full commercial spots on a demo

vintajo · 06-29-2008, 10:26 PM

My coach suggests 3 full commercial spots and 1 more track of characters-which is my strong area....

Are full spots a bad idea?

SilverSurfer3001 · 06-30-2008, 07:58 AM

yup. There should be a "hook" that you can locate in each and every spot that you do, that encapsulates the essence of what makes you stand out as an artist. If I were an CD (and a loooonmg time ago, I was) or an agent and got a tape with 1:30 wort of stuff and found it to be nothing more than three spots, that demo would be trashed before the cd tray fully extended.

Your demo must give a snapshot of you. If you are a one trick pony, then a couple of spots edited together should do the trick. The demo is indeed a tricky thing to do. I don't have one yet, because frankly, I don't think that I am ready to put one together, yet. I just call local folks and ask for copies of old campaigns (both local and national) to see if they would be willing to help me with my career plans and share some old scripts so I can hone my skills. That could lead to having them call you in and may lead you to getting a gig, other times it could lead you to get some fairly strong local copy of actual campaigns that have worked, other times it could lead to nothing.

If you are a character person, make a demo of those characters. there are two ways to do it: 1) with individual clips of your character voices, or 2) with a dedicated script that allows you to draw al your character voices into a single creatively written "story line." As a former CD, I have to tell you, anyone who put together a creative and entertaining :45 script that showcased characters would always be moved right to the front of the queue of people to call if my current stable fell apart.

This is a tough insustry to shove a foot in the door. I takes lot of persistance and belief in yourself and your abilities (not to mention your equipment). As to your demos: Keep 'em as close to a minute as possible - after that 99.999872% of peoples eyes begin to glaze over. There is a fine line to walk between how many spots to include. You don't want too many and you don't want too few - especially if they are similar in tone, style and delivery. But a full spot on a demo tends to show a lack of creativity and lack of experience as the artist attempts to just "fill a minute."

Man that's a lot of words for my .02, innit?

jsgilbert · 07-01-2008, 12:02 PM

Full spots don't seemto be the way anybody goes with regards to the demos. I might suggest yo look at someone else producing your demo if for no other reason that that. If you don't have a ton of vocal range, then endeavor to useparts of spots that will allow yoou to demonstrate a variation of speed, cadence and emotion. You may also want to throw on a little bit of oyu working ensemble, either with a sigle person or a group of people to show your ability to play off of others and your timing.

If you have considerable range, then I would also suggest that you pay attention first to mixing up your emotions, cadence and speed and concentrate second on doing "different voices". I certainly wouldn't push on the demo. I have heard pretty decent demos marred by someone's insistence to do a bad impersonation of the Sopranos or similar read.

The parts that you read should be long enough to show that you can breath life into the words and demonstrate your acting ability.

When doing a character demo, consider who the intended recipient(s) will be. Character work for commercials is very different than characters for video games and both are differnet than cartoon or anime characters. Also be careful when it comes to doing accents and impersonations. Many people can do one or two accents well and/or one or two impersonations well, yet decide to stick a ton of mediocre stuff on thier animation reels to fill it out.

Be wary that your animation reel isn't you doing a bunch of voices and that it is indeed you being able to produce fully formed characters with emotional connection to what they say.

Unfortunately with so many people attempting to enter the voiceover world and with so few truly "making it", the last thing the v.o. world needs is another crappy demo. Visit www.voicebank.com and listen to some of the demos fro actors represented by the better agencies in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, etc. This will give you some idea of the type of reel that gets people representation.

Also, not to knock Jody's advice, but as someone who hires talent for games and animation, I have gotten so sick of hearing character demos with single story lines. Usually it's someone hosting a party, with the ubiquitous doorbell ringing to let in Sean Connery and his friends or it's the parade of celebrity or character phone calls. To be effective, perform voices that appear as though they were "lifted" from actual work. Zero extra points for cutseyness. Check some of the animation reels at voicebank while you're there.

