Fandom Voice-Acting Discussion Thread

[CaptainFluffatun]

No, not recruitment and listing your resume. I've made this thread to share my opinion on voice acting in the fandom, and then wish to hear yours.

See, people seem to forget a big concept: it's voice acting. Acting is just as much an art as, well, art, and everyone here is treating replicating the voices from the show as some ungodly talent. While it might be impressive, and maybe even I can't do it, I would conclude that imitation is not artful, nor does it require much thought.

Think of it this way: There is a new anti-hero crime show on television and they are requesting auditions for the main character. If I come in and do an impression of Walter White or Tony Montana, not only is it unoriginal, it's simply plagiarism. At that point, you aren't doing any acting. You are doing someone else's acting. I would argue the same is true for voice. For it to have any artistic merit, you need to take the time to build a character, and yes, that generally requires that the character not already exist.

Of course, I'm not saying it's a useless skill, especially in this fandom. People want voices for their song because it's from the perspective of a character, or people want to make an animation with that character, and fandom voice actors are the best resource for that. However, despite it being a useful tool, I don't personally think it has much artistic merit. It's like a trace drawing of someone else's artwork.

I would like to conclude by saying that I am not looking for a heated argument using only caps lock and big text. Furthermore, if anyone names names, I request now that any such posts be deleted. This is not about the players, it's about the game. What I am looking for is a calm discourse on the artistic merit of "imitation" voice acting. If the above views inherently offend you even if I was calm in conveying them, I apologize now, but they are indeed my views, and I will continue to support them unless someone changes my mind in the ensuing discussion.

Yeah, just crossed my mind, and I was curious what other people think.

[itroitnyah]

Yeah, it's cool and all, but most of the time, when I see people who make fanworks and get people to VA as a character, I always wonder if the person who auditioned to voice so-and-so character in the piece of work was really just a last resort and there weren't enough people auditioning to take the role. Because I've honestly seen some pony videos and such that have awful VAing. They can imitate the pitch, but the characteristic behind the voice is almost none existent, so if somebody were VAing pinkie, they'd be able to make their voice high pitched at all, but then it just sounds like they're speaking with a high pitched voice. It can sorta half not really ruin some potentially great videos. I understand that getting really great samples can be hard, so I'm not saying that the people who create the pieces are bad, just commenting. The one double rainboom fiasco had some pretty spot on VAing for some characters.

[ClaviSound]

As someone who's done multiple voice acting projects outside of the pony fandom, I agree with some points and disagree with others. Imitation is something I've never been terribly good at, but all the same it's very common for me to find someone looking for a voice actor on a project and saying "I want a voice similar to this one." Almost always, project leaders already have a voice in mind and are just looking for someone who can hit on that particular voice for the project.

Think of it this way: There is a new anti-hero crime show on television and they are requesting auditions for the main character. If I come in and do an impression of Walter White or Tony Montana, not only is it unoriginal, it's simply plagiarism.

Now think of it this way: There is a new anti-hero crime show on television and they are requesting auditions for the main character. You come in and do a voice, but the people ask "can you maybe put a Walter White or Tony Montana spin on it?" And not in the sense of "we want to do a rehash here," but in the sense of "there was an element to these characters that worked before, and we aim to recapture that." If you're able to do that, it's all the better for the satisfaction of the production leaders, and your chances of getting the role.

Building a character from a voice is the lion's share of voice acting, yes, but the thing about style is that it's pretty much always inspired from other people. People tend to have people they look up to and emulate, and little snippets or novelties can turn into entire schticks. Ask Eddie Van Halen how he invented guitar tapping, and he'll tell you he got it from Jimi Hendrix bouncing a finger off the fret and releasing to let the original note sound. Ask Kool Moe Dee how he grandfathered the idea of chopping in rap, and he'll tell you he got it from a snippet of Kid Creole from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Ask Tara Strong how she came up with the voice for Twilight, and she'll tell you about how she came up with the particulars of the voice based off of older ideas and voices she'd done in the past.

eery's right in that very little "original content" is original. Imitation is a key skill for anyone searching for their own specific niche, as the key to making yourself unique is taking other people's stuff and twisting into something that's unrecognizable. The material itself isn't original, yes, but the way it's blended is, and imitation is a larger step than you might think. Rina-Chan's a pretty well-rounded voice actor now, and yet she first got popular doing Princess Peach impressions way back when. d.notive's a huge name in the fandom, and yet one of his most popular songs is a soundalike of Depeche Mode. Would we call these people unoriginal?

However, despite it being a useful tool, I don't personally think it has much artistic merit. It's like a trace drawing of someone else's artwork.

I find it very intriguing you mention trace drawings, since I also happen to be a member of several vector groups on DeviantArt who are all about tracing shots from the show. Yes, it may be "uncreative," but all the same it still takes work and time, and there's a lot more that goes into it than you might think. But beyond just the vectors themselves, these are used in a plethora of fanmade products, the most notable one off the top of my head being Turnabout Storm. Said project is a crossover of Phoenix Wright and MLP, so nothing new there. Uses vectors from DeviantArt, nothing new there. Has imitation voice actors for the characters, nothing new there. Yet generally it isn't labeled as being "unartistic" because there's still loads and loads of work that went into the project, which we respect, even if it isn't completely original in all regards.

It's all about the evolution. I consider the pony fandom a training ground for musicians, artists, and creative minds of all kinds, and it's a wonderful opportunity to do things for fun and maybe see if it's worth moving to the next step to do it on a professional level.

[Alycs]

imitation is not artful, nor does it require much thought.

Thats interesting, as I'd say that Art can only be formed through Imitation. Whether its imitation of nature (for painting), imitation of sound (music), or imitation of the person (acting).

That being said, I freaking suck at voice acting so even though I have like 10 different voices I can talk in, I'm terrible at imitating other people's voices unless its something super distinctive. (I can nail accents though... :P )

[ganondox]

I consider there to be two things that people refer to as artists: craftsman, and dreamers. Craftsman are technically gifted at creating stuff which is considered "art", while dreamers come up with ideas for "art". Generally an artist is assumed to be both, but a "true artist" is regarded as being more of the latter.

As for the topic at hand, imitation voice actors are more of craftsman, but some creativity is still involved. It is an artform, specifically a performance art.