Check out the audio recording and then read my reflections afterward. It's not playing on Firefox for me but is on Google Chrome so try that if you have issues:
http://www.schandler.net/LaurensGranny.mp4
(Kudos to my super savvy techy law school buddy for setting up this audio link for me)
(Sorry for the "this is just a test" because it ended up working alright and not being a test after all.)
For this assignment we were asked to make a 3-5 minute recording of a conversation with a friend in order to analyze the voices for pace, volume, energy, pitch, and tone. I try to call my 89 year-old grandmother every week so when I was considering which of my friends would serve as a good subject for this audio assignment I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone and get my weekly chat in with my granny while updating the blog.
As far as content goes (not the point of the assignment) I'll give you the brief recap: I called thinking we would talk about Thanksgiving which my grandmother is hosting at her house here in Austin this Thursday. She chatted about who was coming a little bit, but then she jumped right into her concerns about my aunt, who has been in a rehab facility since she broke her hip. I just learned from this conversation that although she had been progressing and was using a walker that she's recently had to use a wheelchair again. My grandmother sounded very down about it, and I could tell she was distracted by something the moment she picked up the phone.
Back to the real assignment:
Volume: Sorry folks, I'm much louder than she is because I had her on speaker phone and I was right next to the recorder (and she's hard of hearing so I pretty much always pick up the volume when I'm on the phone with her). Since my grandmother is doing most of the talking, I'll talk more about her voice here. Her volume is pretty consistent but her voice gets lower and she sounds more upset generally as she's lamenting the fact that her daughter/my aunt is back in a wheelchair and may not be making it to Thanksgiving. Her volume is the lowest when she said something along the lines of "oh boy, that girl... something's always wrong."
I was pretty loud the whole time so it's hard to really gauge differences in my volume, but I got a little louder (with the "Oh no!") when I heard my aunt was back in a wheelchair. Upon listening to this I think I don't really sound as concerned about the situation as I am/ought to sound and I think that's probably because I was conscious that I was being recorded.
Pace: I tried to keep the pace picked up because my grandmother sounded a bit slower than usual. I thought maybe she was just tired since I called after 9:30 but I think she felt a bit down because of the disappointing news. Her pace slowed quite a bit as she discussed my aunt's regression but then picked back up when she directed the conversation at me and asked how I've been doing.
Energy: Maybe it's because I was being self-conscious but I can tell now that I was trying to get her to talk so I could avoid talking a lot on this recording. When she asks me questions I answer briefly and then redirect her back to Thanksgiving (at the beginning and at the end). I usually try to keep the energy up when I talk to her because her favorite pastime is to worry about all the family members so I try to give her as little to fuss about as possible with regard to being stressed about law school, life in general, answers to questions about things she doesn't need to concern herself with.
Pitch/Tone: I'm not sure if this belongs in tone, but I realized when I listened to the recording that I asked a question she had already told me the answer to (whether or not my aunt would be joining us for Thanksgiving), and you can also hear me typing in the background (bad granddaughter, multi-tasking while on the phone getting bad news about family members... for shame). You can tell that I'm a bit distracted (watching to make sure I'm not recording for too long, typing something up in the background, thinking about the sound quality) so my tone changes where I'm not really paying attention contrasted with my interjections and exclamations when I remember I need to respond and stay engaged in the conversation. I think overall my tone during conversations with my granny is a lot peppier and more bubbly than the way I actually speak in real life. Or maybe I'm just not used to hearing myself recorded.
Not sure that this was the best example but I'm betting no one else records their octogenarian grandmother for a class assignment...
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Visual Signals
I had to pick a Mad Men clip (can't wait till season 5 starts up in 2012!) but I think it's an interesting case study because a sales pitch has certain elements in common with a negotiation or even an arbitration. Don Draper is pitching an idea to clients (in this episode, it's Kodak looking to advertise their "carousel" photo projector). I know from other episodes I've seen that Draper knows how to turn on his salesman pitch. While watching without sound, I was looking for cues that he was working the sale, exaggerating, or just playing his Ad-man role.
Here's the play-by-play:
The scene starts and you see a handshake across the table - so we know there's some kind of business interaction going on.
I know who the clients are (because they're not regular characters) but you can also tell they're clients as they sit down because they're a bit more relaxed and are obviously there in a passive role because they're receiving the presentation, not trying to make the pitch. The Sterling Cooper ad guys are on the other side of the table laughing - in business chit chat mode.
Don stands at the head of the table, ready to be the presenter and lead the clients through his pitch. His body language is interesting, because he has to be both authoritative (knows his stuff, and knows better than clients what advertising will work best for their product) and catering to what he thinks they will want to hear. He has to instill confidence in them that they've come to the best ad agency in town so you can see he keeps his hands close to his body with very subtle movements and he squints his eyes a little as he explains his idea. To me his facial expressions make it seem like he's telling a story and he's really thinking about it, and he wants them to truly consider it as well. Then he lightens up a bit and his gestures become more open and he smiles - apparently attempting to appeal to them or perhaps to instill a feeling of understanding, that he knows what they want and he's ready to show them what it is. When he smiles, looks away, seems to joke and uses wider gestures, I get the feeling this is salesman mode and is a little less genuine. The camera jumps to the Kodak guys and one looks a little guarded, not as ready to jump on the Draper saleswagon, but the other looks more indifferent like he's just taking it in.
