February 18, 2005

• The Wonderful World of Voice Overs

  
  

  Besides being immersed in Pilot season (btw: my test date is now next week), I’ve also been taking a Voice Over class offered by a casting studio for the past 6 weeks.  In my career, I’ve been exposed to bits and pieces of this art form through: an animation voice for “The Wild Thornberrys”, walla group for “Spider-Man 2“, various characters for an old-time radio play, narration and trailer Voice Over for “BLT“. 

  
  

  So having performed on Stage, Film, TV and Radio… Voice Over (VO) was the last medium I’ve been meaning to tackle and learn its microcosmic etiquette for sometime now. 

  
  

  Also, thinking as a future parent, you just can’t beat the hours.  It pays basically as much as an on-camera gig with all the residuals but with much shorter hours.  An animated episode like “The Simpsons” can be recorded in one day in less than 5 hours as opposed to shooting eight, 12-hour days to get an episode of “CSI” into the can.  Basically breaking down to more time at home with the fam.  But getting VO work is like trying to break into a secret society.  Hence, my taking these classes with this casting company to pay my dues and start networking from the ground up. 

  
  

  Voice Over acting basically utilizes the same techniques of on-camera/stage acting.  “Pick a person you’re talking to”  ”Substitute a similiar situation from your life”, etc.  But what I found most eye-opening is: You don’t need to have a wealth of different character voices, accents or even a “good” announcer voice. 

  
  

  People are casting natural voices these days.  For example:  A talking ant doesn’t necessarily have to have a tiny squeaky voice.  As long as you take into consideration the truth of the scene, whatever voice you come up with… will make sense.  Ex: Say the role is of an ant trying to hush the entire colony announcing the Queen’s arrival… He may be very regal and professional (like he was born to announce).  Or he could be a nervous young ant who was just shoved this responsibility minutes ago.  

  
  

  Another distinct lesson I learned was that unlike being on-camera, where you want to avoid being stereotyped; when starting out in voice-over… you WANT to be stereotyped.  There is such a huge pool of Voice Over actors that even if you can do an Irish accent (like myself), they can call in an Irish Actor or even patch in an Irish Actor’s voice from Ireland via the phone!  Hey, my Irish Accent’s pretty good but not THAT good.  

  
  

  Everybody’s voice has a “truth signature” to it.  If you have a natural nerdy/quirky voice, the casting people (once you’ve established yourself with them) will peg it down and type that “truth signature” into their database.  When a project comes through where a client is looking for a “Quirky/Nerdy/Lovable Guy” – all they have to do is cross-reference the actors that match that description in their database and call them in to audition. 

  
  

  And that’s how it’s done.  You want your name to pop up when they are looking for characters with your “truths” and be known as the best: “Quirky/Nerdy/Lovable Guy” in town.  For example, Michael Douglas’ “truth signature” would be: Distinguished, aggressive, CEO, businessman, slick, charming, cunning, guy’s guy..  Rosanne Barr’s would be: Crass, loud, in your face, obnoxious, grating, bullying.  George W. Bush’s would be: Clueless, idiotic, over-simplifier, good ole’ boy, conniving (…aw forget it, this one is way too easy…)  

  
  

  After 6 weeks of hearing me do various types of material, here’s what my instructor pegged as my “truth signature” and what she entered into the casting company’s database: Guy next door, boyish, cool, cynical, conversational, eager, mellow/laid back, endearing, fresh, genuine, good energy, hip, naive, intelligent, irreverent, natural , playful , quirky, real, reassuring , thoughtful, intense, trustworthy, honest , vulnerable, nurturing, best friend, gentle, warm, sweet.  

  
  

  Sure, as actors you want to be able to play different character/roles but in Voice Over, the microphone can pick out people trying too hard and who are out of their comfort zone very, very easily.   The phrase: “YOU are enough” was repeated again and again in class.

  
  

  You want to get your foot in the door by being very specific in what you can easily do.  Once you’re “in”, then you can fool around in the booth doing alternate takes and using different signatures.  If anyone’s interested in these classes: www.kalmenson.com .  The cool part is that all the class work you do along with the instructor’s notes/adjustments is all recorded for you to take home and review on audio cassette.

  
  

  It’s such an interesting medium that doesn’t get a lot of the obvious glamour.  Next time you’re watching TV, close your eyes and just listen to ABC‘s guy announcing what’s happening on the next “The Bachelorette”.  What ”truths” does his voice contain?  His truths are quite different from the Zales announcer whose soothing and passionate delivery is quite effective for selling diamonds.  Notice how regal and sophisticated Christina Pickles’ (Ross & Monica’s mom on “Friends”) voice comes across when she does those radio ads for the upscale Pavilions‘ supermarket chains?  Her “truth signature” falls very much in line with everything that Pavilions represents.  

  
  

  Hmm, judging from my signature notes above, I’d be a really good pitch person for something innocent and “aw-shucks” like… cupcakes.  Maybe even the new voice of the Cowboy Twinkie dude!  I’m sending a CD to Hostess as we speak! 

  
  

  After 8 years in this business, you still learn something new every once in awhile.  And this on top of my childbirth classes that I’ve also been taking with my wife.  Hey, I thought I was done with school!

  • 2:40 pm
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