The first video (above) is another marketing video from Google, who are both masters of advertising and big proponents of using VO in their marketing materials. This ad video explains (sort of) how e-mail actually works, while also touting how green Google is as a company.

Not only does Google use voice talent extremely well, but they’ve mastered the art of the web advertisement video. What’s great is that Google’s are so popular and successful that the whole ad form has really caught on. These ad videos — typically from one to five minutes each — have become a huge source of opportunity for voice actors.

Click on the Pandora Logo to Hear Audio!

The next voice over (above) isn’t a video at all, but an actual radio commercial. This is a fun story; a man actually produced an advertisement to air on Pandora Radio to propose to his girlfriend. He wrote the script and hired a professional voice actor to voice the minute-long spot, then paid to have it run on Pandora. (The pause at the end is where he actually proposed in person.)

This is a perfect example of a voice talent getting hired for an “outside the box” job. It’s also why it pays to let people know that you’re a voice actor. I would guess that the client in this case probably asked around among people he knew to track down someone who was a professional voice talent. It’s an unusual gig to say the least, but also a very fun one!

We’ll start with the Mother’s Day themed ad, since that holiday was last weekend. The first ad (above) from Mr. Clean is from that classic loud, semi-announcer-y school of delivery, but it’s clearly done that way on purpose.

The ad is sort of a parody in and of itself, challenging traditional male/female social roles. The voice actor takes the old-time announcer style and subtly converts it into what we see more often today: the voice over that’s announcery, yes, but winking at itself at the same time.

I love this next commercial for Sunrun Solar Power, not just because it has a great voice over, but because the on-camera talent actually address the voice actor directly!

The whole spot is actually a conversation between the on-camera talent and the voice actor, but my favorite part is towards the end of the spot, when the man in his garage looks at the camera and says, “Shhh. Voice guy, I’m trying to build something here.” Clever, funny, and perfectly delivered by both the voice actor and the on-camera talent.

And finally, we have a new Visa commercial spotlighting The Olympics. As always, it’s voiced by Morgan Freeman, and I really only share it here because, well, it’s Morgan Freeman. If there’s anyone out there (besides James Earl Jones) who’s as well known for his voice overs as Morgan Freeman is, I don’t know who it is. As usual, Mr. Freeman does a bang-up job, so I figured you might enjoy seeing — and hearing — it here.

There are a couple of notable things about this ad. Sure, it’s fascinating to see how different advertisements looked like back in the 1950s (not to mention how different the very first Mr. Potato Head toy was!) But I also thought it was interesting that it’s driven by a voice over that’s not the deep, male announcer voice that was so prevalent back then. Clearly, the ad agency behind this commercial was ahead of their time, using both a child’s voice and a character voice in the spot, both of which were largely unheard of in the early 1950s in advertising.

The more times change, the more they stay the same, eh? Oh, and Happy 60th Anniversary Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head!

The first commercial (above) is for Planters’ new Nut-rition Men’s Health Mix, which is personified here by an action movie’s line-up of nuts. The voice over is performed in that movie-trailer style, with a heavy emphasis on how manly this team of assorted nuts it.

The commercial’s pretty funny overall, and there’s no denying that the ad is put together extremely well to appeal to that male demographic.

The second ad is for Newcastle Ale, which does a clever thing by showing vintage footage of old, weary miners, and having the voice over deliver an inspirational speech about “the brave souls who powered an industrial revolution,” before ending the spot by saying that, “nothing sells beer like old footage of people who had it way worse than you do.”

It’s a great tagline, and the faux-documentary style voice over fits the spot to a T.

The first video (above) is an official making-of featurette from the studio. Not only does it introduce all of the cast and the actors, but it also gives you a look at how they recorded the dialogue for the film.

The second video gives us more of an in-depth glimpse into the actual recording sessions. There are some really great shots in here of the main cast, which includes Danny Devito, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White, and Ed Helms. I also like how each performer is surrounded by character art and video screens; it’s clear that the filmmakers were trying to immerse the actors in the world of The Lorax in order to get the best performances out of them.

Did you see The Lorax? What did you think of that cast’s performances?

The first video (above) is a commercial for Google+, the new social media platform created by Google. It features actor Benedict Cumberbatch (best known as Sherlock Holmes on the BBC’s hit series, Sherlock) performing a scene from Shakespeare in VO, while we see the impact that Google+ is meant to have on its users. It’s a well-shot and edited piece, but Cumberbatch’s narration is simply magnificent; it’s truly a superb voice over performance, elevating the spot to a higher level of quality than it would be without it.

Now, while the Google+ ad uses a more conventional (if dramatic) use of voice over, the Google Glasses video uses a much more unconventional approach to show off its product (which is still in the development stage, before you get too excited.) This video shows a potential pair of glasses that will let you interact with your online world, and that’s a pretty interesting idea.

What’s more interesting is how much of the voice over in the video is incidental, and how the dialogue is pretty minimal yet pretty pervasive at the same time. The voice actor in the piece is playing the person whose point of view we’re seeing; basically the person who’s wearing the glasses. And it’s pretty good casting too, as he sounds like a typical 20-something male.

What’s cool, though, is how much of the dialogue is simply things that are either utterances (or “reacts” as they’re called in the animation world), or short bursts of dialogue. We hear him stretch; say, “hm,” multiple times; and say things like, “yeah,” “cool,” and, “aw man, really?”. Then there are more traditional lines of dialogue like, “See you, dude!” and, “Oh, I’m running late.”

What I love is how much of it is really meant to sound like someone who’s just talking to themselves and the people around them as they experience their day, and in that respect, it succeeds quite well. It’s a neat and creative use of voice over, and I think the video does a great job of promo-ing its future product, while also providing a voice actor what was probably a fun day in the studio.

The first one (above) comes from none other than YouTube, with their offering of “The YouTube Collection,” which is basically the entirety of YouTube on DVD. This one is styled to look and sound like a typical “As Seen On TV” infomercial, and I think it does a nice job. It expertly conveys a sense of salesman-iness with that overly-friendly-yet-bland style that infomercials do so well. Plus, the commercial is just plain funny, which is always a bonus!

This year, Honda also got into the mix with a commercial for a new line of car alarms called Terii. Another ad that relies heavily on humor, this one features two voice actors, the narrator and the voice of Terii herself.

Now, at first, I thought maybe the Terii voice was created using some sort of computerized text-to-speech program, because it does sound awfully robotic. But as I watched the ad, there are definitely a few spots where the inflection is too nuanced or pointed to be created by computer, which leads me to believe it’s a real voice actor performing in a robotic manner. What do you think?

Finally, we have an entry from the good folks over at ThinkGeek, who specialize in creating merchandise for the geek crowd. Every year for April Fool’s Day, they do a unique thing: they create ads for a handful of fake products, and the one that receives the greatest number of votes, they actually create and sell for real!

One of this year’s ads is for a Big Mouth Billy Bass-style singing Admiral Ackbar novelty item. The first half of the commercial doesn’t feature any voice over, but the second half features an exchange between Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper. Obviously, it’s just an imitation of James Earl Jones’s iconic Darth Vader voice, but it goes to show that you don’t even need to be able to sound completely identical someone to pull off a paying gig; a halfway decent impression will do the trick. Ironically, the Stormtrooper manages to sound exactly like the Stormtroopers in the Star Wars movies. Go figure.

The Voice Coaches Team

At the local level, Voice Coaches won the ADDY Award for Best Podcast for Voice Coaches Radio, while White Lake Music & Post won the ADDY for Best Sound Design for the Catseye Countdown Commercial. Individual award winners were:

Voice Coaches Radio:
Mike Spring – Producer & Co-Host
Warren Garling – Co-Host
David Bourgeois – Executive Producer

Mike Spring Accepts His Award For Best Podcast

Sound Design:
David Bourgeois, Supervising Sound Editor, Music Composer & Sound Design
Brett Portzer, Mixer
Kate Peterson, Voice Talent

David Bourgeois Accepts his Award for Best Sound Design

From here, both winning entries will be entered into the Regional ADDY competition, and then the National ADDY Awards if either entry wins.

In addition, Voice Coaches and White Lake Music & Post were nominated for four additional awards: another nomination in Best Sound Design, two nominations in Best Music, and one nomination for Best Illustration.

From L to R: Engineer Brett Portzer, Spring, Bourgeois, Art Director Kate Peterson, and Engineer Ted Hyland

The ADDY Awards were held on Friday, March 16th, and the ceremony was hosted by none other than Voice Coaches’ own Warren Garling (who also co-hosts Voice Coaches Radio). Warren is also the President of the Ad Club!

Warren Garling Hosts the 2012 ADDY Awards

Everyone here at Voice Coaches couldn’t be more humbled and excited by our victories! If you’d like to check out the award-winning podcast, simply visit our Voice Coaches Radio page!

Mike Spring and David Bourgeois Show Off Their ADDYs

David Bourgeois and His ADDY

Mike Spring and His Addy

]]> http://voicecoaches.com/blog/2012/03/voice-coaches-now-200-more-award-winning/feed/ 0 http://voicecoaches.com/blog/2012/03/voice-coaches-of-the-world-nasaformers/ http://voicecoaches.com/blog/2012/03/voice-coaches-of-the-world-nasaformers/#comments Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:17:33 +0000 Mike Spring http://voicecoaches.com/?p=3303 You’ve gotta hand it to NASA. They don’t really do a lot of advertising, but when they do, they knock it out of the park. This newest advertisement from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration combines some amazing footage with a terrific script voiced by none other than Optimus Prime himself, Peter Cullen.

What’s interesting about this ad is not just how effective it is at evoking a sense of wonder and awe, but also that Cullen is clearly using his Optimus Prime voice here. I’ve heard Cullen speak in interviews before, and he actually doesn’t sound much like Optimus Prime at all; it’s definitely a character voice he puts on.

But when three Transformers movies make a couple of billion dollars at the box office, it makes sense that NASA might want to tap into that a bit. So here we have an ad talking about both the history and the future of exploration with the voice of the most revered and respected Transformer leader at the forefront. Pretty cool, no?

Kate portrays Erina, a shy, young Pokemon trainer. She has a big heart and is very sad to learn that she’s lost her Pokemon. Using the subway, she travels through the city, looking for her lost Pokemon. Along the way, she makes friends with a number of Pokemon trainers who help her in her quest.

If you’d like to tune in, here are the details:

- Saturday, March 3 on the Cartoon Network
- 8:30 Am (Eastern)
- Pokemon Season 15: The Black & White Rival Destinies
- Episode 3: Lost at the Stamp Rally!

Congratulations, Kate!!

Former Voice Coaches student Jackson Murphy has become nationally known as a film critic and host of “Lights, Camera, Jackson!” appearing on The Today Show and The Nate Berkus Show, among others. Jackson has also won a New York State Emmy for “Best On-Camera Talent: Commentator/Editorialist,” and is currently nominated for a second Emmy!

Congrats, Jackson!!

Just a few weeks ago, we reported on Williams and where he is today after he went from being homeless to being internet famous last year. Well, now Kraft has him in a new internet commercial, only this time, he’s appearing on camera to talk about using his voice! Confused? Watch the video below and all will be explained.

So even though this promotion is now over, it’s pretty clever on Kraft’s part. While the ad doesn’t really feature a voice over per se, it is actually about the power of voice overs. It also utilizes Williams well as the voice talent that Kraft got so much good publicity out of when they helped out and hired him.

What I love about this ad is that Williams’ story got so much publicity that Kraft was confident enought to put him on TV and know that most people would recognize him. That really does bring some great attention to the world of voice overs, and having the “prize” of the tweeting promotion be having Williams read your tweets with that great voice of his showcases what a valuable and exciting tool voice over can be.

Ultimately, this ad is a great fusion of many things that make modern advertising so great: voice over, video, the internet, social media, and user interactivity. Nice job, Kraft!

The commercials we’re looking at today are from a Canadian mobile phone company, and I have to say these ads crack me up. They’re both very well written and very well acted, but of course, it’s the voice overs that really put them over the top. The faux-documentary style VO — combined with the on-screen action of wanton destruction — make for some truly funny ads.

Both commercials take the same approach, explaining how over-the-top roaming charges can fuel “roam rage” in otherwise normal people, who then go on a rampage. I love the way the voice actor describes the behavior of the “roam ragers” in a perfectly matter-of-fact style; it adds to the humor quite a bit.

O Canada, you crack me up!

Since football was the reason for the event, I figured what better spot to start with than this “NFL Timeline” commercial produced by the NFL itself? This is a great ad, both visually and from a voice over standpoint. The voice that drives the commercial is perfect for the spot: gruff, unpolished, evocative of football as a whole. I really enjoyed this spot.

Next up, we have one of the most memorable spots of the evening, Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” ad, featuring a voice over by none other than Clint Eastwod. How long did it take you to figure out who was voicing it? I placed the voice in about 15-20 seconds, but I had to think about it for a bit. A great VO by Clint, and a terrific ad all around.

Of course, what would a football game be without an appearance by the E-Trade baby? This long-running line of ads features a wise-beyond-his years baby doling out advice on everything from stocks and bonds to — in this case — parenting. I thought this year’s ad was pretty funny, and as always, the VO is spot-on.

I thought this advertisement from MetLife was interesting. Not only is the spot driven by voice over, but in a way it pays homage to some classic voice over artists of the past, as we see famous cartoon characters from Charlie Brown to He-Man make their way through the ad. While we don’t get to hear any of them, would any of those cartoons be as well-loved as they are without the great voice overs that drove them?

As usual, car advertisements were one of the biggest part of the night, and this Toyota Camry ad was one of the standouts. I like their tagline of, “There are nearly seven million Camry drivers out there; every one has a story.” The voice over does a great job of carrying that mood across, too; it’s a serene, reflective voice over with just a touch of humor to it. This is another one of those ads that just works well from start to finish.

The History Channel show Swamp People took an interesting approach in their big game ad, comparing the typical office workplace to a day in the life of a gator wrangler. I like the juxtaposition of the all-business voice over language with the all-swamp visuals of the show. And, like the NFL ad above, the voice actor is perfectly cast in the role, with a gruff, tough, slightly-southern-fried approach that fits the show well.

M&M’s used the big game to introduce a new character to their roster of anthropomorphic candies: Ms. Brown. The interaction between the animated M&M’s and the live action actors make the spot fun, but it’s really the voice actors playing Red and Ms. Brown that have the most fun with their roles here. Even though they only get a few lines in the 30-second spot, they’re quite memorable.

Finally, we have a commercial from Time Warner Cable, which offers up one of the more traditional voice overs of the night. This one feature a semi-stoic male voice proclaiming how Time Warner makes everything better. The voice delivery is very much in the style of a lot of recent technology-driven ads, such as ones for Apple, IBM, and various car companies. It’s simple, straightforward, and to the point, and it works fairly well for this kind of ad.

There were a lot of ads in the Super Bowl that featured voice over in some capacity, even if just for a line or two at the end. This was just a small sampling of some of the most memorable commercials of the night that featured VO prominently. What was YOUR favorite commercial of the night?

Morris has been involved in acting most of his life. His father, Greg Morris, was one of the stars of the original Mission: Impossible television series. Phil himself starred in the ’80s television reboot of the show, and has been incredibly busy in voice overs since the late ’90s. His past credits include starring roles in shows such as Batman: The Brave & The Bold, Legion of Super Heroes, The PJs, Disney’s Kim Possible, and The Justice League, plus a number of video games and animated films.

In this interview, Phil talks about playing the DC Universe villain Vandal Savage, and has a lot of great things to say about Voice Over work in general. Enjoy!

QUESTION:

What’s the mindset of Vandal Savage, and what’s been the joy of playing this role?

PHIL MORRIS:

Vandal Savage is an immortal who has been around the human species for all time. He’s extremely intelligent – he’s incredibly evolved because of contact with a meteor that landed in his village. And he’s always trying to overthrow the world. His vision is that the world should be his, as many of these despots feel. But he feels that because he’s lived so long, he’s entitled.

I love Vandal. I played Vandal for the Justice League series a few times, but this is a little bit of a different take on Vandal. Back on the series, he was more of a smooth criminal – he was more nuanced, he had more style. Now, I guess, he’s just had it. He’s kind of approaching things as if to say “I don’t have time to play with you.” He has no more guile left in him. He’s straight, no chaser, which makes him much more dangerous, much more evil, and much harder edged, especially in my vocal performance.

And I love this script. Dwayne (McDuffie) really made it a walloping good romp for the Justice League players. And then Vandal is a bit like the Lex Luthor of the show – it’s his mastermind, his ideas, his design that almost or does bring the world to its doom. You’ll have to watch to see. Vandal is very much the thrust of the evil of this show. That’s fun to play.

QUESTION:

What’s it like for you to be recording with all these original voices from the series again?

PHIL MORRIS:

It’s great to have these actors back in these roles, but that’s the magic of these animated projects. I think one of the things the DC/Warner Bros. people do very well is get the right people for the job, from the top down. From Bruce (Timm) and Andrea (Romano) all the way down to the cast – and they take pains to make sure that everything is as accurate as possible because they know that, as fans, we’re watching and we’re listening and we need to be served. And they serve us very, very well. They give us some of the greatest vocal talent in the business.

QUESTION:

You say “we” – and that collection of 20,000+ comics at home attests to your love for this genre. This is more than just work for you, right?

PHIL MORRIS:

It feels as though I’ve been doing homework on these characters since I was 7 years old, and I loved being able to tell my mother that I’m finally making my comic book collection pay off. Actors use whatever reference material is at hand to flush out their characters, and in that I have been a comic collector for so long, I don’t have to go too far to relate to the process of the villain or hero in this universe of comics. I feel like I am one of the rank and file who has gotten lucky enough to embody these characters. It’s a pleasure and an honor.

QUESTION:

Which way do your comic book tastes venture these days?

PHIL MORRIS:

It’s interesting because they always ask the question: “Is it DC or Marvel?” If you’re a real comic book fan, you had to pick a side. You couldn’t go down the middle. As a younger comics reader, I liked Marvel a lot, because Marvel reflected African Americans sooner than DC did. I think that gave me a little bit of an affinity for them. But now in my more mature years, it’s all about good story telling, and I find DC tells great stories and has great, solid characters. They have probably my favorite character in Batman. So I’m much more interested in the continuity of the universe – I was an artists guy before, relating to the pictures and the artistry. That really thrilled me. Now it’s about the concepts and the writing. I’m always looking for a good yarn.

I like reading Garth Ennis, J. Michael Straczynski, Mark Waid, Jeff Loeb … guys like that. The writers have become fantastic – they have taken what society is and spun it on its ear. It’s not really kid stuff anymore. Kids can still invest and enjoy the books, but so can adults. Mark Millar. Ed Brubaker. There are a lot of great comic writers out there right now, and the world of comic books is much better for it.

QUESTION:

You played J’onn J’onzz /Martian Manhunter on Smallville. Would you like to transition that role to voice over for animation?

PHIL MORRIS:

Carl (Lumbly) did one helluva job as Martian Manhunter for the Justice League series, and he hasn’t lost a step for this film. I don’t think he’s going to give up the role without a fight, and I have a total respect for Carl and his performance. It would be wonderful to do J’onn J’onzz as an animated character, as I did on Smallville. We’ll see. They keep me busy over here.

QUESTION:

You’ve recorded a full library of characters for animation, including many in the super hero realm. What character does your inner geek still crave to voice?

PHIL MORRIS:

I’ve been doing a voice for The Black Panther, but I’m not playing the Panther. They got Djimon Hounsou, and he’s terrific. But I would love to play the Black Panther. I wanted to play Green Lantern in this film. I’m an African American actor, but I don’t want that to matter at all. I think you should be able to close your eyes and voice any character, whether he’s African American or Anglo or Latino or Asian. That’s what I love about these great characters. I’d love to do the Silver Surfer, too. But for DC, I’d love to do a version of the Batman. I know Kevin Conroy IS Batman, and I love Kevin to death. But I think every actor who knows comics and loves comics would jump at the chance to do Batman. I think each of us would want to bring his own take to that darkness, to that inner turmoil that is Bruce Wayne. So it would be Batman. Kevin, I love you, but give me a one-off!

QUESTION:

You frequently work in both the live-action and animated worlds. What’s your favorite part of doing voice overs?

PHIL MORRIS:

The best part of working in voice over is the people you work with. I was very surprised when I first came into this world that the actors were so talented. They weren’t just people who did funny or clever voices. They are very intelligent, well-read, well-spoken, funny actors, and you get into that room and they cut it up – and THEN they go to record and they’re suddenly the most evil or heroic person on the planet. Then in between takes they’re jokey, jokey, jokey. Their wit and their imagination is unparalleled. I really have a great time working with whomever I work with from the voice over community.

The video above shows Mr. Tufeld’s work as the B9 robot, uttering some of his most famous catchphrases. And while this might be his most iconic character, Mr. Tufeld was a longtime, career voice actor whose credits spanned over 50 years. Below is a vintage Mr. Bubble commercial that Tufeld provided the voice for.

Mr. Tufeld was also the narrator for an enormous amount of TV shows and cartoons, including Lost in Space, Zorro, The Time Tunnel, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and the Fantastic Four, among others. Below is a video featuring Mr. Tufeld narrating the intro of Thundarr the Barbarian, one of my favorite childhood cartoons.

Mr. Tufeld was an accomplished voice actor and radio broadcaster, and he was a part of some truly iconic television properties. While he will be missed, his voice will live on forever. RIP, Dick, and thanks for the memories.

Things didn’t go all that smoothly for Williams, however, as his drug and alcohol problems reportedly returned as well. It’s been one year since that story originally hit the web, and Entertainment tonight has just done an update on where he’s at today.

All of us here at Voice Coaches are happy to see that Ted is doing well, and we’re excited to see the national attention this story has brought to the voice over field as well. We’ve always said that VO is an extremely rewarding and positive field to work in, and this story certainly helps show that that is the case.

Well, now Maxwell the Pig has returned in a new spot for Geico insurance (below). This time, the peppy pig is zip-lining, of all things.

Now, these two commercial spots aren’t exactly heavy on dialogue, but they do two things very well: 1.) They’re extremely funny, and 2.) You definitely don’t forget them. What’s really great is that the voice over talent who voices the pig basically got to come in and shout, “wheeeee!!!” over and over again until the producers were satisfied. That sounds like an extremely fun and unusual day in the recording booth to me.

What about you? Have any of you had a similar experience recording?

The first strip above just strikes me with the fun and optimism that I imagine most children have around New Year’s. I think a lot of adults could use a little bit of that fun and optimism too!

And of course, the classic Peanuts strip above is sort of the opposite of the top one. Who hasn’t had that feeling of, “So when are things gonna change already?!?” right after New Year’s?

Finally, my favorite of the three is a Calvin & Hobbes strip, that is simply an optimistic look at a “day full of possibilities,” which is how I always like to think of tomorrow.

From everyone here at Voice Coaches to all of you out there, we hope you have a wonderful and a wonder-filled New Year!

From everyone here at Voice Coaches to all of you out there, we wish you a very happy holidays!!

The first video features footage of the six main voice actors (Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Christina Applegate, Amy Poehler, and Anna Faris) doing their lines. It’s interesting to see how the actors not only have to read slower than normal, but also how much emphasis and emotion they still have to put into their deliveries. If it can be challenging to get emotions across using just your voice in a regular VO setting, imagine how challenging it must be when your voice is sped up to sound like a chipmunk.

Also interesting to see is how high-pitched Jesse McCartney has to get his voice in order to play Theodore. Even with the voice alteration that’s added to chipmunk-ize him, he still has to get into a high pitch to get the exact voice needed for Theodore. You can see him talk about it in the interview above, where he also discusses how he got the part, the challenges of the role, and more.

Finally, we have the trailer for the film, where you can see some of the great voice performances in all of their chipmunk glory!

The first video is a making-of featurette from the studio, and it’s one of the better ones I’ve seen recently. Not only does it introduce all of the cast and the actors, but it really gives you a look at how they recorded the dialogue for the film. What’s particularly interesting here is how the director talks about (and you can see) that the entire cast recorded together, which is unusual in a production like this.

In fact, the video gives a really good glimpse of the unique “vocal booth” set-up that they created for the actors; so that they could see each other and interact, but also still capture clean dialogue. It’s very cool to see the whole process at work.

I also like that you can see how physical some of the actors get (especially Brad Pitt and Robin Williams) to get the best performances possible for their characters.

The second video gives us more of a glimpse into the recording sessions. There are some really great shots in here of six or eight voice actors recording at a time. I also like how each performer’s copy stand has a poster of their character on it for the other actors who can see them to help them visualize who they’re playing against.

It sure looks like the actors had a lot of fun making this film, doesn’t it?

This month, TheShelterPetProject.org has debuted four new 30-second commercials that promote adopting shelter animals for your home, and they’ve given them a clever spin. In each ad, a dog or cat talks about human behavior that they find odd or confusing.

The spots are not only pretty funny in general, but the voice actors bring each animal to life in a unique way. What I enjoy is how well they capture the sort of semi-rambling, stream-of-thought approach, as if the animals really are trying to puzzle out exactly what’s going on in the human world.

The video above is my favorite of the four spots, with the dog talking about how his “human” is the worst hide-and-seek player ever. This one cracks me up, not just because it’s cleverly written, but also because I think the voice actor just completely nails the delivery from start to finish.

Which is your favorite spot?

And while usually I don’t combine our holiday blog posts with our Voice Overs of the World column, this year I couldn’t resist. You see, State Farm has released an internet video about turkey fryer safety starring none other than William Shatner!

As you can see, Shatner appears on-camera in the video, but it’s his voice over that really makes it such a fun viewing experience for me. Few people have mastered the art of the over-dramatic like Shatner has, and this piece has the perfect tone to fit his over-the-top melodramatic delivery. And if his lines about the “dingle-dangle” aren’t the funniest thing I’ve heard all year, I don’t know what is!

Well, I’ll leave it at that. Enjoy the video, and enjoy your holiday!

Best wishes from everyone here at Voice Coaches!!

The first video is an interview with stars Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek. Not only do they give you an interesting look into how they work together and how they brought their characters to life, but there’s one part of the video I’m really glad they included. It’s the shot of Antonio Banderas recording his voice over while holding an actual sword. How cool is that? Sometimes, a prop can really help you get into character, and it’s obviously an integral part of who Puss In Boots is. I thought that was the kind of cool behind-the-scenes thing you don’t get to see very often.

The second video is a more traditional making-of featurette, with interviews with the stars and the filmmakers. I included this one so you could see what some of the finished product with Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek’s voices looks and sounds like.

Finally, we have a very cool video that presents raw footage of the stars at the microphones, delivering their lines. Look how physical Anonio Banderas gets with his entire body to deliver his lines; you also see him with his sword again here. Salma Hayek, by contrast, is a little more reserved, physically speaking, but her character is also less over the top than Banderas’ is. Of course, it’s all a matter of what works best for each actor in the booth. And is Zach Galifianakis wearing a bathrobe?!? (Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s just a hoodie.) Even Billy Bob Thornton and movie director Guillermo Del Toro show up.

It’s also cool to see how different each line delivery is. Watching Antonio Banderas say “Holy Frijoles! They do exist!” three completely different ways in a row is a terrific example of what great voice acting is all about. Stick around to the end of the video and you can see the final takes of each line as they appear in the finished movie!

I don’t think there’s too much that needs to be said about this commercial. It’s an internet spot, which is what allows it the two-minute-plus running time, and it cracks me up. The voice actors who bring Bert and Ernie to life are spot-on, as always, and their comedic timing is a thing of perfection.

Who will TomTom bring to their GPS voice roster next? I can’t wait to find out!

The first ad is for a new mobile app called Parrot Carrot Safari. It’s based on a kid’s book, and it’s a great example of how the digital age is creating all sorts of opportunities for voice actors. If you watch the spot, you’ll see that the voice overs within the app are by a man named Kamahl. Now, Kamahl is mostly unheard of here in the States, but in his native Australia, he’s a huge star, a Perry Como-like singer that has been well loved for decades.

So the voice over in the app itself goes to a celebrity. Ah, but the advertisement for the app, well, that’s a different story! Here you have a minute-long commercial describing the app, and it’s voiced by… who? Well, I don’t know, actually, and that’s the point. It’s just a regular working voice actor, not a celebrity, doing the ad. So even when celebrities do snag VO jobs, that can often create other VO jobs for non-celebrities as a result.

This second commercial is from the Costa Rican Tourism Board and it features an animated, talking sloth. What I love about this spot is how perfectly cast the voice is. Sloths are obviously known for being lazy, hang-around animals, and the voice actor behind the sloth captures this perfectly.

It’s sort of a surfer-ish, relaxed, laid back, “chill” vibe, and it really does evoke what I would imagine a talking sloth to sound like. And again, this is a minute-and-a-half spot that’s only available to be viewed online.

I don’t know about you, but I think this internet thing’s gonna stick around, folks.

QUESTION:
You seemed to easily groove into this character. Where did you go to discover who Selina Kyle is?

ELIZA DUSHKU:
I found the attitude for this character deep down in the Eliza Dushku archive of bad girls [laughs]. They’re in there somehow, somewhere, for some reason, and I tap into them when I need them. They’re characters with an edge. I grew up with three older brothers in Boston, and my mother was a single mom. So I spent my early years running the streets with the boys. After I fell into the film and television business, I went back to public school in Boston, and kids didn’t think it was that cool. So I had to kind of fight for my street cred. I adopted this really sort-of-hard exterior, and got in a couple fights. So by the time I graduated high school and came out to make Buffy The Vampire Slayer, it was really art imitating life. I was fighting for my life.

