overcast #032
Ricky and Phil continue their discussion of Acting, particularly as it relates to voiceover work for machinima. This second of two parts of coverage recaps info from part 1, continues the discussion, and finishes up with a live cold reading / coaching session.
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This Week’s Hot List (URLs from the show’s content):
- Music Credits for this show:
- Opening music is by Nine Inch Nails, from the album Ghosts, the track title is “26 Ghosts III,” from the third CD in that 4-disc set.
- Segue music is also by Nine Inch Nails, a remix by Overman from the album Year Zero, the track title is “Me, I’m Not.”.
- These musical selections are used under the Creative Commons license graciously chosen by the artist. Please consider supporting them with a music purchase if you enjoy what you hear.
- Machinima Film Festival 2008
- Sam Midwood and Harrison Heller: Winners of the Molotov Alva Machinima.com Contest
- Sam Midwood’s Overcast Promo Video: Being John Machinima
- Dragon*Con Film Festival 2008
- Topic: Acting, Part 2
- Video Mentioned: Family Guy recording session
- Garrick by Margaret Barton is a well-written biography of one of the world’s greatest actors.
- The Disreputable Profession: the Actor in Society by Mendel Kohansky is the only book I’ve found that actually tells the history of actors as a profession in society. Did you know that actors could not vote until the late 1800’s because they were not considered real citizens? You see, pretending to be something you are not (acting) is lying and lying is a sin. Kohanksy, an Israeli scholar, writes remarkably well; there’s not a single page that isn’t filled with fascinating information.
- The cold reading: a scene from “Hughie” by Eugene O’Neill
- Resources from last episode (still relevant here):
- Gamasutra - “Giving Games A Voice: Sony’s Dialog Manager Greg deBeer Speaks” Note the
comment by Eric Webb (another voice casting director) which are almost as good as the interview. -Ricky - Best single book on Modernism: Modernism by Peter Gay
- Stanislavsky’s An Actor Prepares is a good start with his theories, but be warned it’s cut and badly translated. Wikipedia entry on Stan is good.
- Historical anthology of writings on acting: Actors on Acting by Toby Cole
- Best source on the Group Theatre is: The Fervent Years by Harold Clurman
- Actor’s Studio has a myriad of references. A good history is: A Method to Their Madness by Foster Hirsch
- Best Single book on acting for the beginner (remember it’s geared towards the Theatre): Respect for Acting by Uta Hagen
- Wonderful alternative view of “Method” oriented acting is: The End of Acting by Richard Maltby
- Unfortunately, there are no Voice Acting books that aren’t geared towards the voice/cartoon industry, so I have none to recommend. Instead take a look at a new documentary on voice actors coming on DVD in July called “Adventures in Voice Acting”
- Also, good basic books on Oral Interpretation are a good source for how to use your voice in crafting a story.
