Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 05:20:21 PM

Login with username, password and session length

How does one get into gaming voiceover/voice direction?

Started by George White, December 05, 2017, 06:31:48 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

George White

I know people who want to become videogame voice actors, while I want to work as a director/writer in dubbing. But I'm not sure how. Anyone got any tips or know how? I've applied as a runner in a film/TV recording studio.

Consignia

The traditional sort of route in is via just normal acting. Voice work comes up quite a bit in the form of commercials and radio work, and some video game work crops up from there. Or if you're a celeb, you might get stunt cast in a role. It's not the most glamorous of work though. Not everyone can be Nolan North. Although ironically Nolan North can be everyone.

Shay Chaise

10 Do you have a cool voice?

20 GOTO 10

30 RUN

40 I never learned programming

touchingcloth

Do you have any experience writing or directing for any medium? It's a fucking hard industry to get into, and one where it helps if you either have the safety net of rich parents to subsidise your living costs or else the willingness to work long hours in multiple jobs - some of them paid to fund your lifestyle, and some unpaid to build your experience and make yourself known.

To illustrate just how tough it is, I know a talented writer and theatre director, but they know that theatre directing is not something they will ever be able to make a living from, because to get there would require too long working for next to (or actually) no money because it's such an oversubscribed industry. They're currently working as an Assisant Producer in telly (where the career progression would be Runner -> Researcher -> AP), but despite a strong background in university and semi-professional theatre directing/producing, it's taken them five years to get to that stage.

I think being a runner in film or TV is a good start to getting into directing, but be prepared for it to take a very long time, and also be prepared to put hours in outside of a paid job to bolster your experience - amateur theatre groups, for instance, or maybe even directing for a podcast. A counterintuitive tip would be, if you have any choice in the matter, to get involved with small TV and film productions rather than large. I know people who have worked as runners at the BBC on things like Dr Who, but because a show like that has such a huge crew and budget, there's very little for runners to do besides fetching tea and other similar errands, so chances are after working an entire series doing something like that your skills won't have progressed any and you'll only be fit for another job as a runner. Working for a smaller show—daytime telly, for instance, or independent films with no-name directors—will mean you need to act up beyond your basic responsibilities due to budgets being so stretched, and you'll be able to get researcher-type experience while working nominally as a runner.

Good luck, though. Really is a tough industry.

Depressed Beyond Tables

Quote from: George White on December 05, 2017, 06:31:48 PM
I know people who want to become videogame voice actors, while I want to work as a director/writer in dubbing. But I'm not sure how. Anyone got any tips or know how? I've applied as a runner in a film/TV recording studio.

Signup for a profile with Upwork https://www.upwork.com/

There's always voice-over work popping up there and maybe some writing work too. It could be a great start to build a C.V. at least.

Dex Sawash


mobias

Quote from: George White on December 05, 2017, 06:31:48 PM
I know people who want to become videogame voice actors, while I want to work as a director/writer in dubbing. But I'm not sure how. Anyone got any tips or know how? I've applied as a runner in a film/TV recording studio.

Voice actors in gaming all come from the acting community. Often reasonably well established actors will scrape some money from doing games work from time to time because it increasingly pays well, especially in AAA games.

If you want to get into the technical side of the games industry then get some sort of qualification (if you haven't got one already) in your chosen area. Games studios hire out of the same pool of talent as the film industry when it comes to technical stuff because obviously there's a big cross over of skills these days. I know a guy who did an HND in music technology and production and got a job as an audio designer for a major games studio at a junior level. Some studios will take you on even if you've not got a huge amount of experience if you show enough enthusiasm and come across as really likeable. Never underestimate how important the latter is.

Blinder Data