{"id":2975,"date":"2017-04-18T16:10:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T16:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/?p=2975"},"modified":"2017-09-25T14:37:32","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T14:37:32","slug":"the-abcccs-of-doing-character-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/performerstuff.com\/mgs\/the-abcccs-of-doing-character-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"The ABCCCs of Doing Character Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ABCCCs of Doing Character Voices<\/h3>\n \"\"<\/a><\/span>

Written by\u00a0Ginny Kopf<\/p>\n

April 17, 2017<\/p>\n<\/font>

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Finding the perfect voice for your animated or live action character will make him, her (or It!) jump off the page and come to life.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Explore freely and fearlessly with your voice.<\/h4>\n
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Try all kinds of things with your amazing vocal instrument. Play, play, play. You can create a voice that not only fits the look and personality of the character but is also memorable and thrilling to the listener.<\/p>\n

The ABCCCs of voice and dialects for doing characters are\u00a0CONTRAST, CONSISTENCY, and CLARITY.<\/p>\n

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CONTRAST<\/strong><\/h3>\n

2.\u00a0 Character voices that contrast will expose the characters\u2019 differences.<\/h4>\n
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Even if they are sisters from the same village, they need to contrast to show their different personalities. Ensembles need to contrast so we don\u2019t get them mixed up.<\/p>\n

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3.\u00a0 Explore contrasts in:<\/h4>\n
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Pitch range<\/strong> (make one use higher notes, another medium, another low), tone quality<\/strong> (make one breathy, another scratchy, nasal, whiny, pushed, richly resonant, etc.), rate<\/strong> (slow to fast speech), inflection<\/strong> (their melody, from monotone, to conversational, to using very enthusiastic, sing-songy range), rhythm<\/strong> (from smooth to choppy), diction<\/strong> (quite intelligently articulate, to casual, to sloppy speech), and volume\u00a0<\/strong>(make one soft, one medium, one loud).<\/p>\n

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4.\u00a0 Be very specific with your choices.<\/h4>\n
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Literally map it out, not leaving it to chance. Write down next to the characters\u2019 name what you are planning to do with their pitch range, tone quality, volume, etc.<\/p>\n

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5.\u00a0 Be sure to change the body language of every character.<\/h4>\n
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This means facial expressions, mouth shape, gestures, eyes, head moves, posture, and walk. Your characters will contrast visually if it\u2019s live action. Plus, even if for voice-over, changing the body actually triggers the voice. This will also help you to switch quickly from one character to the next. Make specific, bold choices.<\/p>\n

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CONSISTENCY<\/strong><\/h3>\n

6. Be consistent!<\/h4>\n
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Once you\u2019ve established a voice for the red-headed soldier, when he comes in twenty minutes later, he must sound like the same guy. This is consistency of character.<\/p>\n

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8. Pay attention to similarities in characters.<\/h4>\n
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Consistency also means you must score out how characters within the same family, species, and locality would speak. It has to make sense and not be forced. Just because you can do a really cool Australian accent, don\u2019t just throw it in there if the rest of the village speaks in a Brooklyn accent.\u00a0 Only do it if you can justify it in the script.<\/p>\n

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8. Tell the story.<\/h4>\n
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The point is not how clever or skilled or amusing you are:\u00a0 it\u2019s about telling the story through the characters. You don\u2019t want the voice to call attention to itself, at the risk of the audience\u2019s mind wandering away from the story to think about how cool you sound.<\/p>\n

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9. Don’t overload on character voices.<\/h4>\n
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Don\u2019t have too many wild and crazy dialects or voices either, or the audience will get confused and overloaded.<\/p>\n

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CLARITY<\/strong><\/h3>\n

10. Be clear with your words.<\/h4>\n
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This is an absolute. The audience must be able to understand you. What good is a funny character voice or thick dialect if they can\u2019t understand you?<\/p>\n

So, for characters that boldly leap to life off the page, be CLEAR, be CONSISTENT, and aim at CONTRASTS.<\/p>\n
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Need some advice? We\u2019ve got you covered.<\/h3>\n