It turns out that one of my fortes in voice-work is e-learning. Virtually every day for the past six weeks or so, I’ve been working on online or video-learning projects for a few different clients. My voice is teaching everything from how not to sexually harass your colleagues, to how to navigate a complicated sales system for an international automotive company, to tips and tricks for conducting searches in the Internet.
One of my most satisfying experiences as a voice-over artist, though, came last year when I was hired to read a “scratch track” for a documentary titled, Power’s War. A scratch track is a place-holder. My voice would hold the spot and determine the length of the bit, as the filmmakers edited the film. Then a “real” actress would be hired to perform it again, for the final cut.
The role was Mrs. Haby, a neighbour who witnessed the autopsy of a young woman who died of an apparent poisoning. She was a frontier woman in 1918. There were six or seven lines. As Derek likes to say, “you gave it your best Becky Thatcher”. He’s referring to my grade 8, co-starring role as Becky Thatcher in the musical, Tom Sawyer! He’s right. Even though it was a scratch track, I gave it my best Becky T.
I got the job and didn’t think any more about it.
Months later, the director contacted me and said they decided to keep my “scratch track” in the final film. They didn’t see a need to hire anyone else to redo it. The latent actress in me was elated! I signed a contract, was paid a new performer’s rate, and would get a credit at the end.
Power’s War made the rounds of film festivals all over the US this year. It actually won some awards, too, and has created a lot of buzz in the southwest, where the shootout is the subject of folklore and hand-me-down rumours. It concerns the Power family who cleared land and lived in a rough part of the state, and whose patriarch refused to let his 20-something boys get drafted for WW1. They just wanted to be left alone to open up a mine and find the gold they were sure was there. They eventually drew the attention of the federal government and lawmen were sent to bring the lads in by force. There was a confrontation and that’s where the movie sorts things out. Over the years, people have taken sides. The Powers said they didn’t know who was shooting at them, so they shot back. The legal system found both men, plus their labourer who didn’t even fire a shot, guilty of first-degree murder. They spent most of their lives in prison.
The story is told by several well spoken historians and some reenactments done via voice-over. Mrs. Haby is the only female to appear this way. My role of six or seven lines was cut down to four, but I’m there and it was a kick to see my name in the credit roll. I don’t dislike e-Learning at all, but if I could, I’d do a Mrs. Haby a day, instead.