The Situation
A local actor, looking to expand his opportunities abroad while also securing his position in the Art Community at home, specializes in voice over work. He is tasked with performing dialogues in both Latvian and English (both British and American). While his grammar skills were proficient, he found it difficult to give an accurate reading of a text in the accents mentioned above, finding it difficult to find the right tone, as well as difficult to recognize the pronunciation rules for a variety of terms.
The Solution
We devised a two-fold approach to this client’s specific needs.
The first approach was a face-to-face session to address and review specific issues present during the client interview, as well as to challenge and introduce new material. Grammar rules and sentence structure that directly influence pace and tone were reviewed, practised, and analyzed. For example, “I DIDn’t PICK up the MILK, BUT I DID pick up the CHEESE.”. Additionally, diphthongs, multi-syllable term rules, and exceptions to these rules, all of which are notoriously difficult to recognize without examination, were addressed.
The second part of the course was devoted to vocal recordings, and the analysis of those recordings. The client was given specific terms, texts, dialogues, and transcripts specifically designed to address his weaknesses and strengthen the points reviewed in the face-to-face session. He would make these recordings on his own time, upload them to our Bitrix24 system, and then we would provide our comments there and, if necessary, he would redo the task until it was successfully completed.
As the course progressed the terms, the readings, and the examinations became more complex. Our client was furthermore supplied with real examples of English language media that specifically referenced the points of each lesson, reinforcing the lessons learnt and providing authentic examples how they are used in the ‘real world’.
The Benefits
Our client came to us with uncertainties and insecurities regarding his speech, but left with the tools to read any text in a natural and even way, with nearly no preparation time at all. In cases where preparation was needed, he now has the tools to analyze the text for the proper tone, emphasis, and delivery to ensure his success both locally, and abroad.
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