On the second day of my BTEC we were given our first PowerPoint. In which we learnt key phrases on how use describe peoples voice and were encouraged to explain our personal voice idiosyncrasies with the rest of the group. After the break we were tasked with creating a PowerPoint of our own voice consisting of two slides; the first was to describe our current voice using the new categories we learnt and the second page was to describe how we could better our voice for future performances. My presentation looked like this:
I did like how I used my links
to better explain and reinforce my point, as describing how many people use
altering volume in replacement of pitch can go over some peoples heads without
a clear example of that. However, if I had a longer deadline for this task I
believe I could have created perhaps a plan for increasing my pitch margins, as
the voice box can be changed though the right use similar to how people can
change muscles by lifting weights.
18/9/17
On the third day we had to give
a physical presentation to the rest of the group using the PowerPoint we had
created over the weekend. While I did get praise for how my PowerPoint used
precise and engaging links to examples I was not personally happy with how I
began the presentation. Since I did not have an exact script and instead
decided to recall the basic topics and improvise, in an attempt to create a more approachable presentation, I
ended up pausing to this what to say next and redoing words. I believe I should
have instead created a script in which I loosely follow allowing for a more
approachable speaking tone but also reducing the chances of me losing track on
what I would say next. Here's a link to
a video of the presentation: https://youtu.be/gTmnvhDxxrE
After the break we were given an extract from The sorrows of
Sandra saint by Lee Hall and were told to go in pairs, choose an extract from
the piece to read and experiment with different
ways to read them. We would later perform this to the rest of the group later
on. Since our group had an odd pair that day I was paired with a learning
mentor Which allowed me to have all creative control over the piece. I decided
that I would read for Sandra in a way that would express her anger and
resentment towards Scout by having her
at a higher volume to scout and by giving off an assertive tone. I then decided
to have scout be read as very high pitch and inconsistent in volume to describe
his timidness towards his older sister. I also added a pause after the line
Scout: “how” and before the corresponding line Sandra: “the way you sit there
and let me get picked on” to convey how Sandra was already convinced that her
family were against her without thinking of supporting evidence and creating it
on the spot when questioned.
22/9/17
At the start of the day we
handed in our 12 line scripts and then
were given another persona script and a partner to work with. We were tasked to
think about how we would audibly perform them and what sound effects we would
use. This was the script I was given:
I was in the role of “person” a
character who is woken by the bus driver at the back of the bus. I made the
decision of playing the role with low energy and having poor enunciation. This
is because the character would have just have awoken and as a result would not
be fully in control of his voice. I advised my partner to play the role of the
bus conductor in an angry and authoritive way as their character is clearly
vexed by the person sleeping on the back o the bus. I think we could have made
our riding better if we incorporated accents into it. The piece clearly defines
itself to be set in south London and perhaps we could have made the bus drivers
accent reflect that. We could have even made the “person” character have a
northern or even Scottish accent to display how far away from his intentional
destination he really was. Here is a link to my partner and I reading it: https://youtu.be/EfHEu_hZlve
25/9/17
At the start of the lesson we were told to begin using our
blogs to write all our work in and to transfer all of our work onto there. Due
to technical issues this took longer than expected and merged into the second
half. Soon my teacher redirected the class to be about the radio show “The
Archers”. We were given a link to a behind the scenes video on the series and
told to do some basic research on the property. After this we were given a
script from the archers and told to go into a small group; each one of us were
given a character and told to research that character. I was given this script:
And the character of tom. From my research tom is:
·
A member of the archer family, and as the name
suggests they are the main focus of the series.
·
He used to be in a relationship with Kirsty,
however after a while he decided to leave her for someone else.
·
After Helen had driven over mike Tom decided it
would be best if he took the blame for the accident.
·
He was engaged with Brenda during which he had
an affair with his buyer Tamsin. Brenda eventually split up with him.
·
Tom got back with Kirsty and eventually proposed
to her during Christmas, then deciding to ditch her at the alter and then move
to Canada.
It is unclear when this extract
of the series is set and therefore it is hard to decide on how I should present
my character. If it was in a period in which he and Kirsty were in a
relationship the way I speak should reflect that. In addition, if this was set
in a time near to when tom took the fall for Helen driving over mike then Helen
would need to sound indebted to tom.
From doing more research I now
know that the script is from an episode that aired on the 20th of
October. I also know that in the chronology of the series tom gets engaged to
Kirsty over the holiday season. Therefore it is not a stretch to assume that
Kirsty and tom would be in a relationship in this time period. Also the
incident with tom taking Helens blame was in 2006, 7 years before this scene.
As a result it’s safe to assume that Helens and toms relationship has moved own
from her being indebted to him. As a result I would portray Tom and Kirsty as
flirtatious towards each other as it’s reasonable to think they are together
during this time period, and have Helen as neutral or maybe slightly depressive
to tom as she is his sister but also she had begun a relationship with Rob, who
abuses her. Finally Henry is only 2 years and 10 months old, and as a result
would be relatively easy to display with poor enunciation and a high volume and
pitch.
