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VOICE ACTING Animation: How To Keep Your Voice In Shape And True To Your Characters  By Elley-Ray HennessyVoice Actor & Coach Vocal placement is the bane of most character voice performers' existence! It is profoundly rewarding to capture a unique sound
vocally - yet equally disturbing when the placement wanders and morphs into
another texture or is lost completely. You can adapt your
instrument through compressions and aspirations, textures and structural props,
creating absolute vocal magic. But maintaining these character choices can shatter the nerves of even the most seasoned professional. KEEPING THE VOCAL MAGIC For some it is like cupping water in their hands, so refreshing and yet
frustrating as it seeps through your fingers - the prayer gone. How do
we sustain a specific placement so that it can withstand the rigor of all the
emotional switch-ups that most animation scripts require? This is the plea of the animated voice performer, who tends to lose emotional, physical, mental and spiritual truth while trying desperately to support a chosen placement. We tend to find an accent,
placement, rhythm or texture and forget that this does not enliven the
character or inspire its truth. The
placement is secondary to the character development and cannot take precedent
over the emotional truth of the character. ACT FIRST, PLACE VOICE SECOND You must always be an actor/actress first and foremost when
creating and maintaining a character. Never sacrifice the emotional, mental,
physical, spiritual integrity of the character for a placement, accent,
texture, etc. There are certain fail safes that you can rely on to help you sustain specific cataloged characters that you may like to choose from your bag of tricks. Know that structurally, placement is key, and you must have the
muscular strength to hold these placements through the vocal gymnasium that
scripts require. VOCAL STRENGTH IS CRITICAL To strengthen these placements, you must develop the muscularity required - which means that you must work the instrument daily to achieve optimum strength.
If you wanted to have a great body, you must go to the gym
every day and work out. I work my voice every single day and it serves me quite
well. My ENT specialist says I have the largest cords he has ever seen,
which is why I can support the kind of gravel required for characters such as
the Nicorette monster, Lubriderm alligator, Beerain, Madame Liesel and Megamum, to name a few. In particular, make sure that your soft palette is
completely strengthened and capable of supporting the kinds of textures,
aspirations, gravel, etc., that certain vocal characters demand. Yawning is your best friend, and you must push it to the farthest capable place for your instrument every day. CREATE CHARACTER QUIRKS Once you have
strengthened your instrument and feel it is capable of feats of great strength, go for the gold. When tackling a character, find an "ism" that helps you hook
the character. This may be anything from tongue placement inside your lower lip
or pursing your lips laterally, screwing up your nose, pulling your lower lip
to the side of your face, finding a catch phrase like "yep, yep, yep"
or "you know" or "darling" to help specify the character. It may
be a vibrato, or slight stutter or repeat of words. It may be a swallowing
effort or breathy hum. It could be opening the back of your throat and sucking
in, or clearing your throat or creating jowls. There are infinite "isms" that make your character unique
and it is the ism that will help anchor the dynamic of the character no matter
what emotional situation they are in. GET PHYSICAL Physically become your character. If you are ultra-feminine, know how this character would stand and how she uses her hands just as if a male character may hunch over with his belly sticking out, or the chin may jut forward, or the head may shake slightly, or the butt is shaking. Create the
character and create every part of its being.
Determine how your character vocally assists its emotional situations. Do they "ah" or "oo" or "sniffle" or "grunt"? Do they have certain efforts just in walking? How do they breathe, how do they show fear, how do they express vocal excitement? Write all
the traits down that will help you maintain the overall health and truth of
your character. GET A LAUGH! Always and most importantly, know the character laugh. This is key and will get you out of any situation when you feel that the character may be slipping. If you don't have the character laugh,
you do not know the character. For joy is the basis of all animation characters, even if they are villains and
evil. .... AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS Also be conscious of the age, size,
weight, and gender of your character. Stay lighter for the younger characters. Do
not press into the copy or overwork it. Keep a naive truth and playfulness to
them. With age, press into the weight.
Remember, neither youth nor age are played slowly, which is a constant mistake.
Buoyancy is key for the emotional truth of all characters. YOUR CATALOG OF CHARACTERS Keep a reference catalog for yourself of your trusted and favorite
characters, so that you can remind yourself of specific placements that you may
have found. So many of my students find amazing characters, yet do not record them for posterity, and then cannot remember what they sounded like. You will
constantly be creating new characters, so keep your recorder close at hand so
that you always have a reference. Revisit the characters that you have created
when you are doing your homework. Don't leave certain placements to rot. All
characters will come to play at some time or another, and you never know when a
certain one will be called upon. If you haven't played with the catalog, then you will not
strengthen the placements. Document your specific villains, heroes/heroines,
characters and "others" that you call upon, and then make additions to these
specifics that you have for different genres of animation. WIDE OPEN WORLD There are infinite
possibilities for character placement and sustainability, and it is your responsibility
to maintain the creative source that brings audiences so much pleasure. Do your homework and create your catalog,
inspiring both yourself and the listeners that desperately need your
storytelling skills to help raise the vibration of this planet. Live the dream! ------------------------- ABOUT ELLEY-RAY Based in Toronto, and with over 30 years experience in voice overs, TV, film and theatre, Elley-Ray Hennessy is a leading voice talent and coach, specializing in animation, commercial announcing and multi-voice. She's won multiple awards, having voiced thousands of TV and radio commercials and countless animation series and films. Email: elleyray@hotmail.com Web: www.elleyray.com |
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Comments (4)
Alex Apostolidis
8/28/2012 at 7:08 PM
This was an awesome article. I had the good pleasure to meet Elley-Ray at Voice 2012 and she has changed the way I look at voice over characterization and the business of voice over in general. And once again she has inspired me to take it one step further. Thanks Elley-Ray. Keep on inspiring.
Rick Lance
8/27/2012 at 10:38 AM
Thanks, Elley Ray! This is a good breakdown of character analysis. Like anything else, the finer points she suggests can only become...and need to become... second nature as you put your characters to use. Lots of practical advice here. I think all actors are capable of creating some believable characters and should have them to call on at a moment's notice. Personally, I don't consider myself a character actor, but I've done some pretty convincing character parts. We all can!
Donna Postel
8/27/2012 at 9:39 AM
Elley-Ray, this is not just a blog post, it is a master class! You outlined pretty much everything a performer needs to do to stay true to the character, beautifully. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
James Lewis
8/27/2012 at 6:23 AM
I'd like to know more about exercises to strengthen the muscles involved in producing speech. I've been a professional communicator for years. But now I'm narrating audiobooks and I'm having troubles with voice strain that I never had before.
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