QUESTION:
Does being part of the Batman mythology have any special significance to you?

ELIZA DUSHKU:
It’s incredible being part of the Batman legacy. It’s iconic. It’s Batman. I grew up with brothers and we would play Batman and Robin. Well, I would always try to get in and play, but usually they would let me join the game as some character or another, and they would immediately kill me off [laughs]. So, I used to watch from afar. So now look brothers – I get to be a part of this and you don’t [laughs].

QUESTION:
Did you enjoy attempting to bring a comic book to animated life?

ELIZA DUSHKU:
I love that in the DC Comics world, the stakes are high from the get-go. A week ago, I was watching The Dark Knight. I love what they did, but it’s different from what we did for Batman: Year One and Catwoman. When you’re recreating comics, there’s different intonations and character strengths that come out. That’s what I was focused on bringing forth. It’s a little exaggerated, a little nuanced, a little more dramatic. But it’s also full of layers and seething with this very cool energy.

QUESTION:
Do you enjoy voice acting?

ELIZA DUSHKU:
I’ve had a great time doing voice overs. It started with video games – the first was a Buffy The Vampire Slayer video game – and really I did it because I thought it would be cool to have my nephews be able to play me on their video games. They won’t talk to me right now – they’re at that stage of being a teenager – so I thought maybe we could have a connection through the video games. I did a video game called Wet last year that was a lot of fun. Then I have some friends over at Family Guy. And then, more and more, I’ve been sort of reaching out and peeking around to see what things are available to build my voice over resume. It’s fun for me, and completely different from what we do in live action. Voice acting is really invigorating. It still feels like you have to bring the same amount of character and energy into the room. And then to watch it morph into the animated version is really kind of magnificent.

QUESTION:
Was there anything you wanted to personally add to the character that made the experience of voicing Catwoman that much more fun?

ELIZA DUSHKU:
Well, I wanted to purr, and they let me purr – so that was really like getting a bit of extra credit. I wanted to get in there and really emphasize her relationship with her cats, as I think it’s very feral and very significant. And everyone was really cool about letting me play around with my ferocity.

QUESTION:
What is it you enjoy most about working in this genre?

ELIZA DUSHKU:
I love my fanboys. Without my fanboys, so many of the projects that I’ve done wouldn’t have had the extraordinary life that they’ve enjoyed. The fanboys have been there with enthusiasm and the support, and their loyalty and their love has made this so rewarding and exciting. It makes me just want to give them more, more, more, more.

QUESTION:
The Whedonverse has provided many actors for the first 16 DC Universe Animated Original Movies. What do you think makes Joss Whedon’s casts fit so nicely in the DC Universe?

ELIZA DUSHKU:
Joss is such a die-hard comic book fan himself that there’s a natural connection. And when you play in his worlds – worlds that are fantasy-related with all this metaphorical, deep magic going on, it sort of preps you to think the unthinkable and go places with your character that most projects don’t give you the opportunity to do.

QUESTION:
You were Warner Bros. first choice for the role of Jim Gordon, but the feeling wasn’t mutual – you initially declined. What made you change your mind?

BRYAN CRANSTON:
I always talk about the writing – I’ve gotten to a point in my career where I don’t want to just take a job, I want to be part of great storytelling. I always say that I don’t care if it’s a children’s play, I’ll do it so long as it’s great writing. I’ve done some animation work and, quite frankly, I haven’t loved all of it. So when they first offered this to me, I turned it down. I didn’t want to do something that I just assumed was goofy or cartoony. Fortunately, my representatives convinced me that I needed to give this material a fair shake – and I’m so glad they did. I had no idea that animation could have such depth and sophistication. This is adult storytelling, handled in intrinsically adult ways. It’s interesting and thoughtful and dark and nothing that I thought I’d find in an animated script.

Jim Gordon is trying to find his moral center. He keeps getting shot down. He doesn’t want to work in this hellhole of a city, hated by his fellow cops, hated by his superiors. His wife is pregnant and he’s conflicted about bringing a child into this troubled world. He’s on an island. I was really surprised – in a good way. This script was well-written, unpredictable, good storytelling. And so I happily ate my hat because I’m so glad they forced me to read it.

QUESTION:
The name in the film’s title is Batman, but this is just as much Jim Gordon’s story, isn’t it?

BRYAN CRANSTON:
What I was first attracted to in reading Batman: Year One was that James Gordon actually is the star. That’s the way I look at it, anyway. That was really unexpected, especially the way he’s portrayed. My first experience with Batman was through the comics, but the Batman television series really had an impact. So I thought, “Oh, Gordon’s an old Irishman with that big, thick over-the-top brogue.” But there was no comic book silliness – there were twists and turns, darkness and light, and truly human mistakes that I’d never anticipated. And it’s as much Jim Gordon’s story as it is a story about Batman’s origins.

QUESTION:
So is this your chance to finally put that education in police work to use?

BRYAN CRANSTON:
In thinking about James Gordon, basically I used my own background. I went to college to become a police officer. There’s a certain similar decorum that all police officers have – it’s a skepticism and a curiosity and a bit of cynicism, too. And what I found in reading the script was that all those elements seem to be in place for the character. So all I wanted to do is to bring out that sensibility and make him real. He has to be a real guy, someone you believe could be this police officer, in order for you to accept the plight and the dismay that he’s going through, and trying to do the right thing in a city that is surrounded by corruption.

QUESTION:
So all that time on Malcolm In The Middle, playing that great dad, you really were just waiting for some truly dark roles to present themselves?

BRYAN CRANSTON:
Malcolm In The Middle was a great seven years. We had a great time. And I think what made that story work is that at the core you had a real family that was striving to do the right thing. And when you look at what Gordon is to Batman: Year One, he is a guy who’s still striving to do the right thing. Anytime you have that, an audience will even allow you to do the wrong thing if they know that you’re trying to do the right thing. So they’ve got you. It’s like they know that, at the core, you’re a good person, and that’s what he is. So when an issue comes up that forces him to walk a fine line between what is right and what is wrong, and certain things pull him in one direction or the other, the audience empathizes with his struggle. That makes it interesting.

QUESTION:
What makes Batman an interesting character to you?

BRYAN CRANSTON:
As a character, Batman is someone who has a righteousness about him. And yet, it’s not pure. He is a vigilante. He’s taking matters into his own hands. So you could say that he’s doing good things, but I don’t know that you could say he’s a good guy because of the manner that he approaches his actions. That’s what always makes characters more interesting, that they walk the line of good and bad.

QUESTION:
Was there any element of the script that you particularly enjoyed?

BRYAN CRANSTON:
I didn’t have any particular favorite lines or scenes, but what I really appreciated about doing Lieutenant Gordon was the inner monologue. I don’t remember having (a role) that had that kind of sensibility that allows the character to be honest and open, vulnerable, and let the audience then determine if they’re welcome into this man’s soul or not. So that was probably my favorite part – to be able to have that running inner monologue going on, which I find fascinating.

QUESTION:
Must you take a different acting approach when playing a real-life individual or a fictional icon – as opposed to a character specifically written for the page?

BRYAN CRANSTON:
Yes. You approach each character with a little different idea of how and what you need to shape him. I played Buzz Aldrin in From The Earth To The Moon about the Apollo project for HBO, and that I did approach differently. This is a real person, an American hero, a worldwide hero, and he’s still alive. And there’s something in the back of your head that says, “I really want him to be proud of this. I want him, above all else, to be able to say that I gave an honest depiction of the sensibility of what was going on then and who I was at that time.” I think that’s, in a sense, the same when working with an iconic figure like Jim Gordon in Batman: Year One. Everybody has a pretty good idea of Gordon – who he is and how he sounds – so you can’t go too far against that grain. You need to be in the ballpark. He’s an established character, but the script will give you a good idea of how far you can stretch here or there.

Each of these three short infomercials was produced for the internet; you won’t see them on TV. The first one (above) is for Lawry’s Seafood, which introduces the “Digital Dinner Bell” app. It’s funny that both this and the Carlsberg spot below seem to be using technology (apps) to get away from technology (Twitter, Facebook, e-mail) and back to basics (social gatherings).

The voice talent takes a nice, middle-of-the-road kind of approach. His voice has a touch of class to it without sounding haughty or stuffy, and his delivery is knowing yet friendly, which keeps listeners engaged.

The Carlsberg spot (above) takes very much the same approach. Notice how in both pieces, the narrator is there largely to give instructions on how to use the apps. That’s what these kinds of short-form videos do. They appear online on various websites, rarely ever airing on television, and they are advertisements of a sort. Of course, they’re also instructional; hence the reason I referred to them earlier as infomercials. And they’re becoming something of a cottage industry.

The great thing about spots like these is that they’re produced all over, not solely in traditional A-market locales. The Carlsberg spot above, for example, was made in Belgium.

Finally, we have a spot for a new Nissan Versa app. Now, this one accomplishes largely the same thing as the first two, but takes a slightly different approach to get there. The voice over is a little more sparse and yet a lot more upbeat. The commercial spends less time explaining how to use the app and more time showing it, with the voice over used to fill in some of the gaps.

These types of infomercials are becoming more and more prevalent as apps continue to multiply exponentially. Seek out opportunities to voice an app tutorial in your area. Remember what they say say: there’s an app for that!

In the Coca-Cola commercial above, we learn about the new Coke promotion in Australia where you can buy semi-personalized bottles. What’s great about the commercial is that it’s made up almost entirely of the voice talent saying variations of the name, “Matt.” Now, this may sound like an easy day in the studio, but it can actually be quite challenging. I count 10 different “Matt’s” in the commercial, and while each one is subtly different in the script (Matty, Matthias, Mad Man Matt, etc.), it could still have easily been a one-note commercial if every name was delivered the same way.

Reading lists can be one of the more challenging tasks in voice overs, because you have to deliver variety in order to keep a piece from sounding boring. But how do you read the same thing 10 times and make each one sound different? Well, this commercial gives you an idea of how to do just that.

The second spot features Honda’s new voice over spokesman. He’s a pretty big celebrity. And he sounds nothing at all like himself in this commercial. I’ll tell you what. You listen to the commercial a few times and then see if you can figure out whose voice it is. Give up? I’ll tell you. At the bottom of the page. (Hey! I don’t want to ruin the fun for those people who are trying to figure it out but have good peripheral vision!)

Yep, this comedy star is now doing the voice overs for Honda, and in this first spot for the car company, he barely sounds like himself. He also has to deal with a repetitive list of sorts. While he does more than just say variations on a name, each sentence in the spot ends with the word “here.” As the whole commercial is made up of about six lines of dialogue, it would be easy again to fall into a monotonous delivery. And while this ad is clearly more formal and less casual than the Coke ad, there’s no denying that the voice actor is clearly trying to give each line its own weight and its own identity.

What do you think? How do YOU deal with reading lists in a voice over?

[Oh, and that voice over talent? It's none other than Jason Bateman!]

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Sharp-eyed Capital Region resident will recognize the Colonie Center Regal Cinemas lobby in the video!

Former Voice Coaches student Jackson Murphy has become nationally known as a film critic and host of “Lights, Camera, Jackson!” appearing on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and The Nate Berkus Show, among others. Jackson has also won a New York State Emmy for “Best On-Camera Talent: Commentator/Editorialist.”

Congrats, Jackson!!

Each of the ads has a similar theme, with Affleck playing up his Boston accent to the nth degree to talk abut the various types of annoying people you can play against: the brutal older brother, the high fiving show-off, the obnoxious loudmouth. Throughout the spots, he describes each player’s offensive behavior in detail. The combination of the well-written scripts and Affleck’s pitch-perfect deliveries makes these commercials truly fantastic.

Here’s how you know how good the voice overs are: there’s no music behind them. Listen to the commercials again, and you’ll realize that, up until the end, they rely solely on Affleck’s voice and delivery to sell the spots. I would argue that he’s so effective that adding music would actually take away from his delivery.

What do you think?

Subway has spent the last several years building themselves up as a brand that offers a healthy alternative to fast food (remember Jared?) This new spot from them continues that trend, with a voice actor explaining just how much grease is out there in the world.

What I like about this ad are two things. First of all, I like the deadly serious (yet somehow still mildly humorous) tone the talent adopts for the beginning of the piece, conjuring images of the type of Public Service Announcement that shows doom and gloom in an effort to scare us into donating money. I also like how — halfway through the ad — the voice over changes completely. It’s still the same actor, but the style, tone, and delivery are all completely transformed as he begins to talk about how great Subway is. With a switch in the visual style as well, the VO helps make this ad a perfect compare/contrast piece, and I think it’s pretty effective.

Speaking of those fast food competitors, KFC has its own new ad running that — while not quite about health food — is certainly trying to appeal to those people who like to know what goes into their meals. This is a pretty upbeat, friendly-sounding ad. What sticks out for me in this one is how, about halfway through the ad, the voice talent suddenly addresses the on-camera talent. “No they don’t, Aaron. No they don’t,” he says, in response to the KFC “employee” on screen. It’s a particularly conversational moment in the script, and while it’s unusual for a commercial to take that approach, it works well thanks to a strong delivery.

Finally, we have a new commercial from Gatorade G Fit. This is a particularly interesting one. The VO is a distinctly unusual one. It’s clearly meant to represent the busy active lifestyle of this student athlete, and the entire VO is presented in a rapid fire, stream of consciousness, rat-a-tat-tat style. It’s certainly not what you’re used to hearing in a commercial, but I think it works really well. It grabs your attention for being different from the norm, and it also feels like it really represents the character being portrayed on screen. It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I give Gatorade major kudos for trying something unique and really knowing their audience.

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Former Voice Coaches student Jackson Murphy has become nationally known as a film critic and host of “Lights, Camera, Jackson!” appearing on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and The Nate Berkus Show, among others. Jackson has also won a New York State Emmy for “Best On-Camera Talent: Commentator/Editorialist.”

Congratulations, Jackson!!

Jackson has gotten a lot of media attention over the past few years for being an incredibly talented film critic and host of “Lights Camera Jackson!”, appearing on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, The Nate Berkus Show, and Fox News, and interviewing celebrities such as Regis Phibin, Seth Green, Rupert Grint, Goldie Hawn, and Jane Lynch. Jackson has also won a New York State Emmy for “Best On-Camera Talent: Commentator/Editorialist,” becoming the youngest person to ever win a NY State Emmy.

Voice Coaches was fortunate enough to train Jackson in voice over acting and record his VO demo a little over a year ago, and we’ve been very proud watching his success grow and grow over the past year!

So check out Jackson on The Today Show this Sunday morning! (Check local listings for exact times.)

Voice Coaches’ “Audiobooks & Long-Form Narration” premium web class is designed to help you point your career in a new direction: the world of audiobooks!

In our “Audiobooks & Long-Form Narration” class, you’ll learn about the business side of audiobooks as well as the creative side, including how to find work, how to create characters, how to stay fresh in the booth, and much more. In addition, you also get a 44-page “Guide to Audiobooks & Long-Form Narration.” The class contains over 30 video training segments featuring interviews with award-winning audiobook producer Daniel Bostick, professional audiobook narrator Cynthia Bishop, audiobook publisher David Niall Wilson, voice actor Kevin Readdean, and voice over producer Mike Spring.

Best of all, this class provides you with a list of companies that you can directly market yourself to as an audiobook narrator!

Our other premium classes include “Protecting Your Instrument: Vocal Hygiene” and “Marketing & Motivation.”

Our Protecting Your Instrument” class is designed to help you learn about – and protect – your most valuable instrument: your voice. You will learn about how your voice works, what you can do to keep it healthy, actions to avoid, how to keep hydrated, how to warm up, and much more. In addition, you also get a 39-page Guide to Vocal Health and downloadable exercises that you can use to maintain optimum vocal hygiene. The class features interviews with award-winning vocal expert Dr. Jack Pickering; studio owner and producer David Bourgeois; Ear Nose & Throat Doctor Sara Scheid; professional singer and voice actor Bonnie Drowne; and speech-language pathologist and vocal rehabilitation expert Tom Burke.

In Voice Coaches’ “Marketing & Motivation” premium web class, you’ll get to see some of the foremost experts in the field of voice acting discuss how to create a successful career for yourself, and how to stay motivated while doing so. They’ll also share some invaluable voice over techniques you can utilize behind the microphone. The class contains over 30 video training segments and over 20 audio lessons plus a downloadable “Guide to Marketing & Motivation.”

You’ll learn from experts such as: legendary voice actor Rodney Saulsberry; television host and voice actor Evan Farmer; Abrams Artists Agency voice over agent Billy Serow; Full Cast Audio producer and director Dan Bostick; studio owner and producer David Bourgeois; Voices.com owners David & Stephanie Ciccarelli; multimedia production company owner Dan Dinsmore; voice over actor Bob Souer; video game producer Evan Skolnick, marketing expert Jay Silverman; and many others.

If you’re an aspiring voice actor, Voice Coaches premium web classes are filled with information, advice, and inspiration to help launch your voice over career.

For more information on our premium classes, call us at 1-866-887-2834 ex. 100, or email us at scheduling@voicecoaches.com!

One of Voice Coaches’ former students and her husband, Marianne Petrino-Schaad and Tom Schaad, produce (and host) a TV show called Fast Forward: Contemporary Science Fiction (and you can visit them here: http://www.fast-forward.tv/index.htm). A few months back, they had voice actor extraordinaire Matthew Mercer on their show to talk about his voice over career as a whole as well as his role on the new Thundercats show.

The incredibly talented Mr. Mercer not only appears as Tygra on the new Thundercats show, but he’s also voiced roles in the groundbreaking anime movie Akira, Street Fighter, Cowboy Bebop, and video games of Star Trek, X-Men, Final Fantasy, Warcraft and many others. His interview is broken into two parts (above and below) and runs about 18 minutes total, but he discusses voice over almost exclusively throughout the whole thing. It’s hard to find really in-depth interviews with voice actors these days, and so this is a great insight into the world of creating voice overs for animation and video games.

In the final video (below), we’ve provided the trailer for the new Thundercats show so you can see — and hear — what it looks like. Unfortunately, you don’t get to hear Mr. Mercer’s character talk, but you do get a sense of all the great voice talent involved in this show, which includes notable VO talent like Will Freidle, Corey Burton, Clancy Brown, Dee Bradley Baker, and Emmanuelle Chriqui.

Looks petty incredible, doesn’t it? Thanks again to Marianne and Tom for sharing this interview with us!!

The first ad (above) is a spot for the ESPN mobile app, and it — obviously — features a giant walking, talking ear. What really struck me about this ad was less the voice over itself (which is quite good, of course) but rather the process that went into casting that voice. I mean, how do you cast a giant, talking ear? What does that voice sound like?

My guess is that the producers simply listened to demos until they came up with a suitable number of candidates that embodied what a giant ear might sound like. Auditions were probably held for the finalists until the perfect voice was found and selected. And I have to say, I think they did a pretty good job. I’m not sure what a giant ear sounds like, either, but I could imagine one sounding like this!

The next ad is for a British milk company, and it explores the question of who the first person that had the idea to milk a cow was. I think this is a great commercial, and not only because that’s a question I’ve wondered many times myself. I think the narrator perfectly captures that sort of authoritarian documentary voice, but there’s a touch of whimsy to it, as well. This clearly isn’t an ad that takes itself too seriously (as is evidenced by the angel cow floating above the ground, among other things.)

The third ad is another one from across the pond, with a similar yet different delivery style to that of the Milk commercial. This one also features a British narrator doing the documentary-style voice over, but in this case, the talent adopts a much more menacing tone, befitting the supposed danger of the events of the ad. Being surrounded by great white sharks is no laughing matter, and while this ad is clearly meant to be humorous, the voice talent sells it, full-on, as a serious piece. It’s part of what makes it work so effectively, in my opinion.

Finally, we have a car ad from Nissan that was so crazy, I just had to include it. Clearly, the voice over in this ad isn’t even in English, as the spot is from Brazil. But not only was the imagery of the man opening his car hood to find singing and dancing animated ponies hilarious to me, but I thought it was a good chance to point out just how global the use of voice overs in advertising is. I have no idea what the guy is saying, of course, although I wish I knew Portuguese because I’d love to know what the little pink horse is saying in the second part of the ad!

Judging from this commercial, it seems that not only voice overs are universal; obnoxious car ads are too!

The first video (above) uses the voice over sparingly, and I don’t want to say too much about it, as I don’t want to spoil the punchline of the spot. Just remember: behind this (and every other) well-loved Sesame Street icon is a voice actor in a recording booth.

The second video features a ton of voice overs. This one is an actual trailer for the new Sesame Street video game, and not only do you get to hear clips of the voice actors who portray the various characters throughout the ad, but there’s also a pretty standard VO narrating the entire advertisement.

Hmmm… suddenly I’m hungry for cookies.

Well, Chrysler has just released two new commercials starring the same VO talent from that big job, with a few new celebrity subjects.

The first video features Detroit Lions football star Ndamukong Suh. The voice over talent uses his steely voice to talk about humble beginnings. Instead of going for a tough approach to match a tough voice, the narrator takes on a slightly softer tone to adopt a sense of reverence and respect, for both the player and his past.

The second commercial spotlights celebrity clothing designer John Varvatos. What I like about this ad is that the voice talent doesn’t drastically alter his voice, but through a subtle shift in delivery and style, his whole attitude is transformed. Here, instead of being reverent and thoughtful, he’s a lot more cocky and even a little boastful. If you listen to the two pieces side by side, his voice is largely unchanged, but by using a breathier tone in the first commercial and a more condescending tone in the second, the two commercials sound vastly different.

I love to see someone who’s really good at their job doing their job really well, don’t you?

The first video gives a great look at the terrific cast playing all manner of animals. We get to see Adam Sandler, Sylvester Stallone, Cher, John Favreau, Maya Rudolph, and others recording their parts as lions, monkeys, and bears (oh my!)

The second video expands on the dialogue between Sylvester Stallone and Cher as we get to see the pair act out an entire scene. I think it’s great to see the physicality that Stallone puts into the role. He really approaches the VO with gusto and uses his entire body and face — as well as his voice, of course — to bring out the best of the character.

The final video is the film’s trailer, so you can see all of the great talent’s voices at work in the finished product, and hear a pretty classic movie trailer voice over, to boot!

First up, we have the new ad for Apple’s iPad 2. A lot of times, Apple’s advertising tends to be friendly and sincere, but it can also often have a slightly sarcastic or snarky tone to it. This ad instead goes for a more inspirational tone. The delivery is along the same lines as the kind of VO you would hear in a documentary talking about great achievements by mankind. Which, in a sense, is what this ad is attempting to do. I think they pull it off; what do you think?

The second ad is for the newest Tiger Woods Golf video game. Interestingly, the ad doesn’t feature Tiger Woods at all, but rather recent US Open winner Rory Mcilroy, who’s the hot golfer at the moment. Again, this ad skips the usual sarcasm or announcer-type voice and goes for a haughty (almost snotty) approach. This one has less of a documentary feel to it and more of a “proclamation of greatness” vibe, if you know what I mean.

Both ads do a great job of taking a slightly different approach from the norm and grabbing your attention with a twist on the typical voice over.

Here we have a great meeting of technology and voice overs. I love what Orange is doing with this, capitalizing on the popularity and “now-ness” of Twitter, while at the same time utilizing a tried and true advertising method — the voice over — to get people involved in interacting with their brand.

Here are a couple of pictures of their professional voice talent, Mitch, who has now recorded over 500 of these tweets in a movie-trailer-parody style of voice over.

What do you think? Pretty cool idea, no?

The first interview (above) is with the film’s main star, Nathan Fillion, who discusses playing the character of Hal Jordan as well as what other kinds of roles he’d like to tackle.Plus, he shows off his cool shirt!

The next video is a making-of video that features not only Fillion, but also his co-star Henry Rollins and voice director Andrea Romano. Ms. Romano is well-respected in the voice over industry, having cast and directed some of the most diverse and talented casts in animation during her illustrious career.

The final video is the trailer for the film, in which you can see some of Fillion and Rollins’ work in the film, as well as many of their other cast members.

Looks like it might be a Green summer!

What I like about the VO in this ad is how it starts off sounding just like every other movie trailer, with the deep, male, announcer style voice. But about two-thirds of the way through, when we start to get the hint that the Muppets are in the trailer, the narrator loses his confidence. “Kermit the Fff…frog?” “Miss Piggy?” It’s a clever approach to a traditional voice over that mirrors the “breaking the fourth wall” approach the rest of the trailer takes, and leads nicely into the big, colorful finale. And then, of course, we get a brief taste of some of those classic Muppet voices before the trailer ends.

You can be sure that we’ll have more VO-related news about The Muppets as the movie’s release date nears!

Our goal with the new site, besides a fresh visual interface, is for VoiceCoaches.com to become your main destination for voice over information. Not only can you always find out about our company and our staff here, but we have a number of regular free resources we’d love for you to come back for week in and week out.

For example, Voice Coaches radio is our weekly podcast that offers up marketing strategies, motivational stories, and interviews with voice acting professionals to inspire and inform you.

Meanwhile, we’ll also continue to bring you our oft-updated blog, where you can learn all about Voice Overs of the World and check out some great VO Behind-the-Scenes videos. For more educational videos, check out the Voice Coaches TV section. Also, in our Voice Over Demos section, you can watch a few new videos giving you a behind-the-scenes glimpse into what goes into making a successful voice over demo.

In our News & Press section, you can find out not only what’s happening here at Voice Coaches, but also hear about some success stories from our students, such as one of our former students who recently won an Emmy Award!

Finally, we have an all new free Ebook for download called “Voice Overs: Where Do I Begin?” This invaluable resource is an essential guide for anyone thinking about getting started in Voice Overs.

So take a look around the site, and then swing back here and leave us a comment letting us know what you think! And — as always — thanks for visiting VoiceCoaches.com!

In the interview above, Merchant talks about just how much work doing voice overs for a video game are, as well as the challenges that come with having to bring to life all the different facets of his character’s personality.

The second video is a clip from the game itself, in which you can not only see how extensive Mr. Merchant’s part is, but also how much fun he has with it and just how good he is at it.

Looks like an interesting enough game, but I would play it just to hear Stephen Merchant’s brilliant performance! How about you?

What’s great about this ad, besides how terrific it looks, is how the voice over literally interacts with the visuals on screen, asking a series of questions and having the “computer” answer them. The spot manages to find a perfect blend between whimsical and informational, humorous and educational. Key to that, of course, is the terrific voice talent.

Think about the challenge the actor had here. Not only did he have a pretty good amount of dialogue to deliver, but it was all broken up into single lines; there’s no real chance to build a flow or get momentum going. On top of that, 90% of the dialogue is questions, which can be challenging to deliver realistically and conversationally sometimes. This particular talent took the piece and ran with it, crafting a delivery that sounds exactly like one side of a conversation. Terrific work!

What do you think?

The first commercial (above) is for Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader. It’s a softer piece with a truly poetic feel to it. The spot builds in intensity as it goes, giving the whole thing a nice, inspirational feel. And even though it’s an ad for a store and its product, the greater message is about a love of reading, which is always a positive one to convey. I also like that the voice actors run the gamut of different types of people: adults, kids, men, women… they’re all here. And they each use a softer, dreamier tone of voice to really match the style of the music and visuals. All in all, it’s a pretty cool ad.

The second commercial is a more humorous spot from the Humane Society. While the message delivered at the end of the spot is important (and it’s delivered via voice over, of course), all the various cat voices and their funny lines do elicit a chuckle. Whereas the Barnes & Noble spot tried to evoke a mood by using a similar tone to all their voices, this commercial goes for a broad range of delivery styles, showing off all the different personalities that cats have. Even though it’s a completely different approach than Barnes & Noble’s ad, I feel like it’s equally effective.

The first two ads (above and below) are for Sony’s new Cybershot panoramic camera feature. The ads tell the supposedly “true” stories behind two very famous photographs of Albert Einstein and Marilyn Monroe. The voice overs feature a male voice actor with a bold British accent, and the delivery style is purposefully a bit over-dramatic. The backing music plays up the Hollywood melodrama of the spots, and the end result — while a bit silly — is pretty effective. I think a good VO is a great way to enhance a showcase for what is largely a visual medium: photography.

The next two ads (below) are for a British water product called Drench. These give us a glimpse into Drench’s fictional top-secret hydration laboratories, where the company tries to figure out creative ways to keep people hydrated. Now, I haven’t been able to confirm this yet, but I would bet dollars to donuts that that’s Karl Pilkington doing the voice overs. Pilkington rose to quasi-fame as the producer of Ricky Gervais’s incredibly popular podcast, as Gervais would basically get Pilkington talking about various things to extremely comedic effect. Pilkington’s become a bit of a celebrity in his own right, even now hosting his own comedy/travel reality show called An Idiot Abroad.

Whoever’s voice it is, it’s a great fit for these commercials, with a sort of monotonous tone that gives the humor a really dry feel. I love the part towards the end of the second commercial where he says, “Oh, baby. Plucky, plucky family, our lot.” It’s just such a great delivery, as if he’s talking about a dog show, rather than a family that just got completely drenched by a passing plane. I think these ads are a lot of fun, largely due to the great use of VO.

The spot is an Australian Public Service Announcement about slowing down and vehicle safety. It’s a beautiful ad that plays out more like a mini-movie than a commercial, and the voice over drives the entire thing. What’s really great about this spot, though, is that it shows what a great range of delivery you can have, even while using a softer, breathier tone of voice. This delivery is in no way monotonous; in fact, it’s full of expression and character. It’s just… quieter. That’s a really terrific job on the part of the voice talent.

