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Student

Notes

  

 

Welcome to the exciting world of the American accent...

This is a fast track method for actors who wish to develop an American Accent for acting.  This is a technique that will indicate a few elements of pronunciation and style which can help you achieve a soft California feel that is ideal for most productions.

BUT! You have to listen...

No, No, No, NO!?! 

Don't just automatically nod your head my friend out of habit....

I mean LISTEN...  Really listen...

Hear what I'm saying...  Listen to everything:  From the drills, to the dialogue lessons, to the explanations, to my stories and yes even to my jokes...

Listen to the subtext...  My general American accent will remain the same, but the rhythm and flow of my cadence will change depending on where I'm coming from...  my attitude...my behaviour...what game face I've got on.

This entire lesson is all about Americana.

We're working on a flat general American accent that comes from Nowheresville. Keep in mind it's not good enough to just sound like an American...  For film you have to have the feel of the American sound - an accent is not just about your voice but your whole being...how you hold yourself...how you move...your behaviour...your attitude - so whatever nationality you are I want you to step out of that skin and get into your new American skin.

 

Listen to the following four bits of American dialogue:

1. Tough? You bet I'm tough. You'd damn well better be in this day and age.  It's survival out there, a regular jungle in the cities.  These aren't like the days when you never locked your front door.  Today you need alarms and bars and Dobermans and deadbolts up the yin-yang.  Thats just the way it is.

2. The way I have it figured, making out is a lot like baseball. The only difference is, when you come up to bat against most women, you've already got two strikes on you and the pitcher your facing never throws balls. That's the reason you have to get a hit on your first swing.

3. Rabbits. They're so cute. All cuddly and soft. And nervous. You ever see a rabbit that wasn't nervous? It could be they're neurotic. I don't see why not. The poor little things.

4. I know we're married Jill. I know this, you think I don't know this? Big deal. Like this is a first here or something. Just in case you haven't heard, this has been going on for a long time Jill. Look, we're just normal, faithful, married people who want to see somebody else naked before we die.

 

Yeah!  That was a lot of fun.  You could hear my general American accent remaining the same through all the characters but the flavour, the feel of my sound varied depending on where each character was coming from.

 

Listen to the following REAL conversation I had with another American Actor who thought he had a role in a movie only to lose it at the last minute.  The role involved running!

You'll hear TWO things: 1) HIS indignation and 2) MY bemusement:

 

"Who got the part!?!"

"You won't believe it!!!'

"Yes I will. I will!!! Who got it!?!'

"'Carl Lewis'!"

" THE 'Carl Lewis'!?!'

"Yeah!'

"'Carl Lewis' THE Olympic Sprinter?'

"Uh huh..'

"'Carl Lewis' the winner of NINE Olympic Gold Medals got your part???'

"YES!!! THAT 'Carl Lewis'!!!"

Now thats a funny story. And its true!

**PERFORMANCE WARNING**

This is a very sensitive issue for most actors: 

As an accent coach, its not my job to direct your performance. But I do ask at times that you perform the dialogue in a certain way - usually 'bigger'.  When I do this, I am only interested in the expansion of your accent range. 

Its necessary to stretch your accent wide like an accordian, to give it some flexability. Its been my experience - that when it comes to an accent - most actors want to play it safe. But if you do that you'll forever be stuck in a very narrow corridor.... And will never completely develop the richness and full range of your American Accent.

Let's clear the air on where this particular American Accent 4 Acting lesson is coming from:

This lesson is not a scientific study of the superfine shades of pronunciation for professional phonetics’ experts. Oh no!?!  A few years back I had a disastrous run-in with these people. Check this out:

At the time I was a television sports presenter and had to call a basketball game between the Russian national basketball team and an American all-star team.

Well, I took one look at the Russian line-up and damn near fainted.

Every Russian player had a mile long last name which were all consonants randomly thrown together, no vowels. Impossible to pronounce slowly let alone quickly during a fast paced game of basketball. I was in deep panic mode. Then I had a brainwave.

I'd go over to the foreign language department at Auckland University and get the phonic versions of the names. Big mistake.

