VOICE 2008- Day Four

I made a goal this week to blog every night before bed. I almost made it! Unfortunately, I was just too tired to even see the keyboard last night!

Yesterday began for me when I attended a session with Joyce Castellanos. Joyce is a promo and trailer VO expert, and I was really interested in hearing more about voicing promos. Joyce is one of the sweetest, most wonderful people I've ever met. You would never guess her incredible knowledge of the industry until she starts to speak! Joyce defined the main differences between voicing promos and voicing trailers (promos are more personal, the VO must have an emotional connection to the story and speak with a broader band of inflection, while trailers are more objective with less inflection). She spoke on the differences between comedy, dramady, and dramas. She also said that if you want to get into promo VO, research is your best friend. The more you can research the different types of shows, the better the chance of understanding the script when it is handed to you. Some of my favorite advice Joyce gave was that all scripts are stories, with a beginning, middle, and end. When doing voice over, you must commit completely to your decisions, but be willing to change with direction.

Sadly, since no time had been given for lunch, I had to miss Larry Maizlish's session. Instead, I ran to the food court for a wonderful lunch with Bob and Eric Souer, Bobbin Beam, Chris Rollins, and several other VO's.

When we returned, we met up with Caryn Clark to stake our claim for a front table during Joe Cipriano's promo panel...and what a panel it was!! Joining Joe was Paul Pape, Kat Cressida, Melissa Disney, Beau Weaver, Stew Herrera, and Townsend Coleman. A funny moment happened when Don LaFontaine tried to call in, and no one had a phone with good enough reception to talk to him! The panel was fun and informative to say the least! At the end, I got up to ask a question...I was curious about the one job they each had wanted but it got away. Beau answered, saying if he thought too much about it- he would go crazy. So, he always just let's it go once the audition is sent.

After the panel, I ran back to the hotel for a quick change and headed back for the celebrity banquet. Caryn Clark and I were joined by our dates for the evening, Bob and Eric Souer. Dinner was great, though we had a good laugh when my vegetarian meal looked like a pie crust, fortunately, it was a veggie pot pie and quite delicious! A magician warmed up the crowd, and then Dick Orkin and Christine Coyle took the stage along with James and Penny for an interview. It was a lot of fun, but did run a little long. Afterward, Caryn and I headed upstairs for a cocktail before calling it a night.

Since I have a session today with Cynthia Songe, and am tagging along with Wally Wingert to a VO session, followed by dinner with my dear friend Kyle Hebert- I opted to sleep in and call this a great ending to a successful conference!

Hopefully Pat Fraley will understand :) Something tells me his session this morning was packed and full of fun! I will be sure to blog about today's happenings before heading back to North Carolina. In fact, I've already booked up the rest of the week with work when I return...hope I'm able to catch up on sleep while flying home tomorrow!!