Digging Deep for Powerful Performances

VO BOSS

Have you ever wondered what the fundamental differences are between stage acting and voiceover acting? In this week's episode, Anne and Lau discuss the transition from stage acting to voice acting. The Bosses dive into the critical shift that happens when transitioning from the vastness of a stage to the intimacy of a vocal booth. Anne and Lau uncover the critical components of a stellar voiceover performance. With Law Lapides, we delve into the importance of displaying confidence and command in your acting space, to add credibility and appeal to your work. We discuss the art of 'acting between the sentences' and how connecting with your audience through energy and enthusiasm can create a powerful story.
Transcript
Intro

It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO Boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.

Anne

Hey everyone, welcome to the VO Boss podcast and the Boss super power series. I'm your host, Anne Ganguzza, and I'm here with the wonderful Lau Lapides. Hello, Happy Saturday. Happy Saturday, Hello Lau. Hello Anne, and how are you today, Lau?

Lau

Oh, I'm excellent. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. All right, that's ridiculous, Everyone's like. Why are you doing that?

Anne

Today's Bad Acting by Anne and Lau. You know, what's so funny is I get this question all the time should I take an acting class if I want to do voiceover? And I always have to say yes. I think an acting class is amazing because we are voice actors. That's why they call us voice actors. However, there are some fundamental differences in, let's say, the different types of acting stage acting on camera and voiceover. I think we should have a discussion on that today.

Lau

That's an excellent discussion, and you and I both work with a ton of people who are coming off the stage Absolutely, or to a microphone, yeah and need to figure out how to translate all of their knowledge, all of their training, all of really their fabulosity onto a microphone, yeah.

Anne

Because you're in a different space, number one, and especially because in voiceover you're in a space where you are by yourself, and so the acting has to happen, I think, much more internally, maybe focused, instead of on a stage. You've got an audience, you've got to project. There's just so many things when you're on stage, and I think you're always much grander because people in the back row have to be able to feel the effects of your acting on a stage.

Lau

And the point of training I mean traditionally the point of training in live theater is to reach an audience without microphones. I mean only in modern times have we been mic'd up. But, 2000 years ago in ancient Greece, in the side of a mountain, in front of 2000 people, you didn't have any microphone.

Anne

You had your diaphragm. That's what you had.

Lau

And the natural echoes of the mountain. So, yes, I think it's really important to be able to take acting and to learn different methodologies, different techniques. Yes, to be able to create an emotional reservoir to select from, but to understand that there is a modulation that needs to happen when you're in a technical context, like a vocal booth or in front of a camera too.

Anne

Yeah, now you've done both. And so what would you say are the fundamental differences from being on a stage to being behind the microphone in a booth?

Lau

Well, you know, one of the things that I know as a coach you hear this all the time is students will come in and say oh, I know, my director said I need to be small, I'm too big, I'm too large on a stage, you know, my gyrations are large, my sound is large, my energy is large. Okay, how do I get small? And I like to say let's switch that vocabulary up, because it's not really about big and small, so much is. It's about the context of your situation. So think about this, rather than large and small, think about what is private and what is public.

When you're private, your natural instincts is to get a little quieter and to soften your physicality and to bring your energy in and to do all the things that we naturally do in a code. Switching situation versus, if I'm out in the park and I'm trying to get my kids attention and I see my friend across the park and I got the group there, I'm going to get really loud, I'm going to get a little bigger because I'm trying to transmit across a larger context. So I like to start in from a place of privacy versus public. And now in these times, in contemporary times, we are private, so to speak, we're private, meaning we're in a room, we're in a little room talking to someone when in Shakespeare's time, there was nothing private. You always had people around.

Anne

And I think, though, bosses, we can't mistake private for being quiet, like quiet in terms of your energy, or quiet in terms of even your voice, because I'm not saying you need to be loud, but you don't want to be super quiet or careful either. The microphone is going to be picking up every nuance of your acting, and I think that when we say to maybe make it private, we're thinking in terms of context, of where you are. So if you're on a stage and you need to kind of reach the people that are far away, from a distance, at the back of the audience, I think that's a different energy than here in Arbus right, where I still feel like if you're doing animation or you're doing video games, you do have to have the energy to go through lots of different physical, maybe altercations. Whatever might be happening in the scene, you still have to react with the same energy. It just may not be the same volume.

