The voicing and dubbing of animation is a complicated affair. Creating animated animals (also called voice over animals) is similar to creating other animated personages, even live-action characters. There are, however, some specific differences to take into account.
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This post has been updated in October 2021.
The Basics of Voice Over Animals
Voice Over vs. Dubbing
Voice over is simply adding a voice on top of content that already exists. Imagine a documentary that requires an off-screen narrator. Such a narrator would record the lines in a recording studio and these lines would be added on top of the documentary itself.
In the case of dubbing, the process is a bit lengthier. It requires the total replacement of voices which already exist in a piece of content. Imagine an anime film in the Japanese language. Its script must be translated and then a full cast of voice actors must be assembled. These voice artists must voice each character completely and thus produce an entirely new audio track, so that the film may be enjoyed by people who do not understand Japanese.
In the case of animal animated characters, there a various possibilities. If the animation is originally in English, then voice artists will voice the characters normally. Alternatively, if these characters come from other countries, they will have to be dubbed in English.
What is Anthropomorphism?
Anthropomorphism is essentially attributing human emotions and characteristics to non-human characters, such as animals. It has been widely used throughout time. Fables, for instance, have traditionally featured anthropomorphized animals.
Modern literature has also had a large presence of such characters: Peter Rabbit and Winnie the Pooh, are just two examples of a large repertoire. Film, television and video-games, feature a huge amount of voice over animals too.
Creating Convincing Voice Over Animals
Creating great voice over animals for television, film or video-games is easier said than done. Voice acting, it must be understood, is primarily acting. As such, creating compelling and convincing characters is a similar challenge either on stage, screen, or the recording studio.
Given Circumstances
The very first step in creating a character, both in the writing process and at the acting level is understanding their ‘given circumstances’.
Famous acting coach Larry Moss in his wonderful book ‘The Intent to Live: Achieving your True Potential as an Actor’, describes ‘given circumstances’ as:
“(…) the term used in acting for everything the writer tells you in the script about your character and the situation they find themselves in. Given circumstances are the facts; they are the information that is not subject to debate (…) They are the ground on which you build your creative choices, the only place you can begin.”
This phase, therefore, deals primarily with observation. Who is this character? What is his profession and basic way of life? The more a voice artist is able to investigate who it is they are representing, the better.
In the case of voice over animals, it is the same: investigation and a careful reading of the script are paramount.
Ed Bighead and Character Traits
Consider the 90’s kid’s show ‘Rocko’s Modern Life’. The show was about a wallaby named Rocko and his life and friends. At first glance an investigation of ‘given circumstances’ is impossible here, or is it?
Take Ed Bighead, Rocko’s neighbor. He was an anthropomorphic toad, who was grumpy and angry all the time. He worked at a very large corporation called Conglom-O, in an ungrateful middle management role.
Note that the given circumstances of Ed Bighead are transmitted in several ways. For starters, they are revealed in the drawing of the character itself: Ed Bighead does indeed physically look like a beaten-down salaryman. This informs the performance of the voice artist bringing this character to life. Watch this clip with an eye on the ‘given circumstances’ that Rocko’s neighbor has: who is he, what is his relation to his wife and to Rocko and his friends? What situation is he in now, and how does it come out vocally?
Note that the characteristics of Ed’s personality are primarily transmitted through his voice. Try to simply ‘listen’ to the clip above, without watching the images. He is acquiescent with his wife but pompous and cantankerous with everybody else and this is immediately apparent in the tone and vocal range of the actor voicing him.
Understanding the context of the characters is important. In the case of Ed Bighead, his subservient relationship to his wife directly informs the inflection in his voice when speaking to her. By contrast, Ed Bighead dislikes Rocko and his friends intensely and this is immediately evident in his tone of voice. As always in fiction, finding the conflict directly informs the creation of characters; in the case of voice over animals, such creation is expressed vocally.
Objective and Superobjective
Finding the objective and superobjective of the voice over animals is also important. Larry Moss describes how “the objective is what your character wants in a certain scene in order to try to fulfill their needs.”
