Aussie actors must speak ‘American’
Voice coach Troy Mackinder says Australian actors must be prepared to speak with a ‘standard’ American accent if they want to find work in international productions shooting in the country.
“You don’t want productions hiring people in LA and bringing them out to Australia, you want to get the work when it’s here,” said Mackinder, who launched his book Practically Speaking last month.
Mackinder, an American-born actor based in Queensland, has coached Australian and New Zealand talent to speak with an American accent. He has supported Australian talent on the set of Daybreakers, Accidents Happen and Triangle, and is currently working on the James Cameron/Andrew Wight production Sanctum.
“There’s been a low in terms of work volume, with the rise of the Australian dollar, but I think [international productions] are coming back,” said Mackinder
According to Mackinder, the idea for the book was to create a reference for the classes he was teaching, because there was no such material in the market. He started developing the book while working on the set of Daybreakers, hoping to reach a broader audience.
Mackinder says even American actors learn the ‘standard’ American accent, which helps them neutralise their voice so that the audience is not distracted from the story trying to identify where they’re from.
“To create the American sound, Australians and New Zealanders need to focus on elements that are different from the old academic guard; a more practical approach with less thinking about the accent and more thinking about the acting.
“This technique focuses on the emphasis on words within a sentence, and stress on syllables within the words. Actors [such as Claudia Karvan, who wrote the foreword of the book] say that it frees them up to concentrate on the acting,” said Mackinder
Mackinder has long-distance students in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, whom he teaches via Skype. His services have been promoted by word-of-mouth, but he expects that the release of the book will help him develop a stronger relationship with casting agencies and the possibility of master classes around the country.
One thing he will make clear to his current and prospective students is that developing this skill doesn’t mean they will be ready to conquer Hollywood.
“Many students come to me with those aspirations. Everybody wants to move to Los Angeles and ‘make it’, but they should learn the accent and get the work here first, then go over to the US.”
Mackinder defines the work of Karvan and the Australian cast of Daybreakers as “wonderful”, but believes his best on-set students have been the young cast from Andrew Lancaster’s upcoming Accidents Happen.
“Those guys had this huge film that they were a major part of, and they just skyrocketed from the minute we started,” he recalled.
Practically Speaking is available at Mackinder’s website.
GREAT JOB AND WELL SAID
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With respect, this is the most common misnomer I find, as a voice/dialect coach myself, used by everyone: there is no such thing as a “standard” American dialect. If there were, we would have an American area called “Standard”. What is wanted as the basic dialect is West Coast, with its very particular, and easily replicated, Tune, Stresses and vowel sounds, as well as its vocal energy and front places, which gives the best clarity. “Standard” implies that it is used across the country and that is obviously, with 50 states and umpteen dialects within them, not possible.
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I have read parts of the book and it’s a great tool for actors wanting to learn for a reasonable price.
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Hi Mirren. From our interview with Troy Mackinder:
“All actors in the US learn the accent in voice class. The ‘standard’ American accent is fake and it is only for actors. It is so that you don’t know where somebody is from; unless it’s part of the story, [a regional accent[ distracts the audience from the story. You’re not trying to create a specific accent, but to neutralise your voice.”
I have read the book and practiced the exercises and I find them very helpful in changing my midwest accent to a more region-free sound. Excellent book! I recommend it highly.
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Sorry for my late response as I have been busy getting the word out about the book.
First thanks for all the comments from people who have read my book as well as those who haven’t.
Mirren as to your point about the “standard” American accent, YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT. There is no such thing as a “standard” American accent anywhere within the United State. Heck, even your mention of “West Coast” is to broad for my liking. In LA alone there has to be more dialects than Australia combined (there’s another debate – “how many if any dialects exist in Australia” – but that’s for another day). No, to be more precise, at least to the common knowledge, it’s the “Northern Californian” sound.
However over the past 10 years (or maybe even longer) there has been a shift to a more Neutral Midwest sound. That includes (Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and a few more). Why? My guess is because there are so much more productions being shot in NY and Chicago than in earlier years. One tell tale sign is the AW sound, which has almost completely vanished. It’s been replaced with he AH sound. This is a very midwestern trait. (I know this well as I still remember my voice teachers trying to hammer my AH’s out of me in class.)
But as I mentioned, it’s a NEUTRAL midwest sound. Meaning, if I call my mom up in Michigan and listen to her actual Michigan sound it won’t be the sound necessary for acting on the big screen. Sorry mom!
Here in lies why, perhaps so many have deemed to called it the “standard” American accent. For the record, I don’t. I even talk about it at the beginning of the book as being a FAKE accent that only exists for actors. I may have said “standard” to Miguel during the interview as it really is the most widely used term (at least that I have found) in Australia and I wanted the readers to understand what I was talking about. I just call it the American accent. Why … well because to me the argument doesn’t matter. What matters for Australian actors who want to land American work is to learn the Neutralized American accent. By the way even American’s learn this FAKE accent when they are in University in the states. Of course we don’t call it “American accent” class. It’s simply called “Voice class”. Remember earlier when I talked about them drumming out the AH vowel. That was them trying to Neutralize mine and everyone else’s voice in the class.
Why some reading this might ask. Well, as Miguel mentioned we talked about during the interview, it’s so you don’t “distract the audience from the story”. Take the movie “Daybreakers”. If we heard a Louisiana accent, a NY accent or even one of the very strong LA accents, it would cause the audience to ask “why are they from wherever they are from?” or “Why is that person from a different place than everybody else?” That distraction from the story with such questions, especially when it’s never answered, can be damaging to the overall story telling of the film. So hence this is why there is this monster called … well it’s called whatever you want to call it, I just prefer the American accent.
In the end, while using this Neutral sound, we should be striving to have the audience say only one thing to themselves, “their American”. All of that of course acknowledging the exceptions of movies set in specific locations or characters who are purposefully from a particular place in the US.
Overall my goal is just to help anybody who wants to learn the American accent whether for film, television, commercials, voice overs or just to have fun, to do so.
I know I have done this on set, simply by the response and the caliber of the actors I have worked with. And my hope is that I have done the same in this book. Thanks again for all your comments and I hope you enjoy the book.
Regards,
Troy Mackinder
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Troy’s techniques are on the money. Without giving away his knowledge for free, I will say that working with him has been very beneficial to my getting voice work in the US market. The book is a great tool and worth the spend.
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I am slowly putting together a science fiction/horror series together.What I have been advised to do is hire U.S/Canadian actors with American ex-pats living here for smaller roles and some Aussies who have lived in the U.S long enough to pick up believable accents.I find too many Aussie actors overdue a Californian accent.()I personally like the New England accent).This saves dubbing,time and money.Otherwise your stuck with local only sales,which off course is very small.If there is a standard U.S accent teaching method.I think thats a good idea so Aussie actors can get more jobs especially in U.S owned and co-productions.
I found travelling in Europe the locals could understand American English but struggled with ours.This maybe due to European ears accustomed to seeing their movies over time.Either way we don’t have the infastructure in place to expose our own accents.
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