Lau

I'm glad you're saying that we're in energy, because I think that people can note being more intimate or more private or, in that scenario, smaller if you will, as being less energy, be quiet and it's not, yeah, no, it's probably more energy, right the? Truth is it can take more energy.

Yeah it can be more exhausting to keep the intimacy held versus to just let it all out, right, right. And so that's kind of fascinating when you think what do I use that for? Well, if I'm doing an Advil commercial, or if I'm doing an episodic where someone is in murder, or if I'm doing this, how do I hold the intimacy and the intensity of the scene? Yes absolutely, and it's like within all your muscles. Your muscles are holding kinesthetic memory of emotion, sure.

Anne

I also big, big difference as well is those scenes are no longer necessarily in front of you or on the set, or bouncing off a colleague or a fellow actor. They are now all like in your head. They are all in your imagination, and so you are reacting to those scenes through your own imagination, and I think when you are behind the mic, you've got to really be energized with your imagination to create a scene and not just create the scene. I think it's so easy to create a scene, but it's really difficult to stay in the scene, especially when you're sitting here behind the mic by yourself, right, and so to keep that scene throughout your storytelling is something that I think a lot of voice actors struggle with Is a huge control factor involved, and I don't like to think of it as a control.

Lau

We don't really control very much. But how do we manage a scene, how do we manage a script, or manage the longevity of copy and hold on to the closeness, the intimacy, the quietness, if you will, while being full-powered, intense, high-energy, fully connected? That's where your training comes in. I mean, that's really where it is.

Anne

And in addition to that, is being able to be in a scene and continue that scene and actually have movement in the scene throughout your script. Right, you've also got to create that scene. There's so many times that we will get a script and there'll be nothing else except for the script in front of us. I speak from a place of doing a lot of not just commercial, but doing a lot of corporate narration, where a lot of times people are like it's talking about corporate responsibility. What scene is that? How do I create a scene? And I'm like well, you have to really think of a logical scene in which you would be responding with the words that are sitting here in front of you and that for a lot of students becomes almost like oh my gosh, I can't even think to that level. But if you do think to that level, and especially because we are storytellers and I think we need to be storytellers no matter what we do, I mean, I think there's no way that any one of us can get away with just reading a script nicely anymore. We just can't. Maybe we could do that before. And I'll tell you what it still happens. Right, I'm not here to say you're not going to get paid. If you just read nicely, that still happens.

However, if you want to elevate your game and kick it up a notch and be able to do all different kinds of iterations of a storytell, right, I say, get yourself in the scene. And before you can even do that, you've got to create the scene in which the words are logical, right and realistic, because there'll be people that will say to me in corporate narration, no, I would never say these words in a conversation. And I said well, you have to make the scene in which you would say them in a conversation, and sometimes that takes a lot of imagination. It takes a little bit of research, right, to say, well, you might be talking to an investor about this and you might not word it in this particular way, but maybe you would. And so maybe there would be some words leading up to the copy that will make that copy sound more logical, right and more believable. It has to be believable what you're saying.

And I just find that most people it stumps them. We'll spend probably 10 minutes taking a look at the company, taking a look at the product, reading, rereading the lines so that it makes sense. Now, why? What does this word mean? What is it talking about when you're talking about the elements? Is it the air, is it the wind, is it the sea? What are you talking about? Where's the scene? And so really, it has to take an in-depth look at the words on the page and try to make an understanding, or try to understand why those words are there, because obviously somebody was paid some money to put those words on the page. They have a scene in their head, right, they have a scene in their head that's very, very logical.

Lau

So we just have to come up with that scene that's logical to us so that we can make it believable and tell the story, and that's exactly why taking acting classes is just your best friend, because acting, like anything whether you're doing vocal work or singing or speech work or accent or dialect work is your toolbox of options, choices. You have a lot of choices. I mean as an instrument and creating sound and meaning and using your breath. You have a lot of choices where you want to go with that, and so it's just options and choices. I don't like to think of it all in a very boxy way like, oh, I'm big, I'm small, right, I'm wrong, I'm in, I'm out. That's a very sort of non-nuanced way of looking at things.