Good public speakers:
Why:
·
He’s engaging he used methods such as rhetorical
questions to make the audience think during his performance rather than solely
take it in.
·
He uses graphs and visual aids to further
reinforce his points
·
His enunciation is near to perfect so that even
through the 2001 audio limit he is easy to understand
Why:
·
His pacing makes it so that you hang onto every
sentence, unsure on when it ends
·
His effect on the crowd makes them silent,
careful to not miss a word
·
He never looks at one space for too long,
meaning that he is not afraid of looking at his crowd and that he has learnt
his speech
Bad public speakers:
Why:
·
He shouts every word, but in doing so you can
hear his voice tremble out of nerves
·
He paces out of nervousness
·
He constantly looks down at either a script or a
teleprompter displaying his inability to recite under pressure
·
He pauses at 0:54 conveying how he had forgot
his own education
·
He holds up four fingers (one on one hand and
three on another) when talking about his 13th term
Why:
·
She looks below herself as she talks displaying
her nervousness
·
She begins talking without thinking of how she
will end her sentence leading to points in which she ends abruptly such as
“everywhere like such as…”
·
She doubles back on her words, but also shakes
her head while doing so, causing her to admit failure and display weakness
29/9/17
On this day we started by
rehearsing our scene from the archers ready to be recorded. During this time I
decided to adopt a northern ascent as I thought it would better portray the
character. After the recording I decided to reflect on what I had done. I
believed my instruction to Lily in the role of Kristy to try and say her lines
in flirtatious way, which I did also. I also told Harriet in the role of Helen
to sound interested after the name rob was mentioned as in the time frame of
the script (mid October 2013) Rob and Helen began their relationship. However I
believe my performance was not without fault; I believe I should have begun
practicing the ascent more before the recording than I actually did. This way
it would sound more genuine and less potentially distracting. Also, my final
line in which I have a long pause in-between “then” and “Kristy” didn’t exactly
work as I left the pause for too long making it feel awkward and unnatural. We
were then given a script and a link to a synopsis of “Hope Springs” and told to
read both and prepare to audition for one of the roles by Monday. After reading
it, I felt an attraction to the role of “pupil 6” who is a pyromaniac, I would
love to play a manic character with a very simple thesis for a change, also the
way he is portrayed in the script can be seen as humorous, while I have not a
much experience with that field of acting, I’d love to develop my skills to
expand my acting range. Heres a link to
my audio performance xxxxxxxx
17/11/17
Vocal Choices
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Vocal Qualities
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Presenting
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Radio Broadcasting
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Theatre Performance
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1. Intonation
&
Melody
Variation in tone and melody is vital. Decide which words and
passages deserve extra attention and increase the tone to emphasise these
points.
|
In a presenting sense, It is important to vary your tone to engage the viewers’ attention. This is due to how television as a medium has to account for how your audience may not be present for all of your production as a result you will need to give them a reason to stay turned as it were to listening to you and you can do this by varying your tone. |
Since radio is a completely audio medium of entertainment it
is beneficial for you to increase your melody in your speech as a way to
increase your audience’s attention.
|
In a theatre setting, your melody can be used to represent
your character. For instance, you could have a stoic character have little
variation in their melody of speech. Whereas, If you had a manic character you would want
to variate your melody of speech.
|
2. Volume
Projecting your voice to ensure everybody in the audience can
hear you is essential.
To draw the audience’s attention to certain parts of a speech,
try varying the volume – sometimes louder, sometimes softer – so that
selected passages stand out from the rest.
|
If you are having your voice recorded through a microphone to be on television but are also with a live studio audience, you need to tread a fine line with your volume. You need to be load enough for your voice to be projected to the audience but not so load that you peak the microphone. Undoubtedly this balance of volume is more demanding than either of the other mediums |
Due to how your voice is recorded in a microphone you should
not have a loud volume when speaking, otherwise your microphone will peak
which is undesirable in recordings.
|
For theatre performances it’s almost mandatory that you
increase your voice and project it due to how in a theatre you are not
amplified by a microphone and the distance that the audience is from you.
However, there are situations that being quiet is acceptable, for instance if
there is a motif line that is repeated throughout the play you could risk
being quiet since that audience would be able to expect you to say the line
that you said.
|
3. Clarity
Don’t forget to articulate every word, to ensure clarity on
your part and understanding on the part of the audience.
|
Clarity in your voice is very important, as I have mentioned before it is very important that you consider that your viewers may be watching you intermittently and not in one setting. To account for this you need to be as articulate as possible as to allow the viewer to quickly catch up to speed with your programme from the time they hypothetically missed. |
Due to how radio is done with high tech microphones it is
possible to be comprehensible if you don’t articulate perfectly. However,
being unarticulated does not fit well with a formal broadcast and its advised that you articulate properly as
the audience cannot pick up on visual cues to help them understand what you
were saying if they did not hear you.
|
Since there is no microphone to amplify your voice it is
important to articulate so that the audience would be able to understand you.
