5 Tricks That Level Up My Characters Instantly!
/Characterization Fatigue!
I’ve worked a lot of gigs that call for multiple voices in a single project which can be a heck of a challenge (hello, Penny Peepshow https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-penny-peepshow/id1345041200). I can alter accents, pitch, and affectations but at some point, the characters become more voice than person, you know?
I call this 'characterization fatigue’.
All my characters of particular ages, accents, and outlooks start to sound too similar for my liking — this is especially tricky when addressing your casting type.
Sure, you’re playing all teenage girls with tragic backstories and a feline familiar — and they will sound similar since they all stem from your voice — but they shouldn’t sound the same.
There’s a saying about fashion that goes something like, ‘wear the clothes, don’t let the clothes wear you’ or some such.
Well it applies here, too. ‘Wear the character, don’t let the character wear you!’
So here are a few tricks I use to get out of my head when I’m building characters, and they all take minutes to apply!
Travel the World
If the brief requests a specific accent, experiment with reading the lines in a completely different accent between takes.
This may seem counter-intuitive if you’re worried about losing your accent, but more often than not I let the musicality of an accent solidify after a while, meaning I stop intuitively playing with emphasis. This leads to same-same reads that lack colour and diversity — the character gets stuck.
Jumping from an RP accent to an Australian accent to a Scottish accent loosens the character and helps me explore meaning and shake up the innate or learned flow of an accent.
2. Sing Out, Louise!
Sing in the character voice. A song you know well — nursery rhymes are ace!
This is a great way to settle into a character voice and loosen you up as a voice actor.
It’s also an amazing way to identify inconsistencies in your accent. Sustaining vowels when singing draws attention to them.
3. Go for the Obvious choice
Read each line with the most apparent intention first. I can hear all the acting coaches tutting from miles away, but believe me, it helps. Regardless of genre, this helps me get the obvious choices out of of my system.
For example, yelling the line ‘I’m so mad at you’ full of rage then releases me to play with the subtlety.
Am I actually angry? Maybe I’m just hangry.
I find if I don’t initially give into the most obvious choice it tends to haunt me and sneak into my reads. Just get it out of the way and have fun while doing it. Go full ham, baby!
4. Pitch it Different
We tend to learn accents at a particular pitch — Russian is low; Irish is high — and this can lead to our characters all sounding quite similar. While specific accents tend towards certain placements, that’s not the rule.
It takes a little practice, but I find that consciously throwing my accents around my register creates entirely new perspectives!
Suddenly my low, warm West Country lilt can become shrill and invasive; while my droning Aussie bogan is quickly refined by raising the pitch.
This is helpful when you’re asked to voice multiple characters with a single accent!
5. Picture the Character in their Room
This is my favourite exercise: before you start the read close your eyes and picture your character in their personal space — it could be their bedroom, office, yard, dojo — and observe the details.
This isn’t the space in which the dialogue is taking place, but a fictional, personal room.
What objects have pride of place? What colours dominate the space? Is it cluttered or spartan? Is there anyone else there? What does it smell like? What sort of textures can you touch — a soft blanket; a cold, stone wall; a sharp blade?
This affects me subconsciously, getting me out of my head and into theirs.
This exercise relies on your imagination and willingness to surrender to whatever manifests. You might see of feel something you weren’t expecting, and suddenly your character will have a depth you didn’t manufacture.
Let’s Smash It!
Now, let’s get out there and create some deep and darling characters!