David Lynch
Voice Direction:
Script:
By incorporating this 16 millimeter film strip into his “motion painting” titled Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times), artist David Lynch discovered his love for film making. After three Academy Award Nominations, Lynch still considers his first full length feature, Eraserhead, to be his most “spiritual” film.
Congratulations to our winners, Debbie Randall, Shmuel Goldstein, and Ari Reardon. They showed the ability to help this hypothetical documentary paint a personal picture of artist David Lynch. Here are some tips on how you can make your own reads more real and personal, improving your shot at audition awards.
1st place winner: Debbie Randall
Judge's Comments
She nailed two out of three characteristics the client requested: One, she sounds knowledgeable. Two, she speaks very clearly. But she’s missing #3: “warm.” This caused a slightly robotic, stilted sound. To avoid sounding like this, she should smile. Smiles can be heard, and since it’s usually a fairly easy fix, she topped our list. There are a few awkward moments, though. She left the T sound out of “painting.” And a bit of emphasis on “this” would be nice. By the way, she smartly included a brief, confident-sounding slate at the end – just her name – which reinforces her brand and is a precaution in case the file name isn’t handy someday. Putting it at the end avoids distracting from her read, and doesn’t waste the audition screener’s time. Recording quality is very good.
2nd place winner: Shmuel Goldstein
Judge's Comments
Very good, exactly what was asked for: warm, knowledgeable, and clear. But there are two things we’d want to improve: 1) Emphasize the third word (“this”), because the viewer is likely seeing it at this moment in the video. And, 2) work on spacing. Usually, a period calls for a slightly longer pause than a comma does. In this case, there’s barely any break after the period. Was it a choice, a reading error, or an editing error? No matter; the effect on the listener is the same: potential confusion. At the other extreme, some comma breaks were too long, the word “considers” sounds like “considihs,” and there are some vocal eccentricities (e.g., a very long “M” on “motion). The technical quality of the recording is good, with just a tiny bit of “room” hollowness in his voice. His space may need additional acoustic treatment (padding) in at least a couple areas.
3rd place winner: Ari Reardon
Judge's Comments
Like our First Place winner, he hit the target on two of the three mandatories, but a different two. He sounds warm, and knowledgeable, but his speech lacks sufficient clarity. He slurs a few words, most notably “titled” (which sounds like “title-n”), “full length” (which sounds a bit like “folay”), “Eraserhead” (which sounds like “eraserheh”), and “award” (which sounds like “a war”). A bit of emphasis on “this” would also be nice. There’s a tiny bit of vocal shakiness on the first syllable of “millimeter.” And in “film making” there is a vocal click at the end. And finally, the last word of the audition doesn’t resolve. (It sounds like a question or the first part of a sentence). Recording quality is clean, but the volume is rather low.
