Accent-uate the Positive

Dreadylocks

Dreadylocks

So as not to derail the previous thread, I thought it would be best to start a new one.

Here's my (possibly laughable) attempt at an 'accent reel.' I hope you garner entertainment
and amusement from it. And now that I've done mine, go forth and make your own! No bad
accent is too bad! :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kal7dedutHQ


As they say across the pond: Cheers!
 
Good accents are a lot more difficult than most people imagine.

I still find a neutral american accent tricky. It gets even harder when you need to yell/shout in it.

Pip-pip and good day.
smiley_tiphat.gif
 
Yay! Those were pretty awesome. I lol'd.

My boyfriend often quotes Captain Spalding from House of 1000 Corpses to cheer me up when I'm sad. Then he says the same thing in a terrible British accent. Then I am happy. Sometimes he'll try and do a southern American accent that's even worse. <3

Just a little tidbit for you all there :P
 
Do you like Gary Oldman?

I liked the reel btw.

FYI the main problem with accents is that people pick up on the unfamiliar. If you can do an irish accent say 80% of the way, an Irishman will take it for granted and only pick up on the 20% you do not do correctly.

For example, ive lived in many countries including England and the States. My primary language is English. But whenever, im in the UK, people say i have an American accent. And whenever im in the States, people there say i have British accent. I suppose its a bit of a mix, but like i sad, people only tend to notice the differences and not the similarities with accents.

That's why, as Zen said, a good accent (which is believable to that specific native speaker) is actually quite hard to pull off.
 
I met a guy a few years ago who had the weirdest accent I had ever heard. He was born in the Boston area, moved to Brooklyn when he was about 10, then to Atlanta when he was 15 or so and in his early 20's finally ended up in New Mexico on the Texas border married to a hispanic. As I said, probably the strangest accent I ever heard.
 
Dreadylocks said:
So as not to derail the previous thread, I thought it would be best to start a new one.
Click to expand...

Is that the thread where Crackerfunk posted Amy Walker's "21 Accents"

Despite many of the youtube commenters jabbing on (about that 20% incorrectness, I guess), I found this really fascinating! I've watched it several times.


BTW, thanks for sharing your video. The accents were decent, but I think your natural, Chicago voice is quite charismatic. I like it. You will not see any accent video from me, because I just plain suck at that. I'm always blown away by Americans that can do a U.K. accent and vice versa.
 
The special edition of "Dr. Strangelove" contains a bit where Peter Sellers does 6 or 7 different and distinct British dialects, from the far north to several just in and around London, in 30 seconds or so.

I love watching BBC mini-series and picking out the Brit actors who do American dialects well and which ones are terrible at it.
 
I see that your cockney accent owes a lot to the Audrey Hepburn/Dick van Dyke school of London dialects... :D

I think it's true what people say about your home accent, you will always be able to spot the little differences that people do. But I think a lot of that is to do with the fact that I know you're American and so I know that British isn't a natural accent...

Sometimes when I'm in the US I affect an American accent for my own enjoyment and, to this day, no one has pointed me in the face and said 'you're not American!'. I guess on the whole we take for granted that people will speak in their native accent.

But because I know that you aren't British I immediately see all the flaws in your accent, which on the whole was fine.

That said with the Amy Walker video, the first thing that I thought to myself was 'She's not British' and apparently she isn't (but I didn't know that at the time). So her accents can't be as perfect as some people think...
 
Glad you guys liked it :D It was a lot of fun to make, and after watching it I feel like having some drinks and doing more I left the drinks out of this video and I think that hurt the quality. lol

@Zen, you're not kidding. I'm really really impressed when I hear someone do a truly neutral american accent. And the yelling thing is really true, too. You haven't mastered a language/accent until you can be really angry and scream at someone. It was always hilarious when I'd watch exchange students get mad and completely go off in their native tongue.

@ICH, was Captain Spalding an american?

@Ernest, hmm, I haven't seen a lot of Gary Oldman, but what I've seen I definitely like. Was I channeling him or something?

@Alcove, the strangest accent I've heard was a girl who's father was american, her mother was French and she grew up in Norway. It was completely unique.

@CFunk, I knew you would think so! :lol:

@Paper, thanks!

@Scoop, yeah that was the thread. And that Amy Walker video was really fun. God, it makes me want to actually study dialects.

@UC, you mean this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLsVh6Qrpew
:P I'd never seen it before, but I totally dig it. He can steal my precious bodily fluids anytime ;)

@Nick, I would say that's a fair assessment, although I would say more Julie Andrews than Audrey Hepburn. But definitely DvD

This is the video that put the idea of seeing you brits do american accents into my head:
http://www.mtv.com/videos/movies/59...josh-horowitz-and-the-harry-potter-cast.jhtml
Draco was the best, I think he was just channeling Justing Timberlake, though Watson was horrible, I feel like she's never even attempted an american accent :P

Ok, now post your videos, I don't want to be the only fool up here.
 
I rehearse dialects every night when I read bedtime stories to my daughter. She'll call them them out: "Booklynese!" or "Manchester!" and I'll have to switch on the fly with text that doesn't always easily compute. Maybe I'll set the camera up and record the hilarity some night.
 
I love your Irish accent! Now, can you put on 100 pounds and about 50 years? You'd be perfect for Sophie Delacroix, the great granddaughter of Eugene, who's been described in periodicals.
 
I want to see other Americans stepping up to the mark!

Dreadman's done a grand ol' job, but I reckon the rest are just wusses... It's easy to type that you can accents, but tricky to catch that magic moment on video...
 
NickClapper said:
I want to see other Americans stepping up to the mark!

Dreadman's done a grand ol' job, but I reckon the rest are just wusses... It's easy to type that you can accents, but tricky to catch that magic moment on video...
Click to expand...

I'm quite busy preparing for my ADR shoot tomorrow. Perhaps I'll do one, later this week, just for shits and giggles.
 
I can't do accents to save my life-trust me, yours is Oscar worthy compared to mine!


I thought it was well done, and never thought of doing an accent clip like that!
 
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