3 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
3 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Is "director" the right term when it's "only" voice talent?

by David Beroff
2 replies
  • OFF TOPIC
    • |
I wanted to show off the results of a fun project from last week. I served as director (my first time!) for a three-minute short promoting Customer Drive, a customer service business game. The original video was presented entirely in Dutch; my task was to dub everything into English, carefully timing everything to hit the same phrases, and sometimes the same words and deliveries. There are nine monologues voiced by seven people (including my partner and me).

  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    First off, I guess director IS the right term. I believe it is all I have seen in MANY types of media. I don't understand that HERE, because people would have to be told WHO they are playing, and scripts would have to be handed out, but MOST of the timing should be directed by the SPEAKER, since THEY are the one that controls it.

    And not to belittle your job, but I heard the dutch teach a LOT of English early in school, and do well at it. Why didn't they just create an English version? English IS a HUGE market. Compared to dutch, world wide, english is near the top of the list, and dutch is nearly only a footnote. That isn't an insult or anything, it is just that dutch isn't that common through the world.

    Steve
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10393258].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author David Beroff
      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      First off, I guess director IS the right term. I believe it is all I have seen in MANY types of media. I don't understand that HERE, because people would have to be told WHO they are playing, and scripts would have to be handed out, but MOST of the timing should be directed by the SPEAKER, since THEY are the one that controls it.
      The scripts that I distributed did specify timing, non-verbal delivery cues, pauses, etc. I knew I would still fine-tune the various tenths of a second when I spliced together all the audio, but I also knew it would sound most natural if I gave everyone the right cues in advance. It also prevented a lot of the need to request re-takes when the voice talent followed these directions, (and most did).

      Originally Posted by seasoned View Post

      And not to belittle your job, but I heard the dutch teach a LOT of English early in school, and do well at it. Why didn't they just create an English version? English IS a HUGE market. Compared to dutch, world wide, english is near the top of the list, and dutch is nearly only a footnote. That isn't an insult or anything, it is just that dutch isn't that common through the world.

      Steve
      I suspect that the reason boils down to the point that the people on the screen are not actors, but rather were recruited to beta-test the game. Filming the video was secondary in importance, and I'm guessing they wanted the original participants to feel comfortable in speaking extemporaneously.
      Signature
      Put MY voice on YOUR video: AwesomeAmericanAudio.com
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10393828].message }}

Trending Topics