First Piece:
My first piece is a monologue from the play Flowers in the Desert by D. M. Larson. The actual monologue itself is called The Not So Perfect Child. The playwright D.M. Larson has been writing plays since high school and acting since junior high. In 1988, his first play "Nicolas Brooks" had instant success by winning the Youth Division at the Spokane Civic Theatre Forum Festival in Washington State. After that he wrote many other plays, to name a couple: A Man and His Plant (1990) and The Redneck (2004). In all his plays most of his characters are very relatable and that's why I picked the monologue of Jamie.
Jamie is a teenage girl who has run away from a conflict at home to stay with her Aunt Betty in order to have some time to think things out. The play opens up with Jamie’s Monologue so you know from the very beginning what’s bothering her character. The conflict at home is her mother loving her sister more than she does her. That's one of the reasons I picked this play, for the fact that she's a relatable character. Another reason is because it's suitable for Radio. The audience doesn't have to know the scenery or what I look like, they just listen to my voice and get the effect of the scene by my emotions.
This is my annotated script for my monologue and the monologue itself has the emotions written on it all ready, but for some of them I didn't do as I didn't feel the emotion would come off correctly, considering I adapted it for radio. For example, near the bottom of the monologue it says, (Cries... Sadness) I didn't want to cry as I think seeing people cry is more powerful than hearing it, so I softened my tone to show my sadness and grew more quieter, so you could tell the change between the emotions. When I was furious my voice got louder, my tone harder and my words pacier.
I used no sound effects for this piece as I think my voice can create the tension the scene needed on its own, and I was worried that the sound effects would take the intention away from the words.
Second Piece:
My second piece is a children's book written in 1955 called The Happy Family by Nicole. Not much is known about the author of the book but at the time the book was written happy families were rare to find. There was a study done on the 22nd of February 2005, it was titled, "Mothers Alone: Poverty and the Fatherless Family, 1955-1966". The book Happy Family completely contradicts to what is happening in society then, which I think made the book even more magical to children.
My voice for this piece became softer, more soothing and gentle, a voice usually used to tell a child a bedtime story. For the characters I changed my voice, for the children I adapted a higher pitch, and a more upbeat pace, for example on the line, "Daddy, Daddy! Hello, Daddy!" I said it as if they were running excitedly up to him, while for the mother I went more softer, with a harder tone to sound strict, for example I did this on the line "Wash your hands, everybody! Dinner is ready!" and with the father I went deeper by doing this I brought my pitch down and slowed the pace.
I used sound effects for this piece to create the environment of a family home, for example some of the noises were a clock chiming, a dog barking, a cat meowing and sink running water.
Third Piece:
My third and final piece is an advert which I wrote myself. I wanted to bring humour to my piece so I made it almost like a mock advert.
Below is my advert:
Are you a stressed out parent who just can’t get your kids to sleep? If that’s the case than The Happy Family is the Audio book for you! It keeps your children entertained, with colourful pictures and funny voices the person does to be the whole family. All of this for just £4.99! Bargain! And if all of the above fails you can always knock your child out with the book! But for that you’ll need the hard copy for only £6.99! More yes, but it’s worth it! (Moves away from the Mic) What do you mean I can’t say that? (Comes back) Just buy the book!
I listened and watched adverts to hear how their voices usually sound and most of them come off as energetic and upbeat, using persuasive language to encourage you to take on what they're selling. My voice was upbeat, loud and pacey for this piece to come off as a stereotypical salesman. I emphasised on the words like, you, just and bargain, as this was my persuasive language.
I had to work on my diction the most for this one, as when I speak fast my words sometimes mumble together and don't make sense. I made my diction clearer by saying tongue twisters twice a day. Some of the tongue twisters I use are, "I want a proper cup of coffee, in a copper coffee pot." and "Which Witch Watched Witch Watch?" By doing this daily I've really improved my diction as my articulation has become more clearer.
I have upbeat music playing in the background for this piece to help create the happy atmosphere my advert needs, it's a catchy tune which will stick in the audiences head, this is another clever persuasive devise used for the audience to come back to the product I am selling, so I had to go through a lot of songs to find the one that was right for my advert and this is the one I picked:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4GQ5GW88I4
All together I think all of my pieces show a different contrast between each other and show my versatility in my voice work. My first piece it's my own voice but with emotion in it, my second piece is a much softer, smoother tone, emotionless as I'm the narrator, while my third piece is upbeat and energetic, with enough emotion in my voice to make it sound put on and fake.
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