What ads have you noticed with a breathier delivery, and do they get your attention?

In the video above, we see essentially the entire cast voicing portions of their roles. What’s great about this is that you really get a sense of the creative process at work (as well as a look at what the voices look like when matched to the animation)! You can watch as each cast member goes through a few segments of their script and really get a sense of how many takes they do, as well as how many different ways they deliver each line.

It’s a really great creative primer, because you can see that even big name stars like Anne Hathaway try each line in a variety of different ways to get just the right delivery. It’s also fascinating to watch how much physicality each actor puts into their role. Watch Jesse Eisenberg move his arms like a bird’s wings or Leslie Mann pointedly wagging her finger when she’s scolding Blue. These are things that make a performance better; even though the audience can’t see what the voice actor is doing, using your body to improve your performance is a long-time technique used by professional voice actors who strive to get the most out of their voice.

Finally, the second video is the film’s trailer, just so you can see all the wonderful voice talent in the finished product. I think this movie looks like a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to see it, especially now that I’ve seen how much work has gone into crafting the VO performances.

The iPad 2 ad is pretty simple: a light piano theme in the background, some well-contrasted lighting frames some close-up shots of the iPad at work, and a gentle, thoughtful voice over accompanies the imagery. The voice actor has a great voice and gives just the right delivery: serene, informative, with a slight bit of awe in his voice. It’s really a nicely done spot.

In direct contrast to that, we have an April Fool’s Day video created by Google for their Google Chrome web browser. What I like about this spot is it really shows how versatile you have to be as a voice actor. It’s not really a character voice or anything like that, but the talent basically had to come in and run the VO equivalent of an aerobics class (I guess nowadays it would be a P90X or Zumba class?) with just their voice.

Now, I don’t know if this particular voice talent has a background in fitness instruction, but I’m going to guess that that’s not the case, and this is just another example of a voice talent bringing some over-the-top energy to a job.

The last two spots are for Emerald Nuts’ new Breakfast On The Go product. What I like about these ads (besides that they’re pretty amusing) is that they’re a slightly different kind of commercial VO than we usually hear. In this case, the VO work is incorporated into the live action commercial set-up, with a couple of robots that are stuck in the “breakfast bar” mentality.

Now, clearly, their voices have had some sort of post-production effect added to them, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t also some creativity involved. Obviously, both actors had to deliver their VOs in a robotic, flat affect, but not so robotic and flat that the piece lost its humor. I think they knocked it out of the park, and it’s just another reminder of how much fun it can be to go into the booth and create something with your voice.

The first video above features Hank Azaria, who plays the villain of the film, an Easter chick with delusions of grandeur named Carlos, as well as a few other cast members. The clip gives you a look at how much fun Azaria had bringing the character to life!

The second interview features Russell Brand, who voices the main character of the film, E.B., the nephew of the Easter Bunny, voiced by Hugh Laurie. Brand replies to most of the questions with his trademarked sense of humor, but he does talk a bit about playing the character and doing voices for animation as well.

Finally, I included this last video just because it’s fun and it’s Friday. Watch Russell Brand interact with and interview a bunch of kids. I couldn’t make it through the whole clip without laughing, so enjoy!

You might have heard that Gilbert Gottfied was fired as the voice of the Aflac duck after he tweeted some jokes about the Japan Tsunami disaster on Twitter. After more than a decade of playing the foul-attitude fowl, Gottfried is no longer the voice of the world’s third most famous duck (after Donald and Daffy, of course.)

Well, now you have the chance to replace him. Aflac is holding open auditions to be the next voice of the Aflac duck. You can go to one of a handful of live casting sessions (in major cities, of course), or you can submit your entry online. The directions instruct you to “Sound informative, frustrated, happy, surprised, angry. Feel free to add grunts, groans, and mutterings, but no words other than “Aflac.” Include whatever you think the Duck should sound like. Be creative and show us if you’ve got what it takes to be the next Aflac Duck.” A commercial below shows a silent Aflac duck in need of a voice and directs you to the website (which you can also get to by clicking here or on the image above.)

What do you think? Do YOU have what it takes to be the next Aflac duck?

The first ad (above) is the newest spot for the Colorado Lottery. I really enjoy this spot; I think the voice, accent, and delivery are so perfect for a jewel encrusted jaguar. The voice talent captures that feeling of opulence and spoiled nobility so well that it really makes the entire piece work. And another thing that’s great about lottery ads: they almost always have a second voice over come in at the end to fill the more traditional announcer role. That’s two voice overs in a single 30-second spot!

The second spot is from the Louisiana Lottery’s Monopoly Game promotion, and it features an animated Mr. Moneybags. Anytime you get a chance to bring such an iconic character to life is sure to be fun, and this is a great interpretation of the famous game personality. And, as always, that second voice over comes in at the end to jazz things up a bit.

I’d be happy to win the millions, but I’d also be pretty happy voicing a great lottery commercial!

The clip above is a cool featurette about the making of the film. It’s fun to see a few of the more eclectic cast members (Ozzy Osbourne, Hulk Hogan) in front of the microphone, isn’t it?

The next video showcases some of the many characters in the films and gives you a nice sense of how much fun voice work and how many creative performances there are in the film. The cast includes James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Patrick Stewart, Julie Walters, Ashley Jensen, and many others.

The final video is just a really fun clip from the movie that gives you an idea of how much humor, romance, and empathy lead actors Emily Blunt and James McAvoy had to squeeze out of their animated stone counterparts.

What’s in a gnome, indeed!

In the first video, you can see that this movie was filmed in a rather unconventional manner, with all of the actors appearing on makeshift sets as reference for the animators. What’s even more interesting, though, is that the filmmakers used the audio predominantly from the production footage, and then supplemented that with dialogue recorded in the booth. This is a very unconventional way to produce voice overs for an animated movie, but I’ll bet it paid off with some wonderful performances.

The second video presents some raw B-Roll footage which shows the actors at work. It’s very interesting to see how much of the film they actually performed, as opposed to being in a recording booth for the entirety of their time in the movie’s production. I’ll be curious to see if this approach is going to take off and be used in future movies, as I think it really allows the actors to much more easily transform into their characters, even if it’s probably more difficult from a technical point of view.

The next video is an interview with Johnny Depp about the film in which he talks about bringing the character to life. He also gives some great tips on creating a character voice out of your own voice by observing other people. Great stuff!

The final video is an interview with Isla Fisher, who is Johnny Depp’s co-star in the film. She talks about how much she enjoys voice acting and the unusual filming method they used, among other things. (We didn’t want today’s entire blog post to be about Johnny Depp, after all!)

Share your thoughts about Rango in the comments section below!

Jackson — who trained with Voice Coaches and produced his demo here in late 2009 — is a 12-year-old movie critic who has been taking the country by storm, appearing on shows such as The Today Show, The Early Show, and Fox News — and now The Tonight Show!

Not only was Jackson funny and charming (evidently charming Emily Blunt, who was a guest on the show as well!), but he nailed every one of his Oscar picks. Congratulations, Jackson!

You can watch his entire interview in two parts below!

Jackson has gotten a lot of media attention over the past few years for being an incredibly talented film critic and host of “Lights Camera Jackson!”, appearing on The Today Show, The Early Show, and Fox News. Jackson has also won a New York State Emmy for “Best On-Camera Talent: Commentator/Editorialist,” becoming the youngest person to ever win a NY State Emmy.

Voice Coaches was fortunate enough to train Jackson in voice over acting and record his VO demo a little over a year ago, and we’ve been very proud watching his success grow and grow over the past year!

Jackson will talk with Jay Leno about his burgeoning career this Friday night, where he’ll share stage time with acclaimed actress Emily Blunt. (Lucky guy!) Check it out on NBC at 11:35 PM on Friday, February 25th. (Check local listings for exact times.)

What’s great is that despite Mr. Downey being the main voice here, he clearly shares screen time with numerous other professional voice actors in each 30-second spot. In the three spots, I count nine different voices at work besides Downey’s. Now, most of them come from the newest spot above (with “Alejandro” a breakout almond star), but clearly Planters has created a stable of characters that inhabits this peanut-and-animal-driven world, and with each new commercial, more and more voice actors get the opportunity to shine.

While this isn’t Mr. Downey’s first foray into voice overs (he’s also provided VO work for Nissan), I think the Mr. Peanut character allows him to really capture the “Downey-ness” that his voice conveys. In this new campaign, Mr. Peanut is a self-absorbed man-about-town, and that’s certainly a quality that Robert Downey Jr.’s voice can capture extremely well. I love his performances in these spots.

What do you think? Is Robert Downey, Jr. the perfect casting choice for the legendary Mr. Peanut? (And on a side note, be thankful I decided not to end this post with something along the lines of us “being nuts about voice overs”!)

There are a couple of things about this video that I really like. First of all, I’m pleased to see that the video game developers were smart enough to bring the talent from the TV show over to the video game. That creates a nice audio continuity and a real treat for fans of the show who buy the game.

What’s also great about this video is that this is a video game with NO ACTUAL DIALOGUE! Yes, that’s right, the Lego Star Wars video game uses voice actors but has no dialogue. Instead, it relies on all manner of vocal sound effects: grunts, cries, laughs, sighs, shouts, and more. That’s what makes this video so much fun; we basically get to see these professional voice actors come in and simply make funny noises for an entire day.

So I shared this video for two reasons. One, because it just shows how much fun voice acting can be. But more importantly, it illustrates how you never know what a day in the recording booth is going to be like. Recording vocal sound effects like these is not an uncommon thing, especially in the video game and animation worlds. It also shows how creative you need to be when you get in the booth; it’s important to be able to let go and just have fun with the whole process.

May the VO force be with you!

The first ad (above) is the start of what you’ll notice very quickly as a trend this year: car ads. More than half of the best VO-related ads were from car commercials, and more than half of those featured celebrity voice overs. Of course, the big car companies are known for their use of celebrities, but you’ll notice there are some that feature good old-fashioned working voice actors too. I’ll keep my comments brief because, well, really, how much more can I say about Jeff Bridges’ or Michael C’ Hall’s talent?

So the first commercial above is one of the many that featured Bridges providing the voice over for Hyundai, a company he currently does all the VO work for. While this was certainly the most eye-straining of the ads, it’s also the one that featured the most continuous voice over by Bridges.

<a href=”http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=ef154e87-320a-4c43-94a8-36ad85dfd4a9″ mce_href=”http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=ef154e87-320a-4c43-94a8-36ad85dfd4a9″ target=”_new” title=”">Dodge Charger: Never Neutral</a>

Next we had a Dodge commercial featuring the unmistakable sound of Michael C. Hall’s voice. The Dexter actor is also currently the voice of Dodge, and he brings his uniquely deadpan delivery to their commercials.

Chevy struck next, with one of their Tim Allen-voiced ads. He also curently does the Campbell’s Soup commercials , and I was waiting to see if we’d get a Tim-Allen double feature during the Super Bowl, but the soup company apparently decided not to spend the money for a commercial during the big game. Still, this Chevy ad is quite well done; the “We Can Do More” ad campaign delivers an important message about renewable resources, and Allen gives us a nice delivery with just the right mix of gravitas and inspiration.

<a href=”http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=188dd683-5885-47e0-a722-e7255892de79″ mce_href=”http://msn.foxsports.com/video?vid=188dd683-5885-47e0-a722-e7255892de79″ target=”_new” title=”">Ford: F-150</a>

Wrapping up the celebrity portion of our write-up, we have a new Ford commercial with voice over by Denis Leary, who has been doing the VOs for Ford’s trucks for the past year or two. It’s a pretty typical performance from Leary for these spots, delivering a (slightly) toned-down version of his rapid-fire stand-up style. Still, there’s no mistaking that voice, and I have to admit I think his voice is a perfect fit for the Ford F-150 trucks.

But we’re not done with the car commercials yet. Acura chipped in with a fun commercial about road testing its cars in the harsh conditions of Baudette, Minnesota, where winter temperatures hover around 25 degrees below zero. I think the punchline here says it all (and it’s delivered perfectly, to boot): “If your winters are tougher than this, you don’t need a new car, you need a new place to live.”

Chevy comes back a second time with a voice over-driven commercial that doesn’t feature Tim Allen. This was actually one of my favorite spots of the night, not only because it was clever and well-written, but because the voice overs in it are so spot-on. As two video-editor-types strategize a Chevy commercial, everything they discuss comes through on screen. Some of the lines I love the most include, “We start in the desert, and it’s like, ‘what car is that?’ and then BAM! Whoa, super fast.” and “‘Dodging hay bales!’ ‘No, she’s in the city, I don’t know why you’d have hay.’” I also enjoy the last line, when the two guys say, “And then…’ ‘…the announcer says,” which is a fun little introduction to a completely different voice over artist, as well as a fun little in-joke on the aspect of even having an announcer. All in all, I think it’s a great spot with some really terrific VO work in it.

The Chrysler commercial above is an impressive one. Even though controversial rapper Eminem appears in the commercial, the undisputed star of this two-minute spot is the voice over artist. Interestingly, the voice actor who captures the feel of Detroit so well is a Detroit-area resident voice actor who’s been doing professional VOs for about 20 years. This is a very well-done commercial; the voice over, imagery, copy, and music all come together to paint a picture of Detroit, cars, Americana, steel, toughness, and tenacity.

STILL going with the car commercials, the spot above at least isn’t from a car manufacturer, although it is from a car dealer. I enjoyed this spot quite a bit; there’s a good dose of humor in it, and I like how many different voice actors get a chance to shine while playing an anthropomorphic car. I count six different actors in the one 30-second spot. Add to that some funny copy and some humorous deliveries (not to mention some impressive animation), and even if the ad is a little bit off color, it’s still pretty effective.

Okay, we’re finally done with the car commercials! And, of course, what would a Super Bowl be without an appearance by the E-Trade baby? He actually appeared in two different spots during the game, but I think this one is just the little bit better of the two. E-Trade doesn’t branch out too much from their tried-and-true formula here, giving us more of the usual baby with an attitude, as voiced by the usual guy who plays the baby with said attitude. That’s a pretty sweet gig, considering how many commercials this baby appears in every year.

Finally, we wrap things up with another celebrity voice over, but at least in this case the celebrity is playing himself. Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas (who played the halftime show of the Super Bowl) has already dabbled in acting (playing a supporting role in the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie), and here, Chatter.com wisely tied in to the Peas’ halftime show by having Will.I.Am talk about the site. The copy and delivery style tell me that this ad is clearly aimed at a more web-savvy generation, and we even get a VO cameo from Peas singer Fergie at the tail end of the spot. There’s even an additional voice actor in the spot, asking the first line of the commercial, “Will.I.Am, what do you think about the cloud?” Not too shabby! See, even when celebrities get some high profile work, there’s still plenty of VO work out there for the rest of us.

So, there you have it. I thought the Super Bowl commercials this year were pretty great overall, and I enjoyed quite a few of them, especially the ones with strong voice overs.

Which was your favorite commercial of the night?

The first ad above is for the Nintendo DS game, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. I like this ad a lot, as it really captures the feel of the old time newsreels and serials that used to play before movies back in the ’30s and ’40s. The voice talent does a great job in using that slightly clipped, formal style of delivery to keep that aesthetic intact. Besides, any day where you get paid to say, “Professor Layton… is in search of all savvy ladies and keen gents to save the fair city,” is a fun day at work as far as I’m concerned!

The next spot above is for the new Sonic the Hedgehog game, Sonic: Colors. This VO takes on the opposite approach as the previous ad. Between the pop-punk music soundtrack in the background and the gravelly-throated delivery, this piece is clearly going for a much more modern, amped-up) approach. In fact, it’s the kind of voice you often hear in commercials that are touting “extreme” products. That Red Bull/Gatorade/Jeep/Hot Sauce-styled voice over is now being applied to a popular video game franchise, to help sell the notion of extreme speed that the copy is purveying.

Also, don’t miss that there’s a second voice over at work in this spot, right in the very beginning. It’s just a few words — “Sonic speed test 47,” but someone had to say them!

Finally, we have a commercial for the latest entry in the popular Need for Speed video game franchise, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit. This commercial was part of a series that saw Entourage’s Kevin Dillon and Jerry Ferrara play a couple of rival valets. While the other ads all featured the two of them interacting with dialogue, this commercial instead chose to go a more voice over-based route, using cleverly written dialogue interspersed with footage from the game and footage of DIllon and Ferrara. It’s a well-done voice over that has just the right touch of sarcasm and superiority to it to make it work really well.

Which of these ads is your favorite?

As has become a tradition here at the Voice Coaches blog, every year we present a special blog that reviews the commercials from the Super Bowl and the voice overs at work in them. You can look forward to reading our full VO analysis on Monday. (But if you want play-by-play game analysis, you’ll have to look elsewhere!)

Check back on Monday afternoon to read our wrap-up!

First up, we have a new commercial from Nike, promoting its devotion to soccer (or football, for you international readers.) Does the voice over’s copy sound familiar? That’s because the entire thing is a quote from Edmond Rostand’s celebrated play, “Cyrano de Bergerac.” This famed nobleman, duelist, poet, and musician is not afraid of a brawl, and one of his famous soliloquies is recreated here, to dramatic effect.

I think this is both a striking commercial and also a fun opportunity for a voice actor. In the world of commercial voice overs, most actors tend to work mostly in very advertising-based copy, usually touting a product’s features, the latest sale or something like that. I don’t think it’s the norm for a voice actor to go into a recording session for a major shoe company and get to recite a dramatic work of Shakespearean proportions. Pretty cool, huh?

Next up, we have a commercial from Audi for their luxury A8 car, and it’s based on the classic children’s book “Goodnight Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown. Having read this book to my own children about a million times by now, I instantly recognized the writing stye as being a loose take-off on the original book.

Whereas the Nike commercial featured a gruff, manly sounding voice (to represent a gruff, manly-sounding piece of writing), the Audi commercial presents us with a female voice that has a smooth, silky feel to it. Not only does the talent use that soft, nighttime story reading approach, but her voice invokes images of both a mom and the sensuality of the kind of luxury represented in this commercial. It’s a pretty terrific voice over performance, don’t you think?

If you live in, well, just about any part of the country, chances are good you’ve been bombarded with snow recently. Which makes the ad above particularly effective. It claims to be “Approved by Summer, paid for by Spring and Fall,” and it’s basically a parody of the negative attack ads we so much of come any political vote season.

In the ad, the voice over extols how Winter is a dishonest season, lying about things like its duration and temperatures. Summer, on the other hand, “stands for barbecues, the smell of suntan lotion, and not being depressed.” Not only is the copy incredibly well-written, but the voice over perfectly captures that overly serious and dramatic tone of voice that so many political attack ads rely on.

The next ad is a terrific video promoting an advertising agency (makes sense that an ad agency would come up with a clever concept for their own ad campaign, no?) This video takes the typical case study video that we’ve seen for numerous companies and ad campaigns and applies it to a little girl’s birthday party. These videos usually follow a particular style, which presents details of the ad campaign shown through video and photos, coupled with music and voice over.

The voice over here is delivered perfectly, with the slightly analytical, subdued approach you often see in these videos. But what’s great is how the producers keep the voice over level. It would have been easy to let the VO morph into something sarcastic or snarky, but instead the even-keeled delivery really helps make the humor of the piece that much more impactful.

Which one do you think works the best?

The first ad (above) is a really funny (if slightly disturbing) concept about sharks performing taste tests on candy bars… and the people who ate them. But what really makes this piece work is the great voice over work of the actors playing the sharks. What I like about it, too, is that it would have been easy to go for a more stereotypical mafia/gangster sound for the sharks, as that’s often how they’re portrayed in animation. Instead, these sharks evoke more of an image of a bunch of guys who hang out and watch football and eat people snacks. For my money, the voice actors really get that feeling across exceptionally well.

The next ad is actually a series of four commercials for Frito Lay’s potato chip products. As part of their new “all-natural” theme, Frito-Lay has created these commercials to tout how three of their lines of products have switched to using only all natural ingredients. What better way to explain Frito-Lay’s commitment to nature than with some carefully crafted voice overs? Notice that, while there’s a female-voiced commercial along with the three male-voiced commercials, they all have a kind of similar feel to them — it’s a sort of casual, friendly, laid-back sound — that I think makes the commercials all work so well.

I’ll admit, I found the KFC commercial above to be particularly entertaining. Anytime I see a plate of chicken wings and a bottle of hot sauce on the telephone, I know I’m in for a voice over treat. And I really love the delivery of both the actors, especially the hot sauce bottle when he says, “There’s some else, isn’t there. Another sauce? Who is it? BBQ? Ranch?” and then again with, “It is ranch! I knew it! I can’t believe this!” It must have been a fun recording session for both actors to get to play up this sort of soapy melodrama.

So… are you hungry yet?

For those of you who are following the story, we’ve put together a collection of the most pertinent interviews and news coverage of Mr. Williams, so you can see this story unfold from start to finish. Or at least, to the present moment. We have the feeling this story isn’t quite over yet, as the job offers seem to be rolling in daily! We’ll keep you posted here at the Voice Coaches Blog!

Here is the original video that got everything started, from the Columbus Dispatch:

Once the story broke (garnering over 5 million views on YouTube), Mr. Wlliams received a job offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers, and starting making the morning show rounds to talk about his amazing opportunity. Here he is on The Early Show:

Next he appeared on The Today Show with Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera, where he announced that Kraft Foods has hired him to provide voice overs for their line of products!

Like we said, we’ll keep you updated as the story continues to develop! Check back soon, as we have a feeling Mr. Williams will be in the news a lot more over the next few days!

There are some things that we retain as memories that immediately bring fond thoughts of the past.  The incredible voice of Fred Foy in the Lone Ranger radio and television series certainly qualifies!

Foy began his career in broadcasting shortly after graduating high school in 1938.  World War II might have interrupted his broadcast career, but upon entering the military in 1942, Foy became the American voice on Egyptian State Broadcasting, providing news and special programs to allied forces.

After the war, Foy returned to Detroit and took over the roll of announcer for the Lone Ranger Radio Show.  Radio Historian Jim Harmon describes Fred Foy as “the announcer, perhaps the greatest announcer-narrator in the history of radio drama.”

In 1955, Foy took the announcing reigns of the Lone Ranger Television Series.  Though he later joined ABC’s Dick Cavett Show as an announcer, and lent his voice to numerous other shows and documentaries, he will always be most famous for his memory making work on the Lone Ranger.

For everyone interested in truly inspiring classic voice work, here is the script he made famous.

Hi-Yo, Silver! A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty “Hi-Yo Silver”… The Lone Ranger! With his faithful Indian companion, Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fight for law and order in the early West. Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. From out of the past come the thundering hoof-beats of the great horse Silver. The Lone Ranger rides again!

Thank you Fred for your wonderful contribution to our industry.  We extend our best wishes to everyone who knew you!

What classic voices bring back memories for you?

So, just for today, instead of the usual voice over advice and commentary, we’re simply going to leave you with a few funny holiday cartoons and joyful holiday thoughts!

From all of us here at Voice Coaches to all of you, have a happy, safe, and healthy holiday!

“As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December’s bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same.” ~ Donald E. Westlake

“This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays!”
– D.M. Dellinger

These are pretty clever commercials, with some funny and sharply written scripts, but of course, the excellent voice overs really make them successful. Key to each commercial is Kenneth the Blue Elf, who gives possibly his finest performance in this first commercial, where he gives a rousing speech to get the elves excited about tech support around the holidays. It’s a terrific delivery by a clearly talented voice actor, who sounds like he’s having fun with the role.

In the second commercial, Kenneth counsels some elves about the current economy, and shatters the dreams of a singing snowman at the same time. We hear a few new elf voices in this spot, with a line or two each. By the end of the campaign, you’ll see there’s quite a tally of voice actors with lines to read in this ad campaign.

There’s yet another new elf in the third commercial, who gets a lot of lines to deliver. The voice actor behind the elf sounds not unlike Piglet from the Winnie the Pooh cartoons, and he gets to have fun with some pretty normal lines as well as more unique lines such as, “Boom Bam Boom!” and “I said I wouldn’t cry…” Lots of fun!

In this final commercial, Kenneth the Elf saves Christmas from being canceled (he is a resourceful little fellow, that Kenneth!) Now, earlier I mentioned that this ad campaign was racking up an impressive tally of voice actors, and at the end of the commercials, I’ve counted nine separate voices, plus the narrator, for a total of 10 different voice actors. (Or at least 10 different roles. Of course, some voice actors might have been responsible for more than one voice.) Still, for a commercial campaign made up of four 30-second spots, that’s a lot of potential VO work, and it’s VO work for a national chain, which isn’t a bad gig at all!

First up, we have a look at the making of Spider-Man: Shattered DImensions, which features not one, not two, but four versions of Spider-Man! What’s great about this game is that not only did the game developers use different voice talent for each Spidey, but they actually went back to the Spideys of the past, bringing back Dan Gilvezan from the ’80s cartoon Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends and C.B. Barnes from the ’90s Spider Man: The Animated Series. Of course, we also get Neil Patrick Harris (who’s been very busy in voice-overs lately) as the main Spider-Man, which is always a treat. Harris gives a good perspective on the dialogue demands of a video game, discussing how many different lines he had to read for every possible action in the game.

I also love watching the footage of each of the actors in the recording booth. You can really get a sense of how much performance they all put into their time in the booth; they’re not just standing back and reading lines, but really getting into the character. I can’t wait to see how the four characters come together on screen.

Next up we have a behind-the-scenes look at the video game Tron: Legacy, based on the upcoming Disney movie. Aside from getting to hear from a variety of voice actors (both celebrity actors and non-celebrities), we get to see some cool video game footage and some great moments with the actors in the booth. I also like how Jensen Ackles talks about the fluidity and flexibility of voice acting compared to on-camera acting. It’s one of the great things about the field! It’s also clear to me that all of the actors are very passionate about their characters, which always makes for a great performance. (Although John Glover looks like he might have enjoyed his role a little too much! Yikes!)

The newest video (above) was produced by Asics after the most recent New York City Marathon. In addition to spotlighting some pretty cool technology and innovative uses of social media, this two-and-a-half minute video uses voice over throughout the entire thing. It’s a nice, educational, informative piece, and it’s actually a pretty substantial job for a voice talent. Not only is the video much longer than a standard commercial (even though that’s effectively what it is), but the VO is constant throughout almost the entire video.

The second video (above) was produced by Burger King last year as a result of their “Whopper Sacrifice” campaign. Once again, social media comes into play here. For those of you unfamiliar with the campaign, last year Burger King started a promotion where, if you unfriended 10 people on Facebook, you got a coupon for a free Whopper. After over 200,000 people were unfriended, Facebook shut down the function, seemingly bringing Burger King’s campaign to an end. In response, however, BK put out this video on its website and various other internet media outlets to let the public know about the massive success they had with it.

It was a clever campaign that got a lot of press, and the resulting internet chaos and Facebook clampdown resulted in a nice gig for a voice actor out there. This minute-and-a-half long video is basically just a collection of images from Facebook, the media, and the Burger King website, but the voice over runs through the entire thing. And while Burger King could have chosen an obnoxious, over-the-top, snarky VO, the delivery is more matter of fact, with just a hint of whimsy to it. I like that approach a lot.

The final video is from a few years back, and it comes from across the pond in Europe, where the Fiat car company uses an animated video to talk about how eco-friendly the company is. With an upscale British accent driving the VO, we get a video that manages to convey a lot of information, yet at the same time remain playful and entertaining. Once again, at over a minute long and with constant voice over, this is a pretty nice gig for a talented voice actor.

So remember, when you’re out there marketing yourself, don’t ignore the internet development companies in your areas!

“When asked if my cup is half-full or half-empty my only response is that I am thankful I have a cup.” Sam Lefkowitz

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward

“Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character.” – Author Unknown, from Be Thankful

“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” – Albert Schweitzer

“Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.” – W. J. Cameron

“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.” – Edward Sandford Martin

From everyone here at Voice Coaches to all of our readers out there, we wish you a safe, happy, and wonderful Thanksgiving!

The first commercial (above) is for Windows 7 PCs and, more specifically, the fact that some of them are now coming Blu-ray compatible. The spot takes a not-so-subtle jab at Apple, but it’s a clever piece nonetheless. The first thing you have to notice is the impressive stop-motion animation, which does an incredible job of representing a wide range of things (a plane, computers, a jungle) out of nothing but recyclables and paper products. But then the voice overs kick in. I count at least four different actors at work, too: the stewardess, the PC, the Mac, and the announcer at the end who informs us that Avatar is available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Of course, the two computers get the bulk of the duties, and I think the voice actors behind them are cast quite well. They do a good job of sounding like their likely target audience: twenty-to-thirtysomething year old males. And whenever I see spots like this, I can’t help but imagine what the recording sessions were like. There’s that one clip when they’re watching the movie and both screaming, “AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!”… that had to have been a lot of fun to record!

The second commercial comes to us courtesy of Boost Mobile, who tells the tale of a giant. In an apron. Working in a grocery store.

And that’s what I love about voice overs; you never know what your job is going to have you saying. I doubt that when the voice actor behind this spot woke up that morning, he knew he was going to start his day off by saying, “Once there was a giant grocery store manager who wanted desperately to shrink.” That’s just not the kind of thing you say every day.

The VO is a good one, with a smooth, laid back approach that makes it seem very matter-of-fact, as if there was nothing strange about this giant grocery store manager causing havoc in the local Stop-N-Shop. It works for the ad, and that’s another great thing about voice over work. I can imagine a dozen different styles of delivery for this piece; you never know what read is going to be the one the producers want, and that allows for so much creativity in the work place.

