0669 – How Visuals Help Your Animation VoiceOver

2022.10.31 – 0669 – How Visuals Help Your Animation VoiceOver

Of course, attributes of animated characters are usually extreme and will have been drawn in conjunction with the story editor. Everything you see is a clue to your character’s voice:

·        a larger person might have a bigger and lower voice. One with a larger, fatter face may sound more ‘jowly’

·        a tall and thin person might have a thinner and higher voice

·        or, go against type and create an ‘opposite’ voice (with the director’s permission): perhaps a warm and friendly voice from a monster, a mouse who sounds far from ‘mousey’[1]

·        a big mouth, a small nose, buck teeth … all of those, as we have seen already, will affect the resonance of that character’s voice. Additionally, large teeth may suggest a person who finds clear diction difficult so perhaps that is a humorous or engaging sound characteristic that you can play on.

·        the phrase “the eyes are the window to the soul” suggests that you can understand a person's emotions and thoughts by looking into their eyes. So how are they portrayed in the image? Wide open in innocence? Slitty and sneaky? What is the emotion and attitude in those eyes? How can you portray that in the voice you create for them? If it’s wickedness for example, how can you display that attitude not only in your voice but also in how you bend and shape the words, the projection, pace and pause?

·        also take in the eyebrows and forehead: do they show frustration, amusement, curiosity or concern?

When you move your face, your voice changes – squash it up and you’ll hear what I mean. Drop your chin and let your lower lip fall and there’s another sound. Have a play with your face, your body … and your voice.

[1] Where in your mouth is the sound placed? Towards the back of your mouth or towards your nose? Where is your tongue? Use your jaw mouth and throat to develop these different voices. Play around at moving your sound back further to make you sound different, and then moving the sound to your nose to make you sound more nasally, adding more air for a breathier sound and so on – all to add a unique character trait to the voice.

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