Unfiltered Thoughts

2022.05.20 – 0505 – Rehearsing ConversationalityRehearsing reading out loud makes you a better communicator; it’s a skill that must be learnt and practiced so it sounds as though you are speaking off the top of your head.
Another killer of the conversational read is being in the ‘performance zone’. If you feel as though you are ‘acting the part’ of a voiceover artist or newsreader, that should be a sign to rethink your ‘attitude’. Clues might be:·        Speaking louder than normal, now of course you want to have energy behind what you’re reading, but lots of times, just a bit of smile and moving your body a little bit can add to that energy without projecting too much. ·        Over pausing can ruin a conversational read·        Too much drama, annunciation or inflection. A conversational read should not be too ‘in your face’. You don’t want too many peaks and valleys as that’s when you lose that believability and vulnerabilityBeing over stiff and stuffy. It’s okay to move your body. It really, really helps as long as your microphone doesn’t pick those sounds up Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.05.19 – 0504 – A Giveaway That You’re Reading A Giveaway That You’re ReadingSometimes it’s obvious you’re reading something because it contains too much information that you couldn’t possibly know or remember. As an example, here is something that if read as written will definitely sound as if it is being read:
“On Thursday July 7th 2005, three bomb explosions hit London Underground trains…”
The reason it sounds as if it’s being read is because few people would remember what day of the week it was, so clearly the information is in front of you. If you want to come across powerfully, you have to engage in a little play-acting and say something like this:
“July the 7th 2005 … I remember it was a Thursday …”
There’s only one occasion when you should sound as if you’re clearly reading something; and that’s when you are quoting someone, in which case you should say exactly that: ‘…and I quote…’ Ironically, reading something flawlessly doesn’t sound impressive when you’re trying to make out you’re adlibbing. It sounds cold and matter-of-fact. If you throw in the occasional hesitation, gentle emphasis and change the pace of your presentation, it’ll sound like you’re thinking about it, as if it’s something honestly important to you. This will have more intellectual and emotional impact, which is what you want, if you want your listener to think you’re smart. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.05.18 – 0503 – 20/21 - Suspensions and Stumbles  20 - Suspensions and Stumbles Consider leaving in any genuine slips and trips - so OK, your recording may not be not perfect but it will be more naturalistic.
Again, you can’t do this in a news script or voice-over session, but you may be able to in a podcast.
21- Focus on The Message – Not Your Voice Or Breath All this will give the impression that these words, in this order are being thought and said for the very first time, right now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.05.17 – 0502 – 19 - Unlock the Full Stops 19 - Unlock the Full StopsFree the periods and commas to recreate a natural verbal fluidity.
Don't pause where the full stop/period is. Instead, ignore them – and break the flow of the words where it feels more natural to. And that’s not necessarily at the end of a grammatical chunk.
And we saw before, sentences are an artificial way to marshal the written word. Conversationally we don’t use them. So you need to break away from the normal structure of sentences when wanting to read ‘naturally’, to give the impression that the words are just occurring to you, that you are delivering spontaneous thoughts. That you are thinking in the moment, not ‘reading’ a pre-prepared script. To help in this artifice, think of how you sound when talking with friends and replicate that style. Either re-mark your script, or adlib it live, so that punctuation is moved or even removed. ·        Don’t stop at the full stop – OK you can’t always do this but sometimes you can. After all you don’t want to pause at every single one as that’s not how we speak naturally. You need to find a rhythm and a flow in the story or the script, where a desire for understanding trumps punctuation. ·        Merge sentences together.
Ask yourself: will the punctuation help you or the listener understand the information – or is it or getting in the way of a connected delivery? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.05.16 – 0501 – 18 - Play With Your Voice 18 - Play With Your VoiceWhen you are able to, surprise yourself with what you can do with your voice.
For example, you don’t just say “no” as a single note and syllable, it could be “Noooo”.
Imagine for example that your other half is teasing you for taking a newly baked bun from the cooling tray. They know you have taken it, and you know they know, and they’re not bothered, and they’re joking as they caught you out: “Have you taken a bun?!” they ask with a smile on their face. “Nooooo” you reply, with a smile on your face and with a cake in your hand halfway to your mouth!
The turn on a word that is more than intonation, that helps make it natural and says more than the letters can by themselves.
“Y’know it’s Donald Trump’s last day as president? Weeeelllll, his wife Melania has recorded a video message saying…. (pause for effect) the country should pull together.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.05.15 – 0500 – The Anchor/Reporter RapportStructureYou are a reporter and so you need to be able to succinctly communicate the distinct points that ‘make the story the story’, boiling down the issue or the scene to what’s important. If you get stuck in the weeds of detail, you could end up the creek without a paddle.
What is the main story here? What are the elements that took us from where we were to where we are, what order should they logically go in, and how do you explain them to someone who may not have been following every twist and turn as you, the reporter, has?
A cliched format of scripting these two-ways has the presenter asking the reporter questions such as:·        What do we know so far?·        What does today’s news mean?·        What reaction has there been?·        What happens next?
