This weekend I'm in the middle of attending Get Your Game On, Los Angeles 2024, put on by Rachel Naylor's The Voiceover Network. Friday all day was the actual conference part, and Saturday yesterday and today are the special intensive workshops. I was one of the lucky ones to sign up (before the quick sell-out) for Mami Okada's intensive, she who casts and does business operations for Bang Zoom Entertainment. I wanted to talk a little about what I've learned this weekend that really stuck with me.
On Friday, actress Debra Wilson talked about letting the character possess you. Others may say that actors try on a character like clothing, but Debra took it to another level. In her description, the character already exists but is 2D. They need a 3D person to inhabit, and so one allows them to enter the body, use their arms, voice, face, and such, and that's how they really come to life. I love this approach.
There was a therapy-related session taught by actor and therapist Tony Rescigno, who shared the quote "it takes two minds to understand one." Someone in the audience took it further and said something along the lines of, "what if I try out the character as themselves, then analyze them as a therapist might?" Basically, here's the two minds thing again; you could do the character reading their own description as themselves, perhaps in first-person language. Then secondly, you read it as yourself and start to see things like, "okay, so their mom died; maybe they have periods of depression or anger about that." This along with all the reminders from many speakers of the "who am I, where, what do I want from the other," etc. was wonderful fodder for my getting into character arsenal.
Almost all the speakers talked about being yourself, that it is you that makes something unique. I struggle with this, because I fear my naturally monotone voice would make them not want to hire me. Or like, I don't know what is "special" about me that can be conveyed in voice. Of course I know several real-life things that make me special, like my strange hobbies like leather carving or the fact that I'm a twin. But how do I convey that in my voice and performance? I asked this question, and the person answering said it means I have to investigate my competition more. I have to know why they book and such. But if I don't know their full life story, and all I hear is their demo, I'm not sure how that will help me. I need to get better at analyzing performances. Often I'll think a performance someone else did was good, but others say no, and then vice versa.
Back to Debra Wilson though, the crowd favorite speaker by far, she talked about storytelling. She talked about millennia of humans sharing stories by fire, music, on skin, in words, and that we are all this as well. I have indeed always loved telling and listening to stories. I make them up even in classical music that was meant to be form only (as in, not a tone poem). And it made me realize I could at least make more of my blog posts stories instead of philosophical musings.
Moving on to yesterday's feelings, I wish I could get over the lonely feeling. When I go to some workshops, it appears like everyone knows everyone else, people are excited to talk to others, and I (as I have since moving in across the country in the middle of fourth grade) have to go up to others if I want any conversation. I'm going to sound pathetic here, but I wish people would see me and want to come up to me; why do I always have to be the initiator? I know I'm good at it, and people think I'm an extrovert for doing this. And really, we're just there to learn, not exactly socialize, but the socializing is important networking too. Same on Friday night, I managed to get into someone's "let's go to dinner" group, but I wish I could get over my feelings of inadequacy and loneliness in these stranger settings. It's like I only feel secure when I'm with good friends, though I certainly can not be alone in this.
I have a fear of wasting time when I go to conferences. I know there's only so much time, and I spent a lot of money to be there, so I must "network right" and make important connections. However last year, actor Michael Scott spoke about this, saying how maybe it's a sentence here this year, two sentences next year to the same person, and that's the way to grow organically in this industry. So I guess I'm doing well... You don't want to force yourself into that director's way, or they'll detest you forever. I wish I knew more of what to say to them in order to make an impression. It would help if I didn't put people on pedestals and could just talk to them like I do the other actors. So much to learn and get comfortable with; it's like nothing has changed since I started going to voiceover conferences in 2017. But yet, I do know that I've grown.
Anyway, to wrap it up, Get Your Game On is a nice conference because of its small size and focus on voiceover in video games only, where other conferences focus on all kinds of voiceover. I do think it's worth the money, if you get the chance to go next year (usually in the beginning of November). There's also one in London, the original one, if that's closer to you.
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