Chapter 20 - Evidently some Explorers were wanted,... or at least thier voices were.

Bioware, the creators of the massively popular series, Mass Effect, put out a call for fans and people with some interest and capability in voice over work. The call was for #ExplorersWanted. And it was an opportunity to voice one or both of two minor roles that could be a part of the upcoming release, Andromeda.

The one I thought I could pull off and have the most fun with was "the Tough Mercenary" role. But I also wanted to give the Vidmaker "Jordan Tate" a good shot as well.

I perused over the official rules to make sure I was on board with what the people who'd be judging it at Bioware wanted.

I didn't add in any extra stuff, no superfluous self explanatory info, no accents, and no reading/secondary partners. For those of you that have never done voice over, auditions are your time to shine. To show that you are invested in that bit of copy, that you've managed to carve out a characterization from what you've been given, and bring it to life.

Which is also why the rules they posted up said to not get dressed up, not to go overboard with fake accents, or makeup, or vid effects. Voice over, at it's heart, is ACTING. Probably why they urged people to use their own voice as opposed to hamming it up.

I've listened to probably 200 of the entries myself, just to see what sort of variety is out there from the ones that were submitted under the hashtag ExplorersWanted. But I didn't do that until after I made time, to practice and read the lines until I didn't need to read them.

That was about 4 days, 3 hours each, reciting, reconfiguring, and attempting to find the characters that were essentially variations of myself in the Mass Effect world. I listened to youtube reels with many of the esteemed and skilled actors playing the major roles, just to get a gravitas and emotion for what they endure, feel, emote, and speak like.

I came up with these two final auditions. First up, the Tough Mercenary.

This one was really pulled from the years I spent as a security guard, I used to video blog those long nights after work (for a whole other separate project), and recently, I heard how world weary my voice sounded. How indifferent it was at that point and time working late nights and dealing with people.

To switch gear to the role of Jordan Tate, I thought back to my younger and more energetic years, especially when I was back in art school. I wanted a bit more of an aggressive edge, a little paparazzi infused sort of audible nosiness, but still irritably honest at heart.

Of the two I was surprised how much more comfortable I felt doing Jordan Tate. But that's probably more because there was an energy and vitality to bounce off of in my mental picture of him. Which in contrast to how I was picturing the Tough Mercenary, I didn't see him as being a man of many words unless he was pressed into replying.

But to get to this point, one has to warm up... like this.

Every bit of that video was all recorded one right after another. That is an average warm up session for me. I get voices out, play around, make the mistakes early. Experiment, play back, record again. I try things all the time to find new voices, to find new methods of expression. No one cares what you look like, you can be anything in voice acting. So do that.

I have no idea how many people are going to enter this, nor what the competition will pan out being like. In the end, I just had to remember that "the audition is the job", and do my best with what I had.

- Mario, the Artisan Rogue

Chapter 16 - Another audition to warm up for. This time correctly.

Had another short audition, and this one needed a lot more energy, because of the attitude needed. It called for an cable television announcer sort of feel from maybe the late 90s.

But it also was necessary for remember to properly warm up and stay on target mentally.

I've said this before, but I am easily driven to distraction, which in turn can knock my calmness game off. Case in point, if I am excitable or stressed out, I speak faster and more incoherently. Like anyone, I have that triggered from nerves, anticipation, the unknown, etc.

It's gotten to the point that the best I can do is stay as mentally on point by not only practicing my scripts, but also having fun in a warm up sense.

Thankfully, most all of my auditions have never been any earlier in the day than maybe 11 AM or so. And on days right before and on the day in question, I don't drink any sodas, or hot teas, or real cold water.

Room temp water has seemed to be the best secret weapon I can use for trying to give myself the hydration I need as well as it not being ice water, which in prior sessions made my range suffer some, and not drinking hot tea has helped keep decent elasticity to my throat. Without fail everytime I'd drink tea, I had problems with diction.

On the way to work, really daily, I sing in the truck. Every chance I can. Not because I think I can hold a candle to Bruce Dickinson (where are my Iron Maiden fans at!?), but because I want to have my vocal exercises be random and fun.

