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podficmeta2010-02-01 09:25 pm
brimtoast) wrote in podficmeta2010-02-01 09:25 pm
Entry tags:
Taking Liberties, read by dodificus (Podfic Critical Feedback Exchange)
Podfic reader: dodificus
Podfic details: Taking Liberties by thehoyden
Fandom: Jeeves and Wooster
Pairing / Rating: Jeeves/Wooster, R
Links: m4b, mp3
My background with this fandom:
While I have read a couple Jeeves and Wooster stories and seen a season or two of the TV show, I had never read any fanfiction or listened to podfic set in this universe before now.
The accent:
I feel like this is a major factor in this podfic. I am of two minds about the accent dodificus used for this, which is not her natural one.
On one hand, I am really impressed with how well she achieved the accent, which is far better than I (or, I'm guessing, most people), could have managed. She changes not just her enunciation, but her prosody, and it is very evocative of Bertie's accent, at least from what I remember from how Hugh Laurie did in the TV show.
On the other hand, while the accent is very good for a fake accent, it still doesn't sound natural. I hadn't heard anything else by dodificus before I listened to Taking Liberties, but even so, I could tell that the accent she was using wasn't quite her own. And there was something about that that distracted me from the story. It also had a side effect, with the changed prosody, that the emphasis put on some of the words sounded odd and, again, unnatural. I downloaded another story read by dodificus to see if this was just her style, but it seems specific to this story, and, again, I think it's all down to the accent. The added emphasis that comes with the accent sometimes takes away from the humor, too, because a lot of the humor in Jeeves and Wooster is that Bertie doesn't realize how ridiculous he's being, and I think that would have come off better if the tone were a bit more understated, like in the other reading of hers I listened to.
Examples of bits where the emphasis strikes me as odd:
"And then a second deluge of plaster and water and other assorted bits came right down around my ears"
"and it occurred to me that there was a slight problem."
"and have only intruded in cases of utter emergency"
"who could break a man in half with the force of his stare."
I do feel that the accent seemed to get more relaxed and comfortable as the story went on, and it popped out to me less and felt more natural, especially regarding the odd emphasis. Because of this, I liked the second half of the reading more than the first.
Voices:
I could always distinguish who was speaking, which I liked.
I really like Jeeves's voice, especially on certain lines when it comes off as particularly dry and Jeeveslike. Examples below.
My favorite voice of all was the voice of the old lady neighbor. It was very distinctive and totally captured the humor of the crazy old meddling aunt type from the Jeeves and Wooster books. I feel like Wodehouse would have loved the way dodificus did that voice.
Pronunciation:
I've always heard that Wooster is supposed to be pronounced like "Wusster," and it was slightly distracting to me that it wasn't.
Sound quality:
There was some noise removal done on this, which was noticeable in that the background hum got slightly louder during speech than in the pauses between speech, and a sliiiightly metallic tone to the speech. But it wasn't very distracting, and after a couple minutes I stopped noticing either thing. It was always easy to hear, the words were well-articulated, and I had no trouble following any part of the story.
Line deliveries I particularly liked:
"I have no intention of sleeping tonight, sir" and "I can make do with the floor, sir" and "Very well, sir." There's this dryness in the way dodificus has him say sir that is SO in-character. In fact, pretty much every instance of 'sir' in this reading is amazing and contains all these awesome layers that totally illustrate the character and that Stephen Fry was so good about conveying as well.
"Dash it, Jeeves." again sounded very natural and in-character and funny.
"I yawned carefully." I like the yawning on that line, and how it does sound careful and delicate. Excellent.
"Oh Jeeves, my piano!" I like how sincerely heartbroken he sounds over his piano. It's very endearing to hear frivolous Bertie show actual serious passion for his music.
"I really couldn't say, sir." Favorite Jeeves line so far. SPOT. ON.
"And there was a wealth of whatsit in his tone." I just like this. It conveys the humor of the line well, has the accent and yet is a bit understated in a way that makes it work for me.
"I really don't know what I would do without you, Jeeves." The way it sounds like a discovery, like it's really striking him anew at that moment, is lovely and touching.
The whole bit with Bertie listening to Jeeves undress for bed, around minute 24, was warm and soft and tender and I loved it.
And the bit starting around 28:20, with Bertie waking up in the middle of the night and Jeeves touching him in his sleep, was really absorbing and hot. My favorite part of the story. And then end of that scene was particularly perfect: "Not at all well-done of me. Not at all."
"When I'm alone with only dreams of you/that won't come true/what'll I do?" The emotion in this is just right, and I liked her choice to say, rather than sing, these lyrics, to allow the quiet power of the words to come through.
Podfic details: Taking Liberties by thehoyden
Fandom: Jeeves and Wooster
Pairing / Rating: Jeeves/Wooster, R
Links: m4b, mp3
My background with this fandom:
While I have read a couple Jeeves and Wooster stories and seen a season or two of the TV show, I had never read any fanfiction or listened to podfic set in this universe before now.
The accent:
I feel like this is a major factor in this podfic. I am of two minds about the accent dodificus used for this, which is not her natural one.
On one hand, I am really impressed with how well she achieved the accent, which is far better than I (or, I'm guessing, most people), could have managed. She changes not just her enunciation, but her prosody, and it is very evocative of Bertie's accent, at least from what I remember from how Hugh Laurie did in the TV show.
