Author Topic: Accentuating the movie  (Read 3521 times)

Offline brokeplex

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Accentuating the movie
« on: October 07, 2007, 06:28:40 pm »
Every summer I spend some time up in the Bitteroots in Montana. It is very good to get away from the Texas frying pan for a month or so. Last month just before I started the trek back down to Texas drving what I affectionately call the "Jack Twist" interstate thru Wyoming and Colorado, I watched BBM with a fellow I met at the U of Montana in Missoula. He grew up on a spread in N Wyoming and seems representative of a lot of the ranch kids that I have met in the N. Rockies. This guy turned to me after the movie and said, "The only thing I hate about this movie is that it makes those Wyoming sheepherders sound like you Tex!" He was referring to my noticeable accent. A lot of people seem to want to call me Tex while I'm visiting the            N Rockies. The ranch kid went on, "We just don't really have a natural Texas twang up here". Maybe he is right, I started listeing carefully to people in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado.And maybe ranch stiffs in the N Rockies don't really twang like Jake and Heath did. Are there any linguists and accent specialists here in BetterMost who would like to discuss this? Are the twangy accents in BBM the movie really legitimate for Wyoming ranch kids? 

Offline Lynne

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Re: Accentuating the movie
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2007, 08:25:26 pm »
I have no first hand knowledge of Texas nor Wyoming accents.  Here is an article about the dialect coach, Joy Ellison, who worked with the Brokeback actors that I found interesting:

http://smithmag.net/2006/03/01/brokeback-mountains-secret-weapon/

And here are some excerpts from a blog (http://www.obliquity65.com/?p=545) allegedly gleaned from production notes that address the subject:

Anne Hathaway:...Joy Ellison was wonderful. We would do exercises where she broke down all of Lureen’s dialogue into basic Texas syllables. We would say the lines together.

Joy Ellison: Ang and I spent a lot of time talking about the voices and the accents, because he was very concerned about the authenticity of this – as he is with everything. We divided the periods into three sequences, which was a challenge for the actors because shooting was out of sequence. They had to maintain continuity. We named the voices Voice One, Two, and Three. In one day, the actor might shoot a scene in Voice Three – the older, deeper, slower voice – and then the next scene might be Voice One, which had more vitality and was perhaps higher.

Joy Ellison: Ang’s attention to detail is phenomenal. Every so often [during the shoot], he’d turn to me and say, “Joy, was that a little thick on the accent?” And he was usually dead-on. It’s a rare privilege to find a director who’s so careful and keen about the authenticity of something.

Joy Ellison: Michelle Williams and I took a trip through Wyoming and Montana. We went to some biker bars, and I taped people all the way. This is [now] decades later [than the movie’s periods], so accents are a little watered-down, but you can still get an essence. When an actor hears a tape of a rhythm from a native speaker, we can pick out sounds and work on them individually.

Michelle was born in Montana and left at an early age, but she still has that background and so she has a good sense of the rhythms and quality of the speech. Like a lot of trained actors, she let go of her regionalisms to be more flexible in other things they’re doing, so this was bringing her back.

Joy Ellison: People often think Wyoming and Texas accents are the same, but they’re really quite different. But “get” becomes “git” in both. The Wyoming one has more of a rhythm, and it’s much more subtle; you put phrases together and sometimes make a bit of a strange pause where you normally might not. You never say “-ing”; you say “walkin’” and “talkin’” and “thinkin’” and “drinkin’.” The Texas one has stronger sounds and stronger uses of the vowels. This movie had a beautiful script, written very accurately, I might add.

Joy Ellison: Their mouths would be [closed more], which worked well for the characters and the whole feeling, because the bigger picture is an idea of people who can’t communicate. They are in a period of time where, there may be a sexual revolution going on in the country but in that particular part of the country, it’s a much more conservative, bottled-up, and uncommunicative society. It would be very difficult for people to be open and communicative about these things. Ang was particularly careful about all of it.
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Offline Artiste

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Re: Accentuating the movie
« Reply #2 on: October 08, 2007, 10:34:27 am »
This is a wonderful reply of yours Lynne to an interesting question you pose brokeplex!!

I laughed when I read that Joy Ellison says that Wyoming has some Canadian dialect! That starts my day well!

Of course Wyoming has some Canadian accents, because French-Canadians especially from Quebec developed it partly, and some other French-Canadiens from the other parts of the now (present) Canada!!

