IAC DISCUSSION FORUMS

At this moment I'm making a dramatized documentary. Some English friends have
already praised my narrator's voice many times. He is an old English sailor
who settled in the port town of Antwerp after his adventures at sea. He's
lived in Belgium for about 30 years now, but he prefers to speak English.
Most Belgians are polyglots and they are proud of their knowledge of languages.
That's something positive about my country. Not everything is bad in Belgium.
Colin knows that. He's the sympathetic actor with the white beard in my film
"Together with Yoda". In spite of Colin's excellent voice I feel obliged
now to choose a different narrator for my next film. I can feel it when reading
reports of judges and listening to reactions of friends. It's time for a
change ... after so many years. It sounds like a political slogan, doesn't
it ? That's one of the disadvantages of making a film every year.

Dave Watterson, who's not against Colin's voice at all, told me in Bedford
that it might be interesting to listen carefully to some voices in winning
films. So I did and I found a very good one in a film made by the "Preston
Movie Makers". I contacted Geoff Harrison, the vice president, who told me
that he was willing to help me. Yesterday I received a parcel. In it was
a disc containing five voices of the Blackburn Drama Group which gives me
a good selection to choose from. They are all reading the same short passage,
which is about 1 minute 20 seconds long. The problem now is : which one to
choose ! The five voices are excellent. Which timbre is best ? A "deep" voice
or a "sharper"' one ? What am I going to do now ? I will ask some friends
of my club to listen to the five voices and I will also ask some English
friends what they think about them. Also intonation and pronunciation are
important. And as I am (unfortunately) not a native speaker...
Of course I'm very grateful to Geoff Harrison and I won't forget that it's
thanks to BIAFF that I could contact him. That's one of the reasons why we
should go on supporting regional, national and international festivals like
BIAFF, Guernsey, the Cotswolds, the American festival etc... ! It's an excellent
forum to socialize with people from other clubs.

"Willy Van der Linden" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

At this moment I'm making a dramatized documentary.
it might be interesting to listen carefully to some voices in winning
films. So I did and I found a very good one in a film made by the "Preston
Movie Makers". I contacted Geoff Harrison, the vice president

Hurrah! That's what we should be doing. Some people seem to believe they
have to create movies all alone ... but not so.

Fine, if you want to work that way, do so. But you can also seeks help and
still keep control over the films you make. There are a lot of wonderful
people in the non-commercial film world who are only too happy to gve a helping
hand if they are asked.

In my own small way I help some film makers from Switzerland, Austria and
Germany to have their work understood in the English-speaking world by revising
their subtitles into colloquial English. I am not alone in doing that. Other
IAC people do the same.

A lot of people in the UK and overseas help me when I am subtitling British
movies for use in other countries. Recently the subtitles for a film from
Guernsey bounced between me in Bath (UK) and Tampa (Florida, USA where a
bilingual friend advised on the correct "tone" of language.

Last year an Australian moviemaker elicited the help of a London one to get
some shots of London for them.

Does anyone else have such examples of co-operation between distant movie
people?

Dave

That's one of the reasons why we

should go on supporting regional, national and international festivals like
BIAFF, Guernsey, the Cotswolds, the American festival etc... ! It's an
excellent
forum to socialize with people from other clubs.

Willy and Dave, how right you both are in supporting international collaboration!
BIAFF is so much better now that we are getting so many films (and visits)
from our continental friends. I am hoping also that Dave keeps up his sub
titling activities as this certainly assists the two way film exchanges.
(Might need your help soon David!)

But I must take up Willy's discussion on narrators. I am afraid I did comment
to him that I sometimes find his narrations a little on the formal side.
I appreciate that as a non native English speaker he may not quite appreciate
this but to combat this tendancy (also to be found in many films made by
English people) I rarely (never) use a voice of a person who is not appearing
as part of the film. Using the voice of someone we have heard and seen on
screen creates a link and generally results in a more natural delivery, especially
if the words are spoken from the location of the film and, a vital point
to me, OFF THE CUFF. I never write a script for a narrator, they nearly always
sound as if they are being read. I get the person to speak naturally for
as long as possible and then take, word for word if necessary, what I need.
It is time consuming I know and the sound quality can vary, which is a problem
in post production, but I find the resulting informality well worthwhile.

We all have our own preferences and foibles but I just thought I would explain
my particular pont of view concerning narration.

"Dave Watterson" <david.filmsocs@virgin.net> wrote:


Some people seem to believe they

have to create movies all alone ... but not so.

Fine, if you want to work that way, do so. But you can also seeks help and
still keep control over the films you make. There are a lot of wonderful
people in the non-commercial film world who are only too happy to gve a
helping
hand if they are asked.

Just a quick note to say that I still have PAL VX1000 and will happily shoot

material for fellow n-c film makers of the American Southwest, red cliffs,
canyons, rodeos, sagebrush, wildfires (yes, the seasom is with us), etc

Ned C

"Michael Slowe" <michael.slowe@btinternet.com> wrote:

But I must take up Willy's discussion on narrators. I am afraid I did comment
to him that I sometimes find his narrations a little on the formal side.

