Pronunciation ChallengeCoco | All the Facts | Disney+ Deets

The filmmakers strapped cameras on guitars to give animators exact reference footage for how musicians' fingers moved and played each song and melody.

“Only a song has the power to change a heart. Never underestimate the power of music.” -Ernesto de la Cruz

Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening Voicetube listeners. It’s Hugh again, with another episode of the Pronunciation Challenge. I think I’ve mentioned this in a previous episode before but I’ll talk about it again. Coco is my favorite Pixar film! However, I had no idea that the filmmakers took 3 years to do research for the film! That’s dedication! Dedication is the act of doing something for a special purpose and doing it with passion. I loved this video because it gave me so much new information about Coco that I never knew about before! Coco and Taiwan actually have a connection for me. When I first came to Taiwan, I lived in a hostel and the one film they played over and over again was Coco. I probably watched that film over 20 times during my stay there. I never got sick of it! Ok, so do you want to know something else that was interesting about the film? Let’s finish the featured sentence first and then come back to me!

Today’s featured sentence:
The filmmakers strapped cameras on guitars to give animators exact reference footage for how musicians' fingers moved and played each song and melody.

I’ll say that again.

The filmmakers strapped cameras on guitars to give animators exact reference footage for how musicians' fingers moved and played each song and melody.

Ok, now time for the Pronunciation Tips.


For the first word, we have
guitar
Two syllables.
“Gui” simply has a short U sound here. “Gui”. Don’t be fooled by the spelling! “Tar”, sounds like you’re saying the letter R but with a T sound in front. Tar. Guitar.

Next up, we have

reference
Three syllables
“Re” has a short E sound here. For the next two syllables, I want you to blend them together. Instead of saying “fer rence”, I want you to try saying it as if it had an “FR” beginning sound and a Z ending sound. “FRENZ”. Reference.

Lastly, we have,

footage
Two syllables.
“Foo” actually has a short U sound here so don’t go saying “FOO-TAGE”. “Tage”, also has a short U sound. “Tuhj”. Footage.


Moving onto Vocabulary!

The first word is:


1. reference
Definition
a quick look at a book, piece of paper, etc. in order to find information and help
Used in a sentence you could say,
“You should keep this book for future reference.

Next word,

2. footage
Definition
(a piece of) film especially one showing an event
Used in a sentence, you could say:
“The footage from the wedding looks amazing!”

And lastly,

3. musician
Definition:
someone who is skilled in playing music, usually as a job
Used in a sentence, you could say:
“Jay Chou is also a very skilled musician.”

Ok, here’s the interesting fact. Anthony Gonzalez, the voice of the main character, Miguel, sang for 10 minutes straight for his audition! The crazy part is that the audition never asked the actors to sing nor did they even imagine that the character Miguel also sings! You can say, he inspired the filmmakers to change the character to fit him better.

I spoke about this before but I’ll talk about it again. The festival of the dead in Coco reminds me so much of our own festival of the dead. In Chinese, we refer to it as 清明節 or in English as Tomb-Sweeping Day. I also had a great relationship with my grandmother so that last scene in the movie, oh wait. Have you seen the movie yet? I don’t want to spoil anything for you listeners but c’mon, that movie came out in 2017! You had five years to watch it! Anyways, do yourself a favor and watch Coco if you haven’t done so already! You won’t regret it!

Ok, listeners, make sure to get those recordings in. If you want to know what I’m up to, you can find me on Instagram at @hughtran_. Until the next episode, see ya!

Day 363