I spoke to a guy who looked like a cross between Albert Einstein and actor Christopher Lloyd who starred in the movie Back to the Future. This genius wanted to give me the whole enchilada.

He told me things about the lips, tongue and palate that no god fearing English speaker ought to hear. And before I could escape Mr. Shockhair hit me with one last sinister phrase that I just couldn't shake.

'The Triumvirate of Palate, Teeth and Tongue.'

Once you've got that baby stuck in your head, you can't say dick without being aware of your tongue in relation to your teeth and the roof of your mouth. And once you start thinking about your tongue, you're in big trouble speech wise!

So no I don't go in for a lot of tongue exercises and all of that.

But hey I've got nothing against it, if it works for you go for it, whatever gets you through the night.  However I use a practical hands on approach that I've learned through teaching my classes and being out in the field as the American dialogue coach on numerous American feature films and television shows shot in New Zealand.

So...let's go to work!!!

Let's get down to the nitty and the gritty.

 

An accent is a style of speech made up of three basic elements:

1. Pronunciation - the way we sound vowels and consonants. Typically Americans lengthen their vowels.  For example: 'I know...'

2. Cadence - this is the song of speech. It's made up from pace, rhythm and inflection which becomes peculiar to native speakers. Cadence is the Tango in Latin America, the Limbo of the Caribbean or the twang of Australia. In America it's wide variety is obvious in the difference between say a Southern drawl: "Woo doggie...  You tryin’ ta bribe me boooy?"

And the far more clipped English accent of Boston: "Park your car in Harvard Yard." And then you have your flat general American accent - which is the one we're learning here: "Hi, I'm from one of the most beautiful city's in the world, San Francisco."

3. Stylistic Elements - this is where a New York Italian will sound different from an Okie Hillbilly through nasal inflexion and the choice of which sound to stress in a given sentence.

But once again what we're working on is a flat general Nowheresville, American accent...with the two most important elements being pronunciation and cadence...  First get the basic pronunciation correct, for example I'll do the following dialogue in straight pronunciation without any emotion:

"Come on let's catch a ballgame.  Couple of dogs.  Couple of beers.  It'll be great.  What do you say?"

Next you marry-up that American pronunciation with the American cadence of say a couple of guys standing on a street corner in Chicago and you get: "Come on let's catch a ballgame...couple of dawgs...couple of beers, it'll be great...whadddayasay."

FEEL THE DIFFERENCE???

 

Here are four general rules for the American accent:

1. It's got to be your voice.  Your natural voice.  You can't put on an American accent.  You can't talk like this: "Walter was so tight he took his glasses off when he wasn't looking at anything."  That sounds exactly like what it is - a cartoon character...totally unbelievable. 

It's got to be your voice...here's that same sentence again in my voice but with some attitude: "Walter was so tight he took his glasses off when he wasn't looking at anything."

2. Lengthen your vowels.  Which is what I'm doing now.  I'm lengthening my vowels...(tight voice) I'm not pinching them off...  No no no...  It's, I'm not pinching them off because I'm lengthening my vowels.

3. Slow Down.  This is really important.  Slow down!!!  Slowing down allows you to lengthen your vowels and it allows you the time and space to say the words in the correct cadence.  When you first start to do an accent the tendency is to rush....  to speed through the dialogue because you're uncomfortable.  There is an inherent laziness in American speech....  But that doesn't mean you talk s-l-o-w l-i-k-e t-h-i-s...  SLOWING DOWN just means that you talk like this letting the words and sentences have their own life...  Let ‘em breathe… breathe...  don't choke ‘em to death out of fear.

4. You've got to have a P.O.V.  Point of View.  When adopting another accent a lot of actors suddenly stop acting because they're concentrating so hard on the accent.  Which means the audience will be listening to a talking head and won't be engaged in what your doing.  Remember this - the better you act the better your accent will be.

HEY!?!   PAY ATTENTION!!!  I wasn't just saying that??? 

I wasn't kidding!?!

THE BETTER YOU ACT THE BETTER YOUR ACCENT WILL BE!!!

You can go to the bank with that.

