Voice Acting

Mastering Characters

An Extended Deep Dive into Characters for Animation and Games

Summary Summary

Mastering Characters is instructed by Dr. Elley Ray, an award-winning actor, writer, director, producer, casting agent, teacher with over 40 years experience performing in over 300 productions. She is a juror at the Emmy Awards and a professor at California State University & Senaca U of Toronto.

This course is designed to provide participants with a recreatable catalog of characters with the ability to perform and sustain them.

Participants will obtain specialized insights in the animation genre of voiceover along with strategies and tactics to advance their craft.

12-weeks, 2 hours each week

This class is 12 weeks and will attempt to have multiple timeslots to accomodate all timezones. Each class session is 2 hours, but some classes may go over.

Video Recordings

This class is recorded so you'll be able to keep up to date even if you miss a session.

30 Credits

This class takes 30 credits to enroll.

Instructor, TA, and Peer education

This class has an instructor, a TA, and peer run assistance to help answer your questions. This class' format is feedback-based.

Small Class Size

This class' format is feedback-based. There are a limited number of students that can enroll in this class.

Dedicated Weekly Events

This class had a dedicated event specifically designed for it. This is in addition to the normal Closing Credit events.

Outline

Compelling characters

Objectives

  • Knowledge on how to allow your unique, authentic signature voice to develop
  • The ability to apply the principals of vocal health and how to maintain optimum strength for lengthy recording sessions
  • Exercises routines to strengthen and stretch the muscularity of the vocal instrument
  • The confidence to take written scripts and discover the response inherent to the communication characters.
  • The ability to perform and sustain the 10 basic vocal placements used in character work
  • A performable, re-creatable catalogue of characters

Pre-requirements

Previous voice acting knowledge and experience strongly recommended. Consider Voice Acting 201 for fundamental skills prior to this course.

Voice Acting

The ability to add discovery and emotional opinion to their scripts and make the audience key in the equation in varied genres of animation is one of the main takeaways.

Beyond Giving Life to Characters

  • Goals: A living personal vision board which will act as a map to help the actor manifest their goals in the months to come.

  • Auditioning: The opportunity to perform professional grade Auditions in several chosen genres of animation.

  • The confidence and discipline to tackle the professional market of animation voiceover.

  • Further study: Ongoing homework and audition assignments beyond the class requirements.

  • A working knowledge of the professional studio, their equipment and how to use it.

Dig Deeper

Starting Proficiency

  • Keeping the most important Key to storytelling in mind
  • Fearless sense of Play at the Microphone
  • Team building exercises, confidence, Self-Worth, and Possibilities
  • Awaken your Magician, Alchemist and Authentic Genius
  • Human communication as the human connection

Unique Concepts

  • Improv Games and the Theta Brain
  • Decoding language and the application of emotional, mental, physical, intellectual, spiritual and musical actions
  • What is PLAY - your Theta Brain and the Infinite Creative Self
  • Inanimate Objects and the other-worldly
  • Transcribing and voicing your favourite Villain’s, Hero’s, Sidekicks and Other’s
  • Use of Musicality in expression

Tactics & Exercises

  • Tactile, visual, taste, olfactory: exercises to insight emotional responses
  • Puzzles: How to break rules and think outside the box
  • Meditation and the use of subliminal success
  • The use of vocal variables to create change up’s in expression around prepositions
  • Discovery: The key element to vibrant response in expression
  • Storytelling: Our longing to connect to a community

Further Mastery

  • Advanced Exercises to Awaken your Strengths
  • Mic Technique
  • Studio Etiquette
  • How to develop the unwritten questions that will help actors respond with the script & copy breakdown
  • Qualifying statements- lists, poetic phrases and discarding punctuation
  • Debunking the monologue
  • What is a vocal assist, a vocal ‘ism’, how to use the question, and engage listeners
  • Keeping track of your characters
  • Obtaining agents

Standard Member Benefits

What you'll get as a Closing Credits member

Every course comes with extra benefits just for being a member of Closing Credits

Instructor Led Courses

6 to 12 week courses with an industry professional to guide you through.

Closing Credits Community

Access to our private Discord, forums, email lists. Work through fun and interesting challenges with your future colleagues and network.

Weekly Events

New Events, Workshops, Webinars, Panels, and Exercises Weekly.

Material From All Courses

Your interests change, and Closing Credits changes with you. Read and watch all the material from all courses.