from Planetaria Obscura February 2017
Our VOICE is an overlooked aspect of planetarium shows! A trip to the planetarium is like Alice chasing that White Rabbit down his hole - a trip to wonderland. Alice said what's the good of a book without pictures and conversation, but a planetarium shouldn't be the opposite - all pictures with no conversation.
So its just another aspect of planetarium running to consider - once reality is suspended and we’ve led some folks down our rabbit hole, they will hang on our words as well as our stars. The power of silence at times, well known by sportscasters, is an important tool. Its tempting to talk over parts that don’t NEED talking over. Its tempting to talk too fast, or to shout all the time. Its important to recap - people have a tendency to want to start over - they won’t give you the last two numbers of their ID - they have to go back to the beginning and do the whole thing. We’re talking without eye contact - without hand gestures - with music playing in the background .. Our voice is like that perfect supporting actor - there, but not there - adding to the presentation but not stealing it. Its like off-center framing in cinematography maybe. Which brings me to
The movie The Kings Speech was celebrated for its ’off centre’ framing - it’s the perfect term for a planetarium presenter - people are listening but we ain’t the center. In the movie, King George VI learns to talk on the radio to his subjects, but he leaves in the particularly problematic ’w’s so people will ’know its me’. This goes down the whole fear of public speaking rabbit hole, though it should be easier in the dark with nobody staring. But because its easier, its tempting just to wing it and not carefully consider how we say things, not just what we say .. The beginning of Twilight Zone is just as chilling whether we see Rod Serling standing there in his suit or not. But we have to be ourselves.
The Cheshire Cat in Alice had the best idea - fade to invisibility as we do in the dark. But let the people still see our grin. More cats in the dark! ….
Our VOICE is an overlooked aspect of planetarium shows! A trip to the planetarium is like Alice chasing that White Rabbit down his hole - a trip to wonderland. Alice said what's the good of a book without pictures and conversation, but a planetarium shouldn't be the opposite - all pictures with no conversation.
So its just another aspect of planetarium running to consider - once reality is suspended and we’ve led some folks down our rabbit hole, they will hang on our words as well as our stars. The power of silence at times, well known by sportscasters, is an important tool. Its tempting to talk over parts that don’t NEED talking over. Its tempting to talk too fast, or to shout all the time. Its important to recap - people have a tendency to want to start over - they won’t give you the last two numbers of their ID - they have to go back to the beginning and do the whole thing. We’re talking without eye contact - without hand gestures - with music playing in the background .. Our voice is like that perfect supporting actor - there, but not there - adding to the presentation but not stealing it. Its like off-center framing in cinematography maybe. Which brings me to
The movie The Kings Speech was celebrated for its ’off centre’ framing - it’s the perfect term for a planetarium presenter - people are listening but we ain’t the center. In the movie, King George VI learns to talk on the radio to his subjects, but he leaves in the particularly problematic ’w’s so people will ’know its me’. This goes down the whole fear of public speaking rabbit hole, though it should be easier in the dark with nobody staring. But because its easier, its tempting just to wing it and not carefully consider how we say things, not just what we say .. The beginning of Twilight Zone is just as chilling whether we see Rod Serling standing there in his suit or not. But we have to be ourselves.
The Cheshire Cat in Alice had the best idea - fade to invisibility as we do in the dark. But let the people still see our grin. More cats in the dark! ….
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