If your asking a question then ask the question...  What's my point of view in this lesson? Right. Explaining;  I'm not just merely saying the words.  I'm explaining the process to you...  You can feel my emotion as I say that.  The feel of the American sound will reflect your point of view - your behaviour...  For example take the line: "In your dreams buddy." I can say it straight: "In your dreams buddy." Or I can say it with attitude: "In your dreams buddy!!!" Or I can say it with a smile: "In your dreams buddy..." The same line said with three different points of view making the feel of the sound different in each one...

My general American accent is the same in all three... But the feel and rhythm is different depending on my point of view...  To make the accent work you have to do the work as an actor!  Have the accent coming out of your behaviour which will automatically help to put you on the right cadence track  Don't try making the words do all the work for example: "I'll be back...Haste la vista baby"...see what I mean Arnold Scwarteznegger’s already got the lock on that gig.

So the general rules are:

1. Your natural voice

2. Lengthen your vowels - let the words breathe

3. Slow Down

4. POV - point of view

How ya feelin‘? How's your attitude!?! 

Got your American game face on yet??? 

Yeah baby...

Let me at’ em...

Let's go!!!  Let's do it!?!  Great! 

It's time to do: 

 

The Five Foundation Sentences: 

They'll cover the vowel sounds of A, O, I, and U and the consonant R. I'll keep repeating these sentences throughout the lesson...  make sure you repeat them with me, they will be your foundation.

The "A" sound - the long 'A' as in pass, grass, class...  Americans don't say phass, ghrass, chlass...  It's pass, grass, class. The sentence is: "The master passed the bananas to the class."

The "O" sound.  Americans typically pronounce it longer as in rock and roll. The sentence is: "Can I borrow some hot coffee until tomorrow."

The "I" sound.  Again lengthen but not too much with this sentence otherwise you'll move into the Southern sound for example: "Sometimes my life seems a crime. I cry and cry all the time."  If the Southern sound starts to creep in here just put a little bit more energy into the sentence.  "Sometimes my life seems a crime. I cry and cry all the time."  I'm still lengthening my 'I' sound but my sharper annunciation and energy has snuffed out the Southern cadence.

The "U" sound.  This is a stopper sentence!  It's designed to slow you down. The sentence is: "I'm due in New York Tuesday for a few musical duets."  Americans are fairly simple with this sound it's "doo - noo".

The consonant "R" is important. Americans do say their 'R's but remember just let them breathe...  Don't hammer the hell out-of'em.  The sentence is: "Get your gear dear, Carl's here with the beer."

I'll just mention the tongue once: 

The American sound primarily comes from the back of the tongue just before it drops into the throat. And our inflexions tend to come down at the end of sentences for example: "Your guess is as good as mine."

I wouldn’t say "Your guess is as good as mine^"

Or try this one: "Man that guy looked like death warmed over."

I wouldn't say "Man that guy looked like death warmed over^"  

Can you hear it?  Good!  Now listen closely to how my inflexion comes down at the end of these three American clichés:

1. This is gonna be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

2. It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.

3. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

 

Some Do's & Don’ts:

Don't add 'R's to the end of words for example: 

Coke a Colar, Madonnar, I have an idear, Americar...

It's Coke a ColA, MadonnA, I have an idea, AmericA.

Here's another example: 

I didn't sarw her, I saw her...aw - saw...I saw her....and don't drop your 'R's for example: I remembuh, what's the mattuh, or I'm going to the pictuh's...it's I remember, what's the matter, and I'm going to the pictures...  You say your 'R's. Let them breathe.  You don't roll them.

Lot's of people mistakenly assume that to do an American accent all you have to do is roll your 'R's...Yeah I can put on an American accent just by rollin my 'R's and talking like this...  NO, NO NO!!!  Unless you want to sound like a cartoon Hillbilly.  One thing that you can do is to: 

Substitute 'D's for 'T's.  Not always - but a lot of the time.  For example: 

Matter becomes madder...what's the madder...better becomes bedder...mines bedder than yours...butter becomes budder...  "Hey mac pass the budder!" and the classic 'party' becomes "Let's pardy."

