Intermission: A Call for Voices | Tweet |
Hey, folks!
Sorry for the delay in getting the next story arc launched. Summer courses had a bigger toll on me than I anticipated and I needed a small break from the grind. Things are back on track now and I should have the next page posted in a week.
In other P&C-related news, quite a few people have noticed the Twitter post I made, as well as the new Flipnote listing, both located on the right sidebar of the site. I have begun a proof-of-concept project, basically testing the grounds to see how Peter & Company holds up as an animated cartoon. My plan is to produce short little clips which are animated versions of certain comics from the P&C archive. They will all be fully voiced and shaded in grayscale as you see them online. While working on the first one, I realized that while I can do a few of the character voices myself, it’s entirely too noticeably me if I were to try and do them all. Long story short, I am no Mel Blanc.
That being said, I am looking for folks who might be interested in trying out for parts as voice actors of these upcoming projects. This is entirely for the fun of being a part of an independent project; I do not plan on making any money off of these things (as they really are just small flipbook-quality animations made on a Nintendo DSi), so I cannot offer any compensation for your participation. I will remain the voice of Peter (and Whitney is already spoken for… hehe, puns), but any of the other characters are up for auditions.
The first comic I will be using for the project can be found here, specifically with the final four panels (starting with the lead worm asking which room it is). Eventually I would like to cover the entire spectrum of characters, so if there is another character you would like to audition for, feel free to record a sample and send it my way. The only requirement for this is that you need a microphone on your computer capable of producing a good, quality recording. Send your auditions to PeterAndCompany(at)gmail.com. Once I decide on the voices for each character, I will credit them not only on the Flipnote submission, but also on a special section of this site dedicated to the project.
Also, I may note that my reason for saying this is a “proof of concept” trial is because I want to test my own capabilities of producing traditionally animated works. If I can make it happen on a DSi, there’s no reason I can’t push myself to learn Flash and bring it up to a bigger level. If you audition for a character voice and get cast, you must be available to participate when required for the project, including if it evolves into something bigger down the road. I’d like to keep the level of quality and continuity high if at all possible. 
Thanks for the interest in the post to all who have messaged me over the past week. Hopefully this clears up things a bit, and if you have any further questions about the project, feel free to leave a comment on this post, e-mail me (see above) or IM me (AIM: PeterAndCompany, Yahoo: MusicmanJP).
For every $30 that is donated overall, a page will be posted in full color!
Current tally: $20.00 Pages Owed: 1
September 15th, 2009 at 1:00 am
im excited! sent mine in!
September 15th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Oooh, what I wouldn’t give to voice one of the worms! And possibly a couple other characters. I’ll have to get myself a good mic, though…sigh…but who knows? You might just be hearing from me!
Love the comic, by the way.
September 16th, 2009 at 8:30 am
While I am very interested in the world of voice acting, I have never tried it. What is more, I am Dutch and that’s pretty obvious when I speak English. So you know, I doubt I’d be of much use. Still, if you ever need someone with an obvious Dutch accent…
September 18th, 2009 at 4:50 am
Wow, awesome! =D My accent is pretty neutral Commonwealth with a white South African bent. And I’m 14, so not much older than the bulk of the main characters.
I don’t have a mic, but I can record on my cousin’s computer if you’re interested. ^^
September 21st, 2009 at 10:46 am
If only I had an available mic… I would SO join in on this!
September 21st, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Oh yes, this kind of thing is always fun. How do you think Seth would sound with a ‘neutral’ English voice (the sort of trans-continental acting voice that Patrick McGoohan would use that purposely didn’t weigh heavily on any particular regional accent)? I’m pretty good with other cartoonish dialects and styles, if you have ideas in mind for particular characters.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:36 am
Baree: I’d still be interested to hear your audition if you’d like to send one. I’m curious to hear how your accent sounds, if you feel up to recording it.
Frogmage: By all means, send in a sample if you can get access to a computer with a mic! I’d love to hear your audition if you can get it to me.
EalaDubh: I’d have to hear what you mean in a sample before I could say one way or the other. I always thought Seth should have a sort of neutral accent, but just make sure that he sounds like a mid-teenager (roughly between 13 and 15, so sounding a bit younger, around Peter’s age). Definitely send in an audition if you have the time. The only other characters that I can give details on for voices are Iggy and Norton, who both should have a more unique and goofy/simple-minded quality to their vocals. Other than them, I’m entirely open and interested in your interpretations of how the characters should sound.
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:22 pm
You know, I’ve never actually imagined Seth with a child’s voice; his design and demeanour doesn’t suggest it to me. He conjours up more of the young-adult big-brother figure that the Fifth Doctor used to be in the old series of Doctor Who; the same wisdom beyond his apparent years, but without the sense of neurotic panic just under the surface. There’s also a serenity about Seth that pretty well demands to me that his dialogue, compared to most of the others, should be underplayed.
Iggy’s voice is easy to imagine. Two words: Frank Welker.
And speaking of Frank Welker, how would a shoutier version of Doctor Claw’s throaty rasp sound for Korgar?
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:13 am
Yeah, I always thought of Seth being around 18….
(Ok, I’ll see what I can do ^^)
September 26th, 2009 at 4:10 am
I’ve got myself a new headset; I haven’t had any privacy time to do any serious recording yet but a dry-run with practice dialogue has sounded good. I’ll see if I can rustle up an audition piece over the weekend.
September 29th, 2009 at 4:10 am
Alrighty, I’m going back and changing a bit of character information here. After hearing several of the auditions for Seth, I’m starting to like the idea of him having a deeper voice than Peter. In terms of his physical appearance, he is roughly the same age as Peter, but his voice definitely fits his personality better with a deeper, more confident tone. It makes him come across as much more wise and emotionally mature, which is perfect for his character.
EalaDubh: That is a fantastic idea for Iggy’s voice. I’d love to hear that sample, haha!
So yes, all that being said, I am definitely up for your own interpretation of the characters’ voices. If you have any specific requests for more in-depth character profiles, just let me know. Thanks again to everyone who is participating in the auditions! It’s been a fantastic turnout so far, and it’s going to be tough to choose the final casting.
January 29th, 2010 at 3:09 am
- 4 and a half months later -
Rats. I s’pose I’m a bit late to the party, huh? Then again, I don’t remember you ever mentioning what became of the DSi movies. Still on the look out for actors? Jim & Eddy, p’raps?
January 29th, 2010 at 4:06 am
@Luke: Actually, I haven’t had a chance to truly get this project off the ground yet because of my graduate work taking priority. It’s still on the schedule, though, so I am absolutely still looking for voices for most of the characters. Jeff and Eddy are both still open to auditions, so if you’d like to send me a sample over e-mail, just pick a good comic to use and send it on over.
Pretty much what I tell folks is that until I manage to put together the project page for this thing and list the final casting choices for each character, you can consider all of them to be open. At this point the only characters that have official voices are Peter, Whitney, Ezzy, and the worms.
January 29th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Great! You can expect my audition email ere too long. Thanks for the fast reply!
P.S. Heh, I did a nice little facepalm last night when I realized that I wrote Jim instead of Jeff. Don’tcha just hate it when that happens?