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Results are in! The Indie Dialogue Initiative Demo Reel Survey

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. 

 


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Horizon Zero Dawn Nominated for eight BAFTAs

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.


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Horizon Zero Dawn Casting

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.

 


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We’re in Los Angeles

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


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BAFTA Guru live Weekend

Saturday,  30 April, 14:15,  As part of the BAFTA Guru live weekend OMUK’s Mark Estdale joins Will Freeman, Delyth Thomas, Oliver Hollis and John Dower in the David Lean Room, BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LN  to “unpick the process of capturing human performance for games, exploring directing, motion capture, voice recording and casting.”

Also at 14:45 BAFTA-nominated games scriptwriters Meg Jayanth (Writer, 80 Days), James Swallow (Writer – Deus Ex: Mankind Divided) and Rob Yescombe (Writer – The Division) consider the craft of writing for interactive realms, and what the opportunities are for those with stories to tell in digital form.

 


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OMUK at EGX Rezzed

The Ukie Careers Bar is returning to EGX Rezzed this week and OMUK Studio Manager Victoria Prentice will be on hand alongside other Video Games Ambassadors to give one-to-one advice to anyone who wants a career in games.

The talks and careers sessions are run on a walk-in basis and are open to all looking for advice straight from the horse’s mouth (no offence Vic!) on how to gain a successful and lasting career in games. Victoria will be attending on Saturday 9th April from 1.30 – 3pm at Tobacco Dock in London.

Click the links for further information on the Ukie Bar and the full schedule of sessions.

 


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OMUK and CDT At GDC 2016

At this year’s GDC (Game Developers Conference) in San Francisco, Mark Estdale will be demonstrating our proprietary Creative Dialogue Tools (CDT). CDT is the engine that powers Game Immersive Voice Recording (GIVR) and has been developed and tested on over 300 titles. It’s designed by dialogue specialists for dialogue specialists. CDT can transform dialogue production for your game and we’ll be demonstrating how at the UKIE stand, GDC Main Booth number: 1016. Studio Director Juanma Delfin will also be at GDC to talk about any production needs. Please get in touch at info@omuk.com to organize a meeting, or just stop by for a chat. The guys look forward to seeing you.


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Deponia Doomsday

Continuing our partnership with Daedalic Entertainment, OMUK has once again returned to the trash planet of Deponia for more adventures with Rufus. The fourth game in the trilogy, Deponia Doomsday sees Rufus travelling through time, encountering familiar characters along with way.

OMUK provided Localization services for the title, alongside Casting, Recording and Direction.

PR;

DAEDALIC ENTERTAINMENT COOPERATES WITH OMUK FOR ENGLISH VOICE RECORDING ON DEPONIA DOOMSDAY

For Deponia Doomsday, the latest and biggest instalment yet of the popular aventure saga, Daedalic Entertainment has continued their long standing cooperation with London based voice recording studio OMUK.

Says Carsten Fichtelmann, CEO of Daedalic Entertainment: “We’ve been working with OMUK for many years, and on many titles. Deponia Doomsday being one of our biggest productions yet – in terms of sheer playtime, number of characters and scope of the writing – we wanted to secure the highest quality standards in localization when bringing the game to english speaking territories.”

Mark Estdale, Voice Director of OMUK adds: “When Daedalic told me there was to be another episode of the Deponia series there was a collective cheer. Recording the game voices is almost as much fun as the game itself. Poki is a hilarious writer, consequently Deponia is the voice actors’ and voice director’s dream.

The cast turned up grinning for their sessions and left laughing. And having David Hayter bring some Solid Snake magic to a stunning cast that draws from so many favourites is truly magical. They come from Bond to the Bourne Ultimatum, Star Wars to Dr Who, Red Dwarf to Judge Dreadd, Mission Impossible to to Captain America, Leon the Pig Farmer to Little Britain! The list goes on and on and and gets funnier and funnier but it is one that, for me, connects to the legend of Deponia, making it something very special.”

Cast for the over 70 new characters of Deponia Doomsday include:
David Hayter, Kerry Shale, Alix Wilton Regan, Garick Hagon, David Rintoul, Jess Robinson, Tim Bentinck, Rupert Degas, Colin Stinton, Laurence Bouvard, Andrew Wincott, Eric Meyers, Alex Jordan, David Shaw Parker, Peter Marinker, Charlotte Moore, Jake Yapp, David Peart, Tom Clarke Hill, Tim Beckmann, John Guerrasio, Martin T Sherman and Adam Longworth.

Deponia Doomsday will be released on March 1st as a digital download for PC, Mac and Linux at a price of USD/€29,99. Retail and console versions for PC, PS4 and Xbox One will follow over the course of the year.

Deponia Doomsday releases today, and is available on Steam. 


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OMUK’s Victoria Prentice Interviewed By Ukie

For this week’s entry in the Ukie careers series, OMUK Studio Manager Victoria Prentice was interviewed about her career in games. Beginning her career at OMUK in 2012 as an audio engineer, Victoria is an integral part of the OMUK team. In the interview, she discusses a typical day, career highlights, and briefly touches on unannounced projects we’re involved with. There are also tips for those starting out in the industry, and strategies for building a portfolio that will impress prospective employers.

http://ukie.org.uk/content/careers-series-studio-manager