The Art of Voice Acting: the art and business of performing for voice over (14 page)

A key principal of acting is to “get out of your own way” so the character or role you are playing can emerge and appear real to your audience. It sounds simple on the surface, but this idea may be confusing to some people. After all, isn’t it an actor’s job to figure out how a particular role should be played? Doesn’t the actor need to be present during a performance? Aren’t there a whole bunch of techniques that an actor can use to make a role believable? And doesn’t all this mean that an actor needs to put a lot of thought into their performance?

Although all of these things are true to some degree, they are all just part of the process of creating a performance. They are not the performance. The reality of all acting is that the role you are playing is
not
you. The secret to excellent acting is to do everything that needs to be done to understand the story, character, relationships, responses, moods, attitudes, dynamics, and energy; apply the appropriate acting techniques to give meaning to the story, breathe life into the character, and “take the words off the page”; then put all of that behind you as the real you steps aside to let the character come to life. And to do all of this invisibly without giving the appearance that you are “acting.” If there is any part of the real you that is apparent in a performance, it is you “doing” the character—not the character being authentic. You’re thinking too much about what you need to do, or you’re giving too much importance to the techniques you are using. In other words, when you put too much effort into the process of creating a performance, your acting becomes apparent and the performance will suffer, often by sounding as though you are “reading” the script.

One of the most difficult things for any actor to learn is how to forget who they are so the character can become real. The reason this is often a difficult task is because, as human beings, we have an ego that can cause us to second guess ourselves or stand in the way of what we know needs to be done. We can be a master of performing techniques and still be in our own way on an unconscious level. Often the only way we know it’s happening is when our director asks us to make an adjustment in our performance.

Learning how to get out of our own way is, for most of us, an acquired skill that can take many years to master—or it can be achieved in an instant. This is one of the reasons acting is a craft and not a skill. A skill is a specific talent or ability, while a craft is the application of multiple skills to achieve a specific end result. Mastering any skill or craft takes time, patience, and dedication.

Listen to your director, listen to your instincts, listen to the unspoken words to which your character is responding, listen to the other actors in the
studio, listen to everything. It is only through listening that you will be able to
focus
on doing what needs to be done to create the reality of the moment. When you are fully focused, you will discover that you no longer need to think about what you are doing. The characters you create will almost magically come to life. The second you allow yourself to drift off focus, or start to think about what you are doing, you will fall out of character.

If you don’t fully grasp the idea of
forget who you are and focus
, don’t be concerned. Many very successful actors and performers don’t fully understand this concept and may never experience what it is like to truly forget who they are and get out of their way. For most actors, the experience is erratic at best, happening only occasionally. Achieving this state of performance on a consistent basis usually comes only with consistent work and study. The best I can say is that when you achieve this state of performance, you’ll know it! It will feel as though you are outside of yourself observing your performance. Sort of like an “out-of-body” experience, except that you have complete control. This is the state of performance we strive for.

You must be willing to risk. Every performance requires that the performer be willing to step outside of their comfort zone to do or be something that most people would feel uncomfortable doing or being. It could be as simple as making an announcement at a party, standing on stage in front of an audience of thousands, or standing all by yourself in front of a microphone in a voiceover booth.

All performing is about risk. You risk the chance of not being liked, you risk making inappropriate choices, you risk the chance of not being believable, you risk the chance of not being hired again, you risk many things on many levels.

All performing is about taking a chance on an uncertain outcome. You may never know exactly what the producer or director is looking for in your performance, if your performance truly meets their needs, or how your performance will ultimately be used. Even though you may not know, you must be willing to take a chance, based on experience and observation, that what you do will be best bet for a successful outcome.

All performing is a
gamble
. You are gambling that the choices you make for creating your character and delivering your lines will bring the character and the story to life.

Building your business as a voice actor requires a willingness to risk. You’ll risk your money as you build your home studio, invest in your marketing, produce your demo and study to master your craft. You’ll risk
rejection when you audition, when you call prospective clients, and when you think you’ve come up with exactly what a script needs—and the producer doesn’t think so.

If you are not willing to take a risk, performing as a voice actor is probably not something you should pursue any further. Just stop reading right now and give this book to someone who is willing to take the risk of doing something they have never done before. A simple truth of this business is that, with relatively few exceptions, you cannot achieve any level of success if you insist on being only you as you read a script.

Voiceover is a craft based on creating compelling characters in interesting relationships. The only way you can create a character that is not you is to be willing to
gamble
that you can do what needs to be done for a believable performance.

It’s completely natural to be reluctant, or fearful, of taking a risk, but there is a huge difference between taking an educated risk versus one that is a random shot in the dark. Gambling on your performance is
not
about winning or losing. It
is
about using the tools of your trade, your experience, your training, and your many performing and business skills to create more certainty for an otherwise uncertain outcome. In other words, you can stack the deck to improve the odds for a masterful performance and successful voiceover career each time you stand in front of a microphone.

This book is about giving you the basic knowledge that will enable you to take an educated risk if voiceover work is something you truly want to pursue.

It is interesting to note that using the voice is the only art form in which an individual style may be developed out of an inability to do something. It may be an inability to form certain sounds, or it may be a cultural affectation (an accent or dialect) that results in a quality uniquely your own. This is especially true with singers, but the same idea can apply to voice artists.

One person’s vocal style might emphasize lower frequencies, creating an image of strength and power. Someone else may not be able to reach those low tones, and his or her style might be based on a somewhat warped sense of humor expressed through attitude as he or she speaks. Each of us has developed a unique vocal style for speaking in our everyday lives, and for most, it is possible to build upon this natural style to create a “sound” or performing style that can be a marketable commodity.

Your natural speaking style is a reflection of how you perceive yourself, and it may change from moment to moment as you move from one situation to another. When you are confident of what you are doing, you might speak with determination and solidarity. But when your insecurities take over, your voice might become weak, breathy, and filled with emotion.

Your style as a voice actor comes first from knowing who you are, and then expands on that by adding what you know about human nature, personality, character development, and acting. Developing your vocal style is an ongoing process. You start with your voice as it is now, and as you master new acting and performing skills your style will begin to develop. Your vocal range will expand, as will your ability to express attitude, emotion, subtlety, and nuance in your delivery.

You may believe that you have certain limitations with your vocal range, perhaps due to the way you vocal instrument is constructed, and that these limitations may prevent you from developing a marketable style. The truth is that there are many very successful voice artists who have taken what might be viewed as a vocal limitation, and developed it into a highly successful performance style. With proper training, your perceived “limitations” can often be polished and honed into a style that is uniquely yours. The challenge is to first discover your potential, and second, have the dedication and persistence to discover where that potential may lead. The style you ultimately discover may be that of a single “signature voice” or a style that covers a broad range of characterizations and attitudes.