Season 3 Ideas

[luciouscbt]

Just some small ones that I would like to suggest. First off can we lean more towards the acting than imitating. My problem with this season and please don't be upset and I am not here to bash and point and blame anyone but, it seems as if the ones that were picked to me forward were more imitator voice actors than voice actor, actors. I've listened to some of the people that got dropped and some of the people that advanced forward and thought to myself "Are these people really listening?" Some that didn't make sound really good, better than the ones that made it. I know the judges are busy and it may slipped but, I'll skip it.

Any who I think it would be best for this contest to cover all aspect of voice acting. I myself is more of the improv voice actor. I for one like to create voices as I go I hate doing imitations. You guys should really do one where you have a random character, have its bio and lines and go "Do these lines in your best voice/act" giving people to create whatever they see fit and you guys and member vote on who they feel did the best voice that fits the character and so on. I feel it make it less justice when you have things like "Here's Ryu and his lines...GO!!!" and every other already made character. It feels as if people will lean towards trying to imitate the character voice rather than showing their acting skills.

So if it's a good idea to you guys for season 3 can we have a contest more on acting than imitating?

[OptimusSolo]

Originally Posted by luciouscbt

Just some small ones that I would like to suggest. First off can we lean more towards the acting than imitating. My problem with this season and please don't be upset and I am not here to bash and point and blame anyone but, it seems as if the ones that were picked to me forward were more imitator voice actors than voice actor, actors. I've listened to some of the people that got dropped and some of the people that advanced forward and thought to myself "Are these people really listening?" Some that didn't make sound really good, better than the ones that made it. I know the judges are busy and it may slipped but, I'll skip it.

Any who I think it would be best for this contest to cover all aspect of voice acting. I myself is more of the improv voice actor. I for one like to create voices as I go I hate doing imitations. You guys should really do one where you have a random character, have its bio and lines and go "Do these lines in your best voice/act" giving people to create whatever they see fit and you guys and member vote on who they feel did the best voice that fits the character and so on. I feel it make it less justice when you have things like "Here's Ryu and his lines...GO!!!" and every other already made character. It feels as if people will lean towards trying to imitate the character voice rather than showing their acting skills.

So if it's a good idea to you guys for season 3 can we have a contest more on acting than imitating?

I am sorry you feel this way but you couldn't be further off base here. We NEVER judge people on who gives the best impersonation of an already voiced characters. We are ALWAYS looking for fresh new takes on established characters. What we are asking is not unlike what happens with casting calls every day in the Voice Over world. For, example last year when they cast the voices for the (at the time) new Thundercats cartoon. They didn't say 'who can imitate the 80s voices the best' NO they said "give us your take on this character" and they probably showed an image or gave some character traits EXACTLY like we do in the contest. This is not at all about who can mimic voices best (although that is a HUGE part of voice acting) this is about who can breathe new life and do the best acting job.

By the way, you really shouldn't discount those who are great impersonators/imitators of voices. Many of the greatest voice actors of all-time (Maurice LaMarche for example) have made most of their impact on imitating others voices. That takes just as much talent as doing improv and original voices. I myself find it MUCH harder to mimic voices compared to creating my own original ones. But for you to say that people who can mimic voices are not 'voice actor actors' is absurd.

[Hendercrazy]

One idea I'd like to toss in the ring here is to have two final winners... one male and one female.

While I totally understand it's all about the acting aspect as a whole that makes a voice actor... it would still be nice to have it split into genders so both male and female alike can have a guaranteed shot at top spot! Plus, having two winners is just more fun (increasing chances)! IMO, it would split up the voting just a bit more and perhaps make voting decisions a little more focused. For example, I'll get into a flow of listening to the males and "BOOM!"... get thrown off by a female voice. Likewise, I'll get into a flow of listening to the females and "BOOM!"... get thrown off by a male voice.

It's something I always thought American Idol should have done... feature both genders to represent "American Idols".

Anyway, I realize this might likely affect the prizes and such to some degree... but I'd like for both to be able to get that final spotlight!

[asmithhers]

Aye, Westeros and the Lords and Ladies of it's lands are just teeming with glorious and raw monologues ripe for the taking! In addition, I think Studio Ghibli films would make for an awesome round as well.

[Foxwolf]

Studio Ghibli would be grand!!

[Hayabusa47]

I've actually got an idea that I think would be kinda cool. I've often heard voice actors talk about audition processes (mainly for video games) and they've been given lines and a vague description but no picture and it's usually an already established character. So I think there should be a round like this, list some famous character and dialogue, maybe someone like Spider-Man or Bugs Bunny, but give a small description of their vocal type and let the finalists build a voice then when it's time for voting show the picture of who they were voicing for (if they haven't already guessed ). Just an idea.

