0178 – Basic Script Analysis

2021.06.27-0178 – Basic Script Analysis You may think it’s easy to ‘read out loud’ from a script. But converting copy to authentic audio is a skill. After all it may not be written the way that you yourself would have written it, perhaps with different phrases, sentence length or rhythm. This is where we start to explore such issues.Now read it:·        What is it about, its main theme or reason for being written? Does it make sense to you? You may naturally have questions rise in your mind from what you read such as “why is that?”, or “how much does it cost?” or “does this have a logical flow…? Why not?”·        What is its ‘tone’, happy, sad, informational…? Does that tone change during the script? A commercial script for instance may start with a question or problem, and finish with a solution or resolution, in which case your ‘attitude’ needs to alter during the space of perhaps just a few seconds.·        Look out for any tricky words or long sentences – or any other elements outlined in the previous chapter such as clumsy alliteration, sentence structure or unintentional jokes. Reading the script out loud will also help you spot awkward rhymes within phrases or repetitive syllables, constant consonants or personally problematic pronunciations: “In India”, “The sixth thing”, “British soldiers”, “Sir Sean Connery”, “rural coronavirus restrictions”, “Chelsea scored two goals, Tottenham won”, “...and has facial injuries” may all look good on paper or screen, but their ability to tongue-trap or lead a listener astray, may not become apparent until they are read aloud.·        Spot any typos and correct them now before they throw you while on air. Some people say spelling is irrelevant in broadcasting, but that is not strictly true. The listener may not know if the wurds are speld gud, but misspelled words can act like banana skins beneath unwary newsreaders and cause them to slide or stumble. And of course, many scripts are also used as the basis for a website story or social media post, so yes, get it right. I have worked in newsrooms where people have spelled words incorrectly or misused punctuation. “Oh it doesn’t matter,” they have said “no-one’s going to see it”. Well it does matter! Not only for professionalism, but also because the reader will see it and they shouldn’t have to alter content that should be correct in the first place. But more than that: if a news script is handed to them at the last minute and they have to read it ‘cold’, poor spelling or a misplaced apostrophe can alter the meaning of a piece. The reader’s mind may think the sentence is going in one direction, when it’s actually heading somewhere quite different and that can affect their intonation and overall presentation. ==Audio recording script and show notes (c) 2021 Peter StewartThrough these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode!And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE.Look out for more details of the book during 2021.Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_StewartPeter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists.He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”.Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls.The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience?This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects.Music credits:"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/7012-bleeping-demoLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Beauty Flow" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5025-beauty-flowLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Envision" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4706-envisionLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Limit 70" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5710-limit-70License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license"Rising Tide" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5027-rising-tideLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license "Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5050-wholesomeLicense: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license Hosted on Acast. 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