Mel Wishart

Accents: Liverpool, Lancashire, Glasgow, Scottish Borders, French, German.

2002-2005 - HND in acting performance. 2014 - Gary Terzza's Voiceover Masterclass sE Electronics sE2200a Condenser Microphone sE Electronics RF-X Reflexion Filter X Portable Vocal Booth RoXdon RPS-200 Metal Pop Shield Allen & Heath ZED-10 sound mixer At present I have the capacity to edit my recordings via Audacity, Garage Band and Logic Pro. At present I am a Drama Teacher in a secondary school in Scotland. I am constantly required to use different tones of my voice, suitable volume and I must ensure good clarity to enable both the pupils and my colleagues understand what I am saying. I work in a professional setting with this, and at times I am required to speak to colleagues from outwith my school, people at council level, and those from the Scottish Qualifications Authority. With this I am practiced at being both polite and courteous, as well as commanding and direct as and when the need arises. Acting Experience: In my private life I am involved in a theatre group, with which most of my more recent experience has come from. This has included being challenged with using a variety of accents. I have played the part of Eva in Kindertransport - a part which required me to play a girl of around 7 up to 20. I had to speak in German (of which I am not fluent), in English with a thick German accent, in English with a light German accent and Lankashire all in 2 hours work. Although I found this a challenge, I was complemented on my use of accents throughout the play. I was required to use a polite Brooklyn accent in Arsenic and Old Lace. I have also played the part of Linda in Blood Brothers the play, where I had to speak with a Liverpool accent playing the ages from 7 up to 25. Again I was complemented by a woman from Liverpool on my excellent portrayal of the Liverpool accent. In the Crucible I played the part of Mary Warren where we used a Devon English accent. One final notable mention must go to a live voice over part I played in Calendar Girls where I was the extremely well spoken, Queens English speaking announcer. Many people who know me well, did not realise that it was me speaking during this part of the performance. I have also been involved in a television programme which was called "The Fall of the Romanov's". It was part of a series called "Days That Shook the World" and I played the part of Anastasia Romanov. I had to speak in Russian, in a very controlled, regal manner, as well as being scared for my life at other points. Having never spoken a word of Russian before this, I was surprised when I was commended on my work with the language and asked if I had once lived in Russia. The above experience shows I have managed to use various languages and accents to portray characters both on stage and on television. Particularly on stage, I had to make sure when I projected my voice I did not lose the various qualities of voice being asked of me for each role. While voice over work does not require voice projection, this experience confirms that I am able to control my voice and maintain the required standards for each role I have taken on. Previous Relevant Work Experience: I have been involved in performing educational presentations to both nursery and primay school children, as well as pupils around 14 to 16 years of age. For these jobs, I was team leader / stage manager and workshop facilitator and they were touring around numerous different schools and nurseries. Some in and around Glasgow, others in England, but both required me as team leader to make the first contact with the touring company and the schools. I had to adapt my voice to communicate with people in these different regions, to ensure my Scottish accent was not too strong when in England, and problem solve where required to ensure each school received what they were looking for from us. Previous work also includes being a professional lighting operator in the Kings Theatre Glasgow. Here I had to communicate with professional touring companies in delivering the effect they wished to create on stage. I did this throughout the preparation stages in person, and via the head sets during each show. I have taken on different roles backstage during a show run and managed to deliver the appropriate effect on cue. This shows that I am capable of easily adapting to new challenges, and I have the ability to take instructions and carry out the tasks effectively. In another job I worked as a receptionist / secretary in an Engineering firm. In this job I not only was the first person that people spoke to in the company, but I was the voice of a highly professional company. When on duty as secretary, I was required to arrange meetings with clients, converse via email to various company bosses and was dictated to while I typed the information, among other things. These tasks taught me how to communicate in a business setting, both verbally and in written form. In conclusion, I have a can-do attitude to work. I am happy to try anything and will learn from each experience to ensure I continue to grow not only as a person, but also in the quality of work I produce. I am a reliable, hard working and bubbly person who has a great variety of experience with communicating to different audiences in very different settings.