I finally got called out on my bad voice acting choices

Last week at a local con in Portland, a judge told me I was 'shouting instead of acting' during a tryout. I thought being loud meant showing emotion, but he handed me a script for a quiet scene and made me do it again without raising my voice. Now I actually pay attention to how the pro VAs in Dragon Ball speak softly before a big fight, not just scream the whole time. Has anyone else had to unlearn bad habits from watching subbed shows?

2 comments

2 Comments

ryanm6013d ago

Oh man, the Shouting vs Acting thing is so real. I remember at a Voice LA workshop in 2019, I had this big dramatic monologue and the coach just stopped me and said "You're yelling at me, but I don't believe you're actually upset." That hit hard. Then she made me do the exact same lines while sitting in a chair barely above a whisper, and somehow that got way more emotion across. It took me like a year of practice to unlearn that habit from watching all those shonen anime where everyone's at 11 all the time. Now I got this rule for myself: if I feel like I need to shout, I force myself to go quiet first and build from there. Works way better.

jana88113d ago

My buddy went through the exact same thing at a different workshop. He was doing this intense scene from a crime drama and the coach told him he sounded like he was trying to scare a bear. Then she made him stand still and just breathe for thirty seconds before saying his first line. He said it felt awkward at first but the room got totally quiet and people leaned in. He spent the next few months forcing himself to pause every time he wanted to yell. Now he says his best performances are the ones where he barely moves his face.