Reviewing others work 'Fire Kills' Advert

Department for Communities and Local Govt 'Fire Kills'

Script

SFX: Clock ticking.

FVO: Don’t forget the clocks go back on the 28th October.

We’ll all be going round our homes changing them by an hour.

All except for 226 people. They won’t be doing it this year. It’s not because they can’t be bothered, it’s because time has stopped for them.

SFX: Ticking stops.

They’ve died in house fires since this time last year.

Vocal Techniques

It is important as a Voice Actor to make use of vocal techniques. As an aspiring actor, listening to examples such as the one above can help improve your own abilities. I will be providing an analysis of the vocal techniques used in the advert as well as identifying gender age and the character being portrayed.

Vocal Review

At the beginning of the add it sounds like a simple reminder about turning the clock back, her tone is neutral, at the begging starting with ‘Don’t Forget’ her pitch is slightly elevated, and the tone suggests that she has just remembered to remind you about the clocks going forward, the rise and fall of her voice is steady and it starts out sounding as a normal conversation. As we reach the part 

‘All except for 226 people. They won’t be doing it this year. It’s not because they can’t be bothered, it’s because time has stopped for them.’

 There is a change in her intonation, as the three sentences reach the end her voice noticeably lowers and her tone is more somber and regretful. The change in tone and use of vocal levels instantly adds a more serious note to the dialogue currently being spoken. The rhythm also starts to slow down at this point as signified by the clock as the ticking slows down. The pauses between each sentence is slightly longer, this creates a sense of importance in the information each line gives us, and the audience is more tuned into what will be said next.

She slows her pace on the final part ‘because time has stopped for them’ as well as progressively lowering her tone. I feel this creates a sense of finality in what she has said as the results of what occurred were final. It also affects her tone, to a serious one, as the situation is important and I feel it leaves a bigger impact on the listener.

I also feel through the use of tone that she has seen this happen to someone she knows or someone she is close to and so it is something personal to her.

When she gets to the Key part of the advert where she telling the listeners what they want them to do, there is another slight rise in pitch and a stronger use of intonation. It keeps the person listening to what she has to say.

On the line ‘It won’t take much time’, the slight rise in pitch and use of intonation put a small level of stress on the sentence, her use of tone emphasizes the point she’s making. The reference to time and how spending that little piece of time to check your fire alarm is important, further emphasizes in the final line

‘Fire kills you can prevent it’

these two lines help put an emphasis on the key information within the advert ‘test your smoke alarm.’, the goal is to get people to check that their smoke alarm is working and not take the risk just because they feel it will take too much time out. By emphasizing and including the fact that it won’t take much time combined with the final sentence, the use of her vocals gives a sense of urgency as well as authority that will make a listener follow what she wants them to do.

Techniques (sound effects)

There a two sound effects used in this Advert. The first sound effect is that of a clock ticking, and slowly coming to a halt.

I felt this was effective in this add as it uses time as a starting point in the advert and as a metaphor referring to how for 226 people their time has stopped in a literal sense due to being killed in a house fire.

When listening to the advert you hear the clock being to subtly slow down when we reach the line ‘All except for 226 people’, and coming to full stop on the line, ‘time has stopped for them’ the clock adds symbolism to the message and, creates a stronger sense of realism to the situation they are talking about which adds added strength to the main message coming at the end of the advert, for people of the community to test their fire alarms and not take the risk because that risk could have irreversible consequences.

At the end there is also the sound of fire near the end of the advert slowly rising from the line ‘test your smoke alarm’, it helps bring attention back to the danger of what could happen and adds emphasis on the final line ‘Fire Kills. You can prevent it.’

Using sound effects in adverts can add another layer of importance to the advert, as well as keep listeners paying attention to the advert. That is particularly important in this one as the sound effects add more tension and importance to the message because of what they symbolise.