Although I live in France, I don’t limit myself to the borders of the hexagon when it comes to work.
I grew up in the Champagne region, then in the Lyon region. I studied theatre for many years at the Conservatoire, where diction was very rigorous. We were taught to have “no accent”, or at least to erase as much as possible the one we might have.
But what does it mean to have no accent? Is it the French accent? But there is not just one. And yet, for other countries such as Belgium, Switzerland or Canada, the French in mainland France is indeed tainted by an accent.
In France, we can take as an example the presenters of the 8 o’clock news on major national channels like TF1. These people work not only on their elocution (no accent, good diction), but also on the “prosody of the journalist”. The combination of the two allows us, the viewers, to understand the message and therefore the news.
During my elocution exercises, I work on erasing all my language reflexes that could be related to an accent from one or other of the regions in which I grew up. For example, in Champagne-Ardenne, we notice that the ‘A’s get closer to the ‘O’s. So, thanks to this work on what could be called “neutrality of elocution”, my voice is as neutral as possible, thus enhancing the text, and therefore the message of the script for which the client contacts me.
As a French person from Metropolitan France, we sometimes find it difficult to understand Canadian French at first sight, and vice versa. That’s why it’s very important to choose the right voiceover for your clients’ geographical target.
Many of my clients are Belgian, Swiss or even Luxembourgian. For example, I have worked for the Belgian brand Organix or for the Royal Academy of Belgium. I am used to working from my home studio and can therefore send the files anywhere in the world. It’s very easy!
Are you looking for a French female voice-over actress? I’m the voice you need!