The Fuzzy Lines of "Voice Acting"

Recently I stumbled across a wonderful list of the "20 Greatest Voice Over Performances," courtesy of the site ListVerse.com.  The list is a fascinating look at some great voice actors, great characters, and indeed entire careers.  While I really appreciate the work John Miller put into compiling it, I wanted to highlight some areas I found interesting that may open up new conversation:

1. Where Be the Clips? This is the internet age, with just about every nostalgic node and related ephemera located a Google search away.  Someone needs to find a sample or YouTube link to each of these voices.  That someone could be me...just not right now :)

2. The meaning of "voice over performance." As noted in the comments by an astute reader, the #1 voice, Andy Serkis as Gollum, lives in the hazy new area of motion-captured CGI.  Was it really Andy acting on screen?  Or was Gollum just as animated as Bugs Bunny?  Where is the line between voice acting and "traditional" acting with a CGI costume?  More on this to follow...

3. Role vs. Career. One mistake I think this list makes is mixing the voice of one character (in a single movie or a franchise) along with a voice actor's entire career. That's like comparing oranges and apples!  How can you compare one performance to the entire oeuvre of Mel Blanc or Frank Oz?  I believe that should be a separate list...

The Meaning of "Voice Performance"

As CGI, motion-capture, and facial mapping grows ever better and more accurate, we will only find more and more gray areas.  A voice actor providing the voice to a traditionally animated character is "voice acting," I don't think anyone would argue with that.  But what about the type of motion capture utilized by WETA for Gollum, or by James Cameron for the characters in Avatar?  How close does the CGI costume have to be to reality to defined as "acting"?  Perhaps we just need a new genre or definition...

Another commenter brings up the interesting example of Octopus Face in Pirates of the Caribbean.  His voice was probably recorded in a studio, and the tentacles are CGI.  Since only part of his body is digital, and the voice is pre-recorded, is this acting or voice acting?

Let the discussion begin...

Dialect Resources

I posted this originally on the Audio Book Community site, but thought I'd re-post here to spread it around:

I ran across a great site featuring a map of the U.S. that delineates dialects and regionalisms spoken:

American English Dialects



Lots of people shared other resources in the thread, so check it out!

Audio Book Sales

Interesting news from the Association of American Publishers (AAP), reflecting the trend of increased downloaded audio books vs. physical copies:

Downloaded Audio Books also saw an increase of 20.7 percent over last year, with sales of $6.3 million this October; and the category was also up 38.6 percent year-to-date. Physical Audio Book sales decreased 20.5 percent in October with sales totaling $14.7 million; sales for the year to date are down 13.5 percent.

With the increase of e-book readers capable of playing mp3 files, and portable computers like the iPad and netbooks - my bet is this trend will only continue!

AAP Press Release

Audio Book Anniversery!

Interesting article out from the Independent on the 75th anniversary of audio books.

A few fascinating tidbits here.  Did you know, for example, that audio books:

"started as an aid for battle casualties and elderly people with failing eyesight."

I poked around a bit online and can't find a reference for "first audio book ever."  It sounds like it would be something from the 1930s intended for veterans...I suppose it's too much to hope that one of those got digitized along the way?

A Royal Narration

Well, here's interesting news.  The Prince of Wales will be narrating his first audio book, Harmony: A New Way of Looking at the World.

According to this article, Prince Charles recorded the book at his home and his Scottish residence.  Hmm...hope that audio matches up!  Knowing people's first audio book efforts usually have room for improvement (especially mine), it'd be interesting to see his results.  I couldn't find a sample online, but if anyone has one let me know!