Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Animated
I did a great Animation course with Elley-Ray Hennessy on Saturday. She is a well-known actress working in theatre and television as well as, of course, an accomplished voice actor.
Her passion for the craft was certainly contagious. She had interesting insights into creating characters. For instance, she says characters have nothing to do with the script - you have to look for them between the lines. I liked that. Things to keep in mind when creating a character are their size, age, weight and rhythm. She was quite insistent that you don't create a demo until you have at least 20 recreatable characters.
There was a packet waiting for us when we arrived. It held a number of articles and a pencil. I thought, strange, it's a new pencil and isn't sharpened. Well, it wasn't there for writing - but for exercises. I have used a pencil before, but she gave us some new ideas of how to use a pencil not only to help articulation but to strengthen the upper and lower lip. She gave us numerous exercises to do everyday to strengthen those areas in the face, mouth and neck, where sound is created and shaped. She emphasized the importance of placement of the voice using tongue, teeth and soft palate.
Then it was mic work - about 4 hours of it. And she gave us quite a workout. There were only four of us that showed up for the class so we all got a lot of mic time and personal attention. I was exhausted at the end of the day.
I'm dying to hear the CD they created of the work I did. I go pick it up today.