Acting is about nuances. It's about small moments in life. It's not always about big, dramatic moments, right, a lot of our moments throughout our day. Think about this, listeners, think about this how many moments in your life, in your day, are that big? Oftentimes you're reading emails, you're dealing with contracts, you're answering the phone, you're feeding your kids, you're feeding your dogs. They're small, nuanced moments. They're detailed moments and if you don't go through the details, then the job isn't done fully, it isn't done well.

I like to think of acting that way. It's not like am I big while I feed the dog or am I small? No, I have purpose and I'm thorough and I'm detailed about how I mix the water with the wet food and how much dry food I put in and what kind of bowl I put it in. So the actor, the vocal actor, has to pay attention and be observant about the nuanced choices that you're making and just trust that. That's enough. You don't have to be big, you don't have to do more, you just have to fully, fully do that.

And I want to call attention too to our friend Konstantin Stanislavski, one of the most famous directors, I think, in the world, russian director, who wrote an actor prepares, and everyone should really be reading that because it's about the magic if. The magic if is what if I was a king? What if I was the president? What if I was a CEO? What if If we could say that and really believe it? Then we wouldn't have as many questions throughout about credibility. Because when I'm taking a role, taking a part, looking at the script, analysis of it, I'm immediately adopting the ideology that this could be me, rather than oh, I wouldn't say that, or I haven't lived that, or I don't really agree with that.

Anne

Don't judge it.

Lau

Don't judge your copy. You were just talking about that before we got on air you can judge in your own world, but don't judge your copy, because then you limit your choices when you do that.

Anne

I love that. I love that you said that, because that really helps me to explain to someone who will say to me but I would never say it, because I'll be like, look, I want this to be believable, I want this to be authentic. I don't want you to just read me the words, I want you to feel them and express them. And they would say but I would never say those words. And that's such a great response. Well, no, don't judge the copy like that. Really right, you must create the scene in which you would say that, in which you would be believable, in which you would be that character that could say that I love that. That's a deeper perspective, even.

Lau

It's a really deep perspective and if you can shift the paradigm of your mindset for a moment, to say, I may not say that, I wouldn't say that, but if I had the right context I very well may say that, absolutely, would say that and that's a big key if I had the right context or situation Right.

Anne

And you have to create the right situation, create the right context for the opportunity to say those words and then it will become believable.

And this bosses out there does not take a minute. I think the days of people running into their studios and doing an audition in five minutes, first of all, that should have never happened. Anyways, I feel like you've got to spend more than five minutes understanding the story of the script that you're telling. And if it's not obvious to you, right, what that story is, and if it's not given to you, most of the times it isn't I mean, sometimes it is. If you are fortunate you'll get a storyboard right, you'll get a storyboard with that, but a lot of times we don't, and specifically in any kind of long format narration, we probably don't get any kind of storyboard. So we have to figure out well, what if I'm talking about corporate responsibility? Okay, here's like one of the driest probably most people would say the driest topics around for a company Corporate responsibility. How do I tell the story of that?

Well, you tell the story where you are the founder of the company and as a founder of the company, you have a product that you believe in. I mean, 10 years ago, when you formed that company, you had a belief that you had an idea and you said this is going to help people, this is going to change, this is going to change the world. And so you, on that belief, built a company from the ground up. And so you start building the character, you start building the story as to why you talk about corporate responsibility and what you're committed to as the CEO of that company. And you, in your heart, believe this. You're committed for innovative excellence. You are committed to giving back. You are committed. And so when you build that story up for something, even as most people will say it's dry, I say what an amazing acting challenge. It is right To figure out how, in a corporate narration that you think is dry and just providing information to people so that investors will continue to give you money for the company.

No, it's not even about that. It's about you as the founder of the company and how you had a vision and you had a belief. You had an idea and that grew. And notice how like I'm even getting passionate when I talk to you about it and when we talk about passion Lau this is the other angle that I wanted to talk about. Passion doesn't mean over the top dramatics. Passion just means an invested interest and a sincere, I would say, commitment to the idea. I like to expand on that because sometimes people think passion means over the top, you know, and what'll happen in their performances is it will be over dramatic and it will not be believable.

