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0496 – React To Act

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Episode notes

2022.05.11 – 0496 – React To Act

One way to do this is a ‘lead in’ (sometimes called ‘the moment before’ technique): think first (or maybe say aloud) part of the conversation that’d take you into that first line. What was said or what happened to cause your character to make this comment? So your scripted sentence is a natural reaction. Having a ‘lead in line’, that you either record and then edit off, or simply think, helps you find the emotion in what a scriptwriter at a desk has asked you to say. The recording will be you reacting to the ‘unsaid’ comment.

So you can trick yourself into getting into that conversational frame of mind and tone of voice by adlibbing the earlier part of the conversation that precedes your script,

 

And for subsequent parts of the script you can do the same thing: imagine someone else asking you a question to prompt you into saying a line (some people actually write these ‘question prompts’ into their script to read to themselves – but not record – to get the correct on-mic ‘voice’). It could be a word, a phrase or even a sound “Hmmmm?”. And it’s not just considering the lines that are written, or the lines that another (unwritten) character might be saying for you to react to. Your performance also comes from what that character is and has been, thinking.

That way you’ll sound more authentic – as though you are actually responding to someone with a problem that you can help solve, or a question that needs to be addressed.

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