Rhetorical power was the subject of some attention this week. One of the US Democratic Party’s hopefuls in the presidential primary race gave a marvellous ‘Yes We Can’ concession speech which used repetition to make its point. Barack Obama is a forceful, clear speech-giver. You can catch it here. I like this take on the
Continue reading ...No, this isn’t a reference to the silly season … most theatres are ‘dark’ at this time of year down-under. The exceptions are festival productions, chief of which is the Sydney Festival which has just romped in and taken over the town for a bit. No, what I meant was that nothing much is happening
Continue reading ...Perhaps I am just being patriotic, but I reckon these Aussie guys are pretty darn hot in the voice-over artistry stakes. The two contenders for me are Keith Scott and Jim Pike. Since I wrote this post, Keith Scott has removed his demos. Jim Pike’s is still live and kicking. Enjoy! I wrote a while
Continue reading ...Image by Colleen AF Venable via Flickr Depending on the content and the form of your podcast, you’ll want to think about the style of your delivery. I most often use podcasts to provide course material to students, and more often than not the audio track will be accompanied by slides to support what I
Continue reading ...Teaching actors how to find the right voice for a character is something I work at in my day job. Finding the voice for a character is something an actor works at whilst prepping a role. It’s not just about dialect and accent either, although developing these skills is important. Clear speech, acceptable pronunciation, phrasing
Continue reading ...This is another in a review series I’ve produced from earlier posts on my use of podcasts and podcasting production for learning and teaching. At a recent conference I was asked for samples of what I’ve created, so here I’m going to showcase a few of the podcast productions mentioned in the last post. 2007
Continue reading ...A couple of days ago I featured a top Yank, Don LaFontaine … today it’s a top Brit, Mike Hurley. This little 14 minute video is from 1994, and my tech friends assure me the equipment and technology qualify as pure nostalgia. But there’s nothing creaky about the voice at work here. Great stuff.
Continue reading ...Occasionally a gem sparkles amongst the tailings of most journalism on the theatre. Such a piece was Kathleen Noonan’s All the World’s a Stage (Brisbane’s The Courier Mail 24-25 November). It was a very personal take on the power of theatre to move, shake, or soothe like ‘a warm cup of cocoa’ if that’s your
Continue reading ...You’ve heard his voice so often in move trailers, now here’s the face of Don LaFontaine. I came across this little movie this morning. Apart from being a nice intro to the guy behind the microphone, the movie has something to say about how pervasive a great voice can be. He has set the style
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