Lau

Absolutely. And this is exactly why when a student comes to you and client comes to me and says, hey, should I take an acting class, should I take an improv class, I say yes, you have to because you need someone putting you on the spot. Yeah, I'm saying a lot, saying, okay, you're an executive manager, go, you're this, go, you're this. Go and be able to create instantaneously exactly the context, exactly the scenario you need to create, so that you would say those words, yeah. And I would even say everyone should be paying attention to the grandmother of improvisation.

Really, the creator of improvisation was Viola Spolen. And reading her books because she was watching children. So she got all of her improv exercises from watching little kids, and little kids don't take any time at all. They can create anything they want and be anyone they want in a moment's notice, without second guessing it. And so I feel like, as talent, that's where we need to be. We need to say anything's possible, everything's possible, like re-envision, your possible. Don't say, but it's improbable, but it's not really. Don't give yourself excuses like don't let yourself off the hook. Say, no, it is possible, is it probable?

I don't know, probably not but, it's possible yeah, yeah and that's the most important thing for your brain and your imagination to engage absolutely the possibilities.

Yeah right, I mean that's like one of the most important things we can do as artists is like the writer of Alice in Wonderland that mad Hatter said I think up, I dream up 12 impossible things before breakfast. You know what I mean. Like, allow yourself to think about the impossible as something that could really happen to you and with you, so that you can go down that road and you cAnneot second guess your copy as much yeah, yeah, yeah.

Anne

Well, you know, I love that because now you're helping even me to get even more in depth with my students by saying, like it is possible. And it's funny because sometimes I will say, no, you really need to create the scene, and they'll get so frustrated that they can't think of what's possible or what could possibly happen and I'll give them okay, maybe this is the scenario, maybe this is the scenario. And I don't always know the scenario myself. I mean, I have to imagine it myself, right, and so it will take some time to put together that scenario, and so I don't want bosses to get frustrated if you spend five, ten, fifteen minutes trying to figure out what that logical scenario is, and also not just at the beginning, because a lot of times they'll say, okay, I've got it, I've got it, I've got the scene, but what has happened is they haven't read three quarters of the way down the copy to understand. Well, okay, but that doesn't make sense. Now, right, if you are who you say you are and you're talking to who you say you are, it doesn't make sense that three quarters the way down the script that you're gonna say this, right, so either your scene changed or the person you're talking to changed, or the concept of what you're talking about is not what you thought it was, and so now you've got to delve even deeper into it.

And so I find that students get so frustrated it's almost like they get angry at me. When I ask them, I'll be okay. So what's your moment before? And they won't know. And then it'll be like, well, okay, it's this, and I'm like okay, but three quarters the way down the script, it says this so that doesn't make sense. So how is it going to make sense to you? Three quarters the way down the script, right? How are you gonna maintain that believability? Will the scene change? Will you get up and move and go somewhere else? Will you be talking to someone else? Or maybe you'll be transported in another place at this point in time? Either way, whatever it happens, you have to make that decision and commit to it, and then you will sound believable now.

Lau

So it's really interesting about what you're asking them to do, which is quite maddening. But you're asking them to be a mathematician. You're asking them to think like a chess player.

Anne

You're asking them to dive deep dive, be lazy.

Lau

Don't be lazy and chill, back and go. I get the answer no. When I see an actor do that, gone are the days where he used to sit in a waiting room and, you know, wait for auditions to come through. The second I saw an actor whether they were vocal on camera, on a microphone goat yeah, I'm all set. I got it. I knew they weren't gonna get the job. Yeah, I know. Yeah oh yeah, because they weren't talented. Oftentimes they were fabulous, it's just they were not willing to dive deeper to say where do I go from here?

where does the tilt happen? Is there a shift? Is there a surprising moment?

Anne

and there should be right, I mean typically there is in a script, typically there is a script right, there should be there certainly is in life, unless there's a partial script right, but I'm gonna say that most copywriters.