On a side note, I’m not a giant but I wouldn’t mind if my waistline shrank by a few inches.

For those of you who don’t know, the McRib is a sandwich from McDonald’s that has gained something of a cult classic status. It’s only available for a limited time each year, and even then usually only in select areas of the country. Apparently there is a legion of devoted fans who wait anxiously for this sandwich every year — much like Linus waiting in the pumpkin patch for The Great Pumpkin — and when it comes around again, it’s a major event for them.

Well, McDonald’s, in a saavy marketing move, has released an animated commercial that celebrates this year’s nationwide return — and the legend — of the McRib, and it features some pretty great voice over work to boot.

Now, I’m not sure who does the voice over for the spot (although he sounds an awful lot like Pete Stacker of the Bud Light “Real Men of Genius” campaign), but he does a great job with it. While the deep, male voice could have been a straightforward announcer-type delivery, the talent imbues the piece with the necessary combination of gravitas, inspiration, awe, and humor to really make this piece work. I love the way he switches from a breathy, hushed voice to a loud, booming voice when the script calls for it. He really works his volume range, and when you combine his delivery with the expertly-chosen music behind it, it’s hard not feel a tiny bit inspired… even if it is just a sandwich we’re talking about here.

Are you a McRib fanatic? And if not, does this video make you want to try one?

What’s interesting to me about the video above is that it highlights an area of voice overs that isn’t really focused on all that much: celebrity voice replacement (or “soundalikes.”). Of course, this is also an area where you have to be able to impersonate a celebrity to get hired, but I think it’s fascinating that the actor in the video above has never done any professional VO work before, and now he’s playing Michael J. Fox in a major, big-budget project.

And it’s easy to see why. I’ve watched the Back to the Future trilogy a hundred times, and I can not get over just how much voice actor A.J. LoCascio sounds exactly like Michael J. Fox. He doesn’t even sound like a close approximation of Fox; if you close your eyes, the two are completely indistinguishable. Not only does he nail the voice perfectly, but he also captures the nuances of Michael J. Fox’s delivery; the cadence, the rhythms, the inflections… they all sound uncannily like Fox. It’s a really impressive performance, and I can’t wait to see what the final results in the game are like.

The game’s producers also got Christopher Lloyd to reprise his role as Doc Brown, and there’s some great footage of him in the recording booth as well. I think these videos give a really interesting look at how a video game based on a movie property is put together. The second video above is more of a general making-of look at the game, but it does feature some great footage of Christopher Lloyd in the booth.

What do you think? Does he sound exactly like Michael J. Fox or can you tell the two voices apart?

In the first ad (above), we’re treated to a collage of imagery representing America and American culture. The voice over begins with the talent reading the most famous lines from the Declaration of Independence before moving towards original copy. What I like about the delivery here is that it would have been easy to go for a loud, booming, announcer-type voice to really amp up the patriotism of the piece. Instead, the voice over is subdued and calm, letting the imagery and the music take an equal share of the brunt of the work. Most of us don’t need patriotism shoved down our throats, and this ad does a great job of bringing about a sense of pride in the country without beating you over the head with it.

The second ad has a very similar approach, but this time with a female voice actor providing the narration. This ad focuses more on American people than culture, and it’s equally as effective as the first ad. Again, the approach to the copy is not to be over-the-top, but rather to use a more breathy vocal tone to really give a sense of thoughtfulness. Some people may think these VO’s lack a little energy, but I would challenge that. It’s not easy to take copy like this and instill it with enough energy to not sound boring, but to not fall into a “louder is better” mentality, either. I think both voice actors have done a tremendous job here, and I think both commercials are rather amazing.

And just as a side note, would you like to know who directed both commercials? That would be one Mr. Spike Lee. Perhaps you’ve heard of him?

Ms. Billingsley initially rocketed to fame in the 1950s with her portrayal of June Cleaver on the popular show Leave it to Beaver. Ms. Billingsley’s portrayal as the quintessential American housewife not only made her a household name, but set the standard for the prototypical image of the All-American homemaker/mother that exists even today. It’s not uncommon to hear a housewife or mother character in a TV show or movie referred to as “June Cleaver,” even 50 years after she made her television debut.

After Leave it to Beaver left the air in 1963, Ms. Billingsley took an extended leave of absence from acting to travel the world, but she returned to American airwaves in the 1980s as a voice actor, appearing as the character Nanny in over 100 episodes of the hit Jim Henson Company/Marvel Comics Productions animated series Muppet Babies. Over eight seasons, Ms. Billingsley portrayed the only human character to regularly appear in the show, acting in almost every single episode. For those of us — like this writer — who watched that show during some part of their childhood, all it takes is one glimpse of Nanny’s signature green-and-white striped tights, red dress, and purple sweater (you never saw her face), and Ms. Billingsley’s voice instantly pops into your head.

Whether you remember Barbara Billingsley best as Nanny or June Cleaver (or both!), there’s no denying that she was a true talent in this world, and she will be missed.

Yes, that is Grover, in a new ad for Sesame Street that brilliantly parodies the Old Spice commercial. (And if you’re one of the 10 people left in the world who hasn’t seen the commercial yet, I’ve posted it below for your viewing pleasure.)

As usual, Grover is played by Eric Jacobson, who has had the role since 2002 when he took over for the great Frank Oz. What’s great is that not only is Jacobson an amazing voice over actor who plays many of Frank Oz’s original characters now (including Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bare, Bert, and Animal), but he’s really captured the feel of the Old Spice commercial, which is key to any successful parody. The way he repeatedly says “Now BACK to ME,” is really terrific, just like in the original spot. Jacobson is an incredibly versatile voice actor, and it’s great to see Sesame Street jumping on the cultural bandwagon and producing relevant ads for today’s audiences. It’s simply a well done spot from start to finish.

I’m on a blog.

In the first spot above, we meet Bob (and his teenage daughter, Hailey, of course.) We learn that Bob is obsessed with safety, and our informative voice actor describes all the safety measures Bob takes. What I like about this spot is that it’s a nice parody of an established style (old school educational and instructional videos), and it manages to elicit humor without going over the top.

The deadpan delivery is spot-on, especially when the talent says, “A cel phone, GPS, blankets, candles, and a can of navy beans. Yes, navy beans.” That line is presented in such a matter-of-fact fashion — even though it’s utterly ridiculous — that you can’t help but laugh.

In the second spot, we meet Jane, “protective mother of two,” who’s also a safety fanatic. This is an even funnier spot than the last one, in my opinion, as we learn all about how Jane’s “kitchen knives are unlocked by retinal scanners… and pet-borne illness eliminated.” Again, the voice actor does a terrific job here of using a deadpan delivery that is not overly conversational, but not boring, either. Instead, the even tone of his reading really helps to send home the humor, rather than overplaying it and taking away from the laughs.

These are a couple of great commercials from Apple Auto Glass. Which one do you like better?

In the first commercial above for Sierra Mist, we have a clever use of some humanized trees planning a hijacking of an unsuspecting hiker to get some Sierra Mist. There are three distinct “tree voices,” plus the female spokesperson voice in the beginning and end. I love that there are three different voices hired to play, basically, naughty trees. Each tree also has a distinct voice and even somewhat of a personality; at least as much personality as you can get out in two or three words.

I think the commercial is pretty funny throughout, especially at the end when the “lead tree” (man, the phrases I write in this column sometimes…) mutters, “Make your own plan.” It’s a pretty creative approach to a commercial that, in actuality, just features a few static shots of trees and logs.

In the second commercial (above), a man suspects his wife of infidelity. This one-minute ad is driven entirely by the voice over, in which the man calmly (but suspiciously) describes all of his wife’s recent behaviors. What sticks out for me about this ad is actually the very first line of the piece: “I am a 35-year-old man who’s happily married to my lovely wife…” Now, personally, the voice talent sounds just a touch older than 35 to me (although maybe it’s just that upper crust British accent that’s coloring my opinion), but that’s whats great about voice acting. While the on-camera actor has to look 35, the voice actor could have been any age. Maybe he was 50. Maybe he was 27. Who knows? As long as he sounds the way the producers want him to sound, he’s the right guy for the job.

I also love the change in his delivery at the end of the piece, when he discovers something… interesting. Again, I don’t want to say what it is, as I don’t want to spoil the punchline of the commercial in case you’re reading this before watching the video. But listen to his delivery style change rapidly; it gets more involved, speeds up, and switches away from the suspicious tone of voice he has to a much more excited one. I think this commercial is exceptionally well done, and I think it’s extremely clever how it hooks you with a storyline, and then completely switches gears at the end.

Finally, we have a spot for John Smith beer (which I believe is only available in Europe, or at least mostly sold over there, but I’m not a beer expert so don’t hold me to that.) This is a funny take on the classic Westminster dog show announcer, who’s much like a British golf announcer: quiet, composed, with a hushed tone of voice… until something exciting happens. In this case, that something exciting happens to be the dog performing a trick that’s of much more use to most people than being able to walk through an obstacle course.

My favorite line delivery comes at the end when the voice actor says, “Great dog work! Yeah, give him a biscuit!” Brilliant.

Both of these commercials focus on vacation time, and how people apparently don’t use all of theirs. (They must not have young kids, because I certainly don’t have any problem using up all of mine!) There are two different minute-long spots, one featuring a female voice actor, and one featuring a male. But pay attention to the copy as you’re listening.

In the first spot, we get a lot of numbers thrown our way.The talent gives an interesting delivery, crossing over between a sort of lecture-ish delivery and some occasional conversational style. It’s certainly not an announcer-style delivery, butt it’s clearly meant to evoke the feel of a traditionally boring business meeting, which is referenced right in the commercial. There’s a good amount of copy squeezed into this one-minute spot, with very little in the way of background elements like sound effects or music. This one rests squarely on the talent’s delivery.

In the second commercial, I find it interesting that the male voice actor actually has a much more conversational style of delivery, rather than a similar “lecture” tone. Even though the copy is identical to that in the first commercial, the delivery is completely different. This is actually a really great example of how two different actors can deliver two completely different reads almost exactly the same piece of copy. It’s rare to find two commercials with almost the same exact copy by different voice actors, so this is a really great comparison piece. It goes to show exactly why so many different voices are constantly in demand; everyone brings something different and interesting to the table.

Which one do you like better?

Billie Mae Richards played Rudolph in several Rankin-Bass specials and is known worldwide for her portrayal of the character. She was also a starring voice in the Care Bears television cartoon series and movies. The Rudolph specials have been on the air since 1965, and they get repeated every single year without fail. Millions of children across the world have grown up to the sounds of the character created by an incredibly talented voice actor. If that doesn’t speak volumes about her talent, I don’t know what does.

Ms. Richards had a lengthy career as a voice actor. Her other roles included voices in the 1960s Spider-Man cartoon, The Smokey The Bear Show, the Godzilla spin-off film Gamera The Invincible, and TV shows like Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Trolls, and Rupert and the Sea Serpent.

Thanks for all the memories, Billie May. Your voice will live on for generations to come.

In today’s installment of Voice Overs of the World, we have a couple of new food-related commercials that make use of some terrific voice overs to give the ads a personal, relatable feel.

Now, if you think the voice in the commercial above sounds familiar, it’s because it’s Oscar-nominated actor Richard Jenkins. I usually don’t spotlight ads by celebrity talent, but Jenkins (one of my personal favorites) does such a great job with the copy that I had to share this spot.

In fact, this commercial even got its own write-up in a recent edition of the Chicago Sun Times. Writer Lewis Lazare comments, “‘Wake Up, America,’ is one of the niftiest pieces of TV commercial work we’ve seen in a while. From the first shot of a tea kettle rattling on the stove to the final frame with the tagline — “Does Your Breakfast Make You Amazing?” — ‘Wake Up, America’ is an exquisitely rendered ode to the glories of the morning. As the visuals unfold, a voiceover announcer offers up some intelligent ad copy about the significance of the morning in both specific and nonspecific terms. He tells us the morning is when we charge into the future.”

I love it when a voice over gets national media attention! (Especially when the attention is given to the ad itself, not the celebrity voice behind it!)

The word” amazing” comes into play once again in the next spot from Campbell’s Soup. And once again, a celebrity voice is at the helm of a great commercial. (This time, it’s Tim Allen.) And once again — again! — I generally try not to talk about voice overs by celebrities. But let’s face it, Tim Allen has done some great VO work in his time. From his iconic portrayal as Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story movies to something as simple and charming as a soup ad, there’s no denying that Mr. Allen is one talented fellow behind the microphone.

Next week: non-celebrity voice overs, guaranteed!

In the first video, above. We meet both Apology Nico (who’s always late) and our narrator, who sounds like he’s straight out of the old west. Backed with some low-key, rambling music, there’s a strongly American feel to the whole commercial. Which is odd, because this is a European telecommunications company. You can’t get their services in America even you want to. But, hey, the end result is some great VO work for an American voice talent (or a European voice talent doing one heck of an American accent.)

In the next spot, we meet Matteo, the online romancer. We have the same narrator, the same music, and the same overall approach to the commercials. You’ve got to love the delivery at work here, though. (This spot is hands down my favorite of the three.) I especially love it when the talent says, “… and a little talk, to let them down… gently.” It’s a nice moment in the spot; tender, yet humorous.

The final spot above introduces us to Tania the Party Planner. Once again, the voice talent — who I’ve decided by this point to call “Smokey Joe” — tells us a little bit about her party planning activities. This particular commercial might confuse some audiences the most, as it’s predicated on the knowledge of what a Flash Mob is. (It’s a large group of people who appear in a public place all at once and perform some synchronized activity.)

Despite the slightly more esoteric nature of Tania’s activities, good ol’ Smokey Joe is here once again to tell us about her phone habits. At this point, his voice is familiar and comforting… and that’s what good audio branding is all about, folks.

Yuri: Superman on Legion of Super Heroes, the prince in Prince of Persia, Ben Tennyson on Ben 10: Alien Force, Iceman on X-Men, Prince Alexander in Veggie Tales, and dozens of other roles in animation, video games, and anime dubbing.

Tara: Wonder Woman in the Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe video game, the Red Queen in Resident Evil, the narrator in Cinderella III, and numerous characters in the Desperate Housewives video game, along with dozens of roles in anime series.

In the first interview above (courtesy of Backstage), Tara and Yuri share their thoughts on what makes a good demo, and what do you know? They say a lot of the same things we teach here at Voice Coaches! They offer up some terrific thoughts on how to maximize the potential of your demo, as well as adding in some do’s and don’ts that we agree with 100%.

In the second video, we get a really good insight into the recording process for video games and animation, which is a little bit different from your typical commercial copy. We also get to find out a little bit about the unique challenges involved with creating English dubbing for Japanese animation.

Yuri and Tara are luminaries in the world of voice over, and I think they offered up some great insights here for aspiring voice actors. Next time you’re watching an animated series or playing a video game, pay attention; there’s a good chance you’ll hear one of them at work.

In the first video (above), we see a young girl’s blankey coming to life to call her out on the fact that she never pays attention to him anymore. What I like about the casting choice here is that it would have been easy to go with a soft, sweet voice to represent such a cherished childhood totem, but instead the filmmakers went with a sort of goofy-sounding, slightly acerbic guy’s voice. It’s a nice example of casting against type. Here’s this manly, kind of macho voice coming out of a soft, cuddly, pink blanket. I love it!

What I especially love are the last few lines of the spot, which make me laugh out loud: “Bridget, save it. We know you have a blankey, we know his name is Rick, and I know he’s in your backpack. Now, who wants to snuggle?” With that voice… it’s perfect!

The second spot seems like it was a lot of fun for the voice talent to record. Playing your a barking soldier seems like a great way to get some aggression out, and I really love the line where he yells at the kid, “All this time you sat in the company of that meaty ravioli while I was out in the bush… literally! You outgrew me and left me under a bush five years ago, and there ain’t no ravioli out there, son! Just dirt!” Great writing like that makes it easier to give a great VO performance; can you imagine how many different ways you could deliver that line in the recording booth?

And let’s not forget the separate voice overs at the end of each spot, by a third voice talent. Delivered in a more traditional announcer-style delivery (seemingly with a wink), this short but impactful VO hearkens back to the days of old school advertising, and seeing as how both commercials are done in a humorous, over-the-top style, I think this is one case where the announcer style really works.

I can’t wait to see which childhood memory Chef Boyardee dredges up next!

Azaria voices a lot of characters on the show, but what stands out about it for me — besides Azaria’s immense talent as a voice actor — is how he draws inspiration for his characters from people in his real life. This is a great tool for all kinds of voice actors, even if you’re not doing character voices. Being able to pull from people you know to help inform and inspire performances in anything, from a car commercial to an animated video, is a great way to try new and creative approaches. Azaria clearly has this skill down to a science, as he demonstrates in this very funny interview.

Next, we have a great interview with Harry Shearer, who voices everyone from Principal Skinner to Mr. Burns to Itchy, in a radio interview from right before the opening of The Simpsons Movie a few years back.

Like Azaria, Shearer brings a stellar array of voices to the show and, while he doesn’t perform any of them here, I think this is still a pretty cool interview. It’s great to hear Shearer talk about the cast’s input on their characters and how they really do have a feel for the way they talk and what they would say. Again, as with any voice acting performance, finding your character and approach is important. This goes for any kind of voice over, whether it’s a normal, conversational performance or a crazy character voice.

The video above is an internal corporate video from Old Spice and advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy (the firm responsible for the hit ads) that talks about the success of the campaign. It was originally meant to be distributed only within the Old Spice industry world, but — as tends to happen — it has now gone live on the internet.

What’s really great about this video is that after all the hubbub of this multimillion dollar campaign, eventually it ended up providing a pretty sweet gig for a voice over talent, even if it’s not one that was ever meant to be seen by the public. Corporate videos like this are a huge source of income for many voice actors, and they’re a sector of the industry that’s overlooked by many people who are starting out in their VO careers. Because they’re usually never seen by the general public at large, they’re not something people think about a lot, but there are millions of companies out there that produce work like this on a daily basis. A four-and-a-half minute narrative video gig for a huge national company? That’s not a bad day’s work!

Just for fun, below you can watch the Old Spice Man himself, actor Isaiah Mustafa, appearing on The Ellen Degeneres show. And while he’s not a voice actor yet, if you listen to how easily he can switch on his Old Spice voice at will, it seems like he’s a natural for this field.

I’m on a horse.

I’ve watched a number of these ads online, and I think they’re pretty well done. They go all out with the characterization of Aleksandr the Meerkat, from the thick, heavy accent to the old world-style cadence and delivery. I’m convinced that this is not actually a Russian voice talent, but rather an actor who does a really great sterotypical Russian accent. Either way, his delivery is spot-on.

The commercial above is even more notable from a VO point of view because it features several other voices in small supporting roles. A lot of these ads feature just Aleksandr, but in this spot, I count at least an additional four voices delivering a few words each. Sure, some of them aren’t more than a single line, but hey, who’s going to complain about getting a VO job in something this creative?

And just for the fun of it, enjoy some Meerkat bloopers in the video above. I love the fact that a voice actor got paid to make fake bloopers. How much fun was that recording session?

Viral videos are an innovative advertising tool that have become a phenomenon on the web over the past few years. They’re typicall  videos that don’t air on regular television (but instead on the internet) and are longer than the usual commercial, and oftentimes they’re only tangentially related to the product they’re advertising. They can be pretty creative, and here are a few examples of some new ones that really hit it out of the park.

Taco Bell’s new series of viral videos is called Super Delicious Ingredient Force, and they’re a parody of the old Super Friends cartoons that I grew up watching. Not only are they incredibly funny, but they feature a large voice over cast. In the first episode (above), you meet the Force, which has 10 different members played by (presumably) 10 different voice actors.

Now, granted, some of the voice actors might be playing two or three characters, but when you add in the narrator and the supporting characters, you’re still talking about at least a half-dozen voice actors or more getting roles here.

I love the performances in these videos. They’re silly and over the top, but they’re supposed to be silly and over the top. Characters like Flex Tortilla and Commander Seasoned Beef (and that narrator!) are delightfully ridiculous, while Chicken Woman, Fantastic Bean, and Captain Enchilada Sauce play with the animated archetypes of the ’70s and ’80s. In short, even though all of the characters are meant to be humorous and goofy, there isn’t a bad performance in the bunch. I have to imagine the recording sessions for these videos were a lot of fun.

These are the first two videos in the series, and Taco Bell has announced plans to launch six of them altogether. That’s a pretty sweet gig for the voice talents involved.

You Quiero Voice Overs!

So here’s the scoop: Sears and Craftsman have teamed up to promote the new Craftsman mower by hiring someone to drive one of their vehicles across the country over three months. Already a third into his journey, the driver — one Lucas Van Engen from South Bend, Indiana — updates the Craftsman Across America blog with photos, video, and commentary, and all in all, it’s a clever and unique marketing tactic. What’s interesting about it all, though, is that Lucas Van Engen is an aspiring actor. Craftsman was smart enough to make sure to hire a mower jockey that is photogenic and well-spoken, so that when he comes to all these small towns across America and meets and greets people at Sears stores (and is interviewed by the press), he comes across as friendly, affable, and down-to-earth.

The only reason I even mention that he’s an actor is because when you watch his introduction video (above), you can’t help but notice his terrific voice over. Over the course of the three-and-a-half minute video, Lucas talks about home, family, friends, and personal philosophy… a wide variety of topics that paint him as a down home, regular joe. What I love about the voice over is just how down-to-earth it is, though. It really does come across as if he’s just talking off the cuff, sort of commenting on his life and his upcoming journey in a slightly rambling way. I have no doubt, however, that his VO was scripted pretty carefully, or at least outlined to a good extent. He mixes in personal thoughts and insights with some fun (and cleverly crafted) comments on the lawnmower itself; I’m sure Craftsman had some input onto what he says about their product (like calling it the “BMW of lawnmowers.”)

Credit goes to Van Engen for pulling it off like he’s just an everyday guy having a conversation about life and lawnmowers. I think he does a terrific job with the voice over, and it’s an engaging performance that keeps you invested in the video until the end. Sounding really conversational and casual can actually take a lot of work, but Lucas has done a great job with it here!

I think for the most part, this video can be presented without comment. While it’s not a realistic depiction of what goes on in a recording session (obviously), it sure is a lot of fun to watch. Tom Tom has done a great job of capturing a humorous look at a recording session that goes to the extreme in terms of working with a “challenging” voice talent.

In the first two ads (above and below), we have a couple of great commercials for Bayer’s Advocate pet medicine. These spots make great use of a talented voice actor who clearly specializes in character voices; more specifically, celebrity impressions. I’m pretty sure it’s the same voice actor in both commercials, and we are treated to some spot-on impressions of some of the world’s most famous actors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, and Sean Connery.

And then, don’t you know it, right at the end of the commercials pops in a completely different female voice. This actor brings in the more traditional “narrator” voice, telling you what the actual product in the advertisement is. I like the choice of voice for the tagline, too; cool, smooth, and deep. This isn’t the voice of a pet’s concerned mother, but rather an in-the-know voice of authority from the company that makes the medicine.

Next up, we have a great ad from McDonald’s with a pair of talking bears. I don’t know who did the casting for this spot but I don’t think you could have found a more perfect voice for Papa Bear. With a deep, growly timbre that’s reminiscent of a John Goodman/Hoyt Axton type, this voice actor really has a rumble to his voice that says, “I’m a bear.” While the younger voice actor doesn’t get as much screen time (so to speak), he works well with the older voice actor to create a convincing father/son relationship. It’s a fun ad that makes creative use of voice over and features some terrific performances and casting.

Finally, we have this… odd… commercial for 98 FM, which utilizes a talking seal with a randomly Antonio Banderas-ian accent extolling the virtues of “making right now… good.” In the commercial, the talking seal appears in random places and gives people advice on making now “good.” It’s kind of a silly commercial, but I do really like the performance of the voice actor in general, and especially when he says, “Kiss him, you fool!” I have to imagine that this was probably not the most serious day in the recording studio and was probably a lot of fun to record.

They say in Hollywood you’re never supposed to work with kids or animals, bit I think working as an animal seems like lots of fun!

Marvel’s latest animated series, The Super Hero Squad Show, is a big hit with little kids. A super hero cartoon aimed squarely at the kindergarten set, the show employs some top notch voice actors to bring the characters to life. In the first interview above, we get to hear Tom Kenny talk about playing Iron Man and Captain America. Tom Kenny is probably best known for playing the voice of Spongebob Squarepants, but he’s an animation giant, having appeared in everything from Futurama to Batman to The Power Puff Girls to Scooby Doo.

Next up, we have an interview with Grey Delisle, who’s also a titan in the animation industry, having been acting in animated series’ for almost 20 years. She’s appeared in everything from Clifford the Big Red Dog to X-Men to Star Wars to Disney’s Kim Possible. What’s cool here (and in the Tom Kenny interview) is that you get to see inside the recording sessions for the show, wherein the entire cast is all in one big recording studio. I’ve seen some animated projects where ensemble casts all record their lines separately, so it’s cool to get to see a big group of voice actors get to interact.

Who’s your voice over super hero?

First up, we have an ad for the new Jeep Cherokee. This is probably my favorite of the three ads presented here because I think the combination of the haunting Johnny Cash song that’s used as the music for the spot (that’s Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” laid down under the VO) and the excellent voice over really just evoke a mood of strength and patriotism.

I like the delivery of the piece quite a bit, especially because the voice actor doesn’t go over the top. With the driving music and vintage footage behind it, he instead employs a slightly reserved delivery; keeping the gravelly tone to his voice and speaking rather than announcing, but not overplaying it and devolving into caricature or jingoism. This could have been a “Rah-rah, AMerica!” commercial, and instead the whole piece just has a great mood to it, largely due to the voice over.

Next up, we have a commercial for Mercedes, which starts off with a bit of a storytelling style to advertise its product before shifting to a more commercial approach. Notice how the narrator starts off with a more breathy, dreamy tone as the commercial begins heading into a dream world, but then gets noticeably deeper and stronger by the end. Pay attention to how, right around the time the narrator says, “…And being a pioneer of excellence in mobility, now and forever more,” his voice drops into a much deeper register, giving that line a real sense of power.

An interesting side note: the voice talent for Mercedes-Benz is none other than Richard Thomas, who is best known for playing John-Boy on The Waltons, who has gone on to find quite a career for himself in voice overs.

Finally, we wrap things up with Hyundai. Now I’ve talked about Hyundai’s ads before here in Voice Overs of the World, and since they’re narrated by a celebrity (none other than Jeff Bridges), I try not to focus too much on them. But this is great piece for a couple of reasons. First of all, Bridges always does a very nice job with his voice overs (he is an Oscar winner, after all.) But I love the fact that in this particular commercial, he has to say, “Paula St. John Lawrence Lawler Burr Strong Yates Stephenson Callaghan Hunt Milne Thompson Shankley Bennet Paisley O’Sullivan was named after the entire team.” That could not have been easy to get out in one breath!

What car commercial voice overs do you like?

In the video above, John Morris, the voice actor who has played the human character Andy in all three Toy Story films, talks about his experiences on the movies. John talks about how he’s been voicing the role since he was seven, what it takes to create Andy’s voice, and what he thinks makes a good voice actor.

It’s a pretty cool little interview, and its nice to hear from someone not named Hanks or Allen discussing their time in the vocal booth. (Nothing against Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, by the way. We love those guys!)

Next up we have a great look behind-the-scenes with the cast of the upcoming Despicable Me. Of course, there are some great celebrity voice talents at work here, but what I think this featurette really shows off are two things: fun and flexibility.

Fun: I think this video gives a clear sense of just how much fun voice overs are. It looks like everyone involved, from the actors to the producers, are having a great time recording. Everyone’s laughing and joking and goofing around, and pretty much just remembering that voice acting, while work, is also a really good time.

Flexibility: this video also shows off the flexibility that voice acting offers. While of course sticking to the script is always important, you also get a sense here of how — in some recording sessions — the producers allow the talent to try lines in different ways or play with the wording a bit to get the best performances possible. I think the whole video is a great look at a side of voice overs you don’t necessarily get to see as often.

Finally — and solely for the reason that I like things that come in threes, so I needed a third video — we have the trailer for Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole, the newest feature film from Zack Snyder, director of 300 and Watchmen. While the cast is largely British (and this isn’t really a behind-the-scenes video, just a trailer), you can see just from the trailer what a wealth of voice talent there is going to be in this film.

Regardless of how successful this film about owls might be, I think we can all agree that we’ll be in for some great VO performances when this movie comes out in September.

The first thing I think you notice about these ads is the stunning animation, in crisp black-and-white. There’s no doubt that these ads have a distinct visual flair. But right after you notice how gorgeous they are, that voice comes in and instantly steals your attention. With a gravelly timbre, the actor behind the VO manages to convey a sense of toughness and manliness, but also remain conversational and have a slightly breathy tone at the same time. It’s a really great blend of tough and accessible.

The first ad (top) talks about the man named Jack Daniel, and the product he named after himself, while the second ad focuses on the mystery of the “No. 7″ that adorns every bottle of the whiskey. Again, this terrific voice comes in and discusses the question of No. 7 with just the right balance of inquisitiveness and knowledge. I don’t know about you, but this voice actor’s delivery evokes an image of a bearded cowboy sitting in a fancy leather armchair in his library, with a cowboy hat and a smoking jacket on, talking about good ol’ Jack Daniel.