The scene objective, in turn, is tied to the overarching superobjective of the script, which he describes as “the engine that propels you through the journey of the play or film; it is the dream that moves you through the story, for in plays and films as in life, without dreams we don’t take action.”
The Brain’s Dream
A clear example of the use of an objective and superobjective in the creation of voice over animals is found in ‘Pinky and the Brain’. This cartoon featured two lab mice, one of which dreamed about taking over the world. Such superobjective drove each season and in turn gave form to the objectives of each episode and each scene. The intro itself makes the objective and superobjective quite clear:
Communicating the Objective and Superobjective
The objective and superobjective also create a particular take on a character and, crucially, will inform the vocal decisions of talent giving life to voice over animals.
Note for example Brain’s particular appearance and his tone of voice. One could even surmise that Brain’s character must have been directly influenced by Napoleon himself: his whole sound and look is that of an aspiring world ruler.
The Emotional Life of the Character
Voice over animals, just like any other character, must have an emotional life. It is essential to endow voice over animals with emotion, via crafty voice artistry. Take this example from ‘Ren and Stimpy’:
Ren was known to be a particularly emotional character, to say the least, as evidenced by this clip. A voice actor has to take on such an internal, emotional life into account when giving life to the words on the script.
Understanding the back story of a character is useful when trying to give it an emotional life. There are many things that are not in a script that are useful when voicing animation. A voice artist should attempt to know as much as possible of the back story of a character, particularly in longer projects.
Thereafter, the challenge is being able to communicate this in a performance. Larry Moss states, talking to actors (and, by extension, to voice actors): “The degree of your commitment to gaining what you want in the scene (your objective) is the degree to which the audience is moved.” This is an invitation to add real emotional weight to the words in a script. Such weight must also be provided to voice over animals.
Finding the Funny
Finally, when giving life to voice over animals we must not forget that they are often comedic. How do we make them funny? Larry Moss offers some ideas on creating comedic performances:
- Much of comedy is derived from the rigidity of a character. Their strong points of view enter into conflict with their surroundings and this leads to hilarity.
- It is important to always believe in the truth and the stakes of a character. In the case of the Brain’s ambitions, a voice over actor must believe in his dream of world domination. This truthfulness will render a solid performance that does not waver and is funny.
- Comedy acting is often ensemble acting. This stresses the importance of great casting.
Consider a classic character like Donald Duck. He seems to exemplify all these characteristics: a rigid personality who strongly desires something and is paired off with equally strong-willed characters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oid2a6NRVMU
Where to Create Voice Over Animals
Where can we create voice over animals? What is the process? Well, voice over animals are animation. Once this animation is created, there are different possibilities: (i) voice the characters in English (like in the clips we examined), or (ii) translate the script and cast the different voice acting roles (in the case of animation from other countries, which wants to reach an English-speaking audience).
All-In Flexible Online Providers
The best alternative nowadays is to acquire a provider who will be able to take care of original voicing, translation and casting/dubbing.
Bunny Studio, for instance, is able to do these things, having built a track record in providing voice over and translation of the highest caliber. Most importantly, however, this online hub is able to provide flexible solutions.
In the case of voice over animals, this flexibility is essential because such projects have a special sort of complexity. Indeed, as advanced as online acquisition of translation and voice over is , only all-inclusive providers are able to tackle high-complexity projects like remote dubbing with a large cast.
In a Nutshell
The creation of voice over animals is similar to the creation of other animated personages and live-action characters. Voice acting, it must be understood, is primarily acting.
The very first step in creating a character, both in the writing process and at the acting level is understanding their ‘given circumstances’.
Finding the objective and superobjective of the voice over animals is also important.
Voice over animals, just like any other character, must have an emotional life.
Finally, when giving life to voice over animals we must not forget that much of the comedy is derived from their rigidity. It is important to always believe in the truth and the stakes of a character. Comedy acting is often ensemble acting.
The best alternative nowadays is to acquire an all-in, flexible provider who will be able to take care of original voicing, translation and casting/dubbing in a project.
Find the perfect voice for you today at Bunny Studio!
