I'm watching Johnny Heller direct Bob Neufeld in a narration workshop.

realisticspeakers · Post by **realisticspeakers** » June 19th, 2019, 6:25 pm

Have you ever witnessed excellence in growth?

Every brushstroke has to be there to see the masterpiece.
-Johnny Heller directing Bob Neufeld

Post by **Availle** » June 19th, 2019, 8:27 pm

You mean "our" Bob Neufeld?

https://librivox.org/sections/readers/3912

realisticspeakers · Post by **realisticspeakers** » June 19th, 2019, 8:36 pm

the very same indeed, the very same indeed.

I got to lavish him with praise for a second.

thestorygirl · Post by **thestorygirl** » June 24th, 2019, 7:03 pm

Could you talk more about what the workshop was like?

I got to see Johnny Heller in person once. Name dropping, I know.

Not like he'd know me. He came to our library.

realisticspeakers · Post by **realisticspeakers** » June 25th, 2019, 4:28 pm

thestorygirl wrote: ↑June 24th, 2019, 7:03 pm Could you talk more about what the workshop was like?
I got to see Johnny Heller in person once. Name dropping, I know. Not like he'd know me. He came to our library.

It was $49 to audit and a lot more to participate. There were about a dozen participants and many many spectators.

Johnny Heller spoke for a few minutes about narration and acting, and emphasized research (...or else).

He said that the narrator must be true to their self when interpreting the author's work.
Make choices about the characters and about the story that ring true to yourself, the story-teller.
The author must let the narrator play, and must trust that the narrator is also an artist.

Heller said 'do not contact the big publishers and agents until you are ready. Ready to compete... with me!' (read humbly as, "the likes of me")
They will remember you if you suck.

A young lady read her part. She was really very good but not quite there yet. Heller provided commentary and critique. She read again with notable improvement.

When Bob Neufeld was up, Heller was like, "fascinating voice". Neufeld said that he did have acting training and opera! He read too fast. Heller told him to slow down and don't breathe so loud.

One person really needed a lot of work and Heller was very kind and patient in coaching this brave entrepeneur.
(that's from Old French. Do you know French?)

He talked about the author's passion for any mundane subject...
like the history of the pen, for example
(I could think of many other examples lol)...
the narrator must also find a passion for the subject,
even if the text is poorly written--the narrator must play the passion.
(I think it was an allegory for the majority of detritus on ACX).

Don't judge anything about the text, the characters, or the subtext of the story.
Just play and tell the story as is. You may use the words of the text, he said, but just tell the story. (you have to stop and think about that for a second)

One guy appeared nervous, acting kinda weird I thought, was over articulating and exaggerating his mouth movements, and ended up being a very good narrator.

One guy read the words off the page. But after some coaching, read his part with vast improvement. It was astounding.

One guy didn't get it. One lady couldn't let go.
One person chose the "Dave...please stop, Dave." scene from 2001.
"Why did you choose this?"
"I wanted to make it my own."
That person read the scene as if he were talking to an employer, but it didn't really work because the author wrote those words with one thing in mind, not another.

Overall it was great! A terrific learning experience. One day soon I will participate in one of these.

thestorygirl · Post by **thestorygirl** » June 25th, 2019, 7:25 pm

Thank you for your generous note taking! I will be incorporating it into how I narrate!