Whether that’s what the producers were going for or not is beyond me, but I can tell you one thing; anytime you can evoke that strong of an image in someone’s mind with just a voice over, that’s an exceptional voice over.

First up, we have an ad for Bird’s Eye fish fingers from over in the UK. Who better to portray a slightly creepy polar bear stalking you from your own freezer than Willem Dafoe? You have to admit, he does do a great job of bringing this character to life; he really captures that whole “I’m talking to you nicely, but really there’s an undercurrent of menace” approach very well. I love when he says, “Can you help me with something…? What’s this?” with that voice that very clearly knows exactly what this is.

An interesting side note: did you notice how Dafoe pronounces “fish filet” as “fish fill-it”? That’s a good example of an actor matching the regional pronunciation of the location he’s in. Obviously, Dafoe isn’t trying to adopt a British accent, but seeing as how that’s how they pronounce the word ‘filet’ over there, you have to match that pronunciation so as to avoid confusion among British audiences. Just a little glimpse into how international voice overs work.

Next up, we have a commercial for Hotels.com. There is actually an entire series of commercials using this claymation style and this character who’s simply called “Smart.” Well, Smart is actually portrayed by Ed Helms, best known for his roles on The Daily Show and The Office. Helms does a terrific job of bringing that sort of snarky/know-it-all tone to the piece, without actually sounding rude or condescending. That’s actually a hard balance to find, but Helms does a very nice job with it.

What’s great, too, is that in this series of commercials Helms shares voice time with everyone from a girlfriend to a co-worker to a monkey, meaning there are other, non-famous voice talents out there who get the chance to star in a national commercial alongside a celebrity voice. There’s plenty of room for everyone, folks, celebrities and non-celebrities alike!

This last commercial sort of reverses the approach of the last two. Sure, you can see right now before even playing the video that that’s Sir Ian McKellen of Lord of the Rings and X-Men fame on screen. But when you actually watch the video, we hear something else entirely; in fact, we hear someONE else entirely! It’s a woman, describing her dreary day for this public service announcement on aging that’s also from the UK. (About halfway through, McKellen’s voice once again takes over, and while it’s not a voice over per se, you can’t help but marvel at what a wonderful voice he has.)

But the best part abut this ad for me is imagining the recording session for the voice over. I can’t help but picture a nice little British lady showing up to do her session, and then hearing something along the lines of this from the producer: “Okay, so here you’re basically just playing a typical senior citizen, maybe you’re a bit down in the dumps, a bit lonely. So let’s keep it kind of a mix between matter-of-fact and a little depressed; you know, not too dark. Oh yeah, and your voice will be coming from Sir Ian McKellen.”

Where else but in the world of voice overs…?

Well, EA Sports has put together a little “tutorial” on the proper way to deliver this voice over. Other than to warn you that there’s just a few minorly salty pieces of language in this video, I think I’m pretty much going to let voice actor Andrew Anthony pretty much speak for himself!

In the first video above, we learn all about the number 10. This is a great commercial that has an enlivened, inspirational feel to it. Notice how, even with the uplifting music in the background, the voice talent for this commercial elevates the piece with his bright, clean, and clear voice. He manages to convey with a sense of “twinkle in the eye,” just using his voice and delivery. Right from the first line where the actor says, “The number ten,” he automatically has your attention. I suspect that even if the background music was removed, this would still be an uplifting piece, thanks to the VO. Pretty cool.

Yes, that is U2′s Bono providing the voice over for the second commercial. It’s an extremely fitting piace for the singer to take on, too; he’s well known for his activism for global causes, and especially his work in helping get aid to Africa, which is where the 2010 World Cup is taking place. I think he does a pretty good job, too, especially for someone who’s not a trained voice actor. It’s interesting, though, how what starts out as a pretty straightforward voice over takes on a lyrical, almost rap-like delivery by the end. Clearly, this is intentional as the piece builds in intensity as it goes and finishes with the roar of the crowd. Even when he’s not singing, Bono has an extremely recognizable voice, making this quite an effective commercial, and a neat use of voice over.

This final commercial takes on a slightly darker tone in the beginning, but in the end is still inspirational and uplifting, like both of the previous spots. The voice over is subtle but effective, too. Unlike the Bono piece that builds in intensity, this one holds a sense of reverence and respect throughout. It’s a nice style choice: the music does the uplifting part, and the voice over simply tells a story, without needing to be bombastic or over the top.

As a side note (this will come in handy for a future game of Trivial Pursuit, I’m sure), it’s interesting that U2 is clearly involved on some level with these ads. Not only does Bono provide one of the voice overs, but all three spots use U2 songs as their powerful, inspirational music. The first commercial features “Out of Control,” the second spot uses “Magnificent,” and the final ad features “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

I’m impressed with the commercials ESPN has produced for the 2010 World Cup and their terrific use of voice over. I’m sure there will be a lot more great examples of great VO’s during the World Cup itself, where we’re sure to see a ton of new ads cropping up, much like we did during The Olympics. I can’t wait to see what’s next!

You might be asking yourself, “Why is there a Gatorade commercial posted above with absolutely no voice overs in it when this is a blog about voice overs?” I can’t tell you yet, but if you tune in tomorrow to our Voice Coaches Radio podcast page and listen to Voice Coaches Radio #48, this will all make a lot more sense. Now, you don’t need to watch the video above to understand tomorrow’s podcast, but it does tie in nicely.

The podcasts usually go live right around noon Eastern Standard Time, so check back and have a listen. And then let us know what you think!

For the past couple of months, Kristen has spearheaded a unique charity effort for The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. Kristen’s been involved with the charity for a long time (you can read more about her efforts by clicking here), but with this new “flocking” initiative, she’s seen an amazing response from people in the Capital Region, attracting the attention of CBS News and one of the local radio stations, WRVE 99.5 (The River).

We’re very proud of Kristen and her amazing efforts! Keep up the great work!

In the interview, Wood discusses a number of topics, but early on he talks about the challenges involved in voice overs versus on-camera acting, and we even get to see some footage of him in the vocal booth recording his part. Wood is no stranger to VO work, though; as he talks about later in the interview, he also provided the voice of Spyro the Dragon in the three hit video games that make up the popular Spyro the Dragon franchise.

Below is another making-of video that looks at the film as a whole, but it gives you a chance to see some of the great voice work as it sounds in the film, and it lets you see acting greats such as Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, and Elijah Wood in the vocal booth.

In the first spot, we get to hear and see the story of a couple and how they met and fell in love, eventually getting married and having a daughter. It’s a well-written ad that brings the storyline of the piece full circle, but it’s the delivery by the voice actor that really sells it all. (As usual, there’s no way of knowing if the actor on screen is the voice actor, but — also as usual — I’d wager that it’s not.)

Her delivery has a nice sense of flirty fun, but also a deeper sense of romance and love. It straddles the line nicely between being cute and being heartfelt, and there’s a smile in her voice that never once disappears. You can bet she was smiling in the vocal booth when she was recording this piece, too.

The second spot focuses on a young girl named Mary, and it’s narrated by a woman who I think is maybe meant to be her mother, although she could also just be the narrator of this girl’s story. Like the ad above, this spot features a fun, lighthearted voice over, but it definitely downplays the softer, breathier side of things that’s associated with romance for a bright cheerfulness that celebrates the joys of childhood. What I especially like about the excellent delivery here is how the voice actor has to go through all seven days of the week and make each day (and the color associated with it) sound just a little bit different, which is no small feat.

I’m impressed with these new Target ads, and I think they can go a lot of places with this campaign. I expect we’ll continue to see some great voice over performances as it continues.

Well, in order to promote this cool new product, TomTom has put together a commercial video that features Darth Vader in the recording booth, trying to record all of the dialogue for the GPS. Usually, with VO Behind the Scenes, we try to share videos or interviews that give you great insights into what the recording process is like on various real-world projects. But while this is clearly a fictional recording session, it was just too much fun not to share with you all!

You’ve got to give credit to LucasFilm for having such a great sense of humor with their character for this ad, as well as to James Earl Jones, who gets to play off the usual Darth Vader persona and have a bit more fun than he’s usually able to as the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Marvel Comics has been bringing out motion comics for the past couple of years; they’re basically animated comic books that can be downloaded and watched on computers and portable media devices. What’s great about these motion comics is that they employ multiple voice actors to bring all the characters to life. In today’s VO Behind The Scenes, we’re treated to a terrific interview with voice actor DJ Tanner, who plays Tony Stark/Iron Man in the new Iron Man: Extremis motion comic.

What’s interesting about the interview for me is how Tanner sounds nothing like Robert Downey, Jr., who plays Iron Man in the live action film. One of the nice things about there being so many different types of media nowadays is that there is plenty of room for interpretation. Not every actor to play Iron Man from here on out has to sound like a clone of Robert Downey Jr. I also found it funny that Tanner says, “The coolest thing I got to do as part of this project was… scream my guts out.” Ironically, Rick Wasserman had a similar story to share when talking about playing the Hulk in Marvel’s Planet Hulk animated film when I interviewed him recently for our Voice Coaches Radio podcast. (You can listen to that by clicking here; then scroll down to Episode #32 – Hulk Smash!)

Tanner was also featured in a recent VO Behind The Scenes we did about the X-Men motion comic, in which he portrayed Wolverine. Again, he’s a far cry from Hugh Jackman, but clearly this versatile actor is a favorite of the studio producing the Marvel motion comics, and for good reason. When you combine talent and a willingness to experiment with an easygoing, fun, laid-back nature, the result is success!

First up, we have the recent “Opening Day” commercial from Major League Baseball. I’ve always found that — whether you love baseball or not — the sport makes for some really great movies. Think about it; I bet most people would agree that there are way more great baseball movies out there than there are films based on any other sport. And so I really like the cinematic approach this commercial takes; from the slow-motion to the soundbites captured from real games to the sound of the crowd cheering to the inspirational music, this commercial really creates a sense of emotion.

And key to that emotion is the voice over. The VO talent behind the microphone has a great quality to his voice, bringing forth a sense of wonder and excitement, awe and appreciation all at the same time. The voice over in this advertisement really does make you feel like you’re witnessing something historic; something of much more import than the start of another sports season. The commercial as a whole is extremely well put-together, but I don’t think it would be half as effective without the voice over.

Next up we have something REALLY different. This commercial for Denny’s more of a short video of sorts than a proper commercial, and it has one of the most unique voice overs I’ve heard in a long time. At first glance, you might really only pay attention to the VO at the very beginning of the clip, where the announcer intros “The Chickens Show.” But soon after that you realize that both the chickens that host the show are voice overs as well. Yes, each of these chickens is being portrayed by a person in a vocal booth somewhere. What an interesting recording session that must have been!

Now, you might think, “Well, what’s the big deal? All they had to do was sit in a booth and make clucking noises for a few minutes.” but it’s really not that simple. Listen to the one chicken when it says, “Really? You booked Abraham Lincoln to be on the show?” You can actually hear the sarcasm and disbelief through the clucking. Don’t believe me? Watch it again with your eyes closed; you’ll see — or hear, rather — exactly what I mean. Likewise when a moment later, the same chicken exclaims, “Wow!” Towards the end of the commercial, the other chicken host is equally as impressed when it says, “Wow, presidential approval.” This might be a silly advertisement, but I guarantee you that both actors playing the chickens in this spot spent a decent amount of time in the recording studio trying to get all the nuances of expressive chicken clucking down.

On a related note, I can’t believe I just wrote the sentence, “Both actors playing the chickens in this spot spent a decent amount of time in the recording studio trying to get all the nuances of expressive chicken clucking down.”

Finally, we have a mini-movie of sorts for the new Lamborghini. What fascinates me the most about this ad is that I didn’t even realize that Lamborghini needed to advertise. I guess I always just assumed that if you can afford a Lamborghini, you sort of already know that you want one. Is a commercial really what persuades people to buy a car like this?

Regardless, the voice over in this commercial, while a bit spread out, is utterly fantastic. First off, let’s look at just the quality of the actor’s voice: with his vaguely furtive European/British accent, there’s a combination of a breathy tone and a steely coolness that makes his voice extremely captivating. But listen to his delivery as well; he takes his time with it. I don’t just mean the time between sentences, rather I’m talking about the pace at which he reads the sentences in the first place. He takes his time with every line as if he’s savoring each word, and really gets across that sense of importance, mystery, and richness that the Lamborghini brand is trying to portray itself with.

And listen to that sentence has has to get out at the tail end of the piece: “The New Lamborghini Gallardo LP 570-4 Superleggera.” That couldn’t have been easy to say under the best of circumstances, but even with the accent on the word ‘Gallardo’, the numbers, the dash, and the sounds-like-a-made-up-word-but-is-actually-Italian ‘Superleggera,’ he makes it sound effortless.

I don’t know much about super premium sports cars, but I do know that if I was ever going to buy a Lamborghini, I’d want to buy it from that guy!

The author’s latest “The Pop of King” column is titled, “Big Audio Dynamite: The Blood’s A Rover Audiobook Rocks, Thanks to Many Wild Characters — and One Stellar Actor.” In it, Mr. King talks about how much he enjoyed the latest audiobook adaptation of author James Ellroy’s latest book, Blood’s a Rover. And while he credits the book’s characters and many twists and turns, he also pays special attention to the performance of voice actor Craig Wasson. Mr. Wasson has read other Ellroy books before, in addition to narrating the audiobook versions of John Grisham’s An Innocent Man and John Keel’s The Mothman Prophecies, but this particular performance has apparently blown the author away.

In his column, Mr. King writes, “[Wasson's] a fine actor, but he’s a mad hot audio reader. The unabridged audio version of Blood’s a Rover is, quite simply, the best audiobook I’ve ever heard. And I’ve heard hundreds. Good readers interpret novels and give them life. Great readers seem to live inside the books they’re performing. Wasson is one of those. The audio of Blood’s a Rover is 26 hours long and his voice held me mesmerized for that whole time.”

Mr. King goes on to say, “By the time I got to the eighth or ninth CD, I felt as if I were watching a movie with one guy playing all the parts… and knocking them all dead. Most notable is Wasson’s characterization of FBI director Hoover. Wasson also gives great Nixon.”

Mr. King wraps up with the following praise, “Critics of audiobooks… almost have to be silenced by a performance of this caliber. Spoken aloud by Craig Wasson, Blood’s a Rover lives and breathes. For 26 hours, I never felt so privileged to be in my car.”

I haven’t heard the Blood’s a Rover audiobook personally yet — although I’m definitely going to check it out — but it’s great to see such a widely read media outlet focusing on a notable voice over. Congratulations to Mr. Wasson on his success!

Basically, Nolan North is THE go-to voice for video game developers. And we’re not talking background voices here, either. Nolan North is usually the lead character or part of an ensemble of main characters. Even if you’re not an avid game player, see if a few of these popular video game names ring a bell: The Cat in the Hat, The Punisher, Everquest, Area 51, S.W.A.T., God of War, Predator, The Incredible Hulk, Dungeons & Dragons, Spongebob Squarepants, Call of Duty, 24, The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Syphon Filter, Pixar’s Cars, The Sopranos, Ratchet & Clank, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spider-Man, Halo, Power Rangers, The Golden Compass, Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed, Metal Gear Solid, The Princess Bride, SOCOM, James Bond 007, CSI, Watchmen, Prince of Persia, Terminator, X-Men, and Avatar. WHEW!

And that’s just a PARTIAL list of Mr. Nolan’s credits. If I were to add in all of his other gaming and animation credits, we’d be here all day. Gaming fan or not, this is a really great interview with one of the industry’s pre-eminent voice talents. Not only is Mr. North personable and entertaining, he’s extremely informative about working in the voice over industry nowadays. Check out the video above for some terrific insights on what it’s like to be at the top of the voice over game!

Mr. Carroll starred as Jiminy Cricket in movies and television shows such as Mickey’s Christmas Carol, Jiminy Cricket’s Christmas, Disney’s Villains Revenge, The House of Mouse, and more recently even video games such as Disney/Square’s Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2. In addition, Mr. Carroll portrayed Jiminy Cricket in a number of promotional videos and advertisements for Disney.

Mr. Carroll got his start in small television roles in the 1950s, but the part of Jiminy Cricket became his defining role over the past 40 years. In recent years, in addition to playing Jiminy Cricket, Mr. Carroll has been starring in a one-man show where he portrayed the great entertainer Jack Benny. Disney has been hit hard in the past couple of years, with Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse for over 30 years, passing away last year.

You can listen to a radio interview with Mr. Carroll by clicking here. Below is a clip of Mr. Carroll at work as Jiminy Cricket.

In addition to portraying Charlie, Mr. Forsythe also lent his voice to the animated film We Wish You A Merry Christmas and the Gargoyles cartoon series, and he narrated several television documentaries, including one on tennis called The Kings of the Court and two horse racing documentaries called Spirit of a Champion: The Story of the 1990 Breeders’ Cup and Champions in Kentucky: The Story of the 1988 Breeders’ Cup.

Mr. Forsythe was probably best remembered for his role in the hit series Dynasty as Blake Carrington, where he worked alongside one of Voice Coaches former students: actor John James. Another co-star of Mr. Forsythe’s, Kate Jackson, said the following in a statement: “John was a consummate professional.  He was elegant and kind to everyone.  He was the voice of Charlie, and when he called, the angels were always happy to answer.  I miss him, and I miss knowing that he is here.  If there is a heaven, I know that’s where he is now.”

Rest in Peace, John.

(And for the record, I’m not even going to attempt to distinguish exactly what types of accents all of these are. I’m just going to call them all “vaguely British,” which encompasses England, Ireland, Australia, Scotland and New Zealand. That way, all my bases are covered.) So without further ado…

This first commercial is near and dear to my heart. Why? Because I finally get a chance to write about Taco Bell. Yes, it’s true; I am a Taco Bell junkie, so the chance to write about their voice overs is pretty exciting for me. (What can I say? It’s the simple things in life…)

I really like the voice behind the “Shrimp Blogger” in this piece, although I’ll say that I’m not even a little bit convinced that the voice is also the same guy that’s on camera. If I had to bet, I’d say that the voice actor doing the VO is not the guy on camera. What do you think?

Regardless, I love the way he says, “I’m a shrimp blogger,” so matter-of-factly, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. My favorite delivery, though, has to be when he says, “The legendary hercules shrimp? Blogged it!” It’s a spot-on delivery that really sells the concept of the piece.

Technically, the next two spots don’t really feature accents per se since they both come from abroad, but for our purposes here they’ll work just fine. In the first ad for Magners Cider, I really enjoy the quality of the voice over. It’s actually the whole sound of the commercial that works, but the VO is an integral part of that. The way it’s blended together with the slight banjo-picked music and the nature sounds in the background gives the whole commercial a serene, peaceful feel.

And the voice over itself is perfectly subtle, with a nice down-home feel. With an ad that is clearly somewhat satirical, it would be easy to go with an over-the-top voiceover, but this one is simple, pleasant, and really keeps the piece light and humorous.

Finally, we have a commercial featuring none other than animation superstars Wallace & Gromit. Yes, this piece from Aardman Animation is actually a commercial for a British power company that is trying to promote an energy conservation plan, so the studio lent out its two biggest stars. And yes, that is Peter Sallis providing the voice of Wallace as he has since the early days of the claymation duo.

Wallace & Gromit always features terrific voice overs, but I thought this was a great new commercial that I could easily spotlight here in Voice Overs of the World. In addition to Sallis, you also hear “Penny from NPower,” who ends up with an equal amount of the VO in the spot as she describes the company’s service. Both Sallis and his co-star turn in excellent performances, and while this isn’t the most groundbreaking ad ever, how could I pass up spotlighting such a great use of voice over in a commercial spot?

Personally, I think Gromit’s voice acting skills are underrated, though. It’s not easy to do as much with silence as he does.

The first commercial sets up the latest wave of the campaign: The SuperModelquin Super Search, a clear parody of shows such as Project Runway and America’s Next Top Model. The two main characters in the spot are the American show host, Kelly, and the as-yet unnamed British judge. These two voices do the majority of the work in this commercial, although there are — believe it or not — five (and possibly six, if the giggle and the gasp of the contestant were done by a separate voice talent, which I believe they were) distinct voice actors in this first commercial.

The second commercial also sees five distinct voices at work, including a young sounding voice that simply says, “You blinked.” We also get a new judge in this commercial; another American voice to complement the British judge, who returns here as well. Of course, the announcer voice comes in at the end with a high energy pitch leading you to Old Navy’s website and a chance to win a cash prize.

The final ad is the only one that has a voice in the commercial that was provided by a live actress, and even with that, there are still five separate voice actors at work. Notice that even though the closing announcer’s voice sounds as if it’s just one take repeated three times, he’s actually pitching different sales in each version and in fact, each ad features a different closing narration. Still, we have numerous judges and the host commenting this time around.

It’s amazing how many different voices Old Navy fits into each of these 30-second spots. I had to listen to each one a couple of times to pick them all out. Don’t miss the opening female announcer’s sound-effect-enhanced dialogue, or the little quick asides such as the male SuperModelquin judge shouting, “Call me!” in the first commercial.

And of course, my favorite line of all three commercials comes in this last spot: “Never give up your dreams of being fake.” Thanks for that gem, Old Navy!

The first ad from NBCNewYork.com is a perfect example of Matter of Fact humor. The voice over is slightly announcer-ish, but not in that “yelling loudly at you” way; it’s more just the deep, male voice that’s not dissimilar to what you hear in movie trailers and network TV promos.

But listen for the little bits of dry humor in the commercial: “Liz also considers herself a foodie with a highly advanced palate.” There’s no overt sarcasm in that line, rather just a hint of it, which makes it much more effective than blatantly making fun of the character in this spot.

Old Spice has been making funny commercials for the past few years. If you haven’t seen the “I’m Riding A Horse” ad yet, you’re really missing out. But as that ad doesn’t feature a voice over, I found a few other great Old Spice ads instead with some terrific humor in them that come from the VOs. In the commercial above, you get the same two lines of dialogue repeated four times in 20 seconds.

What I like about this ad is how you can hear the progression in the voice actor’s deliveries. While the first two reads are pretty similar, the third delivery adopts a more casual, lighter tone. Then the fourth read brings in a much more noticeable breathy tone. Each read gets across a nice, manly tone, but the subtle variations really help keep the ad from getting monotonous, and keep the humor intact.

The next Old Spice ad features a really great script about a man who is nearly perfect; of course, I’m sure it’s because he wears Old Spice. I love this voice over because it takes on a gritty, breathy sense of gravitas, as if this man is burdened with all of these great qualities. “Is handsomeness a burden your face has to live with… every day?” The timing of the pause in that line is fantastic, too.

Again, the VO doesn’t go for overt humor, even though the dialogue is clearly over the top, so you believe it — or at least believe that the voice actor believes it — when he says, “A triumphantly fresh scent that smells like the world’s most successful mountain.”

Finally, we have two great ads from Muscle Milk. These ads give us quick mini-portraits of two men who use Muscle Milk — which of course makes them cool — even if everything else about them is ridiculous. These ads are probably the ultimate example of Matter of Fact humor. The deliveries are pretty deadpan, with just little hints of emphasis here and there. For example, Chet “has been ejected from several co-ed softball games.”

These are solidly read deliveries that have a nice cadence and good timing; listen to the perfectly placed pause in the ad above where the voice actor says, “And that boat? It’s stolen.” These are voice overs that are simple, yet extremely effective.

What do you think? Are these ads funnier because of the voice overs or would they be funny regardless?

In addition to a film and television career that encompassed over 50 years of acting, Mr. Graves was also a noted voice over talent. He’s most famously known for hosting A&E’s Biography series since 1987, a job that involved narrating the lives of numerous actors, sports figures, scientific pioneers, and notoriously famous personalities. Less known is the fact that Mr. Graves provided voice overs for numerous cartoons and video games, including Mickey Mouse and Looney Tunes projects in the ’90s and The Angry Beavers cartoon series. In fact, the last work he completed before his passing was a voice over as the narrator of the Darkstar video game. And while Mr. Graves spent over half a century in front of the camera, it was his indelible and instantly recognizable voice that helped make him such a popular actor.

Speaking personally, this writer has always been a fan of Mr. Graves’ work, growing up watching reruns of the original Mission: Impossible show and the original run of the remake series that aired in the late ’80s. And of course, the Airplane movies were an unforgettable part of my childhood and teen years. Whether he was starring in The Winds of War or guest-starring on Fantasy Island, I’ve always enjoyed Mr. Graves’ work.

Rest in Peace, Peter. We’ll miss you.

The first ad above is — oddly enough — for Tetra Pak packaging, although that really doesn’t come into play until the end of the commercial. This spot is actually based on the true story of a park ranger that was struck by lightning seven times over some 30-odd years and survived each time.

What I love about the voice over is how the deep, southern-flavored, rumbly voice behind it seems to be having so much fun with the piece. Think about it; a large part of the VO for this commercial is counting the lightning strikes, one through seven. This voice actor not only manages to make each one sound different, but he imbues each number that he counts off (and the comments surrounding them) with a touch of humor. It’s not easy to make numbers sound interesting, but he does it. This is a voice (and a delivery) filled with character, and it works incredibly well for this spot.

The second commercial is for GE Technologies (as you can see by the GE logo that they’ve so lovingly adorned the video player with), and I have to say, I absolutely love the voice over in this commercial. The entire ad is beautiful (ironically, that’s also the official name of this commercial), with the music, the imagery, the script, and the voice over coming together perfectly to create a real and tangible mood.

The voice actor has a deep male voice, but he uses his breathy tone perfectly, to bring about a sense of love and nostalgia. He’s got a slightly Paul Newman/Clint Eastwood-esque quality to his voice, but for me, the minute he says, “I’ve seen beautiful things,” I was hooked. And while the commercial is certainly a much more serious piece than the spot above, it never feels downbeat or depressing, thanks to a pitch perfect delivery; he sounds like he’s just on the verge of crying, but in a good way, not a sad way.  This voice actor has a voice that can be described as craggy or gravelly and he’s got just the slightest hint of a drawl to it, but I couldn’t imagine a voice that would fit this piece more perfectly.

What do you think? Know of any ads like these that you like?

This first video gives us some great interviews with the voice cast behind the video game based on last year’s sequel film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

While all of the voice actors involved are very talented, it’s interesting to none that none of them are celebrities, just good old-fashioned voice actors. The most recognizable of the group is John Di Maggio, who’s probably best known for his role as Bender on the hit series Futurama.

In the next video, we get to meet the voices behind the Transformers in Michael Bay’s blockbuster 2007 film. I think the most fascinating part of this video is watching voice actor Jess Hartnell try to get the timing down in a scene between Spike and an evil Transformer, using beeps as a timing marker. As you can see, he nails the take (and even comments, “That felt pretty good.”) That’s an interesting tool that isn’t necessarily the norm in voice overs, but clearly in a film of this magnitude, the producers use every advantage at their disposal to get the best performance they can.

I also love watching Hugo Weaving switch back from his Megatron voice to his regular voice (and you even get a sense of how difficult talking like Megatron is on his vocal folds). It goes to show how different one voice actor can make himself sound when throws himself into a role.

In the final video, we are treated to an interview with Peter Cullen, discussing returning to his iconic role of Optimus Prime for the first time in 20-plus years. Cullen is one of the most highly-regarded voice actors in the world, and probably one of the most famous. It’s very interesting to hear him discuss the physical aspects of voicing the big red guy as well as the more character-driven parts of it. It’s clear that Optimus Prime’s motivations affect Cullen’s performances as the lead Transformer, and I don’t think anyone else could fill Prime’s considerably large shoes.

Just like the Transformers themselves, voice acting is always “More than meets the eye!”

First off, above is one of the traditional iPhone ads. These have been airing since 2007, and they’re largely known for their catchphrase, “There’s an app for that.” I’ve always really enjoyed the voice overs in these commercials; I appreciate the kind of laid-back, casual approach that the voice actor delivers. You know, it’s not that long ago that this type of ad would have featured a deep voiced male announcer proclaiming, “THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT!”

Apple and the commercial’s producers, however, picked a voice that represented the generation that buys the iPhone, and he just sort of tells you about what makes the phone neat instead of commanding you to buy it. So these are great ads, but up until now they’ve been dominated solely by a male voice.

Well, that’s all changed now due to two new commercials from Apple for the iPhone that feature female VO talent. In the first one, we learn about how the iPhone has helped a mom make family vacations so much better. She has a similar delivery style to the “traditional” iPhone ad: laid-back, casual, interesting. She sounds like a bright-eyed, cheerful mom and I find her voice over to be easy to listen to and engaging.

She even gets a little sarcasm in there when she says, “So WE turned out the lights.” Fun!

In the second new ad, we have a slightly different approach. This voice over is slightly less carefree and a little bit more impressed. The woman who’s talking about the iPhone is obviously amazed by its abilities and is sharing with us how bowled over she is by the ways she was able to share her baby taking his first steps.

I love how much you can hear the smile in her voice throughout the entire piece; it’s really top-notch work. What’s also interesting about this spot is the two additional voices that come in just at the the end of the commercial, including a male voice who has just one word to say: “Oops!”

Probably not the hardest voice over gig that guy’s ever had!

The first commercial above is a terrific piece from Molson Canadian, and boy, does it ever evoke a sense of national pride. Sure, the nation represented in the commercial is Canada, but since we love our neighbors to the north, I just had to share this great spot with you. I really, really love the voice over in this ad. The voice actor behind this commercial delivers a perfectly rugged, slightly bombastic (yet with a sense of humor) “rah rah, Canada!” high energy rant about why Canadians are “the way they are.”

