Voice Acting

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

I think American voicing is just fine. In any case disregarding the Victorian aspect of thief (and people association of 19th century urban centres with england), and considering the medieval aspect, it would be pleasanter if the spoken language was distinct and clear sounding and a mixture of several readily understood languages like in "Qntal"'s songs.

[Arumakani]

They could have a French lover's accent as the thief

 

"Ah, ma cherie amour..."

 

A non heavily accented one may be better though. As a thief he may have to be non-descript, and accentless, thus instantly forgettable, by passers by. What sort of accent has been gone for BTW?

[bob_arctor]

Mutton Geoff? Rough?

 

I wouldn't like to see a French accent in there. French I'd be happy with, but a Frenchman speaking English just isn't that nice to hear, especially if it's an English person doing the French accent...

 

I vote for up north!

[Arumakani]

Mutton Geoff is deaf.

 

Does anyone know what the accent will be?

[spix's circlet]

I would live for a British accent in TDM. European in general would be nice. But if New Horizon is only using people within and around Prince Edward Island, options for other accents are limited, even for generic canned quips.

Edited May 30, 2006 by spix's circlet

[Springheel]

within and around Prince Edward Island, options for other accents are limited, even for generic canned quips.

 

You may have heard of a skill even semi-professional actors have, called adopting accents.

[Vadrosaul]

You may have heard of a skill even semi-professional actors have, called adopting accents.

Most of them should send them back to the agency

[New Horizon]

I would live for a British accent in TDM. European in general would be nice. But if New Horizon is only using people within and around Prince Edward Island, options for other accents are limited, even for generic canned quips.

 

You are aware that a vast majority of east coast canadians are of Irish/ Scottish decent aren't you? Not that makes us experts in different accents, but there is still a hint of an accent in many people here. Putting that aside, the actors I choose will be chosen for their ability to mimic...they don't necessarily have to be bang on, considering we're not recreating any particular period on earth.

[oDDity]

IF there's one thing that really annoys me it's dodgy accents. I'd prefer they just used their own in that case, because it totally distracts me every time I hear a voice and have to cringe or laugh at it.

[Arumakani]

What's funny is listening to how the accents are translated. Shenmue is a prime example. The original Japanese voice actor was brilliant, however when it was put for England and US the actor sounded very wooden.

[spix's circlet]

Most of them should send them back to the agency.

It is sometimes the case that when actors try and mimic foreign accents the result is risible. As in the Splinter Cell series where Chinese, Slavs etc. are caricatured.

 

 

You are aware that a vast majority of east coast canadians are of Irish/Scottish decent aren't you? Not that makes us experts in different accents, but there is still a hint of an accent in many people here. Putting that aside, the actors I choose will be chosen for their ability to mimic...they don't necessarily have to be bang on, considering we're not recreating any particular period on earth.

No doubt there are both advantages and disadvantages with limiting your recording to a studio, as there would be also in a more open access - a division between quantity and quality. All I said was that an island is limited - even an island of east-coast Canadians with Irish or Scottish decent (I knew one, his accent was delightful) - in contrast to an invitation of the entire European continent. I agree that actors "don't necessarily have to be bang on", but it is nonetheless a little ambiguous: We wanted a British accent... and, well, it sounds kinda British. For me there is usually a visible line between an accent that sounds genuinely French or British or sounding caricatured - OR, wait-a-minute, you might end up with something unique that doesn't offend one's intelligence (which would negate my point: i.e. We wanted a British-esque accent... and, well, is sounds kinda British (without being caricatured).. success!) The point is that if you want a European accent, can you find that voice in your locality or, alternatively, find someone good enough to mimic it? If not, then any issue of members wishing for a British or French accent is rather pointless.

 

I am not one for these crazy debates mind you. I'd be happy with neutral voices really. Actually the irony now is that my mind is remembered of that Canadian.. and I'm thinking that actors of your area, with a few twists and turns, has the potential to produce something wonderful... ob

Edited May 31, 2006 by spix's circlet

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

There is still a wide variety of British accents. Likewise, before people moved to the cities due to the industrial revolution there was a wide variety of French accents, most of them more pleasant (to me at least) than the currently singular Parisian accent. It is a little incorrect to think of only "British" or "French" accents. Consider an area closer to Belgium and Nederlands before globalization. A beautiful variety of dialects and accents.

[spix's circlet]

What in strawberry-land are you talking about?

[Dram]

Strawberries?

 

*dum dum pshh*

[oDDity]

Yes, actually there is a default 'british' accent. People from the home counties are generally considered to have no accent. Anywhere in the country you move from there you will hear radically different accents, but there's no point using those, since other English speakers around the globe wouldn't be able to understand them fully. If you've ever heard a strong geordie or scouse accent, you'll know what I mean.

[bob_arctor]

I don't care. I want someone from Hull or Rochdale damnit! They have great accents.

 

I'm interested by what you say about France. Have they not got as much variation as the UK now?

I can speak pretty good French so it does interest me. I can kind of hear accents, but it's hard. I find some of the newsreaders have very harsh accents, their "s"s are horribly sibilant...

Also I went to see Wallace and Gromit in England with a Frenchman, and he couldn't tell Wallace's Northern accent, which astonished me. It's just so obvious!

 

And don't get people to try and do an "English" accent. It's just so aweful. Mind you I can find Canadian a bit whiney... go for something neutral maybe... really nasal whiney Canadian would stick out badly.

