News

We’re delighted to see Mark’s recent post “Thoughts on game voice casting: Part One” being published on gamesindustry.biz 

The article talks about Mark’s journey as a casting director and why we have set up OM the way we have. He also addresses how casting for games can be so incredibly difficult due to its creative processes and those who are involved.

Mark shares his best advice for developers of when and how to cast for production. The aim always being that perfect “hell yeah!” moment when the team find that perfect someone to bring their vision to life.

Read the full article here.

Keep your eyes out for part two of this feature! Mark will be discussing casting briefs, character briefs and more!

Our Founder Mark Estdale will be delivering a brand new voice over workshop at Ludicious Game Festival on Thursday 31st January.

Mark’s session will be tailored to the needs of the audience and will be an immersive practical hands on workshop focusing on voice recording and best practice for games. From script to casting methods, to recording and post production Mark will be available to poke and prod about anything VO.

The session will also introduce the logic and philosophy behind the power of OM’s Creative Dialogue Tools and the Game Immersive Voice Recording method. Which focuses on instinctive and immersive performance, taking game VO to the next level.

About Ludicious

Ludicious is a distinctive game developer event in Zurich, Switzerland happening 31st Jan – 3rd Feb 2019. It’s focused on the arts and crafts of game development, where game design and business meet.

They work to support small & midsize developers connecting with the broader industry, and create event formats which bring developers from all domains of game development together on eye level.

Register now

This Friday (18th January) our very own Founder and Director Mark Estdale will be taking the stage with the wonderful Dave Fennoy to share their wisdom on VO for video games. Their combined experience covers all aspects of VO for games from both sides of the booth.

Every VOND event is specifically designed to focus on bringing the industry’s top-leaders in their field to help you raise your game. This event will have a panel discussing the current trends in video games, auditions, acting technique, what’s happening in producing voice reels today and so much more.

The evening will be full to the brim of not only actors but producers, agents, game developers and more so its bound to be a great night for networking and meet new faces.

The OM team will be out in force so please come along to meet us!

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

‘I’ve taken his coaching into the studio and I feel instantly more confident and more authentic with my reads. The man is a genius and was so generous with his feedback and tips.’ Ally Murphy

This is a night for working professionals who are interested in staying on top of their careers. It is also for those who have never done any video games work before and are interested to find out more about what it takes.

VOND with Dave Fennoy and Mark Estdale – January 2019

DETAILS:

• Dates – 18th January 2019
• Time – 7pm – 11pm
• Venue – The Old Street Gallery, 62 Paul Street, Leonard St, London EC2A 4NA
• Price – Members £29, Non-members £49 + VAT
• 1 Drink and Nibbles included

Grab tickets for the event here 

================= APPLICATIONS NOW CLOSED ======================

We’d like to thank all applicants for applying but the position is now filled.

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We’re OM a rule breaking voice and facial capture studio in London and Los Angeles. We are passionate about games and achieving the best possible performance. We think differently and act differently to deliver top notch quality characters. We’re looking to expand our rock star team of misfits and rebels. Sound like your kind of team? Take a look at what we are after below –

Production Assistant

We’re looking for a Production Assistant to help our London team handle some bigger projects currently in our pipeline. Whilst you won’t be solely responsible you will be expected to run with the projects assigned to you and keep momentum moving. It is primarily an admin role but if successful there will be opportunity to expand upon the role.

We’re looking for a –

• An organised and logical thinker. You will be managing communication with the client and updating them with progress of project. You’ll also be responsible for scheduling and sourcing talent for a high priority project in strict time limits.
• Cool Cucumber. Must perform well under stress. Able to take problems in their stride and think of solutions quickly without losing their cool.  
• Champion of the people. Fantastic people skills you will be dealing with actors, directors, clients and more on a daily basis. You must be confident with meeting people in person as well as communicating well on email and phone.
• Computer Wizard. You must be computer literate and quick to pick up new software and tools.
• Sharpshooter. It’s important you have an eye (and ear) for detail as you’ll be asked to work independently and give feedback on talent to the rest of the production team. In a small team like OM teamwork is essential and we need to be able to trust your judgement and know you’ll have the teams back.
• Juggler. You’ll need to be an excellent multi-tasker as we work on hundreds of productions a year. You need to be able to keep various processes running at the same time in order to keep up.
• Steely Confidant – As we work with many high profile and international clients a high level of confidentiality is an absolute must.

Main responsibilities

• Sourcing and scheduling – As mentioned above you’ll be expected to work independently to source and schedule talent based on specific briefs. You’ll also be assisting with scheduling actors for other productions, particularly when the studio is busy.
• Organising and updating – As we work on various projects every week you’ll be expected to multitask between various elements of projects. This includes handling files, addressing briefs, sorting through and responding to emails, communicating with clients effectively and reporting back to the team, keeping them in the loop with any problems.
• Helping the team with varied aspects of day to day production, answering phones, keeping the place tidy and clean, dealing with client, agent and actor enquiries, helping develop and maintain the actor, client and casting database.
• Assisting with QA. Listening to the final audio and/or video edits for a production to check that everything is present and correct (in both the script and the audio/video) and that nothing is missing.

Additional studio duties

As well as assisting the production team on projects you will be responsible for –

Social Media – Interacting with the outside world, promoting a healthy and confident media identity for the Employer. This includes Twitter and Facebook, along with website blog posts.

Keeping an active social media feed on all platforms is essential, and linking Facebook/Twitter accounts may be key to this.

Production Assistant at OMUK London

If you’d like to apply for this position please email production@omuk.com with the subject line “Production Assistant at OM London” please include a CV and a link to your LinkedIn Profile (if applicable) before January 7th 2019.