On the other hand, while the accent is very good for a fake accent, it still doesn't sound natural. I hadn't heard anything else by dodificus before I listened to Taking Liberties, but even so, I could tell that the accent she was using wasn't quite her own. And there was something about that that distracted me from the story. It also had a side effect, with the changed prosody, that the emphasis put on some of the words sounded odd and, again, unnatural. I downloaded another story read by dodificus to see if this was just her style, but it seems specific to this story, and, again, I think it's all down to the accent. The added emphasis that comes with the accent sometimes takes away from the humor, too, because a lot of the humor in Jeeves and Wooster is that Bertie doesn't realize how ridiculous he's being, and I think that would have come off better if the tone were a bit more understated, like in the other reading of hers I listened to.
Examples of bits where the emphasis strikes me as odd:
"And then a second deluge of plaster and water and other assorted bits came right down around my ears"
"and it occurred to me that there was a slight problem."
"and have only intruded in cases of utter emergency"
"who could break a man in half with the force of his stare."
I do feel that the accent seemed to get more relaxed and comfortable as the story went on, and it popped out to me less and felt more natural, especially regarding the odd emphasis. Because of this, I liked the second half of the reading more than the first.
Voices:
I could always distinguish who was speaking, which I liked.
I really like Jeeves's voice, especially on certain lines when it comes off as particularly dry and Jeeveslike. Examples below.
My favorite voice of all was the voice of the old lady neighbor. It was very distinctive and totally captured the humor of the crazy old meddling aunt type from the Jeeves and Wooster books. I feel like Wodehouse would have loved the way dodificus did that voice.
Pronunciation:
I've always heard that Wooster is supposed to be pronounced like "Wusster," and it was slightly distracting to me that it wasn't.
Sound quality:
There was some noise removal done on this, which was noticeable in that the background hum got slightly louder during speech than in the pauses between speech, and a sliiiightly metallic tone to the speech. But it wasn't very distracting, and after a couple minutes I stopped noticing either thing. It was always easy to hear, the words were well-articulated, and I had no trouble following any part of the story.
Line deliveries I particularly liked:
"I have no intention of sleeping tonight, sir" and "I can make do with the floor, sir" and "Very well, sir." There's this dryness in the way dodificus has him say sir that is SO in-character. In fact, pretty much every instance of 'sir' in this reading is amazing and contains all these awesome layers that totally illustrate the character and that Stephen Fry was so good about conveying as well.
"Dash it, Jeeves." again sounded very natural and in-character and funny.
"I yawned carefully." I like the yawning on that line, and how it does sound careful and delicate. Excellent.
"Oh Jeeves, my piano!" I like how sincerely heartbroken he sounds over his piano. It's very endearing to hear frivolous Bertie show actual serious passion for his music.
"I really couldn't say, sir." Favorite Jeeves line so far. SPOT. ON.
"And there was a wealth of whatsit in his tone." I just like this. It conveys the humor of the line well, has the accent and yet is a bit understated in a way that makes it work for me.
"I really don't know what I would do without you, Jeeves." The way it sounds like a discovery, like it's really striking him anew at that moment, is lovely and touching.
The whole bit with Bertie listening to Jeeves undress for bed, around minute 24, was warm and soft and tender and I loved it.
And the bit starting around 28:20, with Bertie waking up in the middle of the night and Jeeves touching him in his sleep, was really absorbing and hot. My favorite part of the story. And then end of that scene was particularly perfect: "Not at all well-done of me. Not at all."
"When I'm alone with only dreams of you/that won't come true/what'll I do?" The emotion in this is just right, and I liked her choice to say, rather than sing, these lyrics, to allow the quiet power of the words to come through.
no subject
I am of two minds about the accent dodificus used for this, which is not her natural one.
I was kind of of two minds as well, when I thought about trying the accent. My reasoning behind doing it was that I didn't think my normal reading style (understated as you said) would really lend itself to the slight ridiculousness that is Bertie. I could get a bit more endearingly pompous (I hoped, anyway) for Bertie and capture the gravitas that Jeeves has.
The added emphasis that comes with the accent sometimes takes away from the humor, too,
I am *very* sorry to hear that because a *huge* part of the enjoyment I get out of Wodehouse fic is the comic element:/
My favorite voice of all was the voice of the old lady neighbor.
I don't even *know* where that came from but I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought she was hilarious.
In fact, pretty much every instance of 'sir' in this reading is amazing and contains all these awesome layers that totally illustrate the character and that Stephen Fry was so good about conveying as well.
*makes happy seal noises*
which was noticeable in that the background hum got slightly louder during speech than in the pauses between speech, and a sliiiightly metallic tone to the speech.
This is very helpful and definitely something I'll see if I can tweak in the future.
You've made me so happy with this:D You've given me concrete things that I can improve on and I adore that you gave me examples of lines that you loved. Thanks so much for putting so much care and time into giving me this feedback.
no subject
I am so glad. I was nervous about it, and wanted to plaster the whole thing with giant disclaimers that I am just one person and my one tiny opinion is not important and people should take it with a giant grain of salt. Because, I mean, who am I to say whether to use the accent or not? And there was something very cool about using it. Just, in my opinion, it became a bit more about the accent than the story, especially for the first half, and to me it wasn't necessarily worth the trade. But I am just teeny tiny me. So. I am glad each person is getting 2 reviews in this exchange, and there will be a second opinion.
And I am very very pleased that you liked the review and found it helpful!
no subject