Another hint is to say your 'ing's long too...  Something, nothing, anything...  For some reason non-American actors think dropping the 'g' makes them sound more American.  It doesn't!  

For example: There's a big difference between the sentences: "I have nuthin'" and "I have nothing". 

Also soften your 'g's don't make them hard like 'sing-gin''...he's singing...it's singing...he's singing. 

The word 'been' a lot of people pronounce 'bean'...'Where have you bean?'  Americans pronounce it 'bin' as in trash bin...

'Where have you bin?'

These two words have different spellings but essentially the same sound: 'o-u- r' & 'a-r-e' are both just big 'Rs'...  'O-u-r'  'This is 'Rs'!!!'.  Not "This is 'our's'!!!"  It's 'Rs'. 

A-r-e ... "'R' you going home?'

A lot of words ending in (or) have (er) sounds...honor sounds like honer... Pastor is pronounced paster...come is like sex 'cum‘... Cum here...some is like math...give me sum...month is pronounced 'munth'...

Confused is not CONfused it's pronounced 'cunfused'...same for comfortable it's cumfortable...the classic Mother is pronounced 'Muther'...I love my Muther....and here's a word a lot of non-Americans butcher...'course'...it's simply pronounced 'coarse'...like a coarse piece of rope...but, of coarse! 

A lot of people pronounce the word 'here' like 'hair'...hair I am...they undercut the word...Americans really pronounce that 'R' in the middle...heRe...here I am. 

The word 'what' causes some problems...a lot of people pronounce it 'watt' as in a light bulb...watts the madder...this sound comes from the front of the mouth...Americans say it from the back of the mouth...'what'....utt, utt, 'whu-ut'...what's the madder. 

'Sure' is another problem word...it's not 'shore‘... like in sea shore...are you happy...'shore'...no it's 'sure'...sh sh sh er er er 'sure...are you sure...I'm sure...I'm sure I'm happy gawd-dammnit...son-of-a-bitch...I'm sure I'm happy! 

Ha! I just threw in a few more American clichés of the blue nature for ya...free of charge.

 

WARNING: These are just SOME of the differences. Believe me there's a lot more!!! Hey don't panic!?! Its all part and parcel of the FUN of discovering the CRAZY way we Yanks speak!!! :-)

 

Another issue to be aware of is American scripts are written in American cadence...which is why you may feel a bit uncomfortable with the sentence structure...

Americans are big on pronouns...I wouldn't say: "I'm going to hospital"...I'd say: "I'm going to the hospital"....I wouldn't say: "Baby is sick"...I'd say: "The baby is sick"...  

I wouldn't say:  'I'll put kettle on.'  I'd say 'I'll put THE kettle on.'  Pay attention to the little words like: of, if, the, to...leave those out and the cadence comes out sounding wonky and there's nothing worse than a wonky cadence it makes you sound like a cheesy 'B' grade actor in a bad 'B' grade movie.

 

Let's do those foundation sentences again:

 

The 'R' sound is important so let's do some concentrated work on the 'R' sound and remember let them b-r-e-a-t-h-e...  Be light not heavy:

"Beer'...ear, pier, mere, yearly

Cheer the fearful boy and dry his tears

"Bear'...air, mare, where, fairly

Did you dare to wear the flared skirt

'Bar'...are, far, star, party

Mark the target and shoot from afar

"Bore'...sore, four, ignore, adore

Gordon gorged himself on wild boar and more wine

 

Here's a challenge for you let's do a Tongue Twister loaded with 'R's

(see it's all in the cadence...the rhythm)

 

Let's listen to two different conversation scenes where the couples are breaking up:

1. 

I'll never forgive you for this!

Oh, really!

I won't!

(pause)

I made no promises to you.

That's not true!

You don't want to hear that, do you?

No! Because it's not the truth!

(pause)

Well, when you've had more experience in these matters you'll...

When I....? Please don't patronise me.

(silence)

I've really come to know you. You know that? And I'm really sorry for you.

(pause)

Are you?

Yes. I am.

(pause)

See you.

 

2. 