We were shortlisted for Creative Outsourcer (Audio) at the Develop Awards 2018! We didn’t win unfortunately but it was great to be shortlisted!

The Develop Awards run alongside Develop:Brighton, the three day must-attend conference in the European games development calendar. The Develop Awards celebrates and rewards UK and European game developers, focusing on creativity, teamwork, inspiration and innovation. Congratulations to all the other nominees and winners!

OM will be attending EGX Rezzed this year. Our very own Project Manager Megan Rice will be helping out on the GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair to give one-to-one advice to those looking to get a job games. Alongside other industry volunteers and Video Games Ambassadors she will be holding portfolio review session from 10am – 12pm on Friday 13th April.

The Careers Advice and Portfolio Reviews section of the Career Fair will take place every day during EGX Rezzed 2018. The sessions are hosted by a number of experts across the games industry and aim to help young people improve their portfolios and break into the games business. You can read the full schedule here.

The sessions are part of an expanded GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair, which will include studio and university booths, plus the return of the UKIE Career Bar.

After the session Megan will be hanging around the show to talk to developers and publishers about their games. So if you are attending and would like to speak to Megan about getting fantastic voice talent in your game drop her an email at megan@omuk.com. She’d love to come and check out your game.

Founder of OM and games voice director of over 20 years Mark Estdale has published the latest findings from The Indie Dialogue Initiative’s recent survey of the industry. The survey entitled “A Voice for Games: Towards a better actor’s show reel” was put together to help actors put together better reels for video games.

This survey was sent out via social media to a variety of people involved in the casting of voices for video games. Responses were received from 67 people in a variety of roles including director, audio leads, producers and sound designers. Just over half of respondents were based in UK/Europe and the remainder were based in North America.
The aim of the survey was to provide an informed view of what people want when casting for games specifically.

OM has worked tirelessly to improve communications between the acting world and game developers, removing some of the tired, old traditions that often alienate each side, finding new ways for them to really see eye to eye. Communication is key in creating any creative artwork especially one as expansive and immersive as games and often the performance an actor can bring to character is underestimated.

Mark says “What the actor can bring, as master of character, can transform a production. Their impact can be massive. Game developers inspired by the actors cast, produce better results. Conversely, weak casting can suck the soul out of production and kill a game, just like all other media, and just like recruiting someone for any team.

A reel is the actor’s resume, it can open the door or slam it shut. So a reel that fails to demonstrate acting ability is as effective as shooting yourself in the face.” 

To see the full results and Marks overview of the content take a look at his LinkedIn article here. 

We’re delighted to see Horizon Zero Dawn nominated for eight awards in the years British Academy Games Awards. Working with Guerrilla on this project was an absolute honor and the whole team have their fingers crossed that they’ll bring back the coveted golden mask.

We are especially pleased to see Ashly Burch nominated for her performance as Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn. Not only did we cast Aloy and the rest of the cast but also directed and recorded Ashly’s performance. Capturing Aloy her character, her nuances was very important to us here at OM so its great to see the hard work put in by everyone at OM, Guerrilla, Axis and Sony recognised by a prestigious organisation like BAFTA.

Congratulations to Ashly, Guerrilla and all the other nominees, we’ll be on the edge of our seat come 12 April 2018 when the winner are announced. Full list of nominations for Horizon are below.

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

AUDIO ACHIEVEMENT

BEST GAME

GAME DESIGN 

MUSIC

NARRATIVE

ORIGINAL PROPERTY

PERFORMER

You can watch the awards live from Troxy, London via the BAFTA Twitch channel.

Over the years we’ve cast and recorded voices for many iconic games. Horizon Zero Dawn is our latest venture. For any title, casting the actors to bring the developer’s creations to life is one of the greatest challenges and pleasures of our work at OM. When a developer connects with the actor and the actor with the developer there is a magic that happens which enriches the process of creation and the experience of the player.  There is a resounding Yes!

When Ashly Burch tested for Aloy that resounding yes was sublime.  Much like finding Doug Cockle for Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher series,  Rufus for the Deponia series and heroes of Trine and The Book of Unwritten Tales‘ games.

Working alongside the developer and casting early in the development cycle has important creative advantages. Primarily the process of casting helps solidify and focus of the developer’s vision. Voice gives unifying clarity.

Until a character is cast everyone lives with an imaginary voice in their head, and no two imaginary voices are the same. Once casting starts and the debate begins as to who will bring the character to life the impact is palpable.

An actor brings life to the character which has a massive potential to create a powerful and unambiguous unity between art, design, animation, narrative and dialogue writing. Knowing who you are really working with is a game changer for the better.

Casting late frequently reveals a lack of focus and conflict in design that is too established to remedy. Consequently, the results can be avoidable compromise and mediocrity. This is a significant reason for our perennial message to developers to cast as early as you can. There is rarely a too early. What the actor brings to the table is powerful.

Guerrilla Games, we are delighted to say invited us in early in the development cycle and we think the results in Horizon Zero Dawn speak for themselves.

We’re delighted to announce that we have opened our first studio in Los Angeles. The studio known as ‘Vault 501‘ is five blocks from the Santa Monica beach.

Vault 501 is the first Game Immersive Voice Recording (GIVR) facility in North America and as such it is a showcase space for both GIVR and Creative Dialogue Tools. CDT is the software that enables the GIVR methodology.

Vault 501 has an open door policy. Game developers and publishers, actors, writers, other voice recording facilities, game audio folks,  and directors, in fact anyone wanting to find out more about GIVR and CDT, are very welcome to visit for a demo.

Vault 501 is also space for experimental VR recording and performance capture.

See more pictures on the OM studios page
Twitter: @Vault501 @CDT_USA

Photo L to R actors JB Blanc and Jo Wyatt, with OM’s Mark Estdale