There's a rhyme and a reason to copy being written for a company. For the most part, I'm gonna say, right, a company writes copy to ultimately sell something along the line, their brand, a product, a service, whatever that is. They're selling people on a brand. So ultimately there's that goal at the very tail end of it all. If it comes from a company, if it's a script that's not coming from a company, that's talking about a product or a service, it could be, you know, a dialogue or an animation script or an audiobook, and those typically have stories in mind.

And I'm gonna say that, because they're written with stories in mind, sometimes it's easier for people to imagine a scene, right? Or if it's written in the first person format, it's easy to kind of imagine a scene and imagine that you're talking to someone else, because you're kind of seeing the dialogue play out in front of you. It's when the scripts are not written necessarily in a storyline format or with an intended story. It's more or less going to be something else that might be anthemic or a little more ethereal, right, and then you're like I have no idea what these words are even talking about. That's where you've really got to engage, I think your imagination and really do some research. Oh, no question about it.

Lau

I mean actors should be spending half their day doing research. No, when we talk about analysis, we really mean analysis. Like you better have a lexicon ready. Whether you're doing a commercial or you're doing narration, you're doing right audiobook. You have to have not just your transcriptions and your interpretation as an actor, but you have to really know, like, what are the basic concepts of what a writer and an actor think about? I got to know what the plot line is. Is there an arc in this story?

Anne

where's the epiphany in here right.

I call it the crescendo like, or the call the the crescendo or the call to action or the turn point. Right, there's usually something in a story and it may not be obvious, it may not be obvious at all. Right, it might just be like, hey, we have a great product, we have a great product, we have a great product, bye, you know. And then at the end, so like, where's that crescendo? Is there a crescendo? Well, at that point you start making choices right. Typically, I would say there's one point that you want to really call people's attention to. You can create your crescendo. Do some research, find out if it makes sense that the company's underlying message would be this particular one, because a lot of times when you talk about selling products with commercials, there's a lot of features, feature one, feature two, feature three and then come on down and buy.

So how do you make that acting decision about where's there a call to action? They all seem like calls to action, and so how do you make one more important than the other? And how do you make that decision? And how do you know and a lot of times you don't A lot of times, as an actor, you have to make an educated and committed guess right as to where that story point is, and I would say that the more that you research, all that you can, the clues from the copy right, there's clues in the copy. The more you can research the clues in the copy, I think, the easier it's going to be to get an answer. And again, a lot of times, when you've come up with your final audition, the casting director, I mean it could be a completely different story than what's really taking place, but the fact is is that you, as an actor, will be committed to that performance and I believe in my heart that within the first two or three words, we can tell and that is what's going to get you the job.

Lau

That's right. And now we know we've solved the mystery why actors are such excellent, excellent salespeople. It's the same training, the same training. Excellent actors are excellent storytellers are excellent in sales because we're telling a story but we're also creating very deep, strong relationships that are multi-dimensional and very nuanced and very long-term, whether it's with our client or a company or a colleague. It's very, very deep. There's different layers to it and it takes time Sometimes it takes a lifetime to figure out all the layers to it. I can't say, oh, I know Anne. Okay, yeah, I got her. Yeah, I know her. No, you can't do that because you have to let it unfold, like a story unfolds over time.

Anne

The onion layers. You have to feeling aware of the onion. Yes, yes.

Lau

You gotta make new discoveries all the time. If you're not willing to be the archeologist in your own career and you're not gonna dig deep, then you're always gonna be superficial in your work.

Anne

Sure, absolutely so, La, would you say, because you've got a lot of commercial auditions that come across your desk and you send out a lot as an agent. What would you say Is there a particular timeframe that people should spend on a particular audition, Like, should they spend at least 10 minutes, 15 minutes, half an hour? Do you have an average time or no?

Lau

I really don't. I just don't. I feel like your profession, your trade, is a personal journey and I really feel like some people have a quick knack to pick something up because they've trained their brain in such a way that they know what cues to look for, so they're able to pick it up and they're able to really do something. Other times we need to sit with it longer. I need the extra hour or two and I need to process it and I need to make some deeper dive choices.

