As a casting director, you’ve obviously spent and continue to spend a considerable number of hours casting voiceover artists. Have you ever paused to wonder what really contributes to the final decision? Of course, talent and skill play an obvious role. But, is there something more? Are there fixed elements that, if identified, might just make your job a little easier in the future?
Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to explore in this blog. But, before we do that, let’s get a glimpse of how the whole casting thing came to be.
A walk back on memory lane
Back in the day, during the “Golden Age of Film”, actors were selected for roles because they were signed to a particular production house. This would, naturally, include big names such as Paramount, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Columbia, 20th Century Fox, or Universal.
As a result, casting choices were limited. Fortunately, things changed when Marion Dougherty entered the scene. Dougherty’s choices were a bit unorthodox. She avoided superficial elements such as appearance. Thanks to her, we now have greats such as Clint Eastwood, James Dean, Christopher Walken, and Meryl Streep gracing our TV and cinema screens. All these artists were once considered “risky” because they didn’t “look the part”.
Casting
There’s a lot that goes into casting. In the case of a screen actor, you need to consider aspects such as their appearance, skill, presence, fit, chemistry with other actors, and even fee.
Then, we have the whole subjectivity part. It’s not all black and white with casting. For instance, if an actor isn’t available, you will obviously move onto the next best option. Similarly, the fee might affect your decision as well.
You’re probably wondering about the other, more important factors now. Well, the thing is that these factors might be treated differently based on who is doing the casting. Each casting director has his/her own perspectives through which they select their best options.
This is exactly what makes the whole process fun and exciting. You might have several options to choose from and they might all meet your expectations. In fact, it has very little to do with the artist and everything to do with the role they are playing or in this case, voicing.
Your interpretation of the screenplay and your idea of the final outcome also affect your decisions to choose a particular talent over another. The point being made here is that there is no hard and fast rule when it comes to casting. It’s all about the need of the hour and which talent suits the scenario and the requirements at the time.
In conclusion, casting is pure art.
ABOUT ROBERTA –
Roberta is a Professional AND award Winning International Voiceover Actor, as well as an accomplished on-camera actress and spokesperson. She lives in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area and is the owner of Roberta Kennedy Voice Talent and RK Productions, Inc.
She voices for companies around the world using her state of the art, broadcast quality studio. She’s hired for commercials, web demos and explainer videos, product infomercials, documentaries, promo/imaging, political ads, e-learning videos, podcasts, guided real estate tours, telephony/IVR projects, high profile corporate presentations, video games and character animation.
Her voice is described as: playful, contemporary, compelling, commanding, inviting, sultry and smooth. A hip edge with sophistication, bold, warm, interesting and engaging are also commonly used adjectives to describe her voice.
Her home studio is equipped with ipDTL, ISDN and phone patch capability with lightning fast turnaround times! A voiceover talent with over 20 years of voiceover acting experience, she offers a full range of voiceover services at highly competitive rates & will work with your budget to help you promote your business to new levels of excellence!
To request a personal quote or audition and/or to review more of her credits & demos, feel free to visit her website: www.robertakennedy.com – or mail her at roberta@robertakennedy.com. You can even give her a call on (408) 313-7202.