I rarely (never) use a voice of a person who is not appearing
as part of the film. Using the voice of someone we have heard and seen
on
screen creates a link and generally results in a more natural delivery,
especially
if the words are spoken from the location of the film and, a vital point
to me, OFF THE CUFF. I never write a script for a narrator, they nearly
always
sound as if they are being read. I get the person to speak naturally for
as long as possible and then take, word for word if necessary, what I need.

Oh, yes, I agree with you, Michael. When I was in England for my "Yoda"-film

I asked my actor Colin to read some sentences and to say everything in his
own words (acted scenes). It resulted in a natural delivery. At home, however,
I asked him to read additional sentences that I had written for the other
parts of the film. In the film you can hear that these sentences are being
read. These parts are too formal.
For my next film (about a concentration camp) my narrator is an old prisoner-of-war.
Of course it sounds very natural, because he tells everything that happened
to him and to his mates in the concentration camp. I didn't have to write
anything. These parts of my film will be subtitled. But I also need a few
spoken English sentences to introduce my prisoner-of-war and to tell us other
things in between the parts being said by my ex-prisoner-of-war. I will ask
my English narrator, who is a member of a drama group, not to read, but to
say everything in a spontanuous way. Of course I will have to send him the
things he will have to say. I have your useful suggestions in my mind when
making my next film, Michael, but I think it is also good to use the voice
of a different narrator after so many years. When I was a young man I was
an Elvis-fan, but after having listened to 5 or 6 Elvis-songs, it was good
to listen to a Cliff Richard-song.
By the way, sorry for Arsenal, Michael ! The referee took a wrong decision.
He excluded the Arsenal-goalkeeper Lehman. The Gunners were super. Did you
know that Eboué played in our Belgian competition for the Flemish team F.C.
Beveren last year ? It's amazing that he plays for an English super-team
now.

"Willy Van der Linden" <vanderlindenhig@telenet.be> wrote:

By the way, sorry for Arsenal, Michael ! The referee took a wrong decision.
He excluded the Arsenal-goalkeeper Lehman. The Gunners were super. Did you
know that Eboué played in our Belgian competition for the Flemish team
F.C.
Beveren last year ? It's amazing that he plays for an English super-team
now.

Thanks Willy. I was there and it was almost unbearable waiting for the inevitable
equaliser - and with only 12 minutes to go! The atmosphere was quite amazing
and we were proud of our team. Thanks for Eboue, he will be a great star
with us. Paris was good, we stayed for three days and saw some wonderful
art. I am not so sure about your taste in music though, Cliff Richard??

"michael Slowe" <michael.slowe@btinternet.com> wrote:
I am not so sure about your taste in music though, Cliff Richard??

I was still a teenager, Michael. I remember a Cliff Richard Concert in Antwerp.
I was there together with my friends. When Sir Cliff left the Festivity Hall
the thousands of youngsters were hysterical and started to scan "We want
Cliff ! We want Cliff !". I was one of them. Can you imagine ? Stupid, isn't
it ? My taste is different now. But, let's talk about filmmaking now, otherwise
Dave will ...

When the cat's away the mice will play. I think that Dave Watterson is in
Croatia at the moment, but I have the impression that my mice-friends are
still asleep.


"Dave Watterson" <david.filmsocs@virgin.net> wrote:

1. Some people seem to believe they have to create movies all alone ... but

not so.

2. In my own small way I help some film makers from Switzerland, Austria
and

Germany to have their work understood in the English-speaking world by revising
their subtitles into colloquial English. I am not alone in doing that. Other
IAC people do the same.

Does anyone else have such examples of co-operation between distant movie
people?

1. Making a film is teamwork, but indeed you must keep control over he films
you make. That's sometimes difficult in particular when excellent film makers
want to help you. When watching the "rushes" of a film I'm sometimes surprised
that I am very bossy when directing that movie, but I don't think I go over
the top. When other film makers put pressure on me when directing a film
then I get nervous. That's bad, isn't it ? Perhaps we've already talked about
it.

It's good to help friends and it's good to be helped by them, but I also
have a bad experience. Sometimes friends find it logical that they're helped
by me. I'm someone who cannot refuse. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you
the following thing. In the course of the last twenty years I wrote and I
read the commentary texts for about 30-35 documentaries made by one particular
friend in my club, a friend you don't know. Last time he asked me to write
a new text for a film with a length of about 1 hour, a film he only wanted
to show his relatives. So the film was not meant for a competition or a festival
and I refused. My clubmate was very angry with me. He didn't understand why
I refused this time. It also proves that he doesn't realize how much time
it takes to write a good text. I had the feeling that he didn't respect my
work anymore.

It gives me a nice feeling if I can help friends, even from other clubs,
in particular if they would like to take part in BIAFF or in any other international
festival. When the filmmaker is successful then it also gives me a nice feeling.

2. You also help filmmakers from Belgium, Dave, to have their work understood.
You are very good at writing subtitles. You've given me very good hints.
Now I understand that it's a special technique. I think that my English spelling
is not too bad, but it's always necessary to have my subtitles revised in
colloquial English by you. All foreign teachers of English need help by native
speakers. Many thanks.