Voice can tell a lot about a person's character, behavior, habits. Many experiments were carried out when it was necessary to recreate the image by voice. The results were different, but some qualities, such as communication skills, openness were determined quite successfully.
Any hero of a movie or cartoon has its own character, which is formed largely due to the voice, or rather, the manner of scoring. In some cases, it is the voice that gives the characters uniqueness and charm, makes them popular, carries this image into parody programs and practically forms a brand.
Given this fact, the primary requirement for the announcer when voicing a cartoon is the presence of acting talent, the ability to reincarnate internally, changing the timbre of the voice and manner of speech in such a way as to reveal the character of the hero,moreover, often a very difficult character.
Who voices cartoons?
Cartoon characters are most often voiced by well-known actors and musicians, for whom reincarnation is a daily activity, with well-defined diction, accustomed to the atmosphere of a recording studio. Actors who voice cartoons are not always easily recognizable by voice due to the deliberate change in timbre. In other cases, it is difficult to confuse the actor, for example, the character of Evgeny Leonov - Winnie the Pooh - is remembered exclusively with his unusual, but very expressive timbre of voice, so there are no questions about who voiced the cartoon beloved by many.
The selection of actors for dubbing and dubbing is always done carefully, often with humor, taking into account the recognizability of the actors, the features of their character, creativity and life.
In Hollywood, when dubbing cartoons, only first-rate stars are involved, often high requirements apply to foreign dubbing. This has a beneficial effect on the quality of voice acting, occupies the actors and creates an additional marketing reason for the promotion of the picture. If we talk about many famous cartoons, the roles were voiced by celebrities whose names were actively used in the announcements.
Modern stars in cartoon voice acting
The work of dubbing cartoons is not easy, but fun and interesting. Those of the famous actors and musicians who voiced cartoon characters consider this a happy opportunity to plunge into childhood again, others decided to please theirown children, and someone was interested in endowing a cartoon character with their own qualities.
For example, let's name a few modern cartoons in which celebrities voice their characters:
- "Madagascar" (Alexander Tsekalo);
- "Cars" (Dmitry Kharatyan);
- "Cars-2" (Leonid Yarmolnik);
- "Puzzle" (Ksenia Sobchak).
Alexander Pushnoy stands out among modern stars in his work with cartoons: "9", "Monsters on Vacation", "Ernest and Celestina" and others.
Ilya Lagutenko (Mumiy Troll band) has an interesting project in the cartoon Moana, in which he sang the song of a crab. The text was even slightly corrected, adding quotes from the musician's work.
The relationship between the actor and the character is interesting to observe when Nikolai Drozdov, a famous zoologist and host of the TV show "In the Animal World", is invited to voice roles. It is easy to guess what cartoons Nikolai voiced - about animals.
First cartoons with sound
The first trials of films with sound began in the late 30s of the last century, qualitatively changing the film industry. At the same time, an unknown young cartoonist, on a very limited budget, creates the first cartoon with sound, Steamboat Willie. This breakthrough made a legend out of the name of the novice cartoonist. Today he is known to the whole world - this is W alt Disney. In Russia, the first sounda cartoon is the picture "Street Across" about the rules of the road.
How to voice a cartoon in the studio
The process of creating an audio track takes place in a special studio. The work is not easy, because you need not only to pronounce the text, but also to follow the rhythm, follow the movement of the lips of the hero, while taking into account the context of the plot to include emotions when the character interacts with other heroes. To facilitate this process, a cartoon is shown on the big screen in front of the announcer, thereby immersing him in the atmosphere of the plot.
It is almost impossible to voice the entire cartoon without blots and digressions, so the work consists of duplicates, which are subsequently glued into one audio track.
So now you know where cartoons are voiced.
Voice Implementation
When creating a cartoon from scratch, and not when voicing already finished material, the actor has much more opportunities to reveal the character. The voice gives the character character, creates his personality, therefore, for high-quality scoring, the actor is not put in a very rigid framework. Moreover, if possible, they allow to participate in the formation of the scenario. So, when voicing Aladdin, the actor and comedian R. Williams supplemented the script with phrases that came to his mind.
If an actor gets used to the role, improvises, begins to reveal the character in his own way, creating a brighter image, such moments, in agreement with the director, are built into the script.
Initially, the actor is presented with a compressed video sequence, which is voiced instudio, then the audio track is analyzed and the animation is adjusted to the audio. The movements of the lips of the characters are synchronized with the voice acting according to the main phonemes that most clearly reflect the articulation. The sound is characterized by a special shape of the mouth, which is drawn in the character.
Modern animation uses video of the voice-over process to further develop the facial expressions of the characters, while the hero even becomes like an actor. For example, Donkey from the cartoon "Shrek" looks like Eddie Murphy, who voiced the hero.
It should be noted that these technologies are applicable when creating a cartoon in a modern studio using the latest technology, a team of professional animators.
How to voice at home
In this case, too, sometimes you need to overdub the existing material, but you need to remember that the quality of homework will never compare with the studio.
If you wish, you can voice the cartoon at home, for this you only need a computer with the necessary software and a microphone. In addition, it is necessary to exclude all kinds of extraneous noise, because. Even the slightest noise will spoil the whole work. Before voice acting, it is recommended to watch the video sequence very carefully several times and read the text, feel the character, choose the moments that need to be emphasized.
The need to voice a cartoon arises for various reasons (for example, translating a foreign cartoon, creating an author's humorous voice acting, creating your ownproduct), but, in any case, the process is very exciting and creative. At the same time, it is worth remembering that the quality of home voice acting is in many ways inferior to the studio version. If the cartoon is not planned to be shown in wide distribution, then this option is quite suitable.
Home Voiceover Equipment
You can't make studio recording at home, no matter what equipment you have, although a decent option for personal use is available with the usual equipment that almost everyone has:
- microphone;
- sound recording device;
- computer;
- special programs.
Home audio features
When overlaying sound on a video sequence that already has an audio track, you need to delete it in a special video editing program (programs for video editing, deleting audio tracks, video editing are suitable). Working with such a program does not require special training. If you have any questions, you can always ask for help in the instructions.
The second step after deleting the existing audio track will be to record directly, and then overlay the new voiceover on the video sequence.
To better get the voice into the plot, a video is played in parallel with the recording, so that the announcer better understands the speed of the plot development and orients himself in the flow of text and emotions. With this approach, the only negative may be the noise that enters the recording, making it lessquality.
Cartoons from other countries
When voicing a cartoon filmed in another country, you need to take into account the final audience, who will watch it and where. The cartoon is always very emotional, and the manifestation of emotions and feelings in different cultures always differs quite a lot. For example, actors who voice American cartoons often adapt them to Russian standards so that the character is perceived adequately by the audience, although the facial expressions and sound expression of emotions among Americans are more vivid and expressive.
