Sharing stories - tales from VO classes

I saw this cartoon from Matt Moylan's "Lil' Formers" website (www.lilformers.com), and I had to share a story when I was taking voice-over classes:

My first voice-over class was back when the 20th century came to an end, and it was through the program Learning Tree University. It was an introductory class where I could learn the basics and was taught by Beverly Bremers, who had plenty of voice-over experience with Disney and Warner Bros. Every week we were given copy for different characters, and we all had to come up with different ways (and voices) for each one.

See the character on the far right? That's the female robot "Crasher" from "The GoBots". One of the first copy I received was dialogue from her character. Fortunately, I wasn't required to do an effeminate voice, and I could approach it in any way - as long as it was in a sinister manner, since she was one of the "bad guys" (or "girls", or " 'bots", or whatever). I ended up doing a variation of a Dennis Miller impression, like when comedian Dana Carvey used to do impressions of him. I was able to give a smarmy feel to the character, and the teacher liked what I did.

(In case you don't get the joke - from left to right: "Blackarchnia" from "Beast Wars: Transformers", "Alita-One" and "Arcee" from the original "Transformers" animated series, and "Crasher" from "GoBots". And, yes, they're all girls.)

Voice session - Ghost Slayers Ayashi

Bang-Zoom Entertainment called me in for some "walla" work on the anime series, "Ghost Slayers Ayashi". "Ayashi" is a supernatural/action series set in feudal Japan, and has been anticipated since its announcement back at last year's Anime Expo. I already know some good people are involved, including Steve Blum ("Cowboy Bebop"), Kirk Thornton ("Samurai Champloo") and Wendee Lee ("Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya").

This time, it was me and four others providing voices for both prisoners and soldiers. For the prisoners, we all provided grumbling, group laughter and surprised reactions. One scene had the prisoners bowing to the warden and saying "Thank you" over and over. One other scene had the prisoners reacting to a fire that had broken out. We had to react as to convince the fire to burn to their area, so as to burn down the jail and make their escape (if they don't get burned alive first). We had to provide reactions for over a full minute, which takes longer than it seems when you're improvising. I had the opportunity here to give a line of dialogue for a prisoner pleading to the fire, "This way! BURN THIS WAY!"

For the soldiers, we only did a couple of scenes. One had to have them give orders or provide panicked reactions to the fire. The last scene we did, it was revealed that the fire was actually a "spirit wolf-demon" conjured by a little girl. This demon heads towards the soldiers to slaughter them; we had to give our best guttural/gagging reactions to show the soldiers being eviscerated (you don't see it, but you can tell from the massive amounts of blood-spraying taking place).

All of us did each scene 2 or 3 times, so as to provide enough voices for a cell packed with criminals or a platoon of soldiers. The director of the session couldn't have been nicer and was very encouraging towards our performances. It was another great session, and I can't wait until this series is released. I hope they'll call me back to do more soon.

VO review: Resident Evil: Degeneration

I haven't gotten any voice-over jobs to write about, so I thought I'd do something different and review the recent DVD release, Resident Evil: Degeneration, and give a shout-out to the voice-actors involved.

The "Resident Evil" video-game series has been a successful franchise from the beginning, eventually leading to a series of live-action movies with Milla Jojovich. The "Resident Evil: Degeneration" animated-movie follows the video-games, and brings back familiar characters Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. The story takes place after "Resident Evil 4", with a new zombie outbreak. This eventually leads to a conspiracy resulting from both the Raccoon City disaster and the downfall of Umbrella, the evil conglomerate that produced the zombifying "T-virus" and the monster-producing "G-virus". Fans of the video-games will appreciate the action sequences, as well as homages to the game series.

The computer-animated movie runs at a surprising 96 minutes; unfortunately, this means that there are scenes that require backstory, family relations, conspiracy theories and other exposition. These scenes tend to slow the movie down and often drag it along. The romantic elements that come later end up as awkward and slightly cheesy. However, once the action begins the movie kicks into high-gear and gives the fans what they want. I almost picked up a game controller to begin playing during these parts. The ending, predictably, is a lead-in to the upcoming game, "Resident Evil 5."

Much of my praise goes to the voice-actors, and there is an excellent cast here (well supervised by ADR director and "Ghost in the Shell" actress Mary-Elizabeth McGlynn). Paul Mercier ("Resident Evil 4") and Alyson Court ("Resident Evil 2", "Code Veronica") reprise their roles as Leon and Claire, reunited after experiencing the horrors of Raccoon City in "Resident Evil 2". Laura Bailey voices a new character, military officer Angela Miller, while Roger C. Smith voices brother Curtis Miller (who factors largely in this new outbreak). Steve Blum ("Cowboy Bebop", "Samurai Champloo") does his best macho work as officer Greg Glenn, and Crispin Freeman ("Hellsing") fronts an British accent for suspicious CEO Frederic Downing. Michelle Ruff gets her voice really high to portray the little girl Rani, while Mary-Elizabeth McGlynn voices her aunt (as well as the "emergency announcements" you hear quite often from the early games). Also included in this fine cast are Kirk Thornton, Michael McConnohie, Kari Wahlgren, Barbara Goodson, Dave Wittenberg, Johnny Yong Bosch and many others.