I think my favorite line from this brilliantly written piece is “We have more square feet of awesomeness per person than any other nation on earth.” And the way the voice actor delivers that line, you believe him 100%. By the end of the piece, between the sweeping music and the cheerleading voice over, you feel proud as heck to be a Canadian.

Even if you aren’t one.

Normally I don’t spotlight celebrity voice overs here in Voice Overs of the World, but, come on, this is Morgan Freeman we’re talking about. For this year’s Olympics, he’s voiced a whole ad campaign made up of numerous commercials for Visa, all of which feature that deep, rich, memorable voice. But this is the one that stands out the most for me. Sure, Dan Jansen’s story is both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, but Freeman delivers it just perfectly. While most of the other commercials are upbeat, even humorous spots, this one requires some subtlety and real emotion.

By the end of this 30-second spot, due to the combination of the story, the music, and — of course — the voice over, I’m about ready to well up with tears. That’s a pretty impressive feat for a credit card commercial to accomplish.

Finally, this commercial for Hudson’s Bay Clothing is another terrific example of a more dramatic voice over. Unlike the Morgan Freeman narration above, which tugs at your heart strings, this spot really goes for a sense of history and pride. The voice actor is pitch perfect throughout; he’s got an incredible voice, and he really conveys a sense of having been there for the past 340 years’ worth of history.

What’s interesting is if you compare this ad to the Molson Canadian ad above, they’re similar in terms of the sweeping, dramatic background music used. So isn’t it amazing how utterly unlike each other the two ads feel thanks to two very talented but very different voice actors?

When it comes to your voice over career, simply use the same mentality as the world’s olympians: go for the gold!

The Annie Awards recognize all different areas of talent in animation, including direction, character design, music, storyboarding, and much more, but of course the categories we were most interested in were the two awards for best Voice Acting!

The winners were Tom Kenny (Spongebob Squarepants) for Best Voice Acting in a Television Production and Jen Cody (The Princess and the Frog) for Best Voice Acting in a Feature Production.

Mr. Kenny is an accomplished voice actor. Although Spongebob Squarepants is the role he’s best known for, he got his start on shows like Rocko’s Modern Life and Dexter’s Laboratory. In the past decade, he’s also provided voices for The Batman, Transformers, Powerpuff Girls, Futurama, Johnny Bravo, Dilbert, Scooby Doo, Handy Manny, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars, among others.

Ms. Cody, on the other had, has appeared on Broadway numerous times but makes her voice acting debut in The Princess & The Frog.

The full list of nominees is below. Congratulations to everyone who was nominated and to Mr. Kenny and Ms. Cody for their wins!

• - Danny Jacobs – Voice of King Julien – “Merry Madagascar” — DreamWorks Animation
• - Nicky Jones – Voice of Chowder – “Chowder: The Dinner Theatre” — Cartoon Network Studios
• - Tom Kenny – Voice of SpongeBob – “SpongeBob SquarePants — Truth or Square” — Nickelodeon
• - Dwight Schultz – Voice of Mung Daal – “Chowder:The Party Cruise” — Cartoon Network Studios
• - Willow Smith – Voice of Abby – “Merry Madagascar” — DreamWorks Animation

• - Jen Cody – Voice of Charlotte – “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
• - Dawn French – Voice of Miss Forcible – “Coraline” — Laika
• - Hugh Laurie – Voice of Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. – “Monsters vs. Aliens” — DreamWorks Animation
• - John Leguizamo – Voice of Sid – “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” — Blue Sky Studios
• - Jenifer Lewis – Voice of Mama Odie – “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios

Traditionally, this Hyundai Sonata ad isn’t one I would spotlight here as it uses a celebrity voice, but since Hyundai ran three or four ads last night, I knew some of you out there would be wracking your brains trying to figure out who it was. Yes, folks, that is indeed Oscar-nominated actor Jeff Bridges providing the voice for the Hyundai commercials. Give the man credit, though; he does deliver a terrific VO. (I guess that’s why he gets nominated for all those awards!)

Another ad with a celebrity voice, I’m highlighting this Skechers ad for a different reason. Sure, Joe Montana lends his voice to the ad as a celebrity endorsee (and as a lifelong 49ers fan, of course a part of me was very excited to hear from Joe M.), but boy, he really doesn’t have a lot of talent in the voice over arena, does he? Listen to how flat and lifeless his delivery is. This is a clear case of the celebrity name being much more important than the talent said celebrity brings to the piece. (In fact, there’s a Wheaties Fuel commercial that debuted last week with an equally weak VO by Peyton Manning.)

But right next to big Joe’s terrible performance, we have two non-celebrity voice overs at work, “Lisa” and “Nina.” Both of these voice actors do a lot in the very short time they’re given, delivering their testimonials with energy and believability, while sounding like real people instead of paid voice actors. On top of all that, there’s a Skechers-style announcer thrown into the mix. Not bad; four voice overs in a 15-second spot.

Cars.com’s “Timothy Richmond” ad is the third in a series of commercials that they’ve done over the past three Super Bowls, each one introducing us to a somewhat extraordinary (yet ordinary) person. While I think the payoff of the commercial doesn’t live up to humor and cleverness of the first 3/4ths of it, I do really enjoy the voice over in the spot. It’s got a neat vibe to it; a cross between documentary narration and a heartfelt, personal piece, as if the narrator personally knows Timothy Richmond. It’s a well-done commercial for the most part, and at a minute long versus the traditional 30-second Super Bowl commercial, that’s a pretty significant VO credit for that actor to add to his demo.

I have to admit, I got a really big kick out of this Dodge “Man’s Last Stand” commercial, in which various men stare off into the distance, slack-jawed, while their “inner voice” extols all the sacrifices they make on a daily basis (“I will watch your vampire TV shows” is my favorite line!) so that they can drive the car they want to drive. I think it’s an interesting choice to use just one voice actor for the spot, rather than trying to give each guy on screen a unique voice, but I think it’s effective as it gets across that sort of shared experience that many men have. Sure, your job, relationship, and daily chores might not be perfect, but at the end of the day, you get to drive this cool truck.

The actor’s delivery reminded me a lot of Michael C. Hall’s voice overs in Showtime’s hit show Dexter, and it turns out there’s a good reason for that: it is Micheel C. Hall. I can see why the commercial’s producers chose him for this spot; he has this fascinating style of delivery that is somehow both completely monotone and extremely expressive, and this commercial manages to tap into that perfectly. Again, another one-minute ad that’s very effective and relies heavily on its voice over to get its point across.

Ahh… E-Trade. I’ve resisted writing about these talking baby commercials for a long time, mostly because there’s so many of them that I didn’t know where to start. But since they did advertise in the Super Bowl and they do rely extensively on voice over, I felt like this was a good chance to bring them up. There were a couple of E-Trade commercials during the game, but this was the one I liked the best.

There’s no denying that these talking baby e-trade ads do have some great voice over work in them. The “main baby” that’s in most of their ads is always terrific, and I do like the way he manages to sound like a bit of a player here, the titular “wolf” of the ad. He always manages to have that cocky, self-sure attitude that resonates solely through the voice actor’s delivery, since it’s not like the baby himself is giving much of a performance (not that isn’t computer-enhanced, anyway.) But the female voice actor in the piece is equally as funny in my book, portraying a nice sense of baby jealousy over, “That milk-aholic, Wendy.” Then you get a third voice actor coming in at the end with, “Milka-what?!?” I would have love to have seen that actor’s face when she got her script… and the one word on it!

Finally, we have the ad for Universal Studios’ new Harry Potter theme park, which features a wonderfully wizardly voice over. With a British accent that’s not too strong but clearly captures the feel of the Harry Potter world, the actor clearly conveys that sense of wonder that I like so much (and that I wrote a whole column about a few weeks ago.) This was pretty different than most Super Bowl ads this year (or any year, for that matter), and so it stood out to me quite a bit, especially considering that VO drives the whole spot.

So there you have it, six of the most prominent uses of voice over in a Super Bowl that was filled with great examples. While on the whole I found this year’s advertisements a bit disappointing in terms of entertainment value, I was thrilled to see how much voice over work was generated by a single sporting event.

What were your favorite commercials and voice overs from this year’s game?

The first video is a really clever series of commercials from the Minnesota State Lottery. There are actually seven commercials total, and they’re all included in the video above. These are really pretty brilliant in my opinion, and you’ve gotta love the amount of voice over talent utilized for these spots. (And presumably, they’re all from Minnesota, proving once again that there is lucrative VO work to be found just about anywhere!)

Now, if I went through each of these commercials voice by voice, we’d be here all day, but I do want to point out a few highlights. I really love the over-caffeinated hamsters in the third commercial. That ditzy, run-on sentence style of delivery really gets the point across. Obviously, there was probably a little bit of post-production help added to speed the voices up a little, but the delivery is still great. Especially the one hamster’s annoying laugh at the end. I can only imagine what the voice actor behind that role had to go through in the booth; she probably recorded different variations of that laugh a couple dozen times.

I also really enjoy the fourth commercial a lot. What’s interesting to me is that the female voice actor has to sound like she’s eating the whole time, and I’m trying to imagine if she actually had something in  her mouth while recording or if she just had to try to simulate the sound with her own voice. Either way, I’m sure it was a challenge to deliver a good read and sound like she was eating through the entire thing, but she pulled it off quite nicely here.

In the fifth commercial I really enjoy the frazzled office worker who can’t transfer a call. Besides the fact that I can relate because I can never transfer a call without hanging up on someone, the voice actor has a cool kind of Michael J. Fox/Dave Foley-sounding voice and he really brings to life that sense of panic that only a botched office situation can bring about.

In the final commercial, all of the voices are great, but I just wanted to point out the number of voices in a 30-second spot. I count no less than SEVEN different voice actors in just that one commercial! Eight, actually, if you count the narrator who comes in at the end, which is the one constant voice throughout the series of commercials. I like the narrator’s voice a lot, too. Combined with the upbeat, swinging music, it has a cool, jazzy vibe to it that really livens up the commercials in contrast to the boring everyday hamster life they portray.

Well done, Minnesota Lottery!

The second video above is a combination of two distinct voice overs: a narrator, and a different voice actor portraying a dog. The piece starts with a terrific upper-crust British-accented voice, describing the obviously-fake Doggie Dentures. The actor captures that perfect sort of BBC documentary approach that almost makes you think this piece is serious at first.

Then the music shifts subtly, and we get to hear things from the dog’s point of view: “You’re kidding… right?” I really like the voice the producer chose for the dog; it’s not a dopey, over-the-top voice, just a regular, everyday voice. (I think he actually sounds quite a bit like David Duchovny, personally, although I doubt that’s what the producers were going for.) Also, listen for that implied thought in his delivery (“Just… give me Dentastix.) that makes the piece sound so conversational, a nice contrast to the voice over that comes before it.

This last commercial doesn’t actually have any talking animals, but it does have lots of talking about animals. I’m can’t say for sure who the voice actor in this spot is, but I can tell you one thing: he sounds exactly like Mark Elliot. For those of you who don’t know, Mark Elliot has been the voice of Disney for many years now. Every time you hear a Disney commercial or trailer with that signature Disney sound (“Coming soon to Disney DVD and Blu-ray, all your favorite characters in an enchanting tale!”), that’s Mark Elliot. Now I’m not sure whether this is him or just a soundalike, but it’s clear that EA Games has made this trailer to emulate that Disney sound. From the dialogue (“Embrace all the adventure, fun, and mischief!”) to the delivery, it really captures the look, sound and feel of a classic Disney commercial, and I think the overall effect is both clever and effective.

So while it may remain true that as an actor, you may not want to work with kids or animals, working as a kid or an animal can clearly pay off quite nicely!

In the newest Miyazaki film, Ponyo, Liam Neeson has one of the lead roles, as does young Noah Cyrus (younger sister of Miley). Our good friends over at Live For Films have shared some recent interviews with Neeson and Cyrus about the film, and we’ve also found some great behind the scenes videos to give you a look into the making of this fascinating new film!

LIAM NEESON:

What do you make of Miyazaki films in general?
He seems to dip into various cultures from around the world. Dips into the myths and fantasies of different countries and then adds something else himself. Some phantasmagorical element that’s purely him, you know.

What is your character like in Ponyo?
I play this character Fujimoto who I guess is the regulator of the oceans. He lives under water but he is capable of coming up on dry land as long as he remains wet. He can’t dry out. And he’s kind of a Merlin type figure. Capable of making magic potions and he kind of addresses and keeps in balance, tries to keep in balance the whole eco system of the ocean. I guess that’s his job. He’s quite a colourful strange character.

What were the rest of the Ponyo cast like?
Noah and Frankie were wonderful as their characters, as Ponyo and the little boy. Cate Blanchett again delivers a lovely, magical, soft soothing voice that’s pretty special.

In your opinion what can the audience of Ponyo expect?
Just to enjoy the story which is quite wonderful and magical. There’s lessons there, there’s something there for everyone. On just an aspect of how to live one’s life and to live each moment and to be curious about life and celebrate it.

NOAH CYRUS:

What is the story of Ponyo about?
The story is all about saving the world. In the very beginning Ponyo gets stuck in a net when a fishing boat cleans the bottom of the ocean. She’s swimming around and she’s trying to get away from it. And then her heads gets stuck into a bottle and then she finally gets out of that little net thing. She floats to the shore in the bottle and then stops and Sosuke goes to the shallow part and gets her.

What about the rest of the cast on the film, who were you excited about working with?
I was excited working with Frankie Jonas; I was excited to work with Cate Blanchett and Liam Neeson and Matt Damon and Tina Fey and everybody.

It’s a great cast isn’t it?
It was amazing that I got to have such good actors and actresses by me.

And in terms of the actual role itself was it easy or difficult for you to do the acting without being on screen?
Doing Ponyo was kinda hard because I heard Japanese in my headphones and so it was really hard to speak the lines in English. I had to learn, and it was a lot of fun though.

And does your sister give you a lot of advice?
My sister and my Dad give me lots of advice. My Dad says about acting “if you’re not having fun with it, then it isn’t working out for you”.

But you had fun with Ponyo though yeah?
I had a lot of fun doing Ponyo. It was my first movie and it was a blast!

I really love this Dr. Pepper commercial. Not only do they capture the style of the classic Rankin-Bass stop motion animation Christmas specials of the 1960s, but there are some great voice overs at work here as well. The concept of the commercial is terrific, with A Diet Dr. Pepper delivery man in an “I Exist” support group along with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, a leprechaun, a fairy, an alien, and the Abominable Snowman.

The voice actor behind the delivery guy’s voice is a pretty average, everyday voice but he gives a convincing delivery of being frustrated at people not believing him. The Easter Bunny is also terrific, portraying the character as zany and off the wall (mad as a hatter, perhaps?). It cracks me up the way he says, “THAT is good!” But my favorite delivery is that of Santa Claus. His slightly British accent and deep tone of voice really brings the character to life, and I think the talent behind him did a fantastic job. I especially like when he says, “What do you know about it, new guy?” Not the Santa we all know and love, that’s for sure!

Next up, we have an intriguing Coca-Cola commercial from a few years back. I don’t remember ever seeing this one on TV, but it’s pretty darn cool. Visually, this is an intriguing ad, but what caught my attention was the sheer number of voice over actors involved. I count no less than 10 different voices in the commercial; that’s a lot of VO work for a one-minute spot. Keep in mind that it’s not just the commentators and news people that are voice overs, either; everything down to the helicopter pilot’s semi-distorted transmission was created in a recording studio.

I think the talent involved did a great job of capturing that “news anchor” feel, while the main female scientist who discusses the cans and compares them to humpback whales captures a nice air of intelligencia, while still managing to sound like she’s being interviewed. It’s a visually striking commercial that is successful because you don’t even think about how many voice actors were involved in putting it all together until you stop to analyze it.

I do wish the commercial had a better ending, though. It seems like there was more to the story of these giant cans, but I digress, as that has nothing to do with voice overs!

Finally, I found a great throwback ad from Pepsi from back in the 1960s. What I like about this ad is that it’s a really great example of the announcer-style voice that used to be the norm back in the day. We talk about this pretty extensively here at Voice Coaches; this narration typifies the style of delivery that was used almost exclusively back in the ’50s and ’60s. Today, of course, as I’ve tried to show here at Voice Overs of the World, there is such a broad range of voices doing commercials and narratives that it’s truly amazing to think it all came from this once-omnipresent style of delivery. (Though I do love how credible he makes it sound when he says, “People who think young say, ‘Pepsi please!’”)

Oh, how far we’ve come!

First of all, what a dream job for the cast! Sure, a lot of voice over jobs are recurring ones, such as a role on an animated series or in a video game franchise, narrating a series of documentaries or training videos, or appearing in a commercial ad campaign that runs over a long period of time. But to have the same job, week in and week out, for 20 years… well, that’s pretty amazing. But if ever a cast deserved to be enshrined in the annals of Hollywood for their talent, it’s this one.

Let’s look at a few of the show and the cast’s accomplishments (did I mention they’ve been on the air for 20 years?)

- Hank Azaria has voiced over 160 separate characters on the show (including Moe the bartender, Apu the Kwik-E-Mart owner, and Police Chief Wiggum), while Dan Castallaneta (Homer Simpson) has voiced over 120 characters. Harry Shearer is right behind them, voicing over 115 characters over the show’s run.

- The cast has won 13 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice Acting. Harry Shearer is the only main cast member who has not won the award, but he was nominated in 2009.

- The Simpsons is the longest running show in the history of primetime.

- Despite Springfield having hundreds of popular characters, there are only six main voice actors in the cast: Dan Castallaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer.

- According to Hank Azaria, the voices of many of his characters are based on people he has known or met in his life. Lou is based on Sylvester Stallone, Comic Book Guy is based on Azaria’s college roommate, and Chief Wiggum is based on Edward G. Robinson.

- The Simpsons is dubbed into dozens of other languages by voice actors in other countries, including Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Quebec French, Finnish, and Arabic. In fact, Phillippe Peythieu, France’s voice of Homer, and Véronique Augereau, France’s voice of Marge, first met on the dubbing of the series and are now married, just like Homer and Marge.

Congratulations to the cast of The Simpsons for 20 years of bringing amazing voice over work to the entire world!

First off, I think it’s important to realize that not every woman you see on screen is the same woman who’s providing the voice. This commercial was probably cast in two separate sessions: an on-camera casting call for women who fit the “fitness profile” that EA Sports/Nintendo was looking for, and separate casting for the Voice Overs, in which they found the women who’s voices represented the physical versions on screen to their utmost potential and had the creative skills to deliver their line the way the producers wanted it. Just because a woman on screen is in shape and looks great while exercising doesn’t mean she can deliver well-read copy. Now, I’m not saying that maybe some of these women didn’t appear on camera and provide their own voice over, but chances are really good that who you’re hearing and who you’re seeing are not the same person.

I like the different deliveries each of the voices provide, too. From the playful tone of “I’m active… for date night” to the confidence of “I’m active… for me,” each voice actor brings a little something different to their single line. I was also impressed that the “narrator” voice that comes in at the end that says, “EA Sports’ Active: A personalized workout program for the Wii,” is a woman. While the video game in this ad is clearly being marketed to women, it’s a game that men can play, too.

Keep in mind that EA sports has one of the most famous voice overs on TV, with the “EA Sports: It’s in the Game” tagline that finishes every commercial they do (you can hear it above!). So to come in here and change that well known tagline to something more feminine is a strong strategy, and the talent behind that part of the commercial has a cool, slightly raspy kind of voice; she sounds sporty and confident, and that’s clearly what EA Sports & Nintendo are trying to appeal to here.

Finally, I should point out the voice acting in the game itself. I’ve been using this game at home with my wife to work out, and the entire game is filled with voice over.

From the instructional tutorials before each exercise to the voice of the fitness guru who leads you through each exercise (spouting such nuggets as “Way to go, player 2!”) there is a lot of VO in this game. We’ve personally only heard the female voice so far (probably because my wife is the main profile in the game), but I understand that with a man as the primary profile, the voice over and tutorial instruction is all provided by a male voice. All in all, it’s a pretty comprehensive project that probably involved quite an intensive recording session — or more likely, several sessions!

Of course, this video focuses on the big name stars in the cast, and that’s understandable as it is meant to be promotional in nature. But pay attention to a few of the names mixed in amongst the Martin Sheens and Seth Greens: Natalia Cigliuti, Liz Sroka, and Simon Templeman. While Natalie Cigliuti is a television actress who’s adding voice acting to her talent roster, both Liz Sroka and Simon Templeman are primarily voice actors.

In fact, Liz Sroka is even relatively new to the field. Her previous credits include a leading role in the anime series Blood+: The Last Vampire, but aside from that, Mass Effect 2 marks one of few big-name projects on her resume. This is a great example of somebody using their talent and marketing efforts to build success quickly in an area of voice overs that many people traditionally ignore.

Simon Templeman, on the other hand, is a voice over and video game veteran. His credits include roles in popular video games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Uncharted & Uncharted 2, several Lord of the Rings titles, Everquest II, and The Bard’s Tale, among others. He’s also been featured in such cartoons as The Incredible Hulk, TaleSpin, The Fantastic Four, and Higglytown Heroes. Clearly, he’s a professional that is welcomed by the video game world due to his talent and easygoing nature, which is evident in the video above.

What you don’t see in this four-minute promotional video are the dozens (if not more) of lesser-known voice actors who provided voices for this game. Even characters with one or two lines each — which are plentiful in a video game this size — are usually performed by a number of different voice actors. Some of them will play multiple characters, but a major video game effort like this usually involves the recording of some hundreds of characters. Remember, while the average Hollywood movie has approximately 2,000 lines of dialogue, the average video game has anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 lines of dialogue.

That’s a heck of a lot of VO!

In the first commercial, a family of popcorn kernels are watching, of all things, The Dark Knight. There are four different voices at work here, and what I like is that the Mom and Dad characters are both normal, average, everyday voices. They could be you or me. These voice actors happened to fit the casting director’s idea of what a middle-aged mom and dad should sound like, but there’s really nothing unique or unusual about their voices. It goes to show that, more often than not, animation doesn’t require over-the-top character voices. Sure, some animated characters have crazy voices, but a lot of the supporting roles and such in animation are done by people with regular, everyday voices.

Then you have the grandmother and young Bobby getting into what basically amounts to a voice-over contest, as each one tries to out-impersonate the other as Batman. Obviously, these two voices were cast a little differently, as they needed to sound like a grandmother and a young child trying to impersonate Christian Bale as Batman. It’s very probable that the voice actors portraying those characters weren’t a grandmother or a young child, but they both do a terrific job.

The second commercial sees an oafish roommate completely obliviously muscling in on his friend’s date night. Again, the character of “Herb” (the kernel with the glasses) is a pretty average, everyday voice with just a hint of nerd-iness (or should that be ‘nerd-osity’?) thrown in for good measure. Meanwhile, the character of “Simon” is a definite character voice, with the actor in the role playing it big and over the top, which is just how it should be. Any roommate who would smash a bouquet of flowers with an umbrella just to re-enact a scene from a movie is clearly meant to be portrayed as a big, dumb oaf, and that’s exactly how he comes across.

Additionally, notice the tagline for the commercial, “For a great movie night, make it pop.” It’s just a single line, but the female voice actor has a nice, smooth tone of voice, and a delivery that conveys a touch of excitement and energy without being loud and booming. It’s actually a pretty sharp delivery.

Word has it that a third commercial from this ad campaign will pop up (pardon the pun) during this year’s Super Bowl. I can’t wait to see what creativity the voice actors bring to the table in that one. Keep your eyes peeled during the big game!

For our first installment of VO Behind the Scenes, we’re going to look at Marvel Comics’ new Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic. Our good friend (and presenter at Voice Coaches 2009 Marketing Expo!) Dave Goldberg of Edge Studios hosts a tour through their studios above, and you get a chance to see one of the voice actors recording his role.

What this video conveys nicely is what a fun and laid-back place a recording studio can be, even when a major project is being recorded. Also, note the different types of direction the producer gives the voice actor. They only show a couple of takes here, but I’m sure they recorded many of his lines a number of different times with different approaches each time. For a project like this, it’s not uncommon to record the voice actors doing each line in a dozen different reads, so they can deliver a number of options to the client. This is where creativity and flexibility on the part of the talent really comes into play.

I was also intrigued by the hybrid script shown in the video, with the dialogue on one side of the page and the original comic book panels on the other side. What a unique tool for the voice actor in the booth to get a real sense of their character and the action that’s happening around them. Very creative!

Motion Comics are a cool and exciting new medium for voice actors to work in, but as this video shows, when it comes to the talent, the process isn’t much different from recording any other kind of VO.

What’s most interesting about the Geico commercial above is that it garnered some national attention in the pages of Parade Magazine just a couple of days ago. Included in most newspapers’ Sunday editions, Parade is one of the most widely read magazines in America. In the Personality Parade section appearing in the January 3rd issue, there was a question and answer about the voice behind the pothole. Here’s what Parade had to say:

“Q: Who is the voice of the pothole in the GEICO commercials?—M.W., Smyrna, Del.

A: We’ve heard a lot of wild guesses: Reese Witherspoon, Annie Potts, Emily Procter—even Britney Spears. Wrong! It’s voice-over actress Dayci Brookshire, 27, whose youthful, enthusiastic tones have landed her a lot of jobs: ‘I’ve played everything from a 5-year-old boy to the talking pothole to a British character, to whatever,’ the native North Carolinian says. Adaptability pays.”

Just goes to show you that all kinds of people are providing voices for commercials these days. Here we have a working voice actor from North Carolina (not New York or Los Angeles) providing the VO for a national commercial, and getting her name exposed to an entire nation of readers thanks to a question in Parade Magazine. Not too shabby.

In the second ad, we have a tree limb brought to life. This is a perfect example of good casting. Who knows what a tree limb might sound like? There were probably a number of delivery styles and voices that would have fit this piece, but I think this one’s a winner. With a somewhat shrill voice and a nondescript New York-type accent, the image of an obnoxious jerk is conjured pretty quickly. That’s only confirmed when the tree limb says, “What, you lookin’ for an apology? Well toss another coin in the wishin’ well, pal.”

Finally, in the third commercial, we get a talking bumper. Like the tree limb above, the bumper is another less-than-upstanding-citizen type character, who quickly tries to cover up how bad the damage from a fender bender is with some disingenuous compliments. This voice seems a little less like the maliciously obnoxious jerk that the tree limb is, and rather more like a simple, not-too bright slob. Rather than the voice giving the impression of a mean personality, the fender comes across more like a drunken sports fan.

What’s interesting about these ads is that they seem to be quite effective. I’ve had more than few conversations lately with people that have started with something like, “Hey, have you seen those Geico ads with the talking cars and stuff?” People seem to be remembering the ads (which is, of course, one of the admakers’ primary goals), and I think most of the credit for that goes right to the voice overs. Visually speaking, the ads don’t offer up a lot; what makes them memorable are the characters created for these inanimate objects thanks to some terrific voice acting.

As a side note, I’m also pretty sure that the voice that comes in at the end of each of the commercials that says, “Accidents are bad,” is Peter Cullen (best known as the voice of Optimus Prime in the Transformers movies and animated series) but I haven’t been able to confirm that yet. To my ears, though, the announcer in these commercials sounds exactly like Cullen, so I’m sticking with that.

This is officially my last blog post of 2009. The next time you read words that I’ve written, it will be 2010. I thought this seemed like the perfect time to look back at 2009 and also look forward into 2010.

There were a lot of newsworthy events in the VO field in 2009, so I thought we’d take a look back at five of the most notable and important news stories of the past year.

5.) CNN Brings Voice Over Acting to the forefront. Back in May, CNN ran a news story called “10 Jobs Cooler Than You.” On the list? Voice Actor! To quote the article (you can read it by clicking here), “Everyone knew Don LaFontaine, the infamous voice behind thousands of movie trailers, TV advertisements and network promotions. Voice actors also loan their chops to movies and cartoons. Wouldn’t it be neat to have your voice be familiar to the whole world?” Couldn’t have said it better myself.

4.) The 2009 Audie Awards. Normally, an awards show isn’t that big of a deal. Even when they relate to voice overs, such as the American Publishing Association’s Audie Awards (honoring achievements in audiobook recordings), they still aren’t necessarily considered news. But this year’s awards, the 14th Annual, were the biggest yet, drawing a record 1,000 entries from audio publishers, which just goes to show how successful and diverse the audiobook field  currently is. There are 31 categories in the awards, and almost every one of them reflects an achievement in voice acting. You can read the entire list of nominees and winners by clicking here. These are the only awards in the country solely devoted to spoken-word entertainment, and the fact that they’re growing year after year is great news for voice actors.

3.) The Rise of Motion Comics. It’s been a little while since there’s really been a new medium to take advantage of voice overs like Motion Comics. Internet animation saw a huge rise in the early 2000s, but in the  past few years, one of the most exciting new venues for VO work has been Motion Comics. Due to  increasingly popular comic book-based movies such as The Dark Knight, Spider-Man, Watchmen, etc., the major comic book publishers (and many independent ones) have begun creating motion comics. These are semi-animated versions of existing comic books that add animated special effects, sound effects, and voice actors performing the dialogue of all of the characters. These are incredibly well-produced videos, and they’ve become extremely popular online and especially on mobile devices, such as the iPhone. Check out scenes from the popular Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic below.

