maybe some of it is using voice-to-text converters or just rushing through it, but when I receive a 'finalized' script from a client that is filled with misspellings, oh, God, don't get me started. And worse yet are all the self-producing authors out there now who apparently also 'self-edit'.

If I see an audition on the P2P sites that is filled with poor grammar or spelling, I'll almost always pass it by.

Oh, and Connie, having been a video producer for the phone company in the '80's, I remember the BIG buzz word back then was 'synergy'. It began appearing everywhere and in everything!
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Mike Harrison · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 7:45 am Post subject:

Philip Banks · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:26 am Post subject:

You do realise 90% of our job is to make a pile of auld sh*te sound good, don't you? If the copy was literate, creative and well written anybody could do it. .....

"But I ...SIR ...AHM AHN VOIZZZZZ ACTAW!!!"

No you're not, I've heard your stuff ... Read sh*te and grab the cash Money Mouth

Leave the art to people miming all 3 hours of The Bridge over the River Kwai for change on a street corner in Soho.

Lee Gordon · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:34 am Post subject:

Turning chicken sh*te into chicken salad. That is what we're often called upon to do. And this is far from a recent development. It has always been thus. Although in recent years, the guano to meat ratio seems to have increased.
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ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:43 am Post subject:

If a client comes to me directly with a less than stellar script, I will, of course read it and make it as wonderful as possible. I just don't have to audition for them.
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Frank F · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:54 am Post subject:

I find that part of our job is as the final "correction" point. I recently heard a local spot which was extolling the virtues of a local gathering place by stating how "wonderful food, fabulous fun and forgettable games" were going to make you long to go to the location with your family.

I believe had I read the spot for recording I would have asked the producer for his/her opinion of the words usage. But I was not and it is airing right now locally.

Jargon however is always a problem. Think of how often we use words like "body or presence, or color" or "P2P"? To us the words are familiar; others they think we must be in the diamond business.

Frank F
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ConnieTerwilliger · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 9:59 am Post subject:

Let me clarify - I don't have to audition for the potential jobs that are anonymous - such as on Voice123.

However, if it comes from a direct past client, or someone who has found me on the "interwebs (copyright Philip Banks)," then I'm sort of stuck.
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Philip Banks · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 10:12 am Post subject:

We do what we gotta do but we don't go out trawling for it!

Connie's post reminded me of this chestnut https://soundcloud.com/philip-banks/corpucare

ccpetersen · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 11:00 am Post subject:

A couple of days ago I had someone send me an email about working on a project, gratis. He actually wrote, "Do me a solid."
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Mike Harrison · Posted: Sun Jun 30, 2013 12:10 pm Post subject:

On the topic of poorly-written copy, this one came to me as radio station Production Director about 10 years ago. It was a new women's clothing boutique trying to make a splash. The opening line of the spot:

"Finally! {town name} has a little class."

...which clearly states the opinion that, up until this store came along, the town had no class at all.

Way to schmooze your would-be customers.

I did not produce it as-is. I gave it back to the copywriter and asked if that's really what the client wanted to say. It was revised and then produced.
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Male Voice Over Talent
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