Voice People: I Need Your Help!!!

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 10:38pm

I'm making a horror film later in the year in which I am playing both a husband and a wife. I was wondering if anyone could possibly give me tips on to how to develop the voice of the wife. I don't really want it to sound comically over-the-top because this is an extremely serious film.

[AnnaK<3LMIP]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 10:40pm

How deep is your voice? You could actually have a Scarlett Johansson thing going on for your wife. Sorry that that's the only suggestion I have. It must be quite difficult to have to change your voice like that.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 10:42pm

pretty deep and monotone. the character is a narcissistic apathetic so perhaps scarlett johanson would work.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 5/8/07 at 11:21pm

Sorry, but that sounds like a horrible idea. No matter what you do, it's going to come off comical, unless you j ust have a high pitched voice naturally. Perhaps you could deepen your voice for the male, so your normal voice would work a little better for the female.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:11am

You can toootally make it work. Concentrate on the vowels, not only are women physiologically different vocal chord wise, but women often have a completely different diction than men, even if they are brought up in the same place.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:15am

It'll be like Bea Arthur in a horror movie.

"Hey, Walter! I think there's a man trying to kill me!"

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:24am

I thought this was a singing-voice question. I have absolutely no idea how to alter your voice from what it is without doing damage or hurting your vocals. Sorry. I think you should just cast a girl.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 12:40am

How about distinctive speech patterns other than timbre? Have the wife be breathier, softer, quieter (stereotype, I know, but you want to use that to reinforce the audience reaction to the character). Or have the man character stutter, or have a distinctive accent or dialect (if you can handle it).

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 5/9/07 at 1:54am

i'm kind of aiming for a zooey deschanel/thora-birch-in-ghost-world type thing. this character is an utter narcissist just like her husband, hence why i will be playing both the man and the woman. (they are in love, but all they see is themselves.)

i've been listening to women's speech lately and their diction and syntax. perhaps i will just continue to do that.

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 1:51am

I finally know how I'm going to do this!

Neither the man nor the woman will be portrayed as "completely" into their gender. They both will be a bit ambiguous, although one is clearly a man and one is clearly a female. For an example of how this could possibly work, think of Eddie Izzard. When he is doing stand-up, he isn't wearing clothing usually associated with women (dresses, high-heels, whatnot...), he's making his gender almost ambiguous in a way. I think this is how I can make this film work, because I really do love the idea of it.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 2:52am

Is this a straight-to-the-$3.99-bin film?

[Cruel_Sandwich]

Posted: 7/27/07 at 3:02pm

Well, I'm impregnating myself in it so....