In
order to make
it easier for me to assemble the different vocal parts into the
music, I'd like to ask that each bit of dialog be recorded as a
separate file. In other words, everywhere I've indicated which
character is speaking is a new file. For example:
Narrator: Among the hazards faced
by airships, Nature supplies the worst. Weather is nearly
unpredictable. Storms can strike suddenly, with winds beyond the
imagination of mortal kind. Lightning, gale-force winds, driving rain
that reduces visibility to nil. Our airships, mighty engines to our
minds, are as nothing when compared to the ravages of nature.
First Officer: Captain, I have the latest weather report. We're heading into a storm. The squall line is too wide to go 'round.
Captain: Can we go over it?
First Officer: No Sir, it tops out well beyond our maximum altitude.
Captain: No choice then. Helm, take us down to 3000 feet. We'll just have to bull our way through.
Helm: Aye aye, sir. Descending to 3000 feet.
The above dialog would be six different files, split between the four
different actors. The Narrator's paragraph would be one recording. The
Captain and First Officer have two recordings each, and the Helm
officer would have one. That way I can move the lines of dialog around
to fit where I need them. It would be different if we were all in a
studio together, reading the script as a block of dialog in a single
scene. But since we're spread out all over the world, I'll just have to
assemble each conversation from individual lines of dialog. It may not
be the correct term among actors, but I find myself referring to each
character's indicated paragraph as a “line.”
Another point to ponder: Since this is to be the story of several
different airships, rather than following a single airship through a
series of adventures, we can all play different characters. Each song
will allow us to switch parts to become a different character, even if
I've used the same names to tell each speaking part one from another as
I write the script. The only exception to this will be the Narrator. In
order to tie the whole thing together, I want the same voice for the
Narrator from begging to end. Unless he backs out of the project,
Dennis Vore has been cast as our Narrator. I wanted the part for
myself, but after hearing Dennis over the phone, I decided he nailed
the part with exactly the deep, resonant voice I was attempting to do,
myself. Once you hear him, I think you'll agree.
Since we are from all over the world, the need for us to adopt
different accents will be less. I'm not ruling it out, but as of yet I
doubt it will be necessary very often. Then again, once we get going,
it might wind up being fun to do different accents. Who knows? I just
want us to have fun, and give the listeners the best we can create.
I'll post the unfinished script as a series of web pages. One page for
each song, as it were. This will be the index page for the project. I
will add links to the scripts for each song.
Airships Suite Act 1
Airships Suite Act 2
Airships Suite Act 3
Airships Suite Act 4
Airships Suite Act 5
Airships Suite Act 6
