Archive for the ‘Thoughts’ Category

Like the name says…

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

…I’m still finding my voice…largely for this blog. I want to offer more here than just “Here’s what I’ve been doing lately,” but unfortunately that’s about all that it feels like I’ve got to offer at times.  Today, though, I’ve got a little story to share.  More on that later.

It’s been busy here. While most of that busy-ness isn’t on the voiceover front, there are definitely some fun things happening. Even doing scratch tracks for assorted projects at my day job is fun. I see it as additional free practice. Sometimes I just get to riff my way through the copy as I feel is most appropriate, while other times I get direction on how to approach it. I like it either way, and the variety is always interesting.  Then there’s the ever-present “you never know when the client may decide to hire you” side of it.  While I try not to get too caught-up in counting those pre-hatched chickens, it’s good to know that the possibility is there.

So what’s been happening on the VO front lately? Here’s a quick rundown:

  • Narration for some software training projects (more to share on this soon, I hope)
  • Assorted tracks (some as just scratch) for work projects, including a pharmaceutical piece, a fast-talking dinosaur, and later today, a no-nonsense New York tour guide
  • Character work for an independently-produced animated feature

I’m also pleased to announce that I’ve been cast as Bob Cratchit in a local audio production of A Christmas Carol, which is being produced to benefit Reading and Radio Resource, a Dallas agency that’s dedicated to providing audio materials for the blind and visually impaired.

And now for today’s VO tip:

Be yourself

Recently a friend was helping me to practice a read for a type of project that I hadn’t done before.  At first glance it felt like it was significantly outside of my comfort zone, and my first several takes (spread over numerous weeks) didn’t hit the mark.  Thankfully my friend was very patient with my stumbles, and let me take things at my own pace, so I decided to let it percolate in the back of my mind for a while.

After several more weeks had passed, the solution hit me, and it was so deceptively simple that I don’t know why I hadn’t latched onto it sooner.  In all of my earlier attempts, I was trying too hard to get the read to sound like I thought it should sound.  In short, I was trying too hard to be a voiceover artist.  What I should have been doing was tapping into the right aspect of my own personality that matched the copy, and targeting my read to a specific person in my head to whom I would naturally talk that way.

The next morning I took another stab at it with those principles in mind, and felt really good about the result.

So did my friend.

Did I mention that he’s an audio producer for a busy company?  ;)

Posted in Lessons Learned, Thoughts, Work | 1 Comment »

Parallels

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Having worked in the animation industry for nine years, and having been a fan of computer-generated (CG) imagery for many years before that, I’ve heard a lot of comments about how various CG animated projects look.  In fact, the whole purpose of using CG imagery is to achieve specific visual effects that would be more difficult — or perhaps impossible — to create using other techniques.  A human cannot really turn into liquid metal, dinosaurs don’t really roam the earth, and toys don’t really come to life when we’re not looking, so filmmakers chose to create those moments using CG animation.  In doing so, they worked with teams of artists and spent thousands of hours and millions of dollars to get the look just right.

However, despite the massive effort to perfect the look of these visual effects, their only purpose is to serve the story.  Without a solid and compelling story, the best CG imagery in the world is just eye candy, and one doesn’t have to look very hard to find examples of high-quality CG animation and effects that were created to accompany lackluster stories.  In some of these cases, the filmmakers might have felt that the audience would be drawn in by the visual elements, and that the story didn’t have to be that great.  In fact, it wasn’t long after Pixar released Toy Story that aspiring filmmakers began talking about — and trying to achieve — “the Pixar look”, as if the specific look that Pixar created for their film was the reason for the film’s success.  They completely missed the point: Pixar had created a compelling story.  The computer-rendered visuals were simply one of many components that they used to help tell that story.

In the field of voiceover, one of the most troubling examples of this “looking beyond the mark” behavior that crops up on a regular basis is when a hopeful voiceover-artist-to-be utters the phrase, “A lot of people have told me that I have a good voice, and that I should consider getting into voiceover.”  What they fail to realize is that the specific sound of a person’s voice is one of the least important ingredients behind an effective, engaging voiceover performance.  They don’t realize that the key to effective voiceover is the same as the key to effective animated filmmaking: story.

The voiceover artist’s job is to tell a story.  That story could be about a little boy walking through the dark woods, a sale on watermelons, or the proper procedure for treating an asthma patient, but it’s still a story.  The trick lies in knowing how to best present the story using the human voice so that the listener is engaged.  Without a sense of story, the most appealing voice in the world couldn’t keep the listener from disengaging and moving on to something that does capture their attention.  While filmmakers have generally figured out that it’s the story, not the look, that makes a great animated film, fledgling voiceover talent are still getting caught in the same “I’ve been told I have a good voice” trap that snared many of their predecessors.

Before spending any money on pursuing a voiceover career — even on training — voiceover hopefuls should have a firm grasp on this fundamental truth of the industry: If you want to make it in the world of voiceover, don’t get too caught up in the sound of your voice.  Learn how to tell a good story.  Similarly, if you’re looking to hire voiceover talent, don’t get too distracted by the specific sound of the artists’ voices you’re hearing.  Look for those who are effective story tellers first and foremost, and then narrow the field to the folks who you feel would do well at telling your story.

What?  You don’t know what story you’re telling?  No problem.  Drop me a line and we’ll figure it out together!

Posted in Thoughts | 1 Comment »