And it works for the most part, but I'm finding tongue twisters (and a book that a good friend of mind alerted me to) to be the real workout I need to be fully prepared.

Stuff like these classics work:

1. Unique New York, Unique New York, Unique New York.... (repeat and speed up as necessary)
2. A big black bug bit a big black bear
3. She sells sea shells by the sea shore
4. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
5. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? 

And if you Google exercises, there are a LOT of tips and tricks out there from working the muscles in your tongue, to keeping weight down, to diets, and so on.

To be honest laziness was the (terrible) reason I started to slip on this sort of thing, but if I want to be able to nail auditions, if I want to be able to bring the best performances possible for not only clients and my own projects (which if listened to, CAN lead to more work).

Until next time! - Mario, the Artisan Rogue

Chapter 3 - A window closes, but the door opens.

I have heard from many different interviews that others have done in the industry, that no two people will follow the same path when it comes to the arts. I have found this to be true in the world of graphic design and art creation, so it was not that big of a leap of faith to believe I would have a similar sort of ride in approaching this shot at doing voice over for Hallmark's in house studio.

I do seem to remember that it was either a fifteen minute or thirty minute audition. As I sat outside the studio on floor nine, I did all I could to keep my mind off of the fact that I was about to get on a microphone in a few moments and attempt to impress people with whatever I thought I was capable of doing that had some semblance to voice over.

Arriving something like twenty minutes early, I ran across another person who was also going to be doing some recording. We spoke a bit about the audition process for a little bit, which did not help calm my nerves too much, but it was nice to have someone wish me luck there in person.

So there I sat in a very modern looking and uncomfortable sofa chair right outside the studio, for what seemed like two hours to my over reactive brain. There's only so many rounds of Plants vs. Zombies one can play on a phone with a dying battery while attempting to act casual. But when the chips are down, or things are getting tense, I always remember some great words uttered by RDJ...

Right about that time, the lady I had been speaking to prior, came out of the studio. We spoke briefly, she thought it went well, hoped for the best for me, and I walked in. Come hell or high water, I was going to give it my all.

I would not let nerves get to me.

I would unleash my creative maelstrom of proclivity and tenacity in verbal form with razor sharp wit.

I would at the very least be charming, prompt, attentive, and in the zone.

I would be closing that window of fear and regret, and opening the door to a new me.

I would be lying if I told you any of the above happened...

A quick round of introductions happened, who I met, the names, faces, all were a blur. The studio had a warmly lit, carpeted, free form sort of feel filled with people who had a lot of things on their plates and a lot less time to do them all in. It's not hard to read a crowd, you do enough crowd control and it's something you can feel instantaneously.

I stepped into the soundbooth, which was a robustly built, insulated wall, low ceiling affair with a music sheet stand, a window over to the side (that I hope someone someday will place a sign just outside of saying "do not feed the actors"), and this microphone setup. Some people might find that claustrophobic, I loved it.

"We meet again..." I uttered to the indifferent microphones, quickly realizing that one of the mics was probably on.

What happened after that, is much of a blur to me. I do recall going into this, I call it a free form zone, it's something that is close to what I've tried more recently with method acting, where you draw all you can from inside and almost let it come out in-cohesively, and letting your gut reaction to the words you utter weave into something you own. Somehow, I packed my fears and feelings of worthlessness away and shipped them to Mongolia evidently, or I had a hidden reserve of tenacity that I was completely unaware of, because as I finished the last few lines of script in front of me, I turned to look out the little booth window to see some people smiling, a few laughing, and no one frowning.

If I could seal that moment in a photo for my desk at work, hell for carrying around in my pocket, I would.

Was my performance perfect? No. Did I have moments of technical difficulty? Of course. Would I do it again? That. That was the question. Not because I didn't want to do it again, but I kept reminding myself that this had just been a blind audition of sorts. That's why I snapped that photo of the microphones. I really didn't know where this was going to go, if I'd be back, and honestly, I was a bit reluctant to let go of my tiny victory at that moment.

It would be a few weeks before I heard one way or another about the reactions and results of what the powers that be, thought of my performance. But for that time, I felt pretty good about myself.

- Mario

Next up, Voice Actors, ASSEMBLE! (...and check out the competition)...