There are abundant extras on the DVD, including a half-hour documentary on the making of the CG film, all the trailers (including the Comic-Con and Tokyo Game Show exclusives), and previews of "Resident Evil 5". The "voice-bloopers" are hilarious, since they're based more on improvization rather than actual flubs; the "Leon interview" is a little bizarre, since the one being interviewed is the motion-capture actor who portrays Leon. And, of course, there are numerous promotions of other DVD releases (many of which you'll have to skip through when you insert the DVD).

Overall, "Resident Evil: Degeneration" is a good addition to the "Resident Evil" storyline. Everyone that enjoyed the games will like this, but will clamor for less romance/exposition and more zombie action. The CG animation is top-notch and is like it was taken directly from the games, and the voice-actors do excellent work portraying their characters.

New Bang-Zoom session: Zombies!!!

Last week, Bang-Zoom Entertainment asked me back for another walla session. This time it was a live-action Japanese "zombie comedy", where two truck drivers (who look like the Cheech & Chong of Japan) try to avoid and outrun an army of zombies. Basically, everyone in the room had to due low moans and groans, so it'd seem like it came from the background and didn't drown out the actual dialogue. We did several scenes like this for a few hours, sometimes adding a little sadness if the zombie's "meal" ran away or grunting if a zombie got run over by a car.

The last hour we had to do crowd and audience voices, because the final scenes were in an arena where zombies and normal humans fight it out. We all did cheering, booing, heckling and whatever else the scene asked for. I had a little trouble with my "on-the-spot" improv, trying to come up with original heckles and taunts that fit the scene without ruining it.

I'd have to say this was the most fun walla session I've had. It was like Japan's own version of "Shaun of the Dead."

Bang-Zoom session - those darn witches again!

This weekend, Bang-Zoom Entertainment asked me back for another voice-session. Once again, it was for the same project as before - doing background and incidental voices for the anime series, "Tweeny Witches". There were 11 people altogether (6 girls, 5 guys), and most of the work would be provided by the girls.

The first part required all of us, doing voices for panicked crowds, scurrying animals, and awed villagers. We all had to make a good space behind the microphone, which meant being crammed in the back of a small soundproofed room. I'm not claustrophobic, but I think it was the poor ventilation that caused me to sweat a little.

After that session, it was the guys turn to give grunts, growls and other noises to either evil warlocks or heroic fighting wizards. There was one guy in particular who knew how to give a blood-curdling yell or a really loud cry of agony. He was the type who always had something to say or talk about, when he wasn't practicing doing voices or impressions (at one point, he and his friend were reenacting the Harrison Ford/Sean Connery scenes from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"). It made me wish that I could be a little more ballsy rather than saving my voice by not talking.

After an hour, the guys' work was done and we could leave while the girls could do their scenes. As I said, it was pretty much the same as my last blog, but it's still worth sharing since I love doing this. (Maybe one day I'll get paid for it...)

Retro blog: Robotech: Shadow Chronicles DVD

This took place a few months before Anime Expo 2007:

Anyone who's a fan of Japanese animation knows about the "Robotech" series. Back in 1985, the 85-episode sci-fi series spawned three storylines and a whole lot of fanboys (and fan-girls). Most noteworthy about the series was that it had showed what anime was capable of portraying; more than just outer-space dogfights and transforming robots, it was able to show human relationships and tragedies - disasters occured, villians got the upper hand, and long-time heroes died.

Last month they released the Robotech: the Shadow Chronicles DVD, an animated feature-film that picked up where the series left off. Most of the original voice-cast returned, along with actors Mark Hamill (Star Wars) and Chase Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). The film featured improved animation along with CG effects, and proved to make even the hardcore fans happy.

Along with the film was a "making-of" documentary which, along with the actual making of the film, had several fans discussing their thoughts on Robotech. I remember being at the event where this took place, and had put my two-cents worth on the series. Unfortunately, they never used my piece for the documentary.

However...

During the end as the credits were rolling, there was a montage of cast, crew and fans all shouting "ROBOTECH!" through to the end.

Guess where they used me...

They also put my name in the "special thanks" section, which was nice. But, if it was either the bad camera angle or all the bright lights, it reminded me of what a ugly fat face I have.

2nd walla session w/Bang-Zoom - wizards & warlocks

Yesterday, I had my second "walla" session with Bang-Zoom Entertainment. This was for an anime series called, "Tweenie Witches", a fantasy where three girls bring down an overlord. We were needed to provide voices for many of the background characters; Tony Oliver, the teacher from my voice-over class, was the voice director for the series so we had take instructions from him.

This time there were five women and three guys (including me), and the show called for mostly female voices. The guys were called in first to provide the more gruff/surly/"masculine" voices, like:

- warlock soldiers

- noble wizards

- citizens living in a barren town (wearing beak-like gas masks due to the pollution)

Sometimes each of us were asked to provide a single line of dialogue for a soldier or wizard, and I was able to give a couple of lines (although you may not clealy hear it in the final product). Some scenes lasted as long as a minute; it may not seem like a long time, but when you have to improvise with grunts, growls, shouts or incidental lines it feels that way.

Afterwards, the girls were called in with us to do a couple of larger scenes. The first was in a woodlands area, and we all had to give animal noises for the very odd-looking creatures residing there. We came up with some very unique sounds for each animal. The final part (for the guys) was a bizzare amusement-park scene, where the girls voiced the children and the guys did voices for the parents.

That was it for us guys, and we got to leave early. I wouldn't have minded sticking around to do a few more voices. Like before, this session was for experience and I didn't mind doing it for that. I hope that it'll lead to good word-of-mouth about my work and better jobs.