2.) Fond farewells. In 2009, it we lost a lot of talented actors and creators, especially ones with careers or an impact in voice acting. Brittany Murphy, Roy Disney, Connie Zimet, Soupy Sales, Fred Travalena, Wayne Allwine, Patrick Swayze, Bea Arthur, Billy Mays, Danny Gans, Ed McMahon, Dom Deluise, Ted Kennedy, Harve Presnell, Karl Malden, Ricardo Montalban, Ron Silver, and Walter Cronkite all had varying degrees of experience or impact in the voice over world, and all of their voices will be missed.

1.) The Internet. It seems like the internet is reinventing the world every couple of months as it is, but 2009 was the year that I really saw the voice over field explode online. From social media sites like Twitter and Facebook (which are filled with voice over actors, producers, and studios) to personal websites and blogs to the proliferation of voice over-related videos on sites such as YouTube, the internet has truly become an amazing marketing tool for today’s working voice actor. The internet’s been around for years, but 2009 is the year that voice actors started to really put its full potential into overdrive. And without it, how would we discover great videos like this one giving us a terrific behind-the-scenes-look at the creation of the voice overs for a hit video game?

Looking forward, as I mentioned in the latest episode of Voice Coaches Radio, I’m not really big on New Year’s resolutions, but I thought maybe I’d throw a few out there for fellow voice actors who might be looking for a little motivation heading into 2010. So, in no particular order, here are some New Year’s resolutions for voice actors:

1. I will spend at least 15 minutes a week marketing myself.

2. I will remember that every “no” is one step closer to a “yes.”

3. I will tell everyone I know that I am a professional voice actor; you never know where a potential job might come from.

4. I will remember that voice acting is fun, and I will have fun doing it.

5. I will remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day.

6. I will continue to practice, practice, practice!

7. I will try something new.

8. I will continue to remain positive, motivated, and upbeat.

9. I will believe in my own potential for building success.

9 1/2. I will read the Voice Coaches Blog every week. (Okay, okay,… sorry. I couldn’t resist that one!)

9 3/4. I will listen to Voice Coaches Radio every week. (Okay, I’ll stop now. I promise!)

10. I will see every challenge as an opportunity.

So that wraps up my blogging efforts for 2009. I’ll be back next week to kick off a new year — and a new decade — of Voice Over fun, news, and information! Thanks for reading in 2009!

From all of us here at Voice Coaches, we wish you a happy, healthy, and successful New Year!

In the first ad above, a visually stylish piece for SmartStrand Carpets, the female narrator evokes a sense of wonder form the very first words, “Something extraordinary is happening.” With a breathy tone and a slow pace, she heightens the “suspense” of the piece, as you wonder how all these various living room disasters are going to end. Notice the music that underscores the voice over is also very ethereal and atmospheric, heightening the mood of the piece. Even when she switches gears at the end of the commercial to pitch the product in a more traditional way (“Get a lifetime of built-in protection from Smartstrand with Dupont Sorona, only from Mohawk”), the delivery remains soft, slow, and breathy, rather than switching to a more announcer-type style, even though it culd have been done using the same voice.

Also notice that, although a non-slow-motion mom appears at the end of the commercial, chances are extremely low that the actress that appears on camera is the same actress performing the voice over.

In the Scott’s Songbird bird food commercial above, we find a very similar approach. The male voice actor shares how Scott’s food “attracted twice as many colorful birds as ordinary blends.” And much like in the SmartStrand commercial above, the dialogue in this piece lets you know right off the bat that Scott’s has “discovered something amazing.” But it’s the narrator’s slow, soft and pleasant delivery that really tells the tale. What I like about his approach is how he sounds almost a little surprised by the results, as if to convey that even Scott’s themselves didn’t realize how good their bird food was until they tested it. I’m sure the company strongly believes in its product, but by keeping the voice over sounding just a little bit surprised, it makes the company come across as humble and unassuming, something which seems to me would appeal to many bird watchers.

In the final commercial, for Mitsubishi Electric Heating and Cooling, the company takes an interesting approach to something that could easily be considered mundane: HVAC systems. But the company wants to liken their product to traveling the world and going to exotic locales where the air quality is pure, crisp and clean. The visual imagery is clearly paramount in the spot, but the voice over is like liquid wonder. In fact, it’s used sparingly, but it is extremely effective. Once again, atmospheric and ethereal music contributes to the overall mood of the piece. Interestingly, in this spot, the producers chose a voice with a vaguely European accent, and I think the vagary of the accent is 100% on purpose. This is a spot meant to make you feel as if you are journeying far across the globe to places untouched by man. With an accent that’s not clearly defined, the voice over adds to the entire commercial’s worldly feel, completing the effectiveness and exoticness of the piece.

I find all three of these ads to be extremely effective in their own right, but the expertly-cast and perfectly delivered voice overs in each one really cement each commercial’s sense of wonder.

In this installment of Voice Overs of the World, I thought we’d get into the spirit of the holidays and look at a classic Christmas Voice Over and a new one inspired by the original. In the above video, from Rankin-Bass’s classic stop-motion animated special The Island of Misfit Toys, the main characters are the well-known and well-loved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Yukon Cornelius, Hermey the Elf, and Charlie-in-the-Box.

The voice cast was made up not of celebrities, but rather talented voice actors who made a living with their voices. Rudolph was voiced by Billie Mae Richards, while Yukon Cornelius was voiced by Paul D. Mann. Meanwhile, Paul Soles provided the voice of Hermey the Elf and Carl Banas brought Charlie-in-the-Box to life. Billie Mae Richards played Rudolph in several Rankin-Bass specials and is known worldwide for her portrayal of the character. She was also a starring voice in the Care Bears television cartoon and movies. Larry D. Mann had a prolific career that spanned from the 1950s to the early 1990s, starring in such shows and movies as Scooby-Doo, Howdy Doody, The Pink Panther, and Return to Oz. Paul Soles had a shorter career but is fondly remembered for voicing Spider-Man/Peter Parker in the 1960s animated series Spider-Man. Carl Banas, a former radio DJ, has continued to act in voice overs through present day. He voiced characters in shows such as The Busy World of Richard Scarry, Babar, Hello Kitty, and Spider-Man, as well as numerous commercials throughout the years.

I don’t think I have to say too much about the voices behind these characters. The Rudolph specials have been on the air since 1965, and they get repeated every single year without fail. Millions of children across the world have grown up to the sounds of the characters created by an incredibly talented stable of voice actors. If that doesn’t speak volumes, I don’t know what does.

The next video is a Verizon commercial that’s been airing for the past month or so, in which the iPhone ends up on The Island of Misfit Toys due to its supposedly limited coverage area. I’m not sure if that’s Carl Banas doing the voice of Charlie-in-the-Box or not, but as he is still alive and active in voice overs it certainly could be him. If it’s not him, it’s definitely an uncanny mimicking of his voice. What I like about this ad is the fact that Verizon didn’t go halfway with it. In addition to recreating the world of the Misfit Toys in stop-motion like the original specials (and with a pretty uncanny attention to detail), the voices and music are all perfect recreations of the style of the originals. While this is a clever ad that takes pot shots at Verizon’s main competitor, it was obviously created with a sense of appreciation for the original source material.

It just goes to show how enduring the original Rudolph specials (and the voice talents behind them) are when 40+ years after they originally aired, they’re being used as inspiration for advertisements.

From all of us here at Voice Coaches, we hope you all have a wonder-filled and wonderful holiday!

Ms. Murphy, at only 32, had been acting professionally since she was a child and in addition to dozens of notable film and television roles, she was also quite an accomplished voice actor. Ms. Murphy provided the voice of Luanne Platter in over 230 episodes of Fox’s hit animated series, King of the Hill. After airing for 12 years, King of the Hill had just concluded its successful run last season. In addition, she also lent her voice to lead roles in films such as Happy Feet and Futurama: The Beast With A Billion Backs. She even did some non-film voice acting, providing a lead voice in 2005′s hit urban video game Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.

Watch a clip of Brittany Murphy as Luanne on King of the Hill above.

Ms. Murphy was also putting her voice to use in a musical way, with a side career as a singer. In 2006, she released the single “Faster Kill Pussycat,” from Paul Oakenfeld’s album A Lively Mind. The song became a hit, reaching number one on Billboard’s Hot Dance Club Play chart. She sang for her role in Happy Feet, performing Queen’s “Somebody to Love” and Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland.” In the late ’90s, she fronted her own band, called Blessed Soul, and even performed for troops overseas on a USO tour in 2003.

We’re sorry to see you go so young, Brittany. Rest in peace.

Watch an interview with Brittany Murphy on The Late Show with David Letterman above.

The Walt Disney Company and the animation world at large suffered a loss on Wednesday, December 16th, when Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney and guiding hand of the Disney company for the past several decades, passed away.

Roy Disney never voiced a character or directed a film, but his creative leadership was integral to Disney’s longevity and its animation resurgence in the early ’90s. In 1984, when Disney’s animation division had shrunk to a fraction of its former self, Roy Disney spearheaded a movement to have the company’s then-CEO Ron Miller removed. Disney brought Michael Eisner and Frank Wells in to run the company and took a position as chairman of the animation division. Under his direction, the studio produced an unprecedented string of animated hits that include beloved films such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King.

Watch Roy Disney’s Oscar-nominated Animated Short, DESTINO, above!

Roy E. Disney followed in his Uncle Walt’s footsteps, eschewing the path of his father, Roy O. Disney (who worked on the financial side of the company), for the creative side. He started working for The Walt Disney Company in 1951 as an editor, screenwriter, and producer, working on many notable short films, including The Living Desert and The Vanishing Prairie. He was even nominated for two Academy Awards for his work.

Over the past two decades, Roy Disney had made himself indispensable as an on-camera interview subject and historian in the Disney Company’s documentaries. He appears in major making-of documentaries on nearly every Disney DVD that’s been released since the 1990s. Like most Disney personalities, Roy Disney did find himself behind the microphone once or twice. In 2001, he voiced a cameo of himself in the animated series Disney’s House of Mouse in an episode where Mickey had accidentally sent him an angry fax meant for Mortimer Mouse. He also provided some additional voices in 1985′s animated film The Black Cauldron.

Rest in peace, Roy. Your inspiration on Disney films and the world of animation will be missed.

In this installment of Voice Overs of the World, I want you to see an interesting and innovative viral video from Raisin Bran. (I know, I know… Raisin Bran?) In this new online promotional video, a rather grotesque looking alien creature rambles on about  life in general, and eventually gets around to mentioning his new diet (which includes Raisin Bran Crunch, of course.) It’s an extremely clever ad (and I recommend a second viewing; some of the jokes really take a second to sink in), but it’s clear that the voice over is what really makes this piece work.

By casting a Ricky Gervais-like British voice in the role of the alien, the ad makers have given us a classic staple of ironic humor: subverting our expectations and giving us the complete opposite of them. While you might expect an alien that looks this ferocious to have a deep, growly bark for a voice, instead it’s a pleasant British chap who goes on about bowling and online dating in the same tones as he does devouring the garbage man. The voice over actor does a really terrific job of sounding like your average, everyday neighborhood “hellbeast bent on destruction,” who’s really just a misunderstood guy. He also does a terrific job of sounding like he’s just rambling on and on, in kind of a “customer testimonial” sort of way. Now, I’m not privy to the behind the scenes of this video, but I would guess that while he may have ad-libbed a few lines, there was probably a pretty tight script at work here.

What’s subtly effective about this ad, too, is how much of it isn’t about Raisin Bran Crunch. Aside from a few lines at the beginning and again at the end, the product is hardly mentioned at all. Sure, the box of cereal is present in almost every shot, but the focus is really on the alien and the character the voice actor creates. It’s his performance, along with the humor of the dialogue, that keeps you watching for the entire 3-minute running time. I think it’s pretty brave of a major company to put out an internet video that barely talks about its product at all (and even when it does, it doesn’t truly convey any meaningful information except that it has fiber in it), but thanks to a creative approach and a really top-notch voice over, it works extremely well.

Before I get started, let me assure you that this blog is not an iPhone commercial. Nor is this entry solely about technology, so even if you’re not a big tech junkie please keep reading.

I own an iPhone. I think it’s a great device with an incredibly wide array of functions that I utilize to make my life easier. It dawned on me recently that many of the things my phone does, though, are either useful for voice actors or can present opportunities for voice actors. What do I mean? Well, continue on, fearless reader!

A little background first: I currently have 65 apps on my iPhone, and that  doesn’t include the 15 or 20 that come standard with the phone. These are all ones I’ve downloaded through the App Store, either for free (most of them) or for a small fee. That might seem like a lot, but I know many people who have hundreds of apps on their phones. The ones on my phone range from games to social media apps to organization tools to internet accessories. But here’s where it gets interesting: of those 65 apps, an impressive 13 of them have some form of voice over in them.

That means that 20% of the apps on my phone have utilized at least one voice actor in them. Which begs the question: why aren’t you marketing yourself to companies developing iPhone apps? There are over 100,000 apps currently available, with dozens (if not hundreds) being added daily. Using some fuzzy math here, with over 100,000 apps in the App Store, if roughly 20% of them have voice overs in them, that equals 20,000 voice over jobs. Seems to me that THAT is an excellent market for voice actors. Why not research a few software development companies in your area and find out if they’re developing any apps for the iPhone or any other phone (such as the Droid or the Blackberry)? If they are, that seems like a pretty great place to pitch your services as a voice talent. Remember, it’s not just big companies that are developing apps anymore. Everyone from college kids in their dorms to the major TV networks are working on apps these days. Just recently, I received an e-mail from my bank (which is regionally limited to just 13 states) advertising their new iPhone/Blackberry app.

How about some apps that might come in handy for you as a voice actor? While there are none that I know of  that will allow you to record professional voice overs from your phone, there are certainly some that make for great practice tools. There are several voice memo recorders out there. If you want to practice reading out loud (or perhaps you want to practice a particular accent or character voice) and you want to hear yourself back, instead of booting up your computer or a handheld tape recorder, simply press a button on your smart phone and you’re recording. Since you almost always have your phone with you, you can even practice on the fly; if you find yourself with some downtime, you can use the voice recorder to capture your reading practice for review later.

A podcast I listen to has developed a basic app that allows me to listen to the latest episodes (as well as archived ones) without even having to download them to iTunes. Do you host your own podcast? An app might be in your future. I even recently found an app that allows you to stream live video and sound directly to the internet from your phone. I haven’t quite figured out all the potential uses for that app, but I imagine it might be used in a potential home recording session or self-marketing event.

The ultimate point of all this isn’t even that you should utilize technology as a voice actor. It’s that creative opportunities and new ideas are presenting themselves to us all every day. Open your mind and brainstorm on what ideas lie out there that you haven’t even thought of yet. Find unique, exciting, innovative ways to develop your skill and market yourself, and the future is wide open to you. And if there’s one thing that having an iPhone in my pocket has taught me, it’s that the future is never very far away.

For this edition of Voice Overs of the World, I wanted to take a look at a spoof video that’s made its way online. This fake Harvard Infomercial is a pretty funny parody that pokes fun at Ivy League colleges. What I like about it the most, however, is how it really nails the look and feel of the real-life infomercials and commercials that we see on late night cable ads.

Of course, that extends to the voice over as well. A little ways into the commercial, a great parody of the stereotypical infomercial announcer comes in. Not only does the voice actor get the timbre and pacing of the voice right for this kind of part, but the editing really sends it into overdrive. By piling the words on top of each other in rapid succession, the impression that’s given is of an announcer that’s reading titles that are so pretentious, he can’t even keep up with himself. It’s a nice touch that really highlights the humor of the piece. Also, note how the music changes to underscore the approach of the voice over; it changes from soft, pleasant music to a hard edged rock, to really kick in the announcer/salesman style of VO.

The voice over comes in twice more throughout the piece, and each time the actor approaches the lines with a combination of announcer energy and stilted line-delivery, to really accentuate the awkwardness that often arises from infomercial announcers who are clearly just trying to read their lines as fast as they can.

What’s also great about this video is that it’s not a commercial, television show, or radio advertisement. It’s an online video, which just highlights the wide range of opportunities out there for voice actors. These kinds of short videos are everywhere these days, and they’re being created by everyone from bored college kids to major corporations. You never know when you might be called upon to provide the voice for an internet short, and they’re just as valuable and exciting a job as any other voice over work out there.

I recently stumbled across a terrific little interview with Mark Hamill about voicing The Joker in a new video game on the pop culture website Geek Chic Daily. I’ve actually had the pleasure of meeting Mark Hamill in person and taking to him about voice overs (of which he’s developed a fantastic career in), and he’s a really personable and funny guy with an incredible talent for character voices and impressions. I thought it would be fun to share their interview with you so you could read about the differences between animation and video game voice acting.

Q: You’ve done the Joker’s voice in numerous animated incarnations including this year’s Arkham Asylum video game. Is that type of recording much different than a regular cartoon?

Mark Hamill: Yes and no. It’s different because you’re making all these small little jigsaw puzzle pieces to put into the memory of the game. It could be very schizophrenic in terms of its consistency. In this particular case, since it wasn’t based on the animated Batman and they weren’t so concerned with the youthful audience, you could make him much more dark and brutal.

Q: Have you ever used your Joker voice when telemarketers call?

Hamill: [Laughs] You know, that’s not a bad idea. I’m real self-conscious about doing it [in person] because it’s like you’re a magician’s assistant and it doesn’t look right coming out of my face. It’s tough because little kids wanna hear it so usually I say,  “Well, close your eyes!” or “Turn your back!” And kids, being the trusting young souls they are, immediately comply.

GCD: And then you dump a bucket of water on them.

Hamill: [Laughs] No, but you give them just enough Joker to prove that it really is you because it works much better in your mind than it does in front of your eyes.

As a special bonus, here’s a video interview with Hamill discussing his work voicing The Joker!

Welcome to the first installment of a new weekly feature here at the Voice Coaches Blog. With Voice Overs of the World, each week we’re going to take a look at a notable new voice over, whether it be from a commercial, a movie or TV show, a video on the internet, or anywhere we find something of interest. These aren’t all going to be the “Best Of” voice overs, just different types of delivery and content that are interesting enough to draw your attention to.

This week, I’ve selected the Caribou Coffee‘s first-ever commercial, which features two marionette puppets. Caribou Coffee is the second-largest coffee retailer in the U.S (after Starbucks, of course), located primarily in the midwest and eastern parts of the country. For this 30-second spot, they’ve chosen to go the more humorous route, and I think the commercial is quite funny.

The commercial skewers the “Hollywood Starlet/Vain Pretty-Boy” stereotypes pretty cleverly with the witty dialogue and the well-designed and costumed marionettes, but the voices they cast are perfect as well. The male character has that dead-on Brad Pitt-Ashton Kutcher “too cool for school” delivery, while the female marionette perfectly captures that Paris Hilton-Megan Fox style of blase’ trendiness. What’s especially noteworthy is how animated (pardon the pun) the two puppets appear to be when, if you watch them closely, their faces are actually moving very little. All of the character and humor of the two primary characters are coming from the voice over deliveries.

I also want to point out the “announcer” of the piece. While this would be an easy place to an inject a deep, male announcer-style voice to sing the praises of Caribou Coffee’s hot chocolate, instead the voice belongs to a friendly, conversational female voice. In fact, the announcer’s voice is warm, smooth, and–dare I say it?–creamy. Hmm… sounds kind of like their hot chocolate, doesn’t it? Or at least that’s the impression I get when I hear her voice and see a mug full of steaming hot chocolate at that same time.

All in all, this commercial spot from Caribou Coffee is a fun, effective, humorous commercial that really comes together thanks to some dynamite VO work.

It’s a short week here at Voice Coaches due to the Thanksgiving holiday, however, I wanted to leave you with something to keep you warm over the weekend besides turkey and stuffing, so today I’m going to share a little Thanksgiving humor, some motivational thoughts, and a little bit of news as well.

First off, I want to tell you about a new blog feature that we’re going to be launching next week called “Voice Overs of the World.” In addition to my weekly doses of bloggery, inspiration and (I hope) humor, every week we’re going to be looking at a new voice over, whether it be from a commercial, a movie or TV show, a video on the internet, or what have you. These aren’t all going to be the “Best Of” voice overs, just different types of delivery and content that we think are interesting enough to draw your attention to. And don’t worry, we’ll have video clips right in each blog post so that you won’t have to go hunting all over the internet to track down the videos we’re talking about. It should be a cool and fun (and informative) new weekly feature, and I hope all you regular blog readers will get into the spirit of it and share your thoughts and comments on the clips each week!

I know it seems a little obvious, but since the theme of today’s post is Thanksgiving, I would feel remiss if I didn’t talk about a basic aspect of marketing yourself as a voice actor: thank you notes. It’s very important to remember what a huge impact a quick, personal thank you note can have when you’re marketing yourself. It can be an actual thank you card, a postcard, or even just a quick note or letter, but they’re a great way to make a positive impression on the people you’re marketing yourself to. And there are more opportunities to utilize thank you notes than just after you’ve completed a job (although, of course, you should absolutely send thank you notes to everyone you work with on a professional job.) You should also send a thank you note to follow up with someone who’s listened to your demo, or to anyone who’s referred a job or a potential lead to you. Let’s face it; everyone likes to get a nice, heartfelt thank you card in the mail, and it’s a really effective way to keep yourself in contact with a potential VO employer.

Finally, I’d like to leave you with two quotes that I think are appropriate for Thanksgiving and the spirit of positivity that is so uplifting at this time of year:

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

- John F. Kennedy

“An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.”

- Irv Kupcinet

From everyone here at Voice Coaches, we hope you all have a wonderful, happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday!

What I mean by that is that while clearly these aren’t the voice actors’ normal speaking voices, they’re also not celebrity impressions or weird, wacky voices that only someone like Mel Blanc, Harry Shearer, or Seth MacFarlane could produce. Instead, they’re mostly just slightly affected voices that, due to the delivery and the script, have a tremendous impact.

Take the “giant” in this next commerical, for example:

That’s not a traditional “character” voice. Instead, it’s a voice actor who (presumably) already has a deep voice, who delivers his lines with a deep breathy tone, and adds a bit of a snarl to his voice. This is the type of delivery that any voice actor with some creativity can deliver. Likewise, the eagle in the piece doesn’t really have an accent or a particular voice quality; instead, the producers of the piece simply cast someone with a higher-pitched voice who exudes a lot of energy and attitude. Yet, when you watch the commercial (or any of the three commercials, for that matter), your first instinct is to consider these “character” voices.

My point is that a lot of people try to put too many different voices on their demo, when that’s not really their strength. If you do character voices, that’s terrific; your demo should reflect that. And of course, you clearly want to try to have as much range on your demo as you possibly can. But sometimes that range isn’t about being able to do a killer British accent or George W. Bush impression. It’s about using the voice you have to the best of your ability. Instead of trying to push your voice to do things it can’t do, focus instead on trying to get the most out of what it can do. Stretch not just your voice but your delivery to the fullest range of your talent. That’s what a good voice over demo should be comprised of.

Because you never know when you might get called upon to play a dolphin, or a giant, or even a piece of cheese. And who knows what any of them really sounds like anyway? Maybe they sound exactly like you!

I’m fascinated by obscure bits of history. The Boston Molasses Disaster? I’m there. The fact that the first successful parachute jump in history happened on my birthday in 1919? Cool!

So I found the Great Blue Norther of 11/11/11 quite an interesting piece of forgotten history. It turns out that exactly 98 years ago today, a freak storm front moved across the midwestern part of the country that resulted in some of the most extreme weather changes in history. For example, Springfield, Missouri hit midday temperatures of 80 degrees, and finished the day with temperatures of 13 degrees. That’s a 67-degree drop in one day! It was the first time since records had been kept that the record high and record low were broken in the same day.

That kind of change reminds me of what it’s like to market yourself as a voice talent. In what seems like one day, you can go from a record high to a record low. In actuality, marketing yourself is a constant effort, and you never know when those efforts are going to pay off. In some cases, it can seem to come all at once. One of my co-workers is actually in the midst of being almost overwhelmed by the amount of voice over jobs he has on his plate right now. Up until a month ago, however, he hadn’t done a professional job in about two months. Record low, meet record high.

I know many, many working voice actors who go through similar “feast or famine” periods in their marketing efforts. Unfortunately, some of them get discouraged during the “record low” periods and forget that there can be a “record high” right around the corner. If weather can change by 67 degrees in a single day due to a freak storm, who’s to say the same thing can’t happen to you? You’d be surprised how common it is for voice over actors to go through long stretches where they can be either incredibly busy or where it seems like they’re sitting around twiddling their thumbs for days on end. The important thing to remember is to make the most of your time. If you’re in a cold snap, why not use that time to try some new marketing efforts and send out some more demos?

Instead of looking at a slow period as a reason to quit, try using it to get motivated and turn the downtime into a way to create future work for yourself. You never know when you might find yourself in the middle of an extreme temperature change and find the winds blowing in your direction.

Some of you may have already noticed this, but it’s football season.

Now, I happen to be a big football fan, but I also happen to be a big San Francisco 49ers fan. The problem with that is that I live smack dab in the middle of New York Giants territory. Yep, most of my friends, my co-workers, and even my wife are all Giants fans. The Niners are hoping to end a six year losing streak this season (and that’s a big “if”), but even through all of the pain and suffering of the past six seasons, I’ve remained a die-hard fan. Surrounded by Giants fans who are constantly telling me that I should switch teams or give up on the Niners or become a Giants fan, I hold fast and stand by the team I’ve supported for over two decades.

I know I’m not alone in that. A lot of people are like me in that regard, supporting teams that have been perennially awful. Heck, even the Detroit Lions still have  fans. If a team gets out there and makes an effort, even if they lose people will still stick with them through thick and thin, no matter what their friends or family might say.

All of this football rivalry got me thinking about people who are starting out in voice acting. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve watched give up on their marketing efforts–many times after just a few months–because their friends and family aren’t supportive, or because those same people tell them that they can’t be successful. What boggles my mind is how somebody can stick with a losing sports team for year after year after year, but as soon as they come up against some adversity in real life, they throw in the towel. How does that make sense?

So stick with your team; this time, the team is you. If there are people around you who are naysayers, just put them in the same category as the people who make fun of your favorite sports team. After all, it took the Boston Red Sox 86 years to win a World Series, and I don’t know of a single fan in Red Sox Nation who didn’t stick by them throughout it all.

If sports fans can stick by a losing team for eight decades, don’t you owe it to yourself to do the same?

After over 5,000 live television appearances and countless pies to the face, comedy legend Soupy Sales has passed away at the age of 83.

Best known for his comedy routines including White Fang (the meanest dog in the United States) and Black Tooth (the nicest dog in the United States), the pie-in-the-face gag, and his seven-year stint on “What’s My Line?”, Mr. Sales was also quite skilled behind the microphone. In the mid-’60s, he released two comedy music albums that were Top Ten hits. He also created the voice of the famous video game character Donkey Kong for the 1980′s animated series “Saturday Supercade,” where he worked alongside such voice over legends as Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, and Nancy Cartwright.

Later in his career, Sales took his skill behind the mic into radio, joining WNBC-AM in 1985, where he appeared (somewhat ironically) between Don Imus and Howard Stern. It was a return to his roots, as Sales’s career after college began with a two-year stint as a DJ before he moved into television.

Thanks for all the laughs, Soupy. Hope you enjoy that pie up in the sky.

Gary Cole is a world-recognized character actor. His resume is too extensive to list everything he’s done here, but some of his highlights include roles in Dodge Ball, The West Wing, Talladega Nights, The Brady Bunch Movies, Pineapple Express, Desperate Housewives, In the Line of Fire, and much more. Of course, his most famous role is probably as Bill Lumbergh in the cult classic Office Space.

What’s less well-known is that Mr. Cole is also a very busy voice actor, working on several hit shows such as Kim Possible, Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law, King Of The Hill, Justice League, and Batman Beyond. I recently had the chance to speak briefly with Mr. Cole and I asked him about his experiences working in the recording booth.

MS: How is it different working behind the microphone versus being in front of the camera?

GC: Well, a lot of times you’re working isolated. You know, very few times are you actually working with the other people you’re doing scenes with. The scheduling gets complicated, trying to get everyone together.

MS: Do you enjoy the work?

GC: It’s fun! Again, it’s creating a character, reacting to material… and the great thing is you can just roll out of bed and get there!

Leave it to Gary Cole to find the true joy in doing voice over work!

“Life Is Short. Opera Is Long.”

I saw that on a T-shirt once. It made me laugh out loud. Having never been a fan of opera (sorry, opera lovers), I got quite a kick out of it, because the idea of sitting in a theater and watching large costumed people sing in a foreign language falsetto at the top of their lungs for four hours seems somewhat tantamount to torture to me.

Of course, at the time, I missed a couple of the deeper meanings of that shirt. Looking back on it today, I see a couple of distinct messages at work in that shirt’s slogan.

“Life is short,” the shirt said. Boy, isn’t that the truth? Every day, I look back at the day before it and wonder exactly where it went and how it got there so fast. I’m trying desperately to hold on to the hope that I won’t one day blink and wake up and find that another 20 years of my life have gone by, although I suspect that’s inevitable. So I try (and sometimes I succeed more than others) to really live life unafraid. It’s not that I’m going out skydiving or quitting my job to follow a music group around the country, but I really have spent the past several years of my life trying to open myself up to new things, whether it’s trying a new food or a new genre of music on my iPod, or adopting a new attitude or taking on a new challenge. It’s not always easy, but I can tell you one thing it has always been: rewarding.

