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Sustaining an Accent or Character Voice

 
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Deirdre
Czarina Emeritus


Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 13016
Location: East Jesus, Maine
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:06 pm    Post subject: Sustaining an Accent or Character Voice Reply with quote
Doc wrote:
The absolute, most difficult part of doing characters, dialects, impressions, etc. is sustaining them.

Deirdre - I'd be interested to know what you learned about this perplexing aspect of voice characterizations.


Pat Fraley has come up with a nifty way to note and catalog characters-- and the same system (with some omissions) works for accents.
The first thing you need to be aware of are the mechanics of your own voice: where is your resonant center? Most Americans place their sound right in the center of their oral cavity.
Where is your placement in your throat? High or low? Then you need to examine your actual, natural method of shaping words.
In other words, you need to find your ground zero.

Once you've made yourself aware of this, you can make notes on how your character deviates from the norm.
Make a note of the Pitch-Where is it in relation to your own? Higher? Lower?
Pitch Characteristic: The added "color" or "texture". Clear? Gravelly? Hoarse? Breathy? Velvety? find a way to describe it.
Tempo: the general rate of delivery. Faster than you? slower? same?
Rhythm: A pattern in the way THIS CHARACTER speaks.
Placement: where is most of the sound? Deep in the throat? Higher? Nasal?
Mouth Work: This refers to accents, speech "impediments" you add, lisps, other extra things you do to alter articulation.

A very important thing to have written down is what Pat calls a KEY PHRASE. This is a special sentence you use to evoke that character-- sometimes it's the first thing you ever said in that voice that made you realize you HAD a character in the first place. For an accent, it's a thing that you can say that is a trigger to help you remember all the mechanics of the accent.

Name your characters. Know what they look like, what they wear.

With accents, the way to become fluent in them is to read aloud in the accent, talk with your spouse in the accent, record yourself speaking and listen back. If you can learn to use the accent separately from a specific script, you will have more control over its retention.
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Philip Banks
Je Ne Sais Quoi


Joined: 20 Jun 2005
Posts: 11049
Location: Portgordon, Scotland
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Another fun element is the musicality. Without words are you able to find the tune or better still sing your characters favourite song?

No you don't need to be able to sing in order to do this which is just as well in case.
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Bruce
Boardmeister


Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7926
Location: Portland, OR
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 5:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Our dear mistress has simultaneously given many of the same notes for creating a believable charcter for stage or film. BE that person during the entire performance. Feel what they must feel. See what they see.

An easy one to think about is playing a realistic senior citizen. Every joint aches a bit. They're a little tired. They might be a bit grumpy or contentious. They are worldly. They've seen it all. And when it comes to speaking, most of them sound like they're wearing dentures, whether they really are or not. A tiny bit of sibilence, slightly slurred words, breathing not quite as easily.

BE that person for all 60 seconds of a commercial, or two hours of a play, and you'll be successful. That's why spouses of actors get a little testy when their mates come home. Who are they now? When will they go back to being themselves?

Bruce
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Doc
Guest
PostPosted: Wed Feb 01, 2006 6:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Deirdre,

Thanks SO much for sharing that information. Hope you didn't plagiarize! <weg>

That's info that definitely needs to be archived.

I knew if I asked, I'd get a definitive answer.

Never disappointed. What a great board!
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