I've got to say this! I've been holding it in too long and it's making me feel like shit.

Say away.

(pause)

Why didn't you tell me you'd spent the night with someone else.

(pause)

It was none of your business.

Bullshit it wasn't. I thought we had a commitment and you betrayed that.

You assumed a commitment. Which you had no right to do. And that's been making me feel like shit.

(silence)

I didn't realise.

No. Well. There you are.

 

That was nice straight American dialogue with some feeling and attitude...you don't have to scream and shout all the time.

Still got your game face on???

What's that!?! You don't know what a game face is!?!?!

Okay I'll explain it to you...  It's a sports term...  In particular football...  American football...  It all has to do with your attitude...  where your coming from...  Where your at...

Well I'm gonna tell you where I'm at!!!  

I'm coming at you baby!!!  I'm agile....hostile...and mobile and I'm gonna open up a big ole can of whup ass and I'm gonna whupp your ass!?!  I got my game face on baby and I'm gonna get right in your face...  I'm gonna be ALL OVER YOU like a BAD RASH!!!  I'm gonna OWN YOU!!!  I'm here to kick some butt...   I’m ready to play...  What about you?  YOU ready to play!?!

Great then it's time to hit those foundation sentences again:

 

Ok... We’re humming along at a pretty good clip.  Now it's time to address the plague of humanity...  namely:

The Communications Gap.

Whenever there's discourse on a subject, you know when people get together to talk about something, in this case the American Accent 4 Acting.  There's always a communications gap...it goes along these lines:

It's not just what you say...it's what the other guy hears

There's not only the difference between what you say and what you mean

There's an enormous difference between what he thought you said and what he thought you meant to say....that's the communications gap.

Wow! What the heck does that mean when all I'm trying to do is learn an American accent? What it means is you have to let go... Get out of your cultural thinking...  Your comfort zone and step into another world...  the American world... Take it on... Embrace it...  Nobody cares what your politics are...you may hate America...Who cares this is all about acting!!!  And remember it takes a bit of time and lots of repetition...I repeat LOTS of repetition to get something new into your comfort zone.

Speaking of the Communications Gap it can happen to anyone at anytime;  Take the case of  The Lone Ranger and his horse Silver:

One day the Lone Ranger and Silver were out riding through some dangerous Indian territory...  

When all of a sudden a band of marauding Indians came charging after them...

The Long Ranger and Silver took off!!!  

Well, The Lone Ranger knew that he couldn't out run these pesky Indians so he rode behind some rocks, jumped off Silver, whispered in the horse's ear, slapped him on the rump and Silver took off!!!  

Then the Lone Ranger drew out his six-guns and started shooting at the surrounding Indians...  Well, a little while later Silver came back over the top of the hill and on his back was a beautiful blonde woman...  Naked!  Buck Naked!!!  Not a stich of clothing...  

Silver came roaring down to the Lone Ranger...  The Lone Ranger looked at Silver and said:  "Man I told you to bring back a posse!"

Remember that the next time you're talking to someone...what exactly are they hearing!?!  Huh???

Now we want to do some:

 

Cadence Work:

Listen to the following short passages paying special attention to their flow...their rhythm...the feel of what's being said:

1. You come at her with something up and over the plate, like, "Can I buy you a drink honey?" And you're outta the game, back in the dugout with an ice-pack on your tongue.

2. You have a helluva lot of nerve, coming in here threatening me!

3. Great moves, huh? Would you at least take a look?! Come on, give him a shot. Let him do a workout. Anything. Just see what he can do. Any experience? Are you kidding? He was born with his butt in a saddle... which didn't make his mother too happy.

4. Like the stupid piece on the news guy on Channel 6. The sonofabitch looks like he's sitting under an orange bird's nest.

 

Here are some of the things you might experience as you start your journey to the American accent: 

At the beginning you'll have information overload and ninety per cent of what you do will be from the shoulders up...  You'll be in your head...  You'll be tense from over working it...  But gradually the concepts will seep down into your soul and you'll suddenly find yourself having a feel for the American sound. 