Some of the author's families were Annie's relatives there, you know?

Hugs!

Offline brokeplex

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Re: Accentuating the movie
« Reply #3 on: October 10, 2007, 12:44:51 pm »
I have no first hand knowledge of Texas nor Wyoming accents.  Here is an article about the dialect coach, Joy Ellison, who worked with the Brokeback actors that I found interesting:

http://smithmag.net/2006/03/01/brokeback-mountains-secret-weapon/

And here are some excerpts from a blog (http://www.obliquity65.com/?p=545) allegedly gleaned from production notes that address the subject:

Anne Hathaway:...Joy Ellison was wonderful. We would do exercises where she broke down all of Lureen’s dialogue into basic Texas syllables. We would say the lines together.

Joy Ellison: Ang and I spent a lot of time talking about the voices and the accents, because he was very concerned about the authenticity of this – as he is with everything. We divided the periods into three sequences, which was a challenge for the actors because shooting was out of sequence. They had to maintain continuity. We named the voices Voice One, Two, and Three. In one day, the actor might shoot a scene in Voice Three – the older, deeper, slower voice – and then the next scene might be Voice One, which had more vitality and was perhaps higher.

Joy Ellison: Ang’s attention to detail is phenomenal. Every so often [during the shoot], he’d turn to me and say, “Joy, was that a little thick on the accent?” And he was usually dead-on. It’s a rare privilege to find a director who’s so careful and keen about the authenticity of something.

Joy Ellison: Michelle Williams and I took a trip through Wyoming and Montana. We went to some biker bars, and I taped people all the way. This is [now] decades later [than the movie’s periods], so accents are a little watered-down, but you can still get an essence. When an actor hears a tape of a rhythm from a native speaker, we can pick out sounds and work on them individually.

Michelle was born in Montana and left at an early age, but she still has that background and so she has a good sense of the rhythms and quality of the speech. Like a lot of trained actors, she let go of her regionalisms to be more flexible in other things they’re doing, so this was bringing her back.

Joy Ellison: People often think Wyoming and Texas accents are the same, but they’re really quite different. But “get” becomes “git” in both. The Wyoming one has more of a rhythm, and it’s much more subtle; you put phrases together and sometimes make a bit of a strange pause where you normally might not. You never say “-ing”; you say “walkin’” and “talkin’” and “thinkin’” and “drinkin’.” The Texas one has stronger sounds and stronger uses of the vowels. This movie had a beautiful script, written very accurately, I might add.

Joy Ellison: Their mouths would be [closed more], which worked well for the characters and the whole feeling, because the bigger picture is an idea of people who can’t communicate. They are in a period of time where, there may be a sexual revolution going on in the country but in that particular part of the country, it’s a much more conservative, bottled-up, and uncommunicative society. It would be very difficult for people to be open and communicative about these things. Ang was particularly careful about all of it.

Thanks so much for the link and the comments, I read them with interest. When I return to Montana next summer, I will listen carefully to the accents of the people I meet, especially listening to natives of the Northern Rockies. One of the great things that I like about Bettermost is the readiness of Bettermostians to share information and feelings - we all learn from each other.

Offline Lynne

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Re: Accentuating the movie
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2007, 01:04:43 pm »
Thanks so much for the link and the comments, I read them with interest. When I return to Montana next summer, I will listen carefully to the accents of the people I meet, especially listening to natives of the Northern Rockies. One of the great things that I like about Bettermost is the readiness of Bettermostians to share information and feelings - we all learn from each other.

I am so pleased it was a bit helpful.  It's one of the things I like best about BetterMost too.   ;)

Re-reading some of the excerpts, I can comment that dropping the 'g' from '-ing' words is not limited to western dialect.  I think it may be characteristic of rural speech patterns.  I grew up in TN and heard it (and catch myself doing it) frequently.  Keep us posted on what you learn in the Northern Rockies.  I went to Alberta over the summer but did not have a lot of interaction with too many natives.  I wonder if anyone who was there longer noticed anything?
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Offline Artiste

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Re: Accentuating the movie
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2007, 07:10:51 pm »
Happy to know that we share a lot on bettermost!!

Will always be happy to do so...

and am interested in finding more about the accents from French-Canadiens who partly developped Wyoming there? Any more can be found?

Hugs!