FREE Voice Over Tips & Insights – From a 25+ year Pro
If You Can Tell Me a Story Without Sound... Guess What I Guarantee You Can Do?
I say this in almost every class and workshop I teach. It comes directly from my puppetry background — and it stops actors cold every time: "If you can tell me a story without sound... guess what I guarantee you can do?" The answer changes everything about how you approach the mic.
The Suspension of Disbelief: Your Most Powerful Ally — and Your Most Tenuous One
Last week I re-watched WALL-E with my four-year-old. I cried three separate times. Over robots. That don't really speak. In a movie I've seen before. And I knew — the whole time — that I was watching computer animated images on a screen. So why was I weeping? And what does that have to do with your next voice acting audition?
The 12 Principles of Animation — And Why Every Voice Actor and Puppeteer Needs to Know Them
In 1981, two Disney animators named Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston published what has since been called the "Bible of Animation" — a book called The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. In it, they laid out 12 foundational principles that govern how great animation moves. Voice actors, they are NOT just for animators. Puppeteers, you need to take note too. Here's why — and what each principle means for the performance you bring to the mic and beyond.