And that leads me to the “Opera is long” portion of the shirt. In all honesty, I still have yet to sit through an opera. The difference is, now if the opportunity ever arises, I might just give it a shot. Do I think I’ll fall in love with it and suddenly become an opera aficionado? Probably not. But I’ll never know for sure unless I try it out. I mean, really, what’s the worst that can happen? I lose a few hours to a new and potentially interesting experience that didn’t turn out to be as enjoyable as I hoped. That’s not the end of the world as far as I see it. So don’t be surprised if one of these days you run into me in full tuxedo and white gloves at some big opera event; I might just have decided that the time had come to try something new.

And, hey, maybe after all this, the shirt was just meant to be funny, and I’m purely extrapolating deeper meanings here. But I’m choosing to look at it as a reminder that the world’s a big, exciting place and that life is too short not to at least try to experience as much of it as I can.

After all, what have I got to lose?

A couple of days ago as I was driving in to the office, I passed a bunch of road signs for candidates in the recent local elections. These are the elections for positions such as county legislator, sheriff, town board, town clerk, etc. Frankly, I think a lot of people tend to ignore these elections, but this day, one sign in particular stood out in my mind. It was for a group of three candidates running for county legislator named Gordon, Savage, and Finn. Unfortunately, their sign read like this:

SAVAGE

GORDON

FINN

As soon as I saw that, all I could think of was an advertisement for some sort of crazy wrestler: “Toniiiight! You’ll be on the edge of your seat as Savage Gordon Finn takes on the likes of the Iron Eagle! Here he comes, ladies and gentlemen: Savaaaaaaaaaage! Gordooooooonnnn!!! Fiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

I’m pretty sure that’s not what the county legislator hopefuls were aiming for.

All of which leads me to my point: if you’re designing new branding (whether it be demo packaging, business cards, letterheads, thank you notes, or whatever) take a look at it very carefully before you send it out. I can’t tell you how many demos I’ve seen that have unintentionally funny, weird, or sometimes even obscene overtones because of an unfortunately chosen picture, e-mail address, or design element.

After you’ve finished designing your sparkling new demo CD cover, walk away from it and leave it for a day or so. Then come back with fresh eyes and take a look at it and see if anything seems a little bit… off. If not, you’re probably pretty safe. But if you think there’s a chance that any element of your demo could be misconstrued or misinterpreted, you might want to think about changing it.

After all, you don’t want people to think you’re a crazy wrestler instead of a voice over artist.

…Unless you’re both!

It’s not every day that the President of the United States decides to visit your town (unless you live in Washington, DC, of course.) But today, President Barack Obama came to the Capitol Region of New York (where Voice Coaches’ main offices are located) to deliver a speech about the economy. In the course of the speech, he made me feel inspired not only about our country, but also about what we do here at Voice Coaches.

Mr. Obama visited Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC), which is only about 20 minutes from where I sit writing this, and spoke to a group of students and local government and business leaders. In the opening minutes of his speech, Mr. Obama made a statement about the need for education; I think his words apply equally as well to the Voice Coaches organization as they do to the community colleges to which he was referring. He said:

“This is a place where anyone with the desire to take their career to a new level or start a new career altogether has the opportunity to pursue that dream. This is a place where people of all ages and backgrounds – even in the face of obstacles, even in the face of very difficult personal challenges – can take a chance on a brighter future for themselves and their families.”

Now, of course, I feel a sense of pride about what Voice Coaches does, but the statement that Mr. Obama made perfectly reflects how we feel about education here at Voice Coaches. Yes, voice overs can be a great way to generate additional income, but the field of voice acting is also a unique, fun, and exciting way to do so. For many people, getting into voice acting represents their decision to pursue a dream; not to just think about it and never get around to doing it, but to actually go out there and attain something they’ve wanted to do for a long time. President Obama clearly understands that people who go out and pursue their dreams are the ones with the best chances at controlling their own destinies and building a better and brighter future for themselves.

So the next time you need a little inspiration to get you going on starting a new project or pursuing a dream, just remember: it’s what the President of the United States recommends!

Patrick Swayze, the popular star of movie hits such as Ghost, Dirty Dancing, Point Break, Road House, Red Dawn, and The Outsiders, has passed away at age 57.

I don’t want to write a standard obituary here. There’s a wealth of information on him all over the Internet where you can read the details of his life, career, and death. And I’m not going to come on here and proclaim myself Swayze’s number one fan, although I was always very fond of him as an actor.

Instead, I do want to point out what kind of inspiration he turned out to be in his final years. Not only had he started to branch out into new areas of acting such as voice overs (he voiced a major role in Disney’s direct-to-video sequel hit, The Fox and the Hound 2), but he kept working all the way through his devastating battle with pancreatic cancer. For those of you who don’t know, pancreatic cancer is one of the most terminal forms of the disease, with a particularly high mortality rate. Despite announcing his illness in March of 2008, Swazye continued to act, starring in A&E’s hit cop drama The Beast. In fact, it’s reported that he refused to take painkillers while filming the 2009 series, unwilling to take the edge off of his performance.

I think it’s pretty impressive that a star of Swayze’s caliber, who could have easily spent his last few years just relaxing and enjoying life, instead chose to continue working in the art he’d been working in for decades. Critics were impressed by Swayze’s performance on The Beast, and audiences responded as well. This was a man driven to continue to perform to the best of his ability, despite the fact that he was battling a painful disease the entire time. It makes you realize how strong people can be when they put their mind to something.

Patrick Swayze was a talented actor, singer, and dancer and seemed like an all-around nice guy. His talent, drive, and determination will surely be missed by film fans around the world.

The British Invasion continues… some 40-plus years after it originally started.

Chances are pretty good that you’ve heard by now… The Beatles are back! Tomorrow, on 09/09/09, the world will be treated to two big, exciting new Beatles releases: The Beatles Remastered CD catalogue and The Beatles: Rock Band. For those of you who don’t know about these projects, let me fill you in a little.

The Beatles Remastered CD catalogue is exactly what it sounds like. Every original CD released by The Beatles has been remastered in stereo and is being released with arguably the best sound quality we’ve ever heard from the Fab Four’s original recordings. The Beatles: Rock Band is a new video game in the popular Rock Band series that allows players to play guitar, bass & drums, and sing along with The Beatles. Both of these releases have garnered a lot of media attention, and are expected to sell millions of dollars worth of units over the coming weeks and months.

Which got me thinking. If, let’s say, U2 were to put out an entirely remastered catalogue and a new video game, it would probably get a little attention from the press. They are, after all, currently one of the biggest rock bands in the world. But would a large number of radio stations across the country interrupt their normal programming for “U2 Days” like they’re doing for the Beatles? Doubtful. Would almost every major entertainment magazine feature them on their cover in the days and weeks leading up to the release? I don’t think so. Why? Because The Beatles were the biggest and most monumental music group in history, and I don’t think we’ll ever see another group come along that will come even close to achieving the kind of popularity, longevity, and cultural significance that they managed to.

So why bother, right? I mean, if you’re an up and coming rock band, and you know you’re likely never to be as big as The Beatles, why even try? What’s the point?

That’s an attitude that a lot more people adopt than you might think. A lot of people figure, “If I can’t reach the very top and be number one, then it’s just not worth even bothering.”

I don’t subscribe to that theory. Don’t get me wrong; I think you should strive to be the best that you can be, and of course you want to be as successful as possible. But I think it’s important to remember that there are varying levels of success. You need to decide what’s important to you. Is it important to you to be as successful as someone like, say, the late Don LaFontaine? If so, then that’s a terrific goal. But what if it’s more important to you to simply make a nice additional income from your voice over work? Or what if what’s most important to you is getting work providing voice overs for audiobooks, or museum tours, or awards shows?

Whatever it is, building success requires having a goal. That goal can be as big as they come, as small as you want it to be, or anywhere in between. But it’s up to you to decide what that goal is.

In fact, I think the Beatles said it best themselves in their song “Think For Yourself” on the Rubber Soul album:

The future still looks good,
And you’ve got time to rectify
All the things that you should.
Do what you want to do,
And go where you’re going to.

This morning, the Walt Disney Company shook up the entertainment and business world with the news that it is buying Marvel Comics for a whopping $4 billion. One of the largest entertainment companies in the world, Disney will now be adding a stable of over 5,000 characters to its ranks, including popular comic book and movie heroes such as Spider-Man, the X-Men, Captain America, the Hulk, Iron Man, the Avengers, Dr. Strange, the Fantastic Four, and many, many more.

The opportunities this merger presents to the entertainment world seem limitless, but the opportunities that will open up to voice actors are also nearly limitless.

“But,” you say, “all of Disney’s movies are headlined by big-name stars nowadays. How can this possibly help me?” Well, let’s take a look at just some of the projects that will benefit voice actors in the upcoming months.

Movies – Disney has long been the undisputed champion of animated movies, and by adding Pixar to its stable a few years ago, it cemented its status as the king of the animated realm. Marvel has been producing animated TV series for years, and has also been producing very successful animated movies that have been released via DVD for the past few years through a deal with Lionsgate Entertainment (that will now presumably switch to Disney). And while it’s true that many of Disney’s movies are headlined by big-name stars, the fact is that almost every animated film has a cast of dozens (if not hundreds) of characters, and only the top four or five are usually voiced by celebrity talent. That leaves a lot of other roles for regular voice actors to get. With Marvel’s characters added to Disney’s animation stable, the opportunities to voice characters in animated films is only going to grow as the Mouse House will surely increase the amount of animated superhero adventures Marvel produces.

Motion Comics – This is a fairly new technology, but it’s rapidly becoming quite successful. Viewed on a computer or devices such as an iPhone (whose App Store lists numerous motion comics for purchase), a motion comic takes an existing comic book, adds visual and sound effects to the panels, and utilizes voice actors to narrate the action and/or voice the dialogue from the word balloons. Since motion comics allow groups of people a chance to share in a comic book experience together in a way that traditional comic books do not (think of a family sitting around a TV and “reading” a Spider-Man comic book together), motion comics look like an innovation that is here to stay. Marvel just released their first motion comic recently (while rival comics publisher has already released several) with Spider-Woman #1, but look for the combined might of Marvel and Disney to increase that output dramatically. The best part? Of the motion comics we’ve seen so far, none are voiced by celebrity talent.

Theme Park Content – If you’ve been to Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure theme park, you’ve probably ridden the incredible Spider-Man ride. Not only does the queue area feature a large number of voice actors and animated segments that “set up” the storyline of the ride, but the ride itself utilizes quite a few voice actors. While it’s unsure if the Spider-Man ride will remain at Universal or move to a Disney theme park, what’s clear is that the Marvel universe is ripe for a theme park expansion. Might we see an entirely Marvel Disney theme park someday soon? Perhaps, and if so, I can guarantee there will be a dramatic need for voice talent.

Merchandise – Toys, games, books, and dolls based on Disney characters are typically aimed at young kids, so a lot of them talk and make noise. Marvel has already developed some children’s toys in conjunction with their more grown-up merchandise, but it’s a safe bet that Disney will “kid-ify” Marvel’s characters some more to expand that revenue stream. Talking toys = voice over work! Marvel’s characters are extremely well-merchandised, but nobody knows how to merchandise like Disney does!

There are endless other opportunities that this expanded entertainment empire will present for voice actors. The future is wide open, so go out there and grab a piece of it!

Though best remembered for his commitment to serving the people of the United States, he was also known as a powerful voice and public speaker. What many people might not know is that Senator Kennedy even recorded some voice overs, being featured as the narrator of Aaron Copeland’s “A Lincoln Portrait” at Symphony By the Sea’s opening night concert. He also provided narration for his own life story (“Teddy: In His Own Words”) on HBO, part of an informal series of documentaries on the Kennedys.

In addition to serving in the United States senate for over 40 years, Senator Kennedy was well known for his oratorical skills. Throughout decades of speeches and debates, Senator Kennedy was one of the most respected (and feared, by his opponents) public speakers in politics. Kennedy was part of a family known for its legendary speech-making skills. Both of his brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were widely praised for their oratorical skills.

One of Senator Kennedy’s most famous moments came when he gave the eulogy for his slain brother, Robert F. Kennedy, in which he said, “Some believe there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills. Yet many of the world’s great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and the thirty-two-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped.”

Perhaps Senator Kennedy’s outlook and speaking skills are best exemplified in the concession speech he gave in his failed bid to win the Democratic Party’s primary nomination against Jimmy Carter in 1980:

“Long after the signs come down, and the crowds stop cheering, and the bands stop playing, may it be said of our campaign that we kept the faith. For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”

Thank you for a lifetime of service, Senator. Rest in Peace.

Amelia Earhart

As I was posting some information on the Voice Coaches Twitter Page today, I came across this little tidbit of information:

• 8/24/1932 Amelia Earhart (Putnam – her husband is Putnam of Putnam Publishing) becomes the 1st woman to fly non-stop LA to New York.

Intrigued by this factoid, I decided to do some research and I found out that today is the 77th anniversary of Amelia Earhart becoming the first woman ever to fly a solo non-stop transcontinental flight. Not only did she set that record, but she also set the woman’s solo transcontinental speed record, flying 2,447.8 miles in 19 hours, 5 minutes.

But believe it or not, those aren’t the facts that impressed me. No, what impressed me was the fact that Amelia Earhart’s husband was George Palmer Putnam, a famous (and very wealthy) publisher. In fact, Putnam Publishing is still one of the largest publishing houses in the world today.

What that means is that Amelia Earhart was a woman that was married to a rich, famous publishing magnate and who decided to fly across the entire country all by herself in a time when women who were married to rich, famous publishing magnates simply did not do things like fly across the entire country all by themselves. Just 12 years after women in the United States got the vote, Ms. Earhart decided that instead of staying at home being a socialite, she would venture out into the relatively new (and rather dangerous) field of aviation and set numerous records.

Why would she choose to do that? I think the answer is very simple: she needed to. She wanted to. This was a woman with an adventurous spirit; it’s quite clear by her actions and her flying history and records that she would never have been happy doing anything other than what it was she was meant to do. She needed to fly, and she clearly wasn’t going to be happy being second best to anyone.

So if Amelia Earhart could go against what was socially accepted and venture out into a new and dangerous territory because she was driven to do so, what’s stopping the rest of us? Why is it so hard to find that time every day to spend a few minutes marketing ourselves? Where’s the spirit of adventure as we journey into an exciting new career path?

I don’t know the answer to those questions. I’m not sure why people let their marketing efforts somehow fall by the wayside, and then wonder why they aren’t getting more voice over work. I’m not sure how to remind people that it’s persistence and a “stick to it” attitude that gets you ahead in the voice over field (or any worthwhile endeavor, for that matter), or that success doesn’t happen overnight, and it only happens to those who really persevere.

But I can tell you one thing: If Amelia Earhart were alive today and decided to become a voice over artist, I have no doubt that she’s quickly become one of the most successful voice actors around.

Mike & Warren Record a Podcast

Starting next week, you can download a new Voice Coaches Radio podcast every week, and listen to the Voice Coaches team talk about Voice Over news, information, helpful hints, and resources, as well as bring you new interviews with professional voice actors and industry insiders!

In the first new episode, Voice Coaches Director of Marketing Warren Garling (along with myself, Director of Communications Mike Spring) talk about one of the questions we get the most often from voice over professionals and beginners:

How Much Should I Charge For A Voice Over Job?

We’ll share a lot of insights on how to set prices, different pricing options, when and how to be flexible, and give some great examples of different kinds of details that can affect how you price a job.

In upcoming weeks, some of the topics we’re going to cover include:

• Vocal Health Tips
• Preparing for your First Voice Over Session
• When and Why to Update Your Demo
• Sources of Opportunity
• Voice Over Talent Websites
• Voice over Techniques
• Using Social Media to your Advantage
• The Basics of Creating a Character Track
• Voice Over News

And Much More!

We’ll be launching the revamped Voice Coaches Radio in the next week, but in the meantime, you can click here to hear some of our existing podcasts, which feature interviews on voice acting and some fun class experiences. You can also click here to subscribe to Voice Coaches Radio so you won’t miss a single episode!

What topics would you like to hear us talk about?

Our Podcast Alley feed! {pca-4462518ae48f78209641cb5f87e728d3}

But just four days before one of the most historical events in our collective history, there were just three guys sitting on a launch pad in a capsule smaller than a Hummer truck. Three men who had no idea if their rocket ship would be able to get them to the moon, who had no idea if they’d be able to land (and not crash) on the moon, and no idea if they’d be able to leave the moon and return to earth. All they knew was that they were going to give it their best shot.

Can you imagine that? Just picture sitting on top of one of the most combustible vehicles ever created, not knowing if you were going to succeed or fail, but going out there and doing it anyway, because you were more afraid of not trying than of failing. If that kind of courage isn’t inspiring, I don’t know what is. I guess that’s why they’re still celebrating the moon landing 40 years later.

It makes me wonder: were those astronauts some kind of superhuman heroes, or just people who truly had the strength of their convictions? Just imagine if everyone had the courage that those three men did; people would accomplish almost everything they set out to. Because in the end, while it’s true that you won’t fail if you don’t try, you also won’t succeed if you don’t try. If Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins had decided that they were too afraid to try and walk on the moon, the world might be a very different place today. What are you missing out on by not trying for something great?

After all, as the saying goes: “Shoot for the moon. If you miss, you’ll still land among the stars.”

American Masters • Ron Rifkin, Narrator

Family Guy • Seth MacFarlane as Peter Griffin

Robot Chicken • Seth Green as Robot Chicken Nerd, Bob Goldstein, Ponda Baba, Anakin Skywalker, Imperial Officer

The Simpsons • Hank Azaria as Moe Syzlak

The Simpsons • Harry Shearer as Mr. Burns, Smithers, Kent Brockman, Lenny

The Simpsons • Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson

It’s a pretty interesting category this year, in that five of the nominees are from animated shows, with one person, Ron Rifkin, getting the nod for narration. It’s also not surprising to see three of the cast members from The Simpsons getting nominated, as the show has been nominated for and won 12 Emmy Awards already for Outstanding Voice Acting. It’s also been nominated for an astounding 54 Emmy Awards over its 19-year run. Dan Castallaneta and Hank Azaria have both previously won Voice-Over Emmys, but this is Harry Shearer’s first nomination.

Popular on-screen actor Seth Green (Austin Powers, Without A Paddle) has also been doing an impressive amount of voice acting over the past several years. Although he’s best known as the voice of Chris Griffin on the popular animated series The Family Guy, he received his second Emmy nomination for the show he writes, directs, and produces, Robot Chicken. Robot Chicken is a stop-motion animated series that airs on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. The show is sort of a sketch comedy series created with action figures, and Green does voices for many different characters on the show, having done voice parodies of Harry Potter, George Bush, The Kool-Aid Man, Santa Claus, Mr. Rogers, Batman, Corey Feldman, Bill Clinton, Cobra Commander, Michael Moore, and Keanu Reeves, to name just a few. Green has also provided regular and guest voices for American Dad, Crank Yankers, and Batman Beyond.

Ron Rifkin is also a well-known film and television actor (Brothers & Sisters, Alias) who has been nominated for his one-time narration of PBS’ popular American Masters documentary series. The episode Rifkin narrated focused on Broadway legend Jerome Robbins, who Rifkin actually portrayed onstage in a theatrical production. The production marks Rifkin’s first major outing as a voice actor, so to be nominated for it is extremely impressive.

Finally, Seth MacFarlane is the animation juggernaut behind the creation of The Family Guy, American Dad, and the upcoming Cleveland Jones. As the voice of Peter Griffin, MacFarlane has created a character similar to Dan Castallaneta’s Homer Simpson that is equally as recognizable when you see him as when you hear him. The Family Guy also became the first animated series in nearly 50 years, (and only the second ever), to score a best comedy series nomination. The last animated series to do so was The Flintstones way back in 1961.

Congratulations to all of the nominees for your outstanding work, and we wish you the best of luck on the night of August 29th!

For a complete list of 2009 Emmy Nominees, click here: http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2009ptemmys/61stemmys_noms.php

Who do YOU think is going to win?

Just a few short months after the passing of voice over superstar Wayne Allwine, another legendary voice talent has sadly passed away. Comedian/Voice Actor Fred Travalena passed away on Sunday, June 28, 2009.

In addition to his impeccable impersonations (which included actors, politicians, musicians, and many, many others) Travalena was also a consummate voice acting professional. He provided numerous character voices for shows such as Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, Dinosaurs, Shirt Tales, Dragon’s Lair, and The Super Mario Brothers Show. He was also skilled in doing dialogue replacement for feature films, often replacing high-profile stars when they weren’t available to loop their own dialogue for edited-for-television versions. You probably heard Mr. Travalena without even realizing it in films such as Casino, Brazil, and Just Cause, as he often did dialogue replacement for stars such as Jack Nicholson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sean Connery, Robert DeNiro, Robert Wagner, and Joe Pesci, among others.

Best known for his work as a stand-up comedian and impressionist extraordinaire, Travalena was often called “The Man of a Thousand Faces” and “Mr. Everybody.” He got his start with numerous comedy and impression appearances on shows such as The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Mike Douglas Show, The Merv Griffin Show, and Late Night With David Letterman. Travalena also became a staple on various game shows in the 1980s, even hosting his own show for a while.

Fred Travalena was an incredibly talented man, and we’re saddened to see him go. His comedy and impressions will live on, while the voice over field has sadly lost another great talent.

Rest In Peace, Fred.

Links:

To be linked to “Late Show With David Letterman”:

To be linked to “The Merv Griffin Show”:

To be linked to “Shirt Tales”:

Mr. Allwine is best known for playing the voice of Mickey Mouse for over 30 years. After Walt Disney retired from the role in the 1940s, the voice of Mickey was taken over by Jimmy MacDonald, who eventually trained Allwine in the 1970s, making Allwine only the third person to portray Mickey Mouse on a regular basis. He is survived by his wife, also a prominent voice actor, Russi Taylor, who has portrayed Minnie Mouse since 1986. The couple was well known for not only voicing Mickey and Minnie Mouse, but also embodying all the best characteristics of the pair. They were both awarded a Disney Legend award in 2008, and it’s well known among the voice acting community that Wayne Allwine was an extremely kind, warm, and very well-liked gentleman who was delighted to take time out to be interviewed about his craft.

An acclaimed sound effects editor, Mr. Allwine inherited the job as the voice of Mickey in 1977. In his role as Mickey Mouse, you’ve heard Mr. Allwine in Disney movies and TV shows such as The New Mickey Mouse Club (1977-1978), Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983), The Prince and the Pauper (1990), A Goofy Movie (1995), the Kingdom Hearts video game (2002), Mickey, Donald, and Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004), and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (2006-2008), among other things. He also continued his sound effects work well into the 1980s.

It’s been a tough couple of years for the voice acting industry. It was just September 1st of last year that we lost Don LaFontaine, the voice behind thousands of movie trailers and probably the single most well-known voice actor around. Now, with the passing of Wayne Allwine, another voice acting legend is has stepped away from the mic. Fortunately, Mr. Allwine’s passion for his work will live on for generations to come in the form of the numerous Disney cartoons, movies, and television shows that he provided Mickey’s voice for.

Rest in peace, Wayne. You will be missed.

During my fairly ordinary morning routine of reading the news on CNN online while installing a bunch of new software the folks at Sweetwater just sent me, I noticed an eye grabbing story:

10 Jobs That Are Cooler Than Yours!

I quickly clicked on the link thinking to myself, we’ll see what these overly informed news-types consider to be “cool”.

Well, right there in the list somewhere between Food Critic and Video Game Tester, was Voice Actor! CNN somehow decided that our of every possible vocation, Voice Acting was one of the top 10 for cool factor.

They went on to suggest that an average Voice Actor earns $47,000.00 annually… more if an individual has a unique voice.

And keep in mind, most successful Voice Actors accomplish this in far less than 40 hours per week!

Now THAT”S cool!!

Check out the story at CNN.

I’m off to have a super cool day!

Cheers!

David at Voice Coaches

Attendees from across the US and Canada joined some of the most influential professionals in our industry for a day-long series of presentations, expert panels, and one-on-one advice.

Though many former and current Voice Coaches students were in attendance from as far away as California, New Mexico, Arizona, Georgia, Texas, and Florida, we want to give special thanks to Voice Coaches Student turned professional voice actor Jonathan Stull, who traveled all the way from Wasilla Alaska to attend the event!

Presenters and panelists included Legendary Voice Actor Rodney Saulsberry, Voices.com founders Stephanie & David Ciccarelli, Award winning audio book producer Dan Bostick, Home recording expert Mark Magdich, Television, film, and voice actor Evan Farmer, Super agent Billy Serow, Visual marketing expert Dan Dinsmore, Producer and trainer Dave Goldberg, Communication and marketing expert Jay Silverman, and more.

In addition, experts in vocal health, visual marketing, social networking, home recording, and conventional marketing, were on hand along with Voice Over Xtra founder and former student John Florian, and representatives from Voices.com to answer questions during seminar intermissions.

Attendees enjoyed catered breakfast, snacks, lunch, and beverages all day provided by our exceptional friends at Mallozzi’s Catering.

For the first time, we formally invited one of our charities, the SPCA to join us. I am proud to say that Voice Coaches students and friends raised more than $2000.00 for the group in less than 8 hours.

Anna and I were fortunate to have a late post-event dinner with most of our presenters and I am delighted to say that every single one of these professionals were very impressed by YOU our students.

After an exhausting month preparing for this event… We are a bit sad that it’s over! We do want to sincerely thank our entire team at Voice Coaches, and all of our special guests and presenters who were willing to invest their own valuable time to share information.

Most of all however, we want to extend our most sincere thanks to our clients across the US and Canada for trusting us to assist you. You make it possible for us to do something that we truly enjoy… and we are dedicated to doing the same thing for you!!

Until next year… Thanks!

David and Anna Bourgeois

Voice Coaches

Marketing and Communication Expert Jay Silverman spoke about personal traits in effective marketing. The group then overwhelmingly welcomed award winning audio book producer Dan Bostick from Full Cast Audio. After Dan’s presentation, Visual Marketing Expert Dan Dinsmore, president of media firm Overit Media spoke about emerging opportunities that advances in technology have created in our field.

Next up are Voices.com Co-Founders Stephanie and David Ciccarelli.

Look for video podcasts at Voice Coaches TV later today!!

With more than 150 attendees and guests expected from as far away as Alaska, New Mexico, Georgia, South Carolina, California, and Florida, this event is not only a great place to learn, it has become an incredible opportunity for voice actors to network with one another.

For our team, and my wife and I, the expo is also a chance to reconnect with friends who just happen to be some of the top professionals in our field. Stephanie and David Ciccarelli from Voices.com will again join us. In addition to providing incredible professional opportunities for Voice Actors, Voices.com offers customer service that is unmatched in their industry.

Legendary Voice Actor and Author Rodney Saulberry gave a call yesterday to confirm his travel arrangements that will allow him to join us for our event and the VIP Mixer the evening prior.

Super Agent Billy Serow will join us and be on hand Friday Evening and Saturday to interject realistic perspective to those considering pursuing major commercial VO work.

We’ll welcome for the first time, Award winning audio book producer and voice actor Dan Bostick who is sure to be popular as the audio book field continues to expand.

We’ve asked our good friend and Media-Technology expert Dan Dinsmore to share his perspective on emerging opportunities for professional voice actors.

We are excited to have Producer-Trainer David Goldberg from New York’s famous Edge Studios on hand to provide perspective on A market VO.

Traveling from Fort Wayne Indiana to speak about Home Recording will be Mark Magdich from Sweetwater. Sweetwater is the worlds number one audio equipment retailer and mark is an absolute expert when it comes to Home Recording.

Marketing expert and voice actor Jay Silverman will add perspective on the benefits of reaching close to home to build opportunities.

Television host, film, and voice actor Evan Farmer will join our expert panel and answer questions about building success.

Other folks who we expect to be on hand include actor and Voice Coaches Student John James, Voice Over Xtra’s John Florian, and many successful former students and professionals.

We will post videos on Voice Coaches TV, and interviews at Voice Coaches Radio.

and now… no sleep till Sunday!

Just for something to think about, let’s contrast this with a similar story, the story of a Guy named Seth.
Seth grew up in the North East and took an interest in cartooning from an early age. He certainly could have put it off or pursued other things, but he went ahead with the support of his parents and did the thing he wanted to do.
For Seth, this ended up being a great choice.
Today, many of us know Seth MacFarlane for the results of his follow through. He is an Emmy Award Winning Voice Actor, Writer, Cartoonist and Composer. Perhaps best known for creating the animated series Family Guy and American Dad, MacFarlane won a Best Voice Over Performance Emmy Award for his work voicing the Stewie Griffin character from Family Guy.
MacFarlane’s production company Fuzzy Door Productions continues to develop a broad range of concepts and a recent deal with Fox Broadcasting is rumored to have made him the highest paid television writer and producer in history.

Again, there are no guarantees of success in any endeavor, but if you don’t pursue the things you want to do, let’s just say your odds go down hill fast!

Now, go do YOUR thing!

With the expense of on camera actors and the complications of shooting on location, more and more companies are opting to use animation as a component of their marketing strategy. For those looking to work in animation, certainly Disney and Nickelodion are great options, but a road far less traveled might be building success through emerging animation opportunities.

Both television and web are growing outlets for animation. The recent fast growth in these areas has dramatically added to the need for voice actors with character voice capability.

Voice Coaches Senior Creative Director John Gallogly recently learned this first hand when he was chosen to voice television and web animation for Cat’s Eye Pest Control.

If you’re a character voice actor, get out there and voice something!

DB