Don't be dismayed if you're only getting bits and pieces of the accent right at the start...

That's the way it works!!!  You've got to keep chipping away at it...  You can't expect to pick up the entire accent in one lesson!!!  You've gotta go over this lesson again and again... or certain parts of the lesson...  Write out the scenes and work with me or cut & paste all the material from this web page..

Tape yourself and listen back. Mimicry and repetition are the best ways for the actor to make these different pronunciations and styles ingrain themselves. That's exactly why I keep repeating the five foundation sentences...  Repeat them with me!!!  The accent is learned through hard work...not magic...  You've gotta put in the time!!!

Let's do an Ad:

Listen closely to the pace and rhythm of the following ad for bread:

Only Home-style have 26 bakeries all around the country. Your local one bakes your favourite bread fresh every day. We're so close and the bread's so fresh and tasty - it's like having a Home-style baker in your home. Home-style bake your favourite bread fresher every day. Because we bake it here.

What's my point of view?  Right!!!  I'm 'selling'.  I'm doing a nice warm cosy sales pitch... Which changes the feel of my American sound...  It can go from...  "Home-style bake your favourite bread fresher every day. Because we bake it here...."  to - "You stupid jackass - get the hell outta there!!!"  notice the difference?

Are you motivated yet???  Let's talk a little bit about:

 Motivation.

It's such a huge buzz word today.

Motivation in the 21st century is all about instant sastisfaction:  Psych me up... Pump me up...  Jack me up coach...  Come on baby get me going...  You can do it...  That's emotional motivation which can work to a certain degree in certain situations...  But real motivation comes from a solid foundation of having learned a skill or technique that you can perform under pressure...  Because that's when it counts...under pressure...  Like in the case of the American Accent...

You've gotta be able to do it when the camera's are rolling...  I can help to steer you in the right direction but you've gotta put in the hard yards...  So put on your game face and let's carry on!!!

Let's do those foundation sentence's again:

Let's have another crack at some American slang...  First I'll do it in flat pronunciation which is just conversational English - and then I'll marry that up with cadence...I'll give it some attitude.

1. "Whole new ball game"....Wow, what a comeback. I mean everyone thought you were a goner. Busted. Yesterday's news. But now, it's a whole new ball game.

2. "Out of the frying pan into the fire...plus you take the cake"...You did what! I don't believe this! How could you be so stupid? Man, talk about jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, you take the cake.

Notice how my inflexion comes down at the end of those cliché’s?

 

Let's do a quick review:

We're working on a general flat Nowheresville American accent with the two main elements being pronunciation which is lengthening our vowels and consonants and then we're marrying that up with cadence - which is having a point of view and some attitude - to get the rhythm and feel of the American sound

The general rules are

1. Your voice.....your natural voice

2. Lengthen your vowels

3. Slow down

4. POV - point of view

 

Five Foundation sentence time:

 

Here's another warning! Keep your energy levels up!!! FATIGUE is your ENEMY when doing an accent. If you start to tire your natural accent will start to creep in!!!

 

Let's do a scene:

First a couple of hints:

When you get your American audition piece learn it in your American accent in conversational English..  Flat...  Rote..  No emotion...  Give your body a chance to get familiar with the cadence of the writing...  The American beats...  Let it soak in..  Get comfortable with the language before you start to add the mustard...  and then once you've got the part...  be positive..  when you're on the set stay with your American accent all the time..  Especially in between takes...  Don't fall into a gabfest in your natural accent you'll just take yourself right out of your American rhythm.  And know what movie you're in!  There's a big difference between a Disney family movie and an HBO (Home Box Office) thriller!!!

This scene takes place in a towing office;  They've got your car and you've come to get it..  I'll read for both parts...first flat then in character:

 

Hi.

I'm here to pick up my car.

Violation number?

Violation number? What's that?

The number on the top right corner of the parking ticket.

If there's a ticket it'd be on the car. Which you have.

Well, I need something to determine the exact location of the car. We got a lot of 'em, you know.

How about the license plate number?

That'll certainly help. If you'll just wait outside, it'll be twenty minutes.

