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Last week was filming, and today I'm doing the voice over work for a video the national office is making. They picked me after attending a training session I conducted for a new web application we've created.
So now I'm trying to figure how to deliver these lines naturally. I have an alto speaking and singing voice, and they liked the female voice that wasn't pitched too high. All of this I will undo if I can't exorcise the nervous quaver.
I never thought I'd be doing this. I'm a technical writer. It isn't a huge deal - my life is not changed - but I like it.
Ever get asked to do something you had no idea would be in your job description?
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Yeah. I didn't even pay PTA dues, let alone do PTA volunteer work. And yet I got called a couple of weeks ago asking which committee I'd like to head up. I do spend about 5 hours a week in the classrooms helping the teachers, but I was still suprised.
I'm in charge of the drug prevention program at our school next year.
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Kat, the only suggestion I have is practice, practice, practice, preferably with a good tape recorder and mike. For each line, pay attention to pacing, intonation, and emphasis for each word - they can make big difference.
The cool thing is, you can take the time you need to get each line perfect, in a way you can't when delivering a live speech. And familiarity will ease the nervousness.
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I've got fifteen minutes. I was informed of this 30 minutes ago. And I'm still re-writing. AAAAAA!!
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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This thread just reminds me that I need to start looking for a job. Now I have the privilege of looking for a job Posts: 32 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I never thought I would be standing around a dirt lot in jeans, watching 15+ "experts" swarm over the burned-out hulk of an exploded boat for two days, while keeping an eye on attorneys for the "other side" to make sure they don't try anything sneaky.
It's not so much that I didn't know attorneys did this kind of thing. But that's not the kind of law that I was going to practice. I was going to sit at a desk all day, every day, with occasional depositions or court appearances, which is what I usually do.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Despite the above, this really wasn't meant to be an ego thread. Ami, I love that they tapped you to be in charge. I'm sure it will be great.
For another example, I once spent an afternoon at my lab job (growing bacteria, tidying the place, running basic experiments) editing one of the grad student's We-Will-Take-You-Down letter to the head of housing at my university to make it both more clear and more threatening. That was entertaining.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Troggy, cool! I especially like how you listed the Zamboni as one of the perks with a straight face.
*makes note to not move back to Utah, ever*
(The video is on the web application. The viewers will see me turning on the computer, and then my shoulder and 1/4 of my profile as they shoot over my shoulder at the computer screen. It's my voice on the voice over.
Yeah, big stretch. I really had to dig deep within myself to find the character of a woman who could turn on a computer and use a mouse. Also, unless you're the target audience (the ones who will save thousands of dollars and mantime because of this application), it's akin to watching paint dry. )
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Good read Pat. I mailed the address to my dad because he thinks I should major in computer science. Posts: 4229 | Registered: Dec 2002
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I kept waiting for the guy to say, "Next time, with more intensity." He did ask for more modulation, but that was the first time. Turns out the equipment was screwed up so we did it all over again, and the second time was much better (I was relaxed).
So goes my voice over career. I'll send it as an audition tape to Pixar.
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Is the thread dead? No one else has That Wasn't In My Job Description stories?
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I have one. You know how supermarkets have a certain order to their sections? You have a certain brand of some items grouped in one place, and a different brand grouped somewhere else? That isn't random. People write schematics for the proper order. My job is to put those in the proper order with a schematic. Not the most glorious job, but yeah...
I would think I would just move it all in the right place and put new tags every time there is a reset, but there is much more than that. You have to be able to adjust shelves that almost always older than you are and haven't been moved in about 20 years... Imagine the dirt you have to clean out after 20 years! It's not much fun. Cleaning isn't part of what I'm supposed to do... That's about it for me.
Posts: 4229 | Registered: Dec 2002
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I've had so many different jobs and they have all required so many different things - I just go with the flow. I'm trying to think of what I haven't done . . . and I can't really - except work for mass transit (trains, planes and busses).
I dunno - done everything from motel maiding (including washing toilet bowls by hand because the company was trying to save time and a time study proved using the scrubber took too much time), to laying down tracks in the studio, to re-filling ketchup bottles, to tearing off old roofing, to inventorying postcards, to learning artisan skills, to technical writing, to changing diapers and rocking babies while writing grants, to clarifying and setting statewide policy. All in a day's work, I say . . . Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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At my old job, I never thought the owners of the resturant would yank me out of resturant work to go make balloon animals at a pool party. The cooks were annoyed, and so was I, when that happened. They should either pay the full price for balloon animal work or let me go back to my happy menial labor in the resturant which i enjoyed.
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I've got fifteen minutes. I was informed of this 30 minutes ago. And I'm still re-writing. AAAAAA!!
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