Larry King celebrates 50 years in broadcasting, Screaming Bee, 20th Anniversary of Audio Coding, Charlotte’s Web Movie, the new iPhone from Apple, and an interview with Bob Brewster about the ACTRA Strike in the VOX Box.
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Larry King, Screaming Bee, Fraunhofer IIS, Charlotte’s Web, The Apple iPhone, Bob Brewster, ACTRA
Transcript of Vox Talk #4
Male: Episode 4
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Welcome to VOX Talk brought to you by Voices.com. My name is Stephanie Ciccarelli, co-founder of Voices.com and your host for today’s show. VOX Talk is about you. It’s a new podcast that helps you grow in your voiceover career.
Each episode will begin with news and current voiceover events in a segment called The Loop. Then we’ll explore business development and hot trends that will set you apart as a professional voice actor. Next on the list is Tech Talk, a segment where our team will review products and guide you through that technological landscape. Lastly, we’ll answer your questions and play audio feedback in a segment called VOX Box.
Now that we’re ready to go, let’s move on to our first segment.
Male: The Loop, informing you of news and current voiceover events.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Legendary broadcast icon Larry King hosted the television program Larry King Live on CNN, is celebrating 50 years of broadcasting in April of this year with a week-long series of shows. Oprah Winfrey is one of the scheduled guests and former US President Bill Clinton and actress Angelina Jolie are being pursued for two of the other nights. Katie Couric will interview King on the last celebration show. King has also agreed to a 50th anniversary roast with Bill Maher emceeing. Larry King aged 77 has been with CNN for 24 of those 50 golden years. To learn more, visit the links on the VOXTalk Blog.
In other news, Screaming Bee LLC has created an online support area for Sony Sound Forge users. Sound Forge is a professional grade audio editor that can import, record and manipulate sound and then save content to various file formats. The educational page provides tips for multi-media enthusiasts and professionals on how to integrate MorphVOX Pro Voice Changer with this audio editor. MorphVOX Pro provides high quality voice morphing for online games, instant messaging and the professional studio. It can also be used for creating voiceovers for audio and video projects. For more information, go to ScreamingBee.com.
Our last story is about a German company, Fraunhofer IIS that has been converting analog audio recordings into digital audio recordings for 20 years. The German Research Institute is commemorating this milestone with a range of events including the release of several video casts. These video casts promise to deliver insights into the development of MP3 in the early days of audio coding. The highlight of these celebrations will be the Day of Audio Coding on May 25th, 2007.
To learn more and to watch the video cast, visit the VOX Talk links for episode four.
Male: The Biz, helping you grow your voiceover business.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: This week in The Biz, we’ll be discussing the new Charlotte’s Web movie currently in theatres everywhere. If you’ve read the classic children’s novel Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, you’ve likely heard about the new Charlotte’s Web movie complete with computer-generated characters alongside a human cast starring the voice talents of Julia Roberts as the beloved spider and heroine, Charlotte A. Cavatica. Charlotte’s Web teaches us about life and death, trust, friendship and also proves that we can all make a difference in the lives of others if we try.
While today’s generation of children will remember the film starring Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts and John Cleese, those of us born in the 80s and before hand know a different, gentler Charlotte’s Web released in 1973 starring the voice talents of Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte the spider, Paul Lynde as Templeton the rat and Henry Gibson as Wilbur. You may also appreciate that Don Messick played the role of Jeffrey and that Rex Allen was the narrator.
But now, to the heart of the matter. Which voice cast did you like best? Send in your comments and feedback by leaving a comment on the VOX Talk Blog or by sending in your audio feedback to [email protected].
Male: Tech Talk, walking you through the technological landscape.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: This week in Tech Talk, we’ll talk about the new iPhone from Apple Inc. For those of you up on the technological beat, Macworld, the annual Mac conference is taking place all this week in Cupertino, California celebrating 30 years of new products and innovation. The most recent products announced were the Apple TV and the iPhone. The iPhone which aims to reinvent the mobile phone has a microphone built-in allowing anyone with a device to record conversations or telephone calls. Bearing that in mind, it’s reasonable to imagine that the iPhone will contribute significantly to the growth of interview style podcasts.
What does this mean for you? More voice talent will be in demand to produce imaging and promos for new podcast productions. The iPhone will be available in the US in June of 2007 with Europe and other nations to follow.
Male: VOX Box, answering your voiceover questions.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Welcome to VOX Box. This has been a crazy week with ACTRA striking up here in Canada. Earlier this afternoon, I asked five questions of ACTRA talent registered at Voices.com affected by the strike. I was able to get a hold of Bob Brewster in the province of Quebec, a province that joined the ACTRA strike today.
Hi Bob, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. First of, how is the ACTRA strike affecting you personally as a union member based in Quebec?
Bob Brewster: Actually, it’s not affecting me that much because the strike is just for film and for television on camera work and the bulk of the work that I do is voice work for TV commercials, radio commercials and cartoons.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: So, as a member of ACTRA, are you being compensated for your inability to accept various projects during the strike?
Bob Brewster: Absolutely not. ACTRA does not compensate you. I don’t believe that we do have a strike fund. We almost went on strike I think in 1999 but at the last minute, the producers caved in.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Okay. So how significant do you think this strike is? I’ve heard it’s the first time since the inception of ACTRA over 60 years ago that the union has gone on strike.
Bob Brewster: Very significant because the producers are actually trying to roll back wages instead of giving us an increase and they don’t want to compensate for any internet use. So, I don’t see the strike dragging on for too long because the producers will have to cave in if they want to get their movies made and besides the actors in Canada are – I wouldn’t say grossly underpaid but we’re not on an equal scale to actors in other countries.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Do you have picket duty to do?
Bob Brewster: Do I have picket duty? No, I don’t have picket duty. I live 50 miles north of Montreal so I will not be going in and picketing. Most of the picketing is being done in Ontario where the media spotlight is a little bigger, shall we say.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: And Bob, finally, the question of the hour. Is there an end in sight?
Bob Brewster: Any projections, yes. I don’t think the strike is going to last that long because if it does, then the movie end of this business is going to suffer greatly and unless the strike ends and there won’t be any Canadian or films or TV shows being made. So I can’t see it going on much longer.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: I’d like to thank Bob Brewster for sharing his thoughts with us today. To hear more from other affected ACTRA members, visit the VOX Daily Blog at blogs.Voices.com/VOXDaily.
If you have something you would like to share perhaps a tip, a comment or a suggestion, send in your MP3 file to be included in the VOX Box by e-mailing [email protected].
I’d like to thank you for joining us today. Log on to Voices.com for more information about how our service works and how we can serve you. Bye for now.
Links from today’s show:
Larry King
Fraunhofer IIS Videocasts
ACTRA members speak up
Bob Brewster
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