Voice Over Character Demos
What makes great voice over character demos? Someone believable. Someone real, but with something a little extra. They may have a quirk, tag or tone hooks and keeps your attention. They may be going through something which is changing them in an observable way. Creating effective voice over characters involves the skills only an authentic artist can bring. Talent who can analyze the copy and follow direction, show range and be able to adjust quickly and easily whether in a live-directed session or doing self-directed voice work with feedback. A great voice actor embodies the character, using only his or her voice.
A Solid Voice Over Character Demo Actor
A formal acting background with years of on-camera and on-stage performance, led Kim Handysides to master the art of character performance. Becoming a solid voice over character artist comes down to acting technique. Although a student of various acting techniques (from Stanislavski to Strasberg) Kim employs a combination of the truth in acting Meisner school and the improvisational Hagan approach. The characters she subsequently creates are real, authentic, surprising and engaging.
Real Natural Characters
Kim gets much of the call for real, natural characters in commercials and patient experience eLearning programs. Advertising has moved decidedly away the stylized and sell approaches and firmly entered the realm of commercial storytelling. As such, the tellers of the (ad) tales are real people. To create an authentic read, these characters tell it like it is. With all the lumps and bumps, stops and starts, quirks and inspiration that any real person embodies…but heightened. It is a story we’re telling after all, and we do want to keep our listener’s attention. Scratch that. We don’t just want to keep their attention, we want to influence them. Be memorable. Possibly change their behavior. That involves a lot of finesse. In patient experience eLearning programs, the characters are 100% real people going through pain and problems and seeking solutions. Whether caregiver, HCP, or patient this kind of character work is closest to real world testimonials.
Improv Voice Over Character Demos
There are two kinds of animated characters in the voice over world. The first set are those that live in explainer, whiteboard, business animations and the second set are those entertaining personalities found in gaming and cartoons. Explainer voiceover characters lean into the narrator world. They tell a story. They are interesting fully fleshed out characters in their own right (or should be) who have unique, fun, interesting things to say and share. Sometimes animated characters are found in commercials. Kim recently played a plastic flamingo, a water sprinkler frog and a stone bird on a bird bath in a Lawn Care commercial. But mostly the more entertaining characters live in cartoons and the gaming world. Zombies, witches, goddesses, soldiers, fairies, you name it, Kim’d probably created an animated voice over character to match it.
Entertaining Animated Character Demos
Adept at improv to create great voice over characters, Kim draws on years of improvisation, animation and radio work to craft a unique character for each individual voice project, whether on-camera or from behind the mic. She has won awards for doing so. Direct this voice actor in a live session or turn her loose and let her work on her own, she will expertly deliver character voice overs for commercials, gaming, animation, eLearning, films, web series, audio books, apps or whatever you have on tap that you want to incarnate through characterization. Browse through the character samples and various voice over actress categories. Want to download something to play for your client? Just hit the download icon next to a track on the demo to the right. Think Kim’s voice is right for your next character? She’d love to talk to you about it today.