 

Write down the dialogue or cut and paste it from this web page - thats what its for - and do it with me:  I'll start off with "Hi"

Now let's reverse the roles and you start off with "Hi"

 

Time for another ad break:

This is a fast paced basketball promotion for 'Burger King':

Right now, you could shoot...and win...half a million dollars in Burger King's massive half a million dollar Big Shot

Just buy any meal for your chance to shoot and win half a million dollars

Plus win thousands of instant prizes

And get this hot new BK slam dunk meal with all the trimmings and a slammin’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’' spicy cheese sauce.

Shoot into Burger King now and win

 

Damn that was fun!?!

That's about a 12 second burst of dialogue in a 30 second ad...  If you're going to tackle this one remember to get extremely comfortable with the words and their flow before you start blasting.

 

Let's do another scene:

This one takes place in an office building between a married couple with a bit of stress in their relationship...I'll do both parts in conversational English and then in character:

What's your problem?

The keys to your car would do for now.

What happened to yours?

I broke it.

Do I want to know how?

I hit a truck. What can I say, I'm a danger to myself and others. May I have the keys, please.

I'd feel safer giving them to Thelma and Louise. Is there a reason you can't just get a cab?

I prefer to do my own driving. That way I get to decide when to hit a truck. And no, I wasn't hurt, but thanks for asking.

 

Write the dialogue down and do it with me...I'll start off with "What's your problem" and then let's reverse the roles and you start off with "What's your problem"  Get a tape recorder and listen to ME AND YOU do this scene!

Let's take a quick shot at those foundation sentences again:

 

Here's another scene:

This is a heavy scene between a cop and a thug:

This better be important and it better be quick.

I want to see you locked away for murdering Elaine and Paul.

I didn't murder anyone. Get the hell out of here!

I know you went to see her the night she was killed. She told me on the phone you were on your way over.

I wasn't even in the state.

You killed her, and then you got it into your head to go after Paul and me as well.

You've got one hell of an imagination!

If I'm wrong, then why are you lying about where you were that night?

Want to know why? Because if I told anyone what really happened, they'd say I was crazy and start thinking I did it.

I think that already.

 

Here's a scene with a nice light touch from a couple of kids:

What's going on Mitchell?

I snuck out last night and made a wish.

A wish?! We pledged not to use it.

Chill. You'll like it.

No, I won't.

We're not grounded anymore!

How come?

I made all the adults and teenagers disappear.

You did what?

It's party time.

 

Final scene and what better place than from a real American institution...  McDonald's...

From time to time they run a promotion where they'll give you your order for free if they can't serve it to you in under 60 seconds...  So let's give them a rip-roaring order and watch’ em hop!!!

Can I help you?

Yeah....Lets see...  Ahhh - I'll have two Big Macs, 3 large fry's, a quarter-pounder, maybe a hot apple pie...yeah I'll have the pie, a large coke, a fillet of fish, and some chicken McNuggets

Is that all sir?

Yeah I think so...oh what the heck you might as well throw in a large chocolate shake.

Think they did it!?!  Yeah no sweat!!!

Oh and just for the hell of it let's add a bit of class to this lesson and do a smidgin of:

Shakespeare, in its Native American of course!!! 

 

Yeah baby I can feel it!!!  OH YEAH baby!?!  Oh Yeah!!!  Lay it on me!!!  Man o' Man do I ever feel cultured now!?!

Okay...  alright-already... 'Earth to John!?!'  (SLAP!)  

Thanks, I needed that!

 

Here are some final hints:

Speak American until you speak American

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got your game face on?

Well that's just about it:  

Here's your final test:

I want you to think of apple pie...mom...and the American flag and then in all sincerity I want you to say: 'God/Gawd Bless America'...

Go on you can do it!!!  

I know your a bit stunned!?!

Don't be bashful...  Go on... Say it:

Good luck!  :-)

 

But Wait there's more:

If you haven't as yet purchased this CD:

Click here to hear John's actual introduction to The American Accent 4 Acting.

John Introduces His Lesson

553kb.wav

John Dybvig

Self Proclaimed

Billboard of Americana

 

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