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.