VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:46 pm Post subject: 21 accents

I'm not a linguist, but being able to switch like she does is impressive. Any locals wanna vouch for her accuracy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k
_________________
Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

dhouston67 · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:05 pm Post subject:

Very talented. Some general impressions:

UK dialects are spot-on. (Not that I'm anywhere near an expert.)

Eastern Europe - good, could use refinement.

Texas - Decent but not authentic. Sounds like an imitation of Jodie Foster's supposed northern Virginia accent in Silence of the Lambs. Besides, there are nearly as many Texas accents as there are British.

California - Not bad. The vowel shapes need to be flattened out more.

Brooklyn - needs work.

SC - Scarlett O'Hara? Is that you? Wink

Decent.

Offered from atop my Shetland pony of a high horse.
_________________
Great Voice. Great Choice. For Voice Talking and stuff.
http://davidhoustonvoice.com
Do That Voice! - The DHV Blog

SoundsGreat-Elaine Singer · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:08 pm Post subject:

The Toronto accent is waaaaay off.
_________________
Elaine
The Youthful Mature Voice (Emeritus)
Senectitude is not for the faint of heart.

melissa eX · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 8:21 pm Post subject:

Brooklyn's not even close. Sounds like she's working off of a caricature of Brooklyn.

louzucaro · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 9:34 pm Post subject:

For me, the best part of that is the second commenter's "So how old is this lady again?"

Heh.
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

Lizden · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:04 pm Post subject:

The French wasn't quite right either, but I still think she's pretty good...the Kate Hepburn at the end was pretty funny I thought!...Still a pretty good way to showcase what she can do...and do we know where she's actually from?....No way I could so all those.

Liz
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

bobsouer · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 10:21 pm Post subject:

Liz,

According to her website she lives in the US. That doesn't mean she was born and raised here, though.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

melissa eX · Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2008 11:00 pm Post subject:

She IS pretty good on the whole. Some of the others sound great to me but I can't really vouch for them completely - afta awl ahm a native New Yawka.

dhouston67 · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 12:31 am Post subject:

I listened to the UK accents again and found them good but not quite as dead-on as I originally thought. Sure enough, in the Comments section for the video, she gives Seattle as her birthplace.

Not to threadjack, but this reminds me: I had the opportunity this past Monday to listen to a presentation by a resident of Cork, Ireland. He had a somewhat light accent, similar to Liam Neeson (in timbre as well). I asked him if, when he returns from his regular stateside visits, his family & friends think he sounds American. "Absolutely, they always think I've gone native", he said.
_________________
Great Voice. Great Choice. For Voice Talking and stuff.
http://davidhoustonvoice.com
Do That Voice! - The DHV Blog

Philip Banks · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:13 am Post subject:

My goodness that was dull! I stopped the clip once I realised I wasn't listening. Tones were fine and she could learn any accent were she coached properly as long as she never posts another clip on youtube I'll be happy.

I'm as sure as I can be that she is not British but an Aussie.

glittlefield · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 4:42 am Post subject:

Funny. I totally gave up dialects (or at least, what I THOUGHT I could do) once I started reading and taking voice classes. The big lesson:

Monty Python, while entertaining, are not dialect coaches.
_________________
Greg Littlefield
VO-BB Member #59

davidmonteath · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 5:59 am Post subject:

The Scots accent might fool anyone but a Scot. Gasp

Personally I hated the whole thing.
_________________
www.davidmonteath.com

Sponsor of Voice APpreciation Indulgence Day 2010

Proud member of Self Appointed Voice-Over Experts Discussion Group - overenthusiastic pontification a speciality.

Lizden · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:14 am Post subject:

For some reason, I fell asleep thinking about this last night (yeah, I know...I need a life!) and I went back to Maurice Chevalier. If yoiu listen to his accent in say "Gigi" it is what AT THE TIME Americans thought a French acccent SHOULD sound like. He actually changed his delivery to sound more stereotypical, and I thonk that's what she was doing. Being "Stereotypical" in her accents - doing what she thought the accents should sound like....These days though with the likes of Meryl Streep, who can really embody the REAL sound of a region, we have come to expect A LOT more from actors who attempt dialects.

You're right Greg, she needs to have more dialect coaching, but I think she has a pretty good ear...she did at least make a distinction betwen Dublin & Belfast, which although the accent might not be spot on, she had the ear to at least hear that there was a difference.

And you Brits!...you just think anyone who doesn't speak the Queen's English sounds wrong! Wink

Now I need my coffee! Coffee

Liz
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

Philip Banks · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:47 am Post subject:

Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:17 am Post subject:

banksey: