Reviews Archives - Alan Shires

Actor and Voiceover Artist Together

I am not giving you baking lessons, please do not worry, but when you put an actor and voiceover artist in an equation, you come out with animation, video games, anime something like that. Chuck a bit of theatrics, stunts, and skills in there, and we are in mocap and voiceover territory. Actor Andy Serkis is who I am referring to as the King of Mocap, and I will explain a little bit as to why and why these ingredients are essential.

The Power of a True Actor

Be it in a booth as a voiceover artist or in front of a thousand people in the round, the true power of an actor is born when an exceptional performance is birthed, which isn’t just recognisable, relatable, or memorable but when it has a global impact. Andy Serkis did this with Golem. He made a character that is now an archetype for the whole planet to quote, imitate, and aspire to.

PR for Actors and Voiceover Artists

One of my clients wanted a performance capture-themed edition for the magazine I regularly contribute to. Due to my love of performance capture and mocap, I was inclined to accept the task of fuelling it with plenty of content. Typically, my content consists of interviews or articles I have written to elevate, uplift, and educate, but in this instance, we have a review of an industry figure and pillar. The request to review Andy made sense because he is the king of performance capture and mocap. But this certainly was new to me. What do we talk about? We talked about the trend and bar he set for the industry and why this fantastic part of the industry is growing.

Where Does Voiceover Fit?

You can learn plenty about performance capture and motion capture (mocap) through several blogs on my website but a quick refresher on the terminology. Motion capture is just the capture of the body. Performance capture will incorporate something else, such as facial expressions or voice over. Full performance capture will have everything. So why is this area growing so much?

Simply put, it’s because it delivers the most accurate, powerful, and truthful representation of what is needed to be achieved. Humans are not mechanical; motion is fluid, and moreover, everyone is so different! No two people move perfectly the same; we all have our own unique movement signatures and quirks. When an actor performs in the volume, the digital representation perfectly captures this unique movement signature. Moreover, the actor is creating a character, so it’s not even associated with that individual’s natural movement but with something new, fresh, and creative. This makes it so desirable for video game companies and global film effects pros!

Growth in Acting, Mocap, and Voiceover

It’s commonly known that video games make more money than movies and music combined regularly. That’s insane, right? Crazy money. It is important to recognize that Andy revolutionized performance capture and brought it to a new and never seen level of popularity. Golem’s facial expressions, movements, and voice were all of Andy’s character. He made that! Like in every other element of acting, he was a distinctive character, and it was so impactful that it made history and became the icon we all know and love today.

Working in Mocap or Performance Capture

Andy was responsible for the beautiful studio in London known as the Imaginarium, which is home to one of the world’s biggest, most up-to-date, and most beautiful volumes. Seeing thousands of actors go through and countless projects done, we can see that the desire for performance capture since Golem has hit the entertainment industry massively. More studios opening can only mean increased content is being produced, and more and more companies are taking performance capture projects up.

My Experience in Mocap and Voiceover

The likes of Andy Serkis and Benedict Cumberbatch (who played Smaug in The Hobbit) inspired me a lot. Being theatrically trained, I typically like the more prominent characters. Voiceover naturally brings me into animation, video games, and anime. However, my consistent work on-screen and my training in front of the camera means I dial it back regularly to offer a more naturalistic performance. I love all forms of acting and voice over, but the most fun for me is the big surreal characters like the ones we have been talking about in this blog. I love bringing big characters to life, be they weird, surreal, mysterious, fairy tale, or fable. I feel that as an actor and voiceover artist, I get satisfaction from my work when I produce something that is seen as truthful and powerful.

Simply put, doing just that with these massive characters is the best. I have played a dinosaur, a dog, a lion cub, a robot, a politician, a barista, and many other characters, and having a diverse range is important. But let me close with this, ask yourself, what do you love to do, and why do you love to do it? Always aspire and shoot for the stars. The industry is constantly training, and there is so much opportunity to do amazing things. Learn new skills, train regularly, allow yourself to dream and imagine, and most importantly, have fun. There are some phenomenal actors out there, and I believe there is space for many more, I look at the chaps I have mentioned here as inspiration, and I am grateful to them for setting such a fantastic bar and trend because it shows me where I need to work at.

