Character Demo Revisited

[lanceblair]

I got great feedback here the last time I posted a character demo, and I look forward to more insight, thanks!

[media]http://www.lanceblair.net/sharing/LanceBlairCharacter.mp3[/media]

[Mike Sommer]

Lance

There is nothing bad here.

But I'm hearing is a lot of same pacing, in terms of the characters cadence, and a lot of the same dental
placement of the voices. I think what you need are some bigger and smaller characters that have a little
more depth and richness. Go crazy.

Here is some inspiration.

[lanceblair]

Thanks Mike, I'll take "nothing bad" as a base upon which to build, that was the goal at this stage.

In terms of the dental placement/voice...I intentionally tried to work less on changing the voice and more on being the different character. In the past, I've used voice alterations as a substitute for developing the character. These were all recorded in different sessions, btw.

I still have more to add. It's only 53 seconds, so I was planning on adding two shorter clips of extreme voices to spruce things up.

I'm not inspired by the Alec Medlock clip though. It's silly and over-caffeinated and I'm twice as old as that kid.

[Mike Sommer]

Though you may be twice as old as Alec, what I was hoping you could have taken for the demo was the
energy, the pacing and the depth of each character. Even though the characters were speaking Chinese and
French, one can still understand what, or at the very least, imagine what was being said or done. That's
Voice Acting, thats storytelling, that's the kind of characters demo you're going up agents, and that's the kind
of acting that will get your demo listen to and get you work.

What Alec did and what any good demo does is it ingrains the characters in your mind, so that even when the
demo is over the characters are still in your head. You want more.

You've got to take risks, you can't be afraid to be bad.

As my dad used to say, "Wow the shit out of me!"

[lanceblair]

Yes, I understand that, I've got space for two more extreme risk taking characters and that was part of the plan - I think that will help change the overall impression of the demo.
I also get what you were trying to illustrate with the example, and I appreciate that, but I don't find that the characters in Alec's piece are complex at all.
It's smoke and mirrors caused by the hyper pacing and language shifts.

But that's all secondary, I take your point. Thanks.

[captain54]

What Alec did and what any good demo does is it ingrains the characters in your mind, so that even when the
demo is over the characters are still in your head. You want more.

Not to be a jerk or anything, but @ the :30 mark of the Alec Medlock clip I had to hit the stop button due to an ensuing migraine.

Lance, I would agree with Mike that the issue is the variation of characters. There are about 3 clips that I'm not sure sound like character voices at all, in my humble opinion. Good start, though.

[lanceblair]

Thanks cap'n which ones aren't really character voices, but more importantly why so I can improve it. Thanks.

[captain54]

Thanks cap'n which ones aren't really character voices, but more importantly why so I can improve it. Thanks.

To my ears, clips #1, #4 and #5 could almost be included in a commercial demo. After listening to your commercial demo, these don't sound that far off of your normal voice. I suppose you could heighten the reality and raise the stakes for these voices and go more over the top with it, but then my best guess is that you would be better served by choosing voices that are dramatically different than your own, as they are in #2, #3 and #6.

[Mike Sommer]

Not to be a jerk or anything, but @ the :30 mark of the Alec Medlock clip I had to hit the stop button due to an ensuing migraine.

I would agree for the most part, but we must rember that many of the up and coming producers and directers
of animation, video games and the like are 20 and 30 somethings. They love this stuff.

I should also mention that this was a "spetialty demo" his actuat, demo is a little diffrent.

[captain54]

I would agree for the most part, but we must rember that many of the up and coming producers and directers
of animation, video games and the like are 20 and 30 somethings. They love this stuff.

I should also mention that this was a "spetialty demo" his actuat, demo is a little diffrent.

either way, its all at one intensity level and wears on you after a while. there are no dynamics, no subtly or or nuance, and it comes across as a couple of high school kids messing around with their dads's expensive voiceover equipment...sorry