How To Pass A Voice Over Audition

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC

No joke. A lot of actors don't know how to create characters with their voices.

For I, Creator 2: Goddess of the Hunt, we have 2 voice over characters: Andromeda an AI Stealth Spaceship and Ares: God of War.

99% of every actor for both roles failed big time. Most just used their own natual voice. Some guys for Ares can immitate a gangster, but not a wat god. There is a difference in the way a voice should sound for a war god over a gangster. The actors just could not connect.

Only 2 actors out of 200 knew the right voice. We have them both working with us now.

With Andromeda, only one actress out of 220 nailed a computer synthesized voice to win the role. All the other actresses thought their natural voices were what I was looking for--not so! The actress who won the audition also happens to LOVE science fiction. And, she pays attention to the characters.

I hope this post helps actors who want to audition for voice overs. Remember, you need to become the character in the script and NOT YOURSELF!
 
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Personally, I have no inclinations as to what the voice of a "God of War" would sound like. So, with that said, I can sympathize with the talent.

Did you discuss- or include before the audition within the script- as to how the character was to speak? In depth character bios etc

An actress should be prepared, but the basis of accomplishing an accent/style can be moulded, it can be learnt, plenty of talented actors could have slipped right through your fingers. Voice-overs are extremely difficult to convey, more so than live-action.
 
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I have recorded thousands of hours of character actors ranging from the voice of Captain Hook to the voice of Goofy and actors doing voice-overs for movies and to read what you just wrote about how only 2 actors out of 200 were able to do voice-over acting comes across as extremely pretentious.

I'm sorry, but it sounds like you didn't put that in the job description or coach them to do what you wanted OR you aren't getting in real actors for your project to audition...

It also helps to get in VOICE OVER actors because it's definitely a different art form because you don't act with eyebrows and facial movements at that point, you're conveying your communication via a metal piece of equipment called a Microphone.
 
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ROC, you are absolutely right. Too many actors don't realize they need to be more specialized to do voice-overs. That is a talent onto itself.

There is a clear difference in a god of war voice. I even put down in the breakdowns the voice needs to be very deep like a Commander Waurph voice from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The actor who nailed it best has a good demo reel and history of doing shakespear and ancient Greek productions on his demo reel. When he read as Ares in front of my guys and I, everyone knew he nailed the voice right away.

Creating a computer synthesized voice takes talent. The actress who nailed it emailed me her extensive VO reel as an MP3 ahead of time to let me see her range and emailed me her impression before the audition. She missed her first audition appointment. But, sending me the email made me give her that second appointment, which she attended working around her 2 agents.

You know, Laura Vandervoot got the role of Kara Kent a.k.a. Supergirl on Smallville by doing something simular. She mailed the creators of Smallville a video taped audition of how she would do Supergirl when she could not make her audition in person and impressed the ffilmmakers and won the role.
 
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I'm sorry but I still don't get it.

Either you put an open casting and said "Anyone, try to do a God of War voice" and you got many voices which didn't physically match the part. That's a factor, as well. Not everyone is endowed with a deep, gravelly voice which goes with that part.

One of my pet peeves is when a Director is too general with their needs and wants and gets upset with a crew member or actor who had absolutely no clue what the director wanted because too little information was given to the actor or crew member.

"I want thunder in that scene."

"Okay"

(puts in realistic huge gigantic hi-fi recordings of thunder)

"NO! I WANTED LOW-FI B-RATED HORROR FILM THUNDER!!!"

"Oh. Okay."

(puts in the b-rated horror film thunder)

It comes down to naming your product. List out exactly what you want and that's what you'll get.

In auditions I have done, it usually starts off with a detailed character description, such as: "Voice: Male, late 40s or 50s. Smokey narrator-type, military, old wizard."

or

"Younger, late teens early 20s, Eddie Haskel type" (this one is used a lot, Eddie Haskel is a famous prankster from the Leave it to Beaver show).
 
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Did you supply the necessary links, and videos to each applicant?

You have to understand that they are entering your world and are attempting to portray merely by voice, a character of your creation. Supplying a name isn't going be as helpful as a heap full of links, and specifications. Most of these actors are just starting out, some don't have such a great wealth of experience to do such thorough research. I'm not saying that google and youtube is a tough job, but offering that prior to the auditions may have given you alot more options and changed your current views on the ratio of talent.

Think of the preparations for an Animation role. What would an actor need to portray a Warthog? If you tell them it's a Warthog, do you think they would successfully execute the role?

