by Herbie J Pilato
I can’t understand a lot about contemporary television programming, but what I can’t understand the most – is the dialogue.
Everybody mumbles, and talks too low.
It’s all like a bad episode of Seinfeld (of which there were only a few)!
What is that?
And WHY is that?
Certainly, actors have been mumbling for years and people have also been complaining for years.
The truth is, it really isn’t the performances, but in the sound-mixing.
That said, TV has been making every attempt to become more naturalistic and the medium’s man writer-producers, who at times can be yes – just a tad overzealous, are deliberately dialing down the dialogue.
Indeed, good TV actors have always spoken very, very quietly, just like film actors do, so much so, you could be standing a foot away from them on the set and not clearly hear what they’re saying.
But in the old days, editing “fixed” that. Now, it “breaks” it instead.
I think it’s a plot to keep older viewers who already have trouble hearing from watching.
In all, we always want to shoot for realism; and, of course, we all mumble in real life.
But guess what? TV shows aren’t real life; they’re a form of entertainment.
And what good is making something realistic if we can’t understand the realism?
And what good does it do if the writer creates always those beautiful words when no one in the TV audience can understand the actors when those words are spoken?
I’m not sure where it started – and who started it – but it needs to end; and these two following suggestions wouldn’t hurt if they were applied:
1] Actors need to start attending diction classes
and
2] The director needs to start directing their actors to slow down, and speak up!