So I think it's personal, I think it's professional as well, like based on your training and your history, and I think, like how focused you are, the focus factor has to be there, yeah yeah, I think focus has to be there first and foremost.

Anne

Like I always tell people, like long format narration is exhausting, because I'm like look, you think commercial is exhausting. You've got to maintain people's attention for 30 to 60 seconds. Now try something that's three or four minutes long, right? So where are you in the scene at two minutes and 56 seconds? Where are you? And what's happening? Joe? Who you're talking to, what's going on with him? Right, you need to tell me. A lot of times I'll be like I'll stop somebody in the middle of the read and I'll say where are you, where's the scene, what's going on? And if they cAnneot tell me, I'll be like, okay, you need to create that scene because you're starting to lose your believability, you're starting to lose your authenticity, and that is just something. When we end up going into automatic mode, we just start. That's cool. I like that exercise. Great, that's good.

Lau

I also would be remiss to say that if you don't come in, some of the best actors I know are extremely bold, very courageous, sometimes arrogant, sometimes they go over the edge to arrogance, but they own the room, they own the space, they own the mic, they own it all and they don't apologize for any of it. And oftentimes they may Anneoy you as a person, but the stuff they come out with is like probably it, oh, wow, brilliance. Like they do not apologize or take it back or worry for one second. What they did was not precise and perfect, and I think that that's a skill. I think that's a skill to create and then go off and say, wow, did I do the right thing? Can I try something new? Can I learn something new? But when you're in the room, when you're in the space, when you're auditioning or when you're booking the gig, whatever, just own it. Command, presence, Cause I think through the command comes the authority, the credibility, the ethos that we need as actors to take stage.

Anne

We need that, well, and I think it showcases something to the person listening, right, when you have that confidence and the authority that there is a story there. There is a story that you're telling, that you are committed to, and we don't quite know what that might be, but we're interested, right, and that is really what most people are after. Right, we want to make sure that we get people's attention while we're embedded in that copy. So, and listen.

Lau

Acting at the end of the day is about personality. It's like ability, it's magnetism. It isn't only the script or the writer, the producer, the vocal actor comes in and it's your presence, it's your energy. It's your enthusiasm.

Anne

I tell so many of my students that, really, what is it that connects us right when I listen to you or when I meet you, what is it that is connecting us as humans together? A lot of times, it is about your personality and somebody will say to me well, do I have the voice, do I have what it takes to be a voice actor? And I said, well, you've got a beautiful personality. I want you to bring that to the read. I want you to bring the pieces of you that will help me to connect and engage human to human. I mean, maybe you don't have to be nice during the script, but it really depends on the context, right, but I need to have that piece of you that comes through, because that's where I'm connecting, right, that's where I'm connecting.

Wow, good stuff. Lau, it's all of that and more. It is all that and more. So, yes, bosses, you need to be actors. Go take an acting class, get coaching, make sure that you are acting between the periods. I always say acting between the periods, acting between the sentence lines, acting from the beginning to the very end.

Lau

So, Anne, in that note. Alas, poor Anne, we are finished, we shall.

Anne

Exhunt. Oh guys, you know what? I'll tell you what. What a great episode. Thank you, Lau. Oh, my pleasure.

Lau

It was awesome.

Anne

Bosses, do you have a local nonprofit that's close to your heart and ever wish that you could do more to help them? Well, you certainly can visit 100voiceswhocareorg to commit and find out more. And, of course, big kudos to our sponsor, ipdtl. You too can connect in network like bosses. Find out more at ipdtlcom. You guys, we love you. Go be actors and we'll see you next week. Bye, bye, guys.

Outro

Join us next week for another edition of VO Boss with your host, Anne Gangusa, and take your business to the next level. Sign up for our mailing list at vobosscom and receive exclusive content, industry revolutionizing tips and strategies and new ways to rock your business like a boss. Redistribution with permission. Coast to coast connectivity via IPDTL.

Anne

Or the worst is when they're like, okay, you do the take and they say nothing, right, so it's like you do the 50 a take. Let's do that. That's what it looks like. The 50 a take they're like okay, okay, all right, thank you, we'll be in touch.