Sacramento Press’s David Alvarez reports on the recently held "Winter 2012 SacAnimé" convention at the Woodlake Hotel in Sacramento. Over 5,000 visitors came to see their favourite voice actors who joined them in playing games, how-to workshops, music video contests and live concerts. Fans of the multi-talented Vic Mignogna, well known for his roles as Vega in Street Fighter II, Edward Elric in Full Metal Alchemists, Dark in DN Angel, Kurz in Full Metal Panic, Broly in Dragonball Z, Hikaru in Macross, and Takanaga in Wallflower, participated in and enjoyed the Q&A session with their voice actor hero. Currently involved with the new Iron Man and Wolverine series on G4, Mignogna was asked for insider tips by his fans about voice acting, so to encourage his fans, he shared with them how he started and became involved in voice acting. Together with fellow voice celebrities, they made the convention an exciting and memorable event for their thousands of fans.

The Popularity of Voice Acting

Online voice overs are getting popular this decade because of the surge of Japanese animé shows, foreign soap operas and movies, cartoon and computer-animated films, and video games. Even Hollywood celebrities are voice acting for animated films, like the star-studded Shrek series with Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, and Eddie Murphy, and the exuberant cast of the Kung Fu Panda series with Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, and Lucy Liu. Voice acting is totally different from on-screen acting. In voice acting, your face and body is obviously not seen so you have to show your full range of emotions and expressions through your voice alone. You have to know how to group the words in the script, when to pause, and how to control the tones in your voice, so that your voice and emotions match that of your animated character. When voice acting, you have to let your creative imagination work for you as well, because you usually won’t be interacting with other actors and their characters.

What it takes to execute great Online Voice Overs

If you’re wondering how you can be a voice actor or how to have a good voice for acting, then you have to understand that it isn’t just all talent. It takes more than just a great voice to succeed. Besides your passion for the craft, you have to develop the skill by involving yourself in educational and practical endeavours that will help you enhance your vocal range artistically and technically. To achieve this, you can:

• seek guidance from a coach who will identify your voice type, provide a training program that suits your voice, hone your strengths, and assess your weak areas

• join voice workshops where you can improve particular vocal skills

• participate in chat groups, blogs, forums and other social networks that share information, insights, and feedback about voice over skills, techniques, job opportunities, etc

• voice over literature can also be handy to guide you from the basic to professional careers

Voice Over Jobs: A Flexible, Well-paid and Satisfying Career

Pursuing a career can be very fulfilling, especially now that more industries are moving online. Whether it’s television, films, radio, online games, smart phones, cars, computers, websites, elevators, buses, trains, or on-hold messaging, there’s a need for voice talents. And the demand for freelance voice over work is increasing every day.

Most of us may not notice a lot of voice overs because they have become a part of our everyday life. But they are everywhere – and they are voices of real people. Let’s take a look at some of the voice over jobs we have today.

• TV, movie trailer, radio

o Advertisements for consumer products, events or public services

o Preview of a new TV show or upcoming movie

o Variety shows, game shows, talk shows

• Audio books

o Different characters, from best-selling novels to children’s fairy tale storybooks, require different voices

• Video games, animated films

o Different game players and cartoon characters, including the narrator, need voice actors

• Car GPS, elevators, trains, buses

o Spoken directions, instructions and "next stops" need voice talents to guide passengers

Whatever industry you’re in, you’ll need artists to help you promote, operate or aid your business. Contact us today and we’ll show you the gallery of our talents.