0167 – Problematic Punctuations

Get A Better Broadcast, Podcast and Voice-Over Voice

English - June 15, 2021 23:01 - 6 minutes - 4.11 MB - ★★★★ - 4 ratings
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2021.06.16-0167 – Problematic Punctuations

Punctuation

A good script should be properly punctuated… to be read aloud! So that may not stick strictly accurately to the grammar and structure were taught at school, but whatever works to help the reader make sense of the sentence, where to place inflection or where to pause.

All the dots and dashes are there for a reason: to help the reader read correctly so they can better communicate with their audience.

Commas

Not only do commas indicate a slight pause, and a full stop/period a longer one, but they also help marshal groups of words to create order and avoid misunderstanding.

Woman without her man is nothing.

Some scriptwriters even mark their copy with the actual word “(PAUSE)” to show where the reader needs to take a second.

Also make sure that your punctuation matches the tone of the content. So if it’s a calm and collected, smooth and aloof script, then filling it with CAPITALS or exclamations!!! – will create a cacophony of dichotomy in the mind of the reader. The words’ meaning and how they’re being directed in the reading, will be confusing and conflicting.

Through these around-5-minute episodes, you can build your confidence and competence with advice on breathing and reading, inflection and projection, the roles played by better scripting and better sitting, mic techniques and voice care tips... with exercises and anecdotes from a career spent in TV and radio studios. If you're wondering about how to start a podcast, or have had one for a while - download every episode!

And as themes develop over the weeks (that is, they are not random topics day-by-day), this is a free, course to help you GET A BETTER BROADCAST, PODCAST AND VIDEO VOICE.

Look out for more details of the book during 2021.

Contacts: https://linktr.ee/Peter_Stewart

Peter has been around voice and audio all his working life and has trained hundreds of broadcasters in all styles of radio from pop music stations such as Capital FM and BBC Radio 1 to Heart FM, the classical music station BBC Radio 3 and regional BBC stations. He’s trained news presenters on regional TV, the BBC News Channel and on flagship programmes such as the BBC’s Panorama. Other trainees have been music presenters, breakfast show hosts, travel news presenters and voice-over artists.

He has written a number of books on audio and video presentation and production (“Essential Radio Journalism”, “JournoLists”, two editions of “Essential Radio Skills” and three editions of “Broadcast Journalism”) and has written on voice and presentation skills in the BBC’s in-house newspaper “Ariel”.

Peter has presented hundreds of radio shows (you may have heard him on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 4, Virgin Radio or Kiss, as well as BBC regional radio) with formats as diverse as music-presentation, interview shows, ‘special’ programmes for elections and budgets, live outside broadcasts and commentaries and even the occasional sports, gardening and dedication programmes. He has read several thousand news bulletins, and hosted nearly 2,000 podcast episodes, and is a vocal image consultant advising in all aspects of voice and speech training for presenters on radio and TV, podcasts and YouTube, voiceovers and videocalls.

The podcast title refers to those who may wish to change their speaking voice in some way. It is not a suggestion that anyone should, or be pressured into needing to. We love accents and dialects, and are well aware that how we speak changes over time. The key is: is your voice successfully communicating your message, so it is being understood (and potentially being acted upon) by your target audience?

This podcast is London-based and examples are spoken in the RP (Received Pronunciation) / standard-English / BBC English pronunciation, although invariably applicable to other languages, accents and dialects.

Music credits:

"Bleeping Demo" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License