When the lights go off and he starts the projector, you watch him narrate his own family photos for the Kodak guys. The first few photos jump up so we can see a Draper family moment and then flash to Don explaining it to the guys. You can imagine that he's got a script down, trying to appeal to their emotions (the best way to make a sale). But as he goes through the photos, even Don looks more and more touched by his family moments, and his facial expression make it seem as if he's being really honest - as a viewer I have the feeling that whatever he's telling them is genuine and heartfelt. [If you keep up with Mad Men this would tip you off to a parallel plot line concerning the tension between Don and Betty Draper and how he's often a very cold presence in his home life and does not usually betray any feelings of warmth with his wife or kids like he appears to when he's looking at these photos. So this scene not only shows his ad idea (the Carousel), but also gives some insight into a sentimental side of Don we don't see too often with regard to his family life.] You can see how his expression changes based on whether it's a photo of him and his children (proud papa face), or him and Betty (some expression bordering on love or underlying affection or something - granted I'm probably reading into this because I know too much about their history together).
At the end of the show, one of the ad guys from creative looks overwhelmed by emotion and jumps up and runs out of the room. I'm not sure what that's about, except to surmise that the pitch far exceeded his expectations. The lights come on and the Kodak guys swivel around slowly in their chairs. Though they're not smiling, you can tell they're deep in thought about the pitch, presumably because it deeply appealed to them. It definitely doesn't seem as if the pitch fell flat. Even without any of the traditional positive feedback, their thoughtfulness makes you think that they bought into the sales pitch and are deeply impressed - it exceeded their expectations as well, or else they had never thought about their product in that way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2bLNkCqpuY
Here's the play-by-play:
The scene starts and you see a handshake across the table - so we know there's some kind of business interaction going on.
I know who the clients are (because they're not regular characters) but you can also tell they're clients as they sit down because they're a bit more relaxed and are obviously there in a passive role because they're receiving the presentation, not trying to make the pitch. The Sterling Cooper ad guys are on the other side of the table laughing - in business chit chat mode.
Don stands at the head of the table, ready to be the presenter and lead the clients through his pitch. His body language is interesting, because he has to be both authoritative (knows his stuff, and knows better than clients what advertising will work best for their product) and catering to what he thinks they will want to hear. He has to instill confidence in them that they've come to the best ad agency in town so you can see he keeps his hands close to his body with very subtle movements and he squints his eyes a little as he explains his idea. To me his facial expressions make it seem like he's telling a story and he's really thinking about it, and he wants them to truly consider it as well. Then he lightens up a bit and his gestures become more open and he smiles - apparently attempting to appeal to them or perhaps to instill a feeling of understanding, that he knows what they want and he's ready to show them what it is. When he smiles, looks away, seems to joke and uses wider gestures, I get the feeling this is salesman mode and is a little less genuine. The camera jumps to the Kodak guys and one looks a little guarded, not as ready to jump on the Draper saleswagon, but the other looks more indifferent like he's just taking it in.
When the lights go off and he starts the projector, you watch him narrate his own family photos for the Kodak guys. The first few photos jump up so we can see a Draper family moment and then flash to Don explaining it to the guys. You can imagine that he's got a script down, trying to appeal to their emotions (the best way to make a sale). But as he goes through the photos, even Don looks more and more touched by his family moments, and his facial expression make it seem as if he's being really honest - as a viewer I have the feeling that whatever he's telling them is genuine and heartfelt. [If you keep up with Mad Men this would tip you off to a parallel plot line concerning the tension between Don and Betty Draper and how he's often a very cold presence in his home life and does not usually betray any feelings of warmth with his wife or kids like he appears to when he's looking at these photos. So this scene not only shows his ad idea (the Carousel), but also gives some insight into a sentimental side of Don we don't see too often with regard to his family life.] You can see how his expression changes based on whether it's a photo of him and his children (proud papa face), or him and Betty (some expression bordering on love or underlying affection or something - granted I'm probably reading into this because I know too much about their history together).
At the end of the show, one of the ad guys from creative looks overwhelmed by emotion and jumps up and runs out of the room. I'm not sure what that's about, except to surmise that the pitch far exceeded his expectations. The lights come on and the Kodak guys swivel around slowly in their chairs. Though they're not smiling, you can tell they're deep in thought about the pitch, presumably because it deeply appealed to them. It definitely doesn't seem as if the pitch fell flat. Even without any of the traditional positive feedback, their thoughtfulness makes you think that they bought into the sales pitch and are deeply impressed - it exceeded their expectations as well, or else they had never thought about their product in that way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2bLNkCqpuY
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