Lady Macbeth Portrayed with Subtle Artistry by Computer Generated Microsoft Mary

Added: (Fri Jun 17 2005)

Pressbox (Press Release) - TTS Artistes Draw Bravos in IndependentAnimatedFilmChannel.com Debut

Most consumers use text-to-speech (TTS) speakers, like Microsoft's Mary, Mike and Sam, to read email on the web or tally expenses in Quicken. "Lady Macbeth Interpreted by Dame Microsoft Mary" allows that TTS performer to express emotional depth that she has never heretofore unleashed on the public.

"Even people accustomed to her computerized voice will be spellbound by her chilling portrayal of Shakespeare's power-mad murderer," said filmmaker Sondra Lowell on the eve of her prize-winning, minute-long drama's premiere in the beta test of the IndependentAnimatedFilmChannel.com web-based cartoon network. "Lady Macbeth Interpreted" will remain in play on the website after it goes public on July 4.

"I hate to give away the ending," added the filmmaker, "but Sir Microsoft Michael, a longtime colleage of Mary's, joins her in the role of his lifetime, playing Shakespeare himself."

Sondra is an innovator in such diverse fields as podcasting singing/tap dancing news and taking longer than anyone else in history to finish editing her live action digital first feature, WebcamMurder.com, about people who live their uneventful lives on Internet webcams.

"I became aware of the dramatic talents of Mary, Mike, Sam and other text-to-speech performers when TTS voices were added to screenplay formatting software so screenwriters could listen to their dialog out loud," said Sondra. "After hearing them voice my own repartée, I knew they could give Sir Laurence Olivier and that silent Sarah Bernhardt movie a run for their money." It was then that Sondra started her art-for-art's-sake company, Shakespeare R Us.

"Lady Macbeth Interpreted" was edited and composited in Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Photoshop, with facial animation designed in the soon-to-be-released version 4 of CrazyTalk by Reallusion and TTS voicings in CrazyTalk version 2.5. Music is from the Adobe Premiere version of SmartSound.

Both Dame Microsoft Mary and Sir Microsoft Michael (né Lernout & Hauspie British English male) are available for interviews.