[luciouscbt]

Originally Posted by OptimusSolo

I am sorry you feel this way but you couldn't be further off base here. We NEVER judge people on who gives the best impersonation of an already voiced characters. We are ALWAYS looking for fresh new takes on established characters. What we are asking is not unlike what happens with casting calls every day in the Voice Over world. For, example last year when they cast the voices for the (at the time) new Thundercats cartoon. They didn't say 'who can imitate the 80s voices the best' NO they said "give us your take on this character" and they probably showed an image or gave some character traits EXACTLY like we do in the contest. This is not at all about who can mimic voices best (although that is a HUGE part of voice acting) this is about who can breathe new life and do the best acting job.

By the way, you really shouldn't discount those who are great impersonators/imitators of voices. Many of the greatest voice actors of all-time (Maurice LaMarche for example) have made most of their impact on imitating others voices. That takes just as much talent as doing improv and original voices. I myself find it MUCH harder to mimic voices compared to creating my own original ones. But for you to say that people who can mimic voices are not 'voice actor actors' is absurd.

Solo not to strike an argument but mimicking voices is childs play. It's too simple that anybody can do it with little to no effort at all. It is harder to create and sound convincing. Any body can sound like Ken, Ryu, and any other character from anime but it is very hard to be like a Mel Blanc and create your own voices and be amazing.

[OptimusSolo]

Originally Posted by luciouscbt

Solo not to strike an argument but mimicking voices is childs play. It's too simple that anybody can do it with little to no effort at all. It is harder to create and sound convincing. Any body can sound like Ken, Ryu, and any other character from anime but it is very hard to be like a Mel Blanc and create your own voices and be amazing.

You couldn't be more wrong actually - to say mimicking is childs play and is too simple and takes little to no effort is absolutely absurd!!!

It COMPLETELY depends on the person! For some people mimicking is much easier then creating new voices but these people are very rare because most people who think they are doing a good mimic are pretty far from it. For some other people creating new voices is much easier then mimicking.

Myself for example, I can't (to my knowledge) mimic a SINGLE voice I have ever heard. But, give me a few minutes and I can rattle off a couple dozen original high quality voices. I have a good friend that can do quite a few mimics but struggles a bit more on the original voices. As I said there are different types of voice actors (three in my mind) and NONE of them are easier or harder then the other, it all just depends on the person.

[luciouscbt]

Originally Posted by OptimusSolo

You couldn't be more wrong actually - to say mimicking is childs play and is too simple and takes little to no effort is absolutely absurd!!!

It COMPLETELY depends on the person! For some people mimicking is much easier then creating new voices but these people are very rare because most people who think they are doing a good mimic are pretty far from it. For some other people creating new voices is much easier then mimicking.

Myself for example, I can't (to my knowledge) mimic a SINGLE voice I have ever hear. But, give me a few minutes and I can rattle off a couple dozen original high quality voices. I have a good friend that can do quite a few mimics but struggles a bit more on the original voices. As I said there are different types of voice actors (three in my mind) and NONE of them are easier or harder then the other, it all just depends on the person.

I just find mimicking as an "Anybody can do it" type of thing because again you're copying. It's what you do in your early stage of acting. When you take beginning acting one in college what you do? You mimic, a walk, an emotion, body language etc etc. Everybody mimics because like I said it's the easiest thing to do and when students do lines for a play they mimic somebody. A favorite actor, their uncle whoever. You hardly see students/actors taking a script and go "Hmmm what can I create?" There are some but it's a few why, because mimicking is the easiest thing to do, it's natural. It's so natural we do it when we talk about someone "And so she said "blah blah blah" in that person voice.

So to me mimicking is like crawling and creative acting is like trying to fly

[OptimusSolo]

Originally Posted by luciouscbt

I just find mimicking as an "Anybody can do it" type of thing because again you're copying. It's what you do in your early stage of acting. When you take beginning acting one in college what you do? You mimic, a walk, an emotion, body language etc etc. Everybody mimics because like I said it's the easiest thing to do and when students do lines for a play they mimic somebody. A favorite actor, their uncle whoever. You hardly see students/actors taking a script and go "Hmmm what can I create?" There are some but it's a few why, because mimicking is the easiest thing to do, it's natural. It's so natural we do it when we talk about someone "And so she said "blah blah blah" in that person voice.

So to me mimicking is like crawling and creative acting is like trying to fly

Again you couldnt be more wrong. First of all, in beginning acting courses usually the first thing they submerge you in is improv and seeing what you have to offer but that is neither here not there.

I think you are using a different definition then I am of mimicking. When I am talking about mimicking I am not just talking about thinking or picturing a person or trying to be emulate them or read a script. The mimicking I am talking about is when someone studies tirelessly and actually perfects not only the tone, pitch (sound) of the person but also their timing, their cadence, their phrasing and EVERY aspect of their voice. This is nearly an impossible art which is why there are so FEW famous mimickers out there.

Yes anyone can ATTEMPT to sound like someone and copy bits and pieces but very few people can actually mimic someone. We just had over 250+ auditions in which people tried to mimic famous voices. Do you know how many did a mimicked voice successfully? I would say less then 5. So, yea not as easy as you think or say it is!

P.S. lets compare numbers on how many famous voice actors out there today create original voices vs those who do great mimicking...yea a TON more on the original side (and thats for a reason!)