But these provide answers that the host would know already – and so asking them sounds false, misleading and patronising to the audience – and inevitably, unconversational.
Instead, the anchor and reporter need to have a rapport to make it sound more natural:·        “OK in this question I’ve written for you to ask me, just so you know, when you get half way through I’m going to politely interrupt you and agree with what you’re asking”. ·        Get the host to give some of the information rather than the reporter. That way they are more involved and look more knowledgeable on a story that as an anchor frankly they ‘should’ know about: “We covered the warehouse fire on the show yesterday, remind us what happened…”. No! It’s the host’s show, they were on yesterday, they remember what the story was, so rephrase the question to make it sound more natural. And if the question is natural, the answer and the voice will sound more natural too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.05.14 – 0499 – Off-The-Page and Off-The-Cuff
ConversationalThe best two-ways are a balance between what’s off-the-page and what’s off-the-cuff. ‘Structured improvisation’ if you like, working with the script but not word for word. Choreographed. Reading every question and answer just as it was composed at a desk makes the flow, go … and unless you and the host are great actors, may sound stilted and artificial.
So usually, you can both reply in bullet points – key facts and figures. For a complicated or controversial topic (especially court cases) those can have a bit more detail in them.
Incorporate some of the tricks we have already seen:·        Call each other by name, naturally·        Use phrases such as “of course” and “y’know”·        Verbally agree with each other as they talk “uh-huh”, “mmmm” and then as you start a sentence “yes, that’s right”.
In such a situation, the odd stumble (that’s a small mistake, and not many of them) makes the reporter seem more human, more authentic especially at a breaking news story for example in a typhoon or outside a court room. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.05.13 – 0498 – TV Two-ways  VOICE BOXTV Two-ways
A two-way is when a studio presenter on radio or t,v interviews a reporter colleague (usually one who is on location, but maybe in the studio) about a story. The reporter:·        Is not working to a script·        Has to sound fluent and confident·        Must get over the main points in a succinct and accurate way·        Should be able to cope with any question asked of them from the host·        Can react to anything that happens while they are on air. ·        Must be prepared to go ‘open ended’ – that is to talk to a certain duration (say 30 seconds or a minute) with the possibility that they are cut short (a minutes’ worth of material now has to be cut down to 15 seconds), or go long (stretching that 30 seconds prepped work to 90 seconds), or ‘go open ended’ when the anchor and reporter will talk to fill the available time until, say the start of a live news conference or the President arrives, or the verdict is announced.
Much of this is easier for radio reporters as they are not on screen and so can refer to notes rather than having to reply on their wits and their memory, but it can be quite daunting.
Very often the questions and answers can be scripted – and sound as though they are: stilted, awkward and obviously written and read to a format.
And yet they should be:·        Conversational ·        Have a clear structure and ‘journey’ – perhaps with background, what the latest is, what it means to people with examples or case studies, reaction, what happens next Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.05.12 – 0497 – The Lead In – Working ExampleSCRIPT:“I’m fed up. Another Christmas lunch on the way battling with my worn-out kitchen. Stuck drawers, crammed cupboards and simply not enough surfaces. I’m heading to Kittyhawk Kitchens. They have an in -house design and fitting team, to advise and help every step of the way to your new dream kitchen. From their house to yours, Kittyhawk Kitchens. They soar above the rest.”
So faced with that script, build in the imagined prompts for you to naturally reply to:·        Are you OK? > I’m fed up.·        Why’s that? > Another Christmas lunch on the way battling with my worn-out kitchen.·        Really? What’s wrong with it? > Stuck drawers, crammed cupboards and simply not enough surfaces.·        So, what’re you gonna do? > That’s why I’m heading to Kittyhawk Kitchens.·        Why there? > They have an in -house design and fitting team, t o advise and help every step of the way to your new dream kitchen. From their house to yours, Kittyhawk Kitchens. They soar above the rest. Lead-ins give you something to organically react to, to create an authentic atmosphere, and the situation for you to deliver your first line off from. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2022.05.11 – 0496 – React To ActOne way to do this is a ‘lead in’ (sometimes called ‘the moment before’ technique): think first (or maybe say aloud) part of the conversation that’d take you into that first line. What was said or what happened to cause your character to make this comment? So your scripted sentence is a natural reaction. Having a ‘lead in line’, that you either record and then edit off, or simply think, helps you find the emotion in what a scriptwriter at a desk has asked you to say. The recording will be you reacting to the ‘unsaid’ comment.
So you can trick yourself into getting into that conversational frame of mind and tone of voice by adlibbing the earlier part of the conversation that precedes your script,  And for subsequent parts of the script you can do the same thing: imagine someone else asking you a question to prompt you into saying a line (some people actually write these ‘question prompts’ into their script to read to themselves – but not record – to get the correct on-mic ‘voice’). It could be a word, a phrase or even a sound “Hmmmm?”. And it’s not just considering the lines that are written, or the lines that another (unwritten) character might be saying for you to react to. Your performance also comes from what that character is and has been, thinking.
That way you’ll sound more authentic – as though you are actually responding to someone with a problem that you can help solve, or a question that needs to be addressed. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.