06-29-2008, 10:26 PM	#1 (permalink)
vintajo User Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 7	full commercial spots on a demo My coach suggests 3 full commercial spots and 1 more track of characters-which is my strong area.... Are full spots a bad idea?

06-30-2008, 07:58 AM	#2 (permalink)
SilverSurfer3001 Jody Silvers Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 230	yup. There should be a "hook" that you can locate in each and every spot that you do, that encapsulates the essence of what makes you stand out as an artist. If I were an CD (and a loooonmg time ago, I was) or an agent and got a tape with 1:30 wort of stuff and found it to be nothing more than three spots, that demo would be trashed before the cd tray fully extended. Your demo must give a snapshot of you. If you are a one trick pony, then a couple of spots edited together should do the trick. The demo is indeed a tricky thing to do. I don't have one yet, because frankly, I don't think that I am ready to put one together, yet. I just call local folks and ask for copies of old campaigns (both local and national) to see if they would be willing to help me with my career plans and share some old scripts so I can hone my skills. That could lead to having them call you in and may lead you to getting a gig, other times it could lead you to get some fairly strong local copy of actual campaigns that have worked, other times it could lead to nothing. If you are a character person, make a demo of those characters. there are two ways to do it: 1) with individual clips of your character voices, or 2) with a dedicated script that allows you to draw al your character voices into a single creatively written "story line." As a former CD, I have to tell you, anyone who put together a creative and entertaining :45 script that showcased characters would always be moved right to the front of the queue of people to call if my current stable fell apart. This is a tough insustry to shove a foot in the door. I takes lot of persistance and belief in yourself and your abilities (not to mention your equipment). As to your demos: Keep 'em as close to a minute as possible - after that 99.999872% of peoples eyes begin to glaze over. There is a fine line to walk between how many spots to include. You don't want too many and you don't want too few - especially if they are similar in tone, style and delivery. But a full spot on a demo tends to show a lack of creativity and lack of experience as the artist attempts to just "fill a minute." Man that's a lot of words for my .02, innit? __________________ Will talk for money.

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07-01-2008, 12:02 PM	#3 (permalink)
jsgilbert jsgilbert Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: San Francisco, California Posts: 295	Full spots don't seemto be the way anybody goes with regards to the demos. I might suggest yo look at someone else producing your demo if for no other reason that that. If you don't have a ton of vocal range, then endeavor to useparts of spots that will allow yoou to demonstrate a variation of speed, cadence and emotion. You may also want to throw on a little bit of oyu working ensemble, either with a sigle person or a group of people to show your ability to play off of others and your timing. If you have considerable range, then I would also suggest that you pay attention first to mixing up your emotions, cadence and speed and concentrate second on doing "different voices". I certainly wouldn't push on the demo. I have heard pretty decent demos marred by someone's insistence to do a bad impersonation of the Sopranos or similar read. The parts that you read should be long enough to show that you can breath life into the words and demonstrate your acting ability. When doing a character demo, consider who the intended recipient(s) will be. Character work for commercials is very different than characters for video games and both are differnet than cartoon or anime characters. Also be careful when it comes to doing accents and impersonations. Many people can do one or two accents well and/or one or two impersonations well, yet decide to stick a ton of mediocre stuff on thier animation reels to fill it out. Be wary that your animation reel isn't you doing a bunch of voices and that it is indeed you being able to produce fully formed characters with emotional connection to what they say. Unfortunately with so many people attempting to enter the voiceover world and with so few truly "making it", the last thing the v.o. world needs is another crappy demo. Visit www.voicebank.com and listen to some of the demos fro actors represented by the better agencies in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, etc. This will give you some idea of the type of reel that gets people representation. Also, not to knock Jody's advice, but as someone who hires talent for games and animation, I have gotten so sick of hearing character demos with single story lines. Usually it's someone hosting a party, with the ubiquitous doorbell ringing to let in Sean Connery and his friends or it's the parade of celebrity or character phone calls. To be effective, perform voices that appear as though they were "lifted" from actual work. Zero extra points for cutseyness. Check some of the animation reels at voicebank while you're there.