 

In fact, I know an example! The film Chocolat, that had the worst accents ever! I couldn't tell whether the main woman was American or not (apparently she was French, they all were) and whether the gypsy chap was Irish or what...?

They had American/French accents I think. That faded in and out. Either speak French and do subtitles like the wonderfull German-made Downfall, or speak American. Or even better hire some good English actors.

It was more Allo Allo than serious cinema.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

As far as I know french used to be a wonderful language - beautiful sounding, easy to hear, easy to pronounce, closer to latin than it is now. Sometime before the renaissance the major urban centres' dialects changed closer to what we now know as french. Then as time passed and the urban behaviour influenced the rural, it was all changed.

[bob_arctor]

Oh. Well I think French is quite beautiful. It seems very elegant to have to use such posh sounding words (utilisation, etc) and have all the cognates of higher English words which link beautifully to Latin, so you have avare, in English avaricious for cheapskate (although technically radin is the vuglar one).

 

The reviews of bad things, and insults etc sound great in French too.

 

It's a bit of a bugger to pronounce words like organisation or régularisation properly though, and it's hard to listen to and understand.

 

Still quite beautiful though. It becomes less so as you learn it though, as it's no longer just pretty sounds, it's meanings.

 

English is just quite lazy in comparison. At least it is how I speak it, and how people around me do. All the schwas and contractions... I appreciate English more from having learnt French though, it's got that old clunkiness from having been mixed and mashed up so much.

[oDDity]

I never saw the point in German and French classes at high school. Such a small percentage of the world speaks those languages, it's a waste of time learning them. And fo course, when you're never using a language, you forget it soon anyway.

THey should all know at least some English, so if you do happen to visit they can use that. THat might sound arrogant, but it's in their interest to learn English since it's so widely spoken, not just as a first language, but as a second language for so many people in the world.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

The languages spoken by the world superpowers are french, german and english, therefore they should be learnt and not just english for everybody. I wish the dutch won the colonization struggle in the new world instead of the french/english/spanish because I love the dutch language/culture. In the 20th century French sounds ugly. It has mutated beyond recognition. English is only good because of all the mixtures it has received over the years. It is too sad to see the great germanic languages/peoples being pushed to the outskirts of importance in society.

[bob_arctor]

@ Oddity: Urm well French people are pretty crap at English, which is nice, 'cos when you go over there you get to speak and hear the language. I like France you see, so it is worth it to learn the language. Mind you I'd hate to not know English these days, it'd be rubbish seeing how pervasive the anglo-saxon (UK and USA) culture is, and considering the current economic state of europe.

So yeah it is realistic to say English is important. Though it's still good to learn other languages, can make you appreciate your own for a start.

 

@ Order

Mutated beyond recognition?

 

And other languages haven't?

 

Interesting that you think French is uglier than Dutch, the consensus is that Dutch is horrible and gutteral. I haven't heard it beyond a few words myself.

 

Colonisation doesn't really have much to do with it these days, it's more who is the superpower, economically and culturally. Which is the USA. So that's only one colony.

All the others, like the French ones, now don't make much difference, and are losing their Frenchness anyway. I don't think unless the Dutch happened to form a colony that became as big as America much would be different.

[Order of the Hammer Bureaucrat]

Well, they tried. I once made a joke that global warming increases and the ocean levels rise New York will have to build dams and it should be renamed back to New Amsterdam.

[oDDity]

Pah, the Dutch couldn't win a fight with a wet paper bag. THe French managed to hang onto a tiny little bit of Canada, but they had their asses roundly kicked by the UK and Germans every time, and the Spanish got South America, which is the most rubbish continent on the planet, and no one else wanted it.

THe Germans, well they left it just a bit too late to start colonising, and they chose to try and colonise their neighbours, rather then some technologically inferior country far from home that no one cared about. Not a very successful plan.

That's why English is the global language, when Britain invaded a country. they tended to make a succesful nation out of it.

[thestemmer]

That's why English is the global language, when Britain invaded a country. they tended to make a succesful nation out of it.

 

*cough cough* Iraq *cough* Egypt *cough* Israel *cough*

 

Yeah, in the Middle East at least, the British were pretty much royal fuckups wherever they operated. Out of all of the British mandate states, Jordon is the only really sucessful one I can think of (maybe some of the smaller gulf states too, I don't know much about them). And the only reason that Jordon was able to thrive was that it was small, thinly populated, and had very capable leaders. And let's not even go into the British policies in Africa. Disgusting.

[oDDity]

Kuwait did well also. That's why I said 'tended to' not 'on every single occasion', anyway, invasions are more successful if you can wipe out the indigious population and just repopulate the county with your own kind, otherweise the natives tend to fester and suddenly stab you in the back when they get the chance.

It's not like any of those countries you mention would have been worth shit anyway, Egypt's been invaded and occupied by just about every other army over the last 3000 years, Nubians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Muslims, French, Germans, British... in the end, they just installed a revolving door. I don't think they've actually owned their own country for about 3000 years.

There are two types of invasion, one where you simply rape the country for all you can get or becasue it has some strategic importance, and one where you want to settle down and call it home, it's the second type that makes for successes.

There's no point looking back on history from a modern perspective and saying 'it was wrong to do that'. In the past, if you saw a nation that was weaker then you, you invaded it and took what you wanted.