Or do you think they would need moodboards, background information/character bios, soundalikes etc

It has to be extensive, as you are not dealing with proven professionals, you are dealing with those still learning the beginnings of their craft. Give them as much chance as possible to put the best audition across. It's in the best interests of both yourself, and the talent.
 
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Star Trek is well known everywhere. If they are into science fiction, they will know Star Trek.

That voice of Worf is EXTREMELY close to the one used for the voice of Ares on Hercules The Legendary Journies before the TV series ever put a face on Ares with an actor in later seasons. The voice is also similar to the voice of the most ancient of the gods in the second Mortal Kombat movie.
 
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Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
Star Trek is well known everywhere. If they are into science fiction, they will know Star Trek.

That voice of Worf is EXTREMELY close to the one used for the voice of Ares on Hercules The Legendary Journies before the TV series ever put a face on Ares with an actor in later seasons. The voice is also similar to the voice of the most ancient of the gods in the second Mortal Kombat movie.
Click to expand...

That might be very well, but did you tell them that, all this information you're displaying on this forum, was it presented to the talent?

You have to understand that not everybody who applies for the job necessarily has an indepth understanding of the genre, if any. Infact, many actors will have simply applied for the role, whether they are fans of the genre or not. That doesn't mean to say that they should be at a loss, it should be an even playing field for every auditionee, this information should have been presented.

Personally, not being a fan of the genre, I'd say (If you hadn't given them this information) that they will certainly not have discovered any of your reccomendations of their own accord. There's no way.
 
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There is a large percentage of actors who don't read breakdowns. So, why would they follow links?

The ones who read will do the proper research on their own.

Have you followed my posts on how many actors I turned away from auditioning for action roles for their own safety?
 
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I'm only posting the statistics with these numbers from my own auditions. They alarm me as I'm sure they alarm some of you. But, this is the world of small fry Indie productions such as mine.



We can start a whole new thread about how many actors have a misconceived notion that a stunt coordinator is a miracle worker and can turn someone without stage fighting, weapons training, and martial arts training into an action star on a low / no budget set overnight. These actors have no idea of what is involved with stunts. As one of my old classmates from my days in high school told me, "It's NOT a stunt coordinator's job to baby sit neophytes." They should be taking classes on their own in stage fighting, weapons, and martial arts. She is a stunt coordinator and stunt woman herself and she travels all over the globe as a highly paid professional.
 
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To skillfully cast voice actors is something that takes practice, note-taking and patience.

If a VA has good acting I usually try to coach them into the role, providing my own voice samples and interpretation of the way a character should speak as well as a very detailed description of what I want and using references if possible.

One other thing is that you really should look for demo reels and contact people... DON'T just wait for people to come to you. Voice acting demo reels are abundant on youtube, newgrounds and various voice acting forums.

In any case, good luck in your future VA casting endeavors... its not as easy as it sounds!
 
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I have to cast backups for a lead role this weekend because the original actress has to leave the country because a relative is ill and she wants to stay with the relative in the hospital. I like the 2 backup actresses already. Why? They both emailed me to ask for additional reference material beyond what the breakdowns offer. They are READING the breakdowns. There isn't much of that these days. I can work with them.
 
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Here is a sad but true story about what one actress did for the Andromeda VO casting role. She is obviously starting out. She has no demo reel nor resume. She asked me to email her, so she can email me her HEAD SHOT for a voice role. Who is going to see her face for a voice over role? Rule One is to read the breakdowns. I just didn't reply to that.
 
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In the amount of time it took you to come to this forum and complain about the actress who wanted to send you a headshot, you could have responded to her, written her a quick note to let her know she needed a different sample for the audition.

You want an educated actress, but you don't share information. And, granted, it isn't your job to educate every actress who submits for a role, but you can choose to do something positive, or you can complain. Both require about the same amount of energy.

gelder
 
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@MDM: As a rule of thumb I would recommend trying to avoid getting frustrated with actors and actresses when you're not paying them. Sometimes it will be their fault but you need to be crystal clear about what you want. Reading through this thread you do at one point make the assumption that they will be aware of a Star Trek reference. You shouldn't ever assume that people will understand scifi in the same way that you do, always make it as obvious as possible.

And don't punish naivety with indifference. That actress probably doesn't quite understand the business- but she may have the perfect voice for the role. Rather than complaining about her stupidity, I agree with Steve, send her a message so that she can provide you with the relevant information. It's always better to improve than to criticize in silence (or at least silence to them).
 
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How would you feel if I posted on another forum about how you don't know how to make a movie, Myth? How would that make you feel?

Not that I would do something like that, but just take a viewpoint from their shoes and see how it would make you feel if someone did that to you.

Try to treat others as you would want them to treat, you. That's all.
 
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