I decided to practice with my voices since I still needed a voice for the ship (just in case we didn't just put a filter over my voice). I also decided to do the same for the opening narrator since sadly we haven't heard back from John Tams.
Looking back at the list of voices I had written before, I ad libed them before deciding to write my thoughts about them, so as to determine which ones would be best. After all, I want to show off a wide range of voices that, although people may be able to tell comes from me, will still be able to believe that it belongs to a certain character. During this, I also put a cup to my mouth so as to play around with a possible echoing effect.
It was just as well that I decided to do this today since, I sadly discovered that, although I have a decent range of voices that work, none of them suited the ship or narrator. After all, as I found out in my book on voice acting ('Voice for Hire' by Randy Thomas and Peter Rofe) certain voices are better suited for other roles.
I decided to list my results below so as to be clearer.
- High pitch: Although the voice is distinct and works well with an echo, it also sounds too chipmunk like. Therefore, this one would only really work if the cut scene was for a cartoon or children's game.
- Low / bass: I decided not to work on this voice, since I also found that it sounded too much like the captain putting on a deeper voice and also that the golem is already cast to be deep.
- Heroic: Perfect for a swashbuckler, but not for a sci-fi character. It also sadly fell apart when I was meant to say the ship's lines in a worried voice / lacking in confidence voice.
- Mad scientist: A favorite among friends of mine, since it is so different and creepy to my own. These reasons were also the ones that made me decide against it, since if either the ship or narrator talked like this then the audience would instantly be thrown off.
- High crazy: Although one of my more favourite voices, I found when practicing it again that it was an octave away from the voice I have already for the Mechanic, only slightly higher. Therefore, I felt it best not to include it.
- Cockney: Already this voice was too close to the 'fat man' one I choose for the mechanic. Thus I decided to drop it.
- Stupid: Although a distinct and fun voice similar to Hodor's from 'Game of Thrones', or Patrick from 'Sponge Bob Square Pants', I recognised that it would feel out of place with the rest of the cut scenes more serious nature.
- Depressed: Instantly I recognized that this voice would not suit either the ship or narrator as both would need expressive voices, whereas the depressed one can only muster one (as the name suggests).
- David Bowie: Surprisingly working better with the echo effect as it sounded rather robotic, thus maybe suiting the ship. However, it's more of a silly interpretation, since I lose it on higher lines where the character is meant to be stressed (which happens a lot).
Overall, I plan to talk to my team mate about this as soon as possible as, although I really wanted to show off my voice acting for a project, it seems that I may have chosen the wrong genre / audience. Had I done children's fantasy perhaps I would have been ok. However, as it is I have young adults sci-fi and thus my other voices don't suit them. Therefore, I might recommend to my partner that we admit we did not think of our range sooner and will instead call for help from our colleagues.
Despite being disappointed that I will only be voicing two characters, when I recognise that I wanted to do a project that showed off my range in the first place, I understand that it is for the better to have a stronger overall project to show off than one no one will want to listen to. Therefore, I can learn from my mistakes and next time I do any voice acting make a list of both my voices and which genres they fit best so as to avoid this problem.
* After doing the above I then wrote down the frame numbers on the script, so as to allow my partner to attach the audio files correctly to the overall story reel.
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