Chapter Title Goes Here—Footlight 12 point 1 The Art of Voice Acting The Art of oice cting fourth edition The Craft and Business of Performing for Voiceover James R. Alburger AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, UK © 2011 James R. Alburger. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. 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To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Alburger, James R., 1950- The art of voice acting : the craft and business of performing for voice-over/ James R. Alburger. -- 4th ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-240-81211-3 1. Television announcing--Vocational guidance. 2. Radio announcing--Vocational guidance. 3. Voice-overs. 4. Television advertising--Vocational guidance. 5. Radio advertising--Vocational guidance. I. Title. PN1992.8.A6A42 2010 791.4502'8023--dc22 2010023399 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com 10 11 12 13 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America Chapter Title Here v This edition is dedicated… To my business partner and the other half of The Voiceover Team, Penny Abshire. Thank you for your positive attitude; your expertise as a performance coach, director, and voice actor; and your dedication to maintaining the highest of standards in everything you do. And… To the many extremely talented voice actors, past and present, who have made their mark in the world of voiceover, and who freely share their knowledge and experience. Your support and encouragement of those students who have the passion for performing voiceover, and are serious, about mastering the skills of this challenging business is truly inspirational. Voice acting is the performing craft of creating believable characters, in interesting relationships, telling compelling stories, using only the spoken word. Mastering and applying the skills of voice acting will take your personal and professional communication to an entirely new level of effectiveness. James R. Alburger www.jamesalburger.com Chapter Title Here xiv Foreword By Beau Weaver One of the things that distinguishes human beings from our fellow creatures, is that we are animals who tell stories. In this digital age, the warm, personal connection of a flesh-and-blood person telling that story is more important than ever. At the heart of it, that is what voice acting is all about. Marice Tobias, one of the most sought-after Hollywood voice acting coaches, calls voiceover “storytelling with a point of view.” However simple this might seem, it’s much harder than it looks, which is why this book is so valuable. Across the modern media landscape, there are many different places where the interpretive talents of the professional voice actor are used. From old-school national radio and television commercial campaigns, trailers for feature films, documentary narration, to more contemporary audio books, website opens, interactive flash animations and mini-documentary webisodes, each genre and subgenre is actually it’s own very separate and distinct world. Each has very different players, conventions and rules of engagement. There may appear to be a unified field called “voiceover work” but it’s actually many different disciplines, with very little overlap. It’s much like professional sports, where all the players are athletes, but most specialize in only one sport, with precious few able to master more than one game. This book will help the beginner and journeyman alike to untangle the many related, but completely distinct, “games” in this business. And as the subtitle of this book points out, voice acting is an art, but it is also a business. While it is still true that on the east and west coasts, most national work is handled through talent agents and managers, gone are the days when a voiceover actor could simply play the role of artist. Today, increasingly, to be successful one must have much in common with the entrepreneur, wearing the hat of both actor and manager of your own career. Few people possess the sensibilities of both actor and marketer, but both are necessary to compete in what is now a global marketplace. Fortunately, James Alburger understands how to wear both of these hats, and has broken down each area in great depth for those who are new to the field and for veterans who are looking for ways to move their craft, and business to the next level. xiii xivxi The Art of Voice Acting In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell points out that his own research shows that in order to master any field of endeavor, from computer programming to playing guitar to basketball, at least 10,000 hours of practice are required. This has proven true in my own experience. A few years back, I knew a self-taught artist, who was invited to teach a beginner- level class in drawing at a community college. Though he was a great illustrator, he had no idea how to teach others. So he surprised himself when he heard these words come out of his own mouth on day one of his first class. He said: “Well, it’s going to take you about 10,000 drawings before you do anything that’s worth a damn… so, I guess you’d better get started.” The Art of Voice Acting is a great place to start. Beau Weaver www.spokenword.com ABOUT BEAU WEAVER: Beau Weaver is one of the West Coast’s perennial A-list voiceover artists, narrating trailers for feature films, network television promos, syndicated television shows, cable network documentaries, national radio and television commercial campaigns, and imaging for major market television affiliates and radio stations. He has had starring roles in animated series such as Superman and The Fantastic Four and narrates several popular documentary series for NatGeo, Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet. Chapter Title Here xv Preface James R. Alburger When I first began teaching voiceover workshops in 1997, I never dreamed that my workshop notes would evolve into the most popular, and what is considered by many the most comprehensive, book on the craft and business of voiceover. Upon completing the first edition, I knew I had only scratched the surface, but the thought that there would be a fourth edition never crossed my mind! Fortunately, with each new edition I have been able to expand the content to cover more and more aspects of this fascinating type of work. The business of voiceover is one that is in a constant state of flux. Although the fundamental performing techniques may be consistent, there are trends and performing styles that are constantly changing. As voice actors, we must keep up with the trends and maintain our performing skills in order to keep the work coming in. But the reality is, there’s actually a lot more to it than that. What you hold in your hands is a manual for working in the business of voiceover that will take you from the fundamentals of performing to the essentials of marketing… and everything in-between. Most books on voiceover talk about interpretation—how to deliver phrases or analyze a script, some actually teach “announcing,” and some are more about the author than the craft of voiceover. This book is different! This book was written with the intention of giving you a solid foundation in both the craft and business of voiceover. Within these pages you’ll find dozens of tools and techniques that are essential for success in this area of show business—some of which you won’t find anywhere else. With this book, you will learn exactly how to use these tools, not just in voiceover, but in everything you do. Unlike some other books on voiceover, I don’t focus on how I did it, or go into boring stories of my voiceover career. No… I’ll show you how you can do it! Every story and every technique you’ll read in this book is here for a reason—to teach you exactly how some aspect of this craft and business works, and how you can make it work for you.