{"id":20942,"date":"2020-11-18T06:40:52","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T14:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/blog\/?p=20942"},"modified":"2022-08-31T12:06:52","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T19:06:52","slug":"animation-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voice123.com\/blog\/hiring-freelancers\/animation-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Doing an animation project? Get the best voice actor!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

No doubt about it: animation voice overs are super cool – but only if the voice actors know what they’re doing. So If you’re doing an animation project, get the best voice actor – or actors – to make your characters come to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loony Tunes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Image: Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a kid, did you ever get up bright and early to catch your favourite Saturday morning cartoons? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Were you excited to see the animated characters, the bright, saturated colors? Did you enjoy following the intrigue? Did you hold your breath during the challenges, and were you ready to join those characters on screen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Animation voice actors probably carry that childhood spark with them well into their adult lives, turning the interest and fascination into a profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might think it\u2019s easy to see the characters on screen and imitate them. Even to pretend you\u2019re them, and buy into their stories. But it\u2019s a whole new ballgame to become a professional animation voice actor. If one thinks of those characters, how many of them weren’t practically defined by the voices they were given?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re producing and directing an animation project and the associated voice overs, you wouldn’t want to end up with something like this<\/a>…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It just sucks!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If anything, animation voice over takes more <\/em>preparation than other forms of voiceover. You\u2019d think that heading into the recording booth and throwing out a wacky voice for some wacky character is easier than coming in to read something for eLearning. Trust us: it ain’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to voicing a character, there\u2019s a world of circumstances to consider, as as a producer\/director it may be worth your while to acquaint yourself with Stanislavski\u2019s given circumstances<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you didn\u2019t know, Stanislavski was a world-renowned theatre practitioner who developed an acting methodology more than a century ago. Actors across genres still apply it all the time. It addresses the 5 W\u2019s (who, what, when, where, why) as well as ‘how’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why is this relevant when choosing your voice actor<\/a>? Well, you should hope your voice actor is employing Stanislavski’s type of thinking. Answering the 5 W\u2019s is going to tell an actor who the character is. that he or she needs to portray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Image: Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s going to let them know exactly how the character thinks, the context of the world the character lives in, the character\u2019s motives, emotions, logical reactions to phenomenon \u2014 it\u2019s going to let them become the character. Here’s the secret: voice acting isn’t about acting<\/em> at all; it’s about becoming<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll know your actor is prepared for your animation project by the way they voice their character. Is it authentic? Does it match the context of the job? Is it rich (in emotion) and sound well-informed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, it’s about the voice actor’s ability to suspend disbelief<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You distinguish whether they\u2019ve prepared this way by listening and using your intuition<\/a>. Just like you can hear when a friend is genuinely excited about something new they\u2019ve tried, or when you hear the telemarketer\u2019s dispassion when they try to sell you something even they don\u2019t care about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Go figure!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\u2026 action<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When we look at animated characters, there\u2019s usually tons of action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike conventional human bodies, animated bodies can contort, move, and express in ways our bodies can\u2019t. There\u2019s always some action going on with characters, and it\u2019s often played up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like when a character looks downwards in a moment of sadness. In animation, it\u2019s common to see the whole head move down significantly, the eyelids droop and open slowly, and you can see the minute details in the character\u2019s appearance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are all actions. When it comes to voice acting, you\u2019re going to want to hear the voice actor go through the same actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might think that sounds silly. How can you hear silent actions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verbal and non-verbal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Well, if you listen closely, you can hear the voice actor go through a process of discovering what the character lives through. Even in the absence of a voice, you can get a sense that your voice actor is answering these sorts of questions: <\/p>\n\n\n\n