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  #1  
Old 10-23-2004, 09:40 AM
bigbadhenchman bigbadhenchman is offline
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Default Gotta vent

What is it with the current trend of actors whispering their lines. It's driving me up the wall.

We have a couple of series, and these actors just whisper and mumble. even when they are in scenes that will have loud music, or on a bust street. And then they complain about having to come in to do ADR.

TI had some ADR the other day. The mic pre was cranked to the max, and I could still barely hear the line.

Whot he hell is teaching these people to talk like that. Who talks like that. Do yiu go into a coffe shop and as "can i mumble whisper whisper mumble ...ease".

For crying out loud!!!!.
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  #2  
Old 10-23-2004, 12:06 PM
SimpleNatureSpirit SimpleNatureSpirit is offline
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Default Re: Gotta vent

Feel better now

Try putting a headphone on them in the ADR and put lots of the background sound in.
Tell them "I hear what you hear".
Guaranteed to get a better take...
They may even ask you to "do it again, I didn't like that take"
We hear ourselves a lot better than others do. They need the reference.
But you are right, stage performances are suppose to be 'exaggerated'!!!

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  #3  
Old 10-23-2004, 12:11 PM
Richard Fairbanks Richard Fairbanks is offline
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Default Re: Gotta vent

I completely agree with you. The prevailing vocal delivery style these days is "I'm cool!" soft mumbles, and "I'm too cool" monotone multiword strings. I've had the very same feelings as you these past several years. Diction is an under-used skill. The fact that we notice is a sure sign that we need to catch up to the times. Which makes me feel even worse about it.

I just finished a show yesterday which contains numerous interviews with a HUGE name, a very skillfull and talented actor. It is kind of hard to understand what the heck the person says, though. The director has been complaining about the person and marveled at how much it improved during the mix. Nothing that fader rides, eq, and compression can't fix, along with lowering everything else to the noise floor when they speak.
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Old 10-23-2004, 01:29 PM
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minister minister is offline
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Default Re: Gotta vent

there is a "coolness" thing, i think. one benefit was, i went to see master and commander and ended up listening to the soundtrack almost exclusively because not only was the exposition unremarkable and pedestrian, i got tired of listening to russell crowe mumble. i enjoyed the soundtrack

headphone adjustment i find is key too. if it's too loud, they back off, if it is lower in level, they think they need to project more. that way, you are not stepping out of line to ask a name actor to alter there performance; they may do it for you.
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  #5  
Old 10-23-2004, 03:09 PM
CCash CCash is offline
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Default Re: Gotta vent

I agree - For some of these actors the mic pre has to be cranked... the the noise floor gets out of control and the room gets sucked into the mic. Yeah, headphone adjustment will help. A little tactful coaching will help, but sometimes you can't get blood from a stone.
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Old 10-26-2004, 09:25 PM
Tiago Silva Tiago Silva is offline
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Default Re: Gotta vent

If you're not working with stars, you can try putting wads of cotton in their ears...
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  #7  
Old 10-26-2004, 10:42 PM
RobMacki RobMacki is offline
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Default Re: Gotta vent

I get the opposite extreme sometimes.
Most of the actors I work with up here are in the Southern Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I usually have to pad the mic!


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  #8  
Old 10-27-2004, 11:04 AM
viaspiaggia viaspiaggia is offline
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Default Re: Gotta vent

just be glad you have the budget for adr. i finished an indy feature this summer where the main actor was a huge mumbler PLUS the production crew made sure he was OFF mic most of the time. grr. being indy i had like 2 hours for all my adr - got the absolutely worst scenes but still was fighting that actor the whole rest of the time...

it was nice doing a comedy after that where no one was playing their i'm-too-cool-to-speak-loudly roles.

all of which is to say: i feel your pain!

-adam-
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Old 10-27-2004, 04:18 PM
scott waz scott waz is offline
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Default Re: Gotta vent

I guess short of introducing cotton and getting a raised eyebrow, I would think about rolling off the high end feed to their headphones AND lowering the overall volume to HP's. I'm also not afraid to say, "I can't hear you."

Yes, I also agree that young actors tend to mumble and worse, they don't ADR well because well, they are young and inexperienced and somewhat self conscience because well, they're young. And its hard for them to work in this new environment.
ADR puts almost all the responsibility back on the actor. They have to re-feel. Re-SYNC and re-mind themselves that its their voice on screen.

I do try to tell most actors to throw their voice. 5feet, 10 feet 20 feet. Whatever the scene is asking for. And a good director will hear your concens first and hopefully convey that to the actor. Pitch tends to lower in ADR because the adrenaline of the moment of filming is gone.

-sw
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  #10  
Old 10-28-2004, 12:01 AM
CCash CCash is offline
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Default Re: Gotta vent

Quote:
Pitch tends to lower in ADR because the adrenaline of the moment of filming is gone.

-sw
I never thought about it that way, but you're right. In all fairness, they do have a tough job to do. A seasoned pro who's really good at looping is an impressive experience.
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