2022.03.27 – 0451 – “Can You Dial It Down A Bit?”
And in doing so, if a director says “Hmm, you may wanna dial that down a bit”, you’ll be more aware of what it is that you need to dial down on, to give them the read that they need.
VOICE BOX
(The list is subjective and not definitive.)
Level 6 – Announcer[1] reads
Style: Loud and fast, this presenter almost shouts at the audience with energy and emotion. They are ‘in your face’ and designed to be clear and directive – although they may also turn off the audience and are pretty rare. Clichéd and cheesy, like a circus ringmaster “Ladies, gentlemen and children! Roll up, roll up!”. They are often written in a very stylised way, with irregular words and syntax[2]. Short, sharp sentences, with a high volume and high speed.
Brand: Think of car salesroom adverts (and others[3]) on local TV in the US[4], gospel preachers on religious TV channels or the UK’s own Cillit Bang adverts[5]. Often used for ‘what you see is what you get’ adverts, shouting about money-saving deals, simplistic solutions, and basic brands. Basic brands? Yep. Because it sounds cheap and in your face. They were often used to announce variety-type TV shows and the style just stuck, until it became a parody of itself. Such ‘reads’ target a very broad demographic and tries to capture attention.
[1] Enunciatory - https://wordsmith.org/words/enunciatory.html
[2] The arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language.
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTlI634j_hk
[4] Such as in these spoofs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKT4BOtpHOw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqHZWdFVyyQ
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