Re: Voice Acting

Title: Voice Acting
From: zeldawalkthrough1
Message:
I've been considering doing some myself in the future and I'd appreciate it greatly if ya could give me a bit of advice
To: jonfawkes

Title: Re: Voice Acting
From: jonfawkes
Message:
Sure. I don't know how helpful I can be but I can tell you a few things from experience. Take this with a grain of salt.

1. Voice acting is not just the voice. It is also the acting, as the term implies. Take some basic acting lessons. I recommend a Stanislavski book, those are a staple to an acting curriculum. You could have the cutest, sexiest, most beautiful voice in the world but if you don't have any skill to back it up, you won't get far.

2. Voice acting is also the voice. It is a different skill from just acting on stage or in film. Take some classes on voice control. A singing class is great for this. You might not want to be a singer, but the skills you learn from it will really help boost your voice acting ability.

3. Prepare for disappointment. As all actors face, and the same goes for voice actors, you're going to be rejected a lot more than casted. Even myself, my rejection to cast ratio is probably 100:1, no matter how hard that is to believe. Don't let one rejection discourage you, don't let 1000 rejections discourage you. As an actor understand that you aren't being rejected because you're bad, you're being rejected because you don't fit the part.

4. Learn to work with people. Voice acting may be just a hobby, but it is an industry you're entering. You will not only be working with other actors, you will be working with producers, directors, musicians, artists, and many other people. Understand that you are not the center of anything, and that, especially as an actor, you are replaceable. Be friendly and learn to work with people, don't make people work with you. From my experience, even if you aren't any good, if you're someone who is nice to work with, you will be picked even over someone "more skilled".

5. Do not expect to become famous overnight. Do not expect to become famous at all. You are not the first to do this, and you will most definitely not be the last. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the amateur community alone, so you have a lot of competition. If you're doing this only to become famous, stop now, you won't get any further than this.

That should be a good starting point. From there, watch a lot of videos as a student, looking for what works and what doesn't, and learning from that. Ask other people too, I certainly am not the foremost expert on this.

I wish you the best of luck with voice acting, and hope to work with you in the near future.

To: zeldawalkthrough1