However, there are some instances where you could use this to your advantage
if you were playing a intentionally incomprehensible character such as a
stereotype of a teenager
|
4.Emphasis
Emphasising different words can change the focus of a message
by altering meaning and/or implication.
|
If you are hosting a game show for example, you will need to emphasise guest player’s names as to allow the audience to comprehend who they are. If you are hosting a news show, you should follow the same principal with names but also place names and all proper nouns, as they are the most important part of any news story. |
While making a broadcast you can use emphasis to display the
main points of any topics you cover by extenuating them.
|
Your emphasis can be used to portray your characters
priorities on stage. The sentence “I never said she stole money” is a good
example of this. If you add emphasis on any word in the sentence it takes on
a different meaning. Such as “I
never said she stole money” indicates someone else claimed it, or “I never said she stole money” displays how
the person saying it implied it through a way that wasn’t vocal. ETC
|
5. Pauses
There are several purposes for which pauses can be used..
· to give listeners a chance to absorb something
· to generate expectations about something that’s going to be
said
· to give the presenter a moment to focus
|
In a game show pauses should be used between introducing a new person or a new segment of the show. This allows the audience to clap If they fell the need to and gives them time to process the new information that they are given. If you are hosting a news program it would be useful to pause between stories to give a clear indication that you are speaking about another subject. |
In radio, pauses should be scarce. This is because radio is an
entirely audio medium and as a result a long pause is a moment in time where
there is absolutely no input to the listener. This could bore them or even
make them believe that their radio is broken while you do not speak.
|
In a theatre performance you can use pauses to create dramatic
tension. And to show confusion that your character may have. However, pauses
in speech can also be used to indicate when you are changing the people that
you speaking to or even just changing topic.
.
|
6. Pacing
If a speech is delivered too fast, it can hinder understanding
and generate anxiety in the audience.
If it’s delivered too slowly, it can tire and bore people.
|
Your pacing as a presenter is similar in how it needs to tread the fine line between too much and too little. If you have an extremely fast pace it won’t match the medium that you are performing in, as your audience may not be present for your entire piece, therefore having a fast pace would cause the audience to become lost and would not insetivise them to keep watching you. The inverse is also true, you need to keep a high enough pace that you can engage or interest an audience. |
The pacing of your speech in a theatre or in a radio setting
can be used to portray the level of stress in your character. For example, if
you have a fast pace to your speech then it shows that your character is
stressed. The inverse is also true, by having a slow pace it will display how
your character is not too stressed. However, it is important to not slow down
your speech as this could end up boring the audience if this happens for a
long period of time.
|
The pacing of your speech in a theatre or in a radio setting
can be used to portray the level of stress in your character. For example, if
you have a fast pace to your speech then it shows that your character is
stressed. The inverse is also true, by having a slow pace it will display how
your character is not too stressed. However, it is important to not slow down
your speech as this could end up boring the audience if this happens for a
long period of time.
|
7. Tone
Setting the right tone for the speech overall can ensure
better understanding and relevance to the audience.
|
A TV presenter must have a one of two personalities. One would be a neutral and professional one, the other would be an enthusiastic personality. These two personalities are used for different task. A natural tone is more suited to news as it allows the viewer to focus on the news story and not how the person is saying it. The enthusiastic tone can be used when presenting a game show, it is mainly used to build excitement in the viewers and live audience and give them a reason to stay watching them. |
Tone is something that’s quite hard to display by your voice
as it is mainly given by the word you use. However, you can affect the tone
of your speech on stage by using pacing, pauses volume and emphasis to an extent. You cannot use
vocal techniques to change the tone of “I will kill you” to be anything but
malicious.
|
Tone is something that’s quite hard to display by your voice
as it is mainly given by the word you use. However, you can affect the tone
of your speech on stage by using pacing, pauses volume and emphasis to an extent. You cannot use
vocal techniques to change the tone of “I will kill you” to be anything but
malicious.
|
Vocally, I did fairly well on this run though. For my
staff 1 character I over articulated and stressed my t’s and s’s so that the
authority and the annoyance was correctly portrayed to the audience. I believe that this correctly contrasted with
the stoic and scheming character of the inspector. I believe you can see the
best part of my performance at least vocally in the scene where the inspector
re interprets Sam’s note as I play it somewhat sarcastically and cocky, which I
think works in this scene as I use the ringleaders tactics against them I can
add to this by using their tone of
speech as well. To improve vocally I think I need to project my voice more
especially near the end of act 1. This is due to how I either am mainly in
profile to the audience or turned back to them. As a result my voice need to
rebound at least one surface to get to the audience ergo, I need to project
more so that every single word of my dialog is comprehensible.
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