The Great Battle Fought by One of the World’s Finest Voiceover Artists

No one likes a bully! The thing is, life is full of them, and it does not stop when school ends. Bullies find themselves in drunken crowds, on the playground but sadly also in the workplace. Entertainment is no different! This happens in the actor world as well. In late 2021 we saw an example of this as a big company tried to bully those at the bottom of the ladder! It is the same old story, but the good news is bullies do not win! Let’s explore how this relates to controversy in voiceover with John DiMaggio’s story.

The Voice Talent Has Rights!

As voice actors, we must look after ourselves. We need to take care of our bank accounts, our voices, our bodies, and our mental wellbeing. It was painful to watch in 2020 all the negative press Activision and Blizzard were getting for the poor working conditions they put their employees through. Fortunately, that bad press provoked them to change and improve how they treat people. Sadly, the damage was already done. Money is such a monster! It makes people do awful things and big companies… well they have two options, make a difference with their money, or try and take every penny without care of the damage it makes to the world. Fortunately, a splash of bad press and a reduction in sales and bad companies are quick to change their tone – GOOD!

Voiceover Artists Coming Together to Stand Up to Big Companies!

Some unions are great! Some are… well you know! But earlier in this blog, I mentioned in late 2021 a big company tried to bully those at the bottom of the ladder, who was that? Many of you reading this will remember the iconic TV series The Simpsons. If you do, you may also remember the spin off ‘Futurama.’ Futurama ran for a few seasons before ending. The impressive thing about this show is that it came back for another series before ending a second time. Years and years came by and then Hulu brought it back again! Great work Hulu, right? Well. kinda… Hulu attempted to take on all the original cast however John DiMaggio said no because the rates were poor! Hulu had hoped to have got away with the low pay, but they were wrong! The voiceover community came together.

Knowing Your Worth as a Voice Actor

Throughout the battle of voice actor vs big company, there was not much in the way of mudslinging, however, Hulu did say publicly that if John DiMaggio did not come back onto the show they would replace him. This started a mass uproar on social media, why? Two reasons:

Reason 1: John DiMaggio plays ‘Bender’ the cheeky comical Robot we all grew to know and love! Effectively Hulu was saying they would replace the lead character! Voice actors are not disposable commodities!

Reason 2: Voiceover artists worldwide saw this, and personally felt threatened, because if it could happen to someone as big as John, well we are all in danger.

The Voiceover Industry Staying Strong

You will see in the article I share a tweet from Sean Schemmel. Now Sean is a dear friend of mine, but he is also arguably the biggest Anime voiceover artist in the world. Sean along with hundreds if not thousands of other voices over artists got behind John to support his battle against Hulu. So, what about the rest of the cast? Well, there was some grumbling in the ranks, some got behind John, and others stayed quiet to watch. As John was the last one to accept or reject the new contract, he really caused a stir for Hulu (and rightly so). At this point, was the whole cast in jeopardy? So many of them were supporting John whilst others were happy with the rate and hoped he would return for consistency, but there was still hope!

The Voiceover Actors’ Trump Card

It was suggested that John was simply being greedy, and it was all about the money but publicly he came out and said it was not about his own bank account, but it was about the rates in the industry. He stated that everyone in that cast was being underpaid for the calibre of the project and the responsibility and pressures that come with being a celebrity. John was not willing to let yet another company bully voiceover artists in a race to the bottom with rates, so if Hulu really believed replacing him or anyone else was the right choice then he invited them to try.

From my perspective, a giant game of bluff was at play here and John showed that we are all unique and irreplaceable. When a company chooses to recast, they choose to compromise the project and a part of it dies as something new emerges in its place, new, but different.

Can Any Voiceover Artist Do This?

To some extent yes! We all have control over our working rates and our businesses. But certainly, in this instance when the biggest voiceover artists in the world stand up for better rates and are willing to pass by on massive projects for it, well that says a lot globally. Not only does it protect all of our worth’s, but it also sends a message across the industry that the bigger companies can not simply just pay tiny fees for massive roles. The saying ‘it’s just good businesses’ really annoys me because things are done in the name of ‘good businesses’ may offer a bigger return for greedy shareholders, but the reality is that voice talent is worth a bit more wealth and the people at the top do not need any more wealth! We work in a massively competitive industry and that does not mean companies can pay the cheapest person they can find, what it means is we must ensure we are at the top of our game so that the best of the best gets selected.

The King of Mocap – The Full Story