In a world where Don LaFontaine has gone to the big microphone in the sky ...

[elizabear]

The voice of many, many movie trailers, Don LaFontaine, died on Monday from complications after a recent illness. He originated the "In a world where ..." phrasing, which he said was a quick way of bringing people into the mood and premise of the movie. I wonder if the industry will retire the phrase or keep using it as a tribute?

Comments

[dlevey.livejournal.com]

I would hope that someone uses it at his funeral, as an introduction to his eulogy.

[prusik.livejournal.com]

My problem is that I've gotten to the point where I can't hear that phrase without laughing, especially if it comes with the sonorous bass-baritone voice. This isn't to say that they shouldn't keep using it, of course.

The funny thing is that you'd there would be plenty of people with big, sonorous bass-baritone speaking voices, but there apparently aren't. The other voice over artists I've heard either have a different sort of voice, or put on the Don LaFontaine voice when they need it. (i.e., they don't use it all the time because it's not comfortable to speak in that range, and because it's not their natural speaking range, they don't have the expressive flexibility they'd otherwise have.)