Mystic Jackson
Member
Member of the VAC Server
Posts: 7 
I Am A(n): Creator/Producer, Writer, Hobbyist Voice Actor
Pronouns: he/him
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Post by Mystic Jackson on Nov 1, 2017 11:38:00 GMT -8
Hi there! This is more of a question specifically for the admins of Voice Acting Club, particularly to Ms. LadyStardust. But, I'm kinda starting to get a little confused right now. I've just recently started this audiobook project titled Mario and Sonic: Heroes Unite back in September, but it's clearly getting a lot of views and notices by anonymous people, but so far, I've gotten zero replies or responses about my project, and it just gets so repetitive whenever I check back to this site on some occasions to see if people would be interested, just to get no responses to my project after literally days of hard work put into putting this project altogether. I even followed the tips and rules of how to put together a non-paid project like this one. (including the title, summary, character images, the deadline, my email, etc.) Oh, and just for the record, I didn't add audition lines because I had originally planned to have anyone who is interested to upload their voice demos for the characters they're best at doing, then I'll personally send the audition lines to their emails, but no one still hasn't responded. It's gotten to the point that I've extended the deadline to at least this Sunday, but still, no luck. Is there something I'm doing wrong that I need to improve on, or are people just not that interested with certain projects on this forum such as this one for instance? I just really need some help and suggestions right about now. Sorry if this seems like a semi-rant, but it's just something I need to get off my chest at this point.
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Post by Lady Stardust ★ on Nov 2, 2017 2:05:01 GMT -8
Hi there! I'm looking at your thread here: voiceacting.boards.net/thread/1394/major-crossover-audio-project-auditionsUltimately, there are a lot of reasons that go into whether someone is interested in auditioning for a project or not. I'll give you a little feedback based on what I see with your post (others are welcome to chime in as they see fit): - Your introduction is rather long and rambling and contains run-on sentences. A lot of people have short attention spans on the Internet these days and want a quick, concise version of what the project is and what they can expect. I'd look at other successful threads for an idea of how to write a good intro.
- 100 chapters honestly sounds like a LOT of work for an unpaid project. Many people simply don't have that kind of time to commit to something, even if it was a paid project! Perhaps you could start out with something more manageable, like shorts or a single chapter at a time (depending on length) and continue if there is interest? People also may be hesitant to do something so big if you don't have examples of prior work or a record of completing projects, simply because there are a lot of content producers who set big goals and end up vanishing once they realize how much work it is to produce all that content.
- You don't have any audition lines posted for the characters. This is a big one---in fact, it's even in the rules. How are people supposed to audition if they don't have lines? They're not going to improvise or make something up for the character, or go digging through a bunch of references - choose 3-4 lines per character for people to read from if they're interested.
I'd also recommend maybe posting a casting call at our sister site, castingcall.club - there tends to be more interest for fanfiction type projects over there from what I've seen. |
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Post by Rebekah Amber Clark on Nov 2, 2017 4:00:50 GMT -8
I'll chime in, as Lady Stardust said.  You talk about having high expectations of quality from your voice actors -- acting ability, microphone quality, demos with high production quality. For VAs working professionally (at the level you seem to be asking for) a lot of those people won't even *do* fan projects at all, though some do. For amateurs and hobbyists who WILL do fan projects, your expectations seem a bit demanding and overwhelming. This is likely to make people either too scared to even audition, or not want to end up with a "diva" director nitpicking every little thing if they DO get the role (or both.) It's not wrong to want your project to sound good, and it's definitely not wrong to ask for retakes! But if I'm 100% honest -- and not to be rude, BUT -- there's a possibility you might come across as being high-risk ending up a "nightmare director" from the way you talk in your post and replies. Furthermore, and this goes quadruple for fan projects again -- your insistence that no one may choose which role(s) they are interested in. Maybe they don't WANT to be cast as "whatever role you think they suit best". People who do fan projects are doing it for fun. |
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Post by Kyotosomo on Nov 2, 2017 7:52:13 GMT -8
If a thread is getting a lot of views yet not really any replies, not to sound too harsh but it likely means that nobody is interested (unless people are supposed to send in auditions by email in which case it's possible people are sending in auditions and just not posting about it). If that's the case then you could improve upon the original post, change what you're doing, or just take your project elsewhere. The later possibly being the best option as the average project posted here is at a much higher level of quality than a post somewhere like BTVA or CCC, you see a fair amount of original content like games and what not here, so the audience of voice actors here is a lot more picky and less likely to do fan projects.
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Post by Bean on Nov 2, 2017 15:35:42 GMT -8
You're probably not going to get high-quality VA work for an unpaid project on here or anywhere, to be honest, but you could get some enthusiastic fans that maybe know what they're doing behind a microphone to help. Personally, I kept from sending in an audition to another recent project in the unpaid section because it was basically a dub of a licensed game that hadn't even released yet! I know yours is a fan work, but the same feelings kind of hold true. I don't want to try out for anything that could put me in a negative light with those companies.
On top of that, your project is very long. The time investment for something like that without compensation is rough. Honestly, I do recommend you look on other boards and shorten the length down to a fraction of those 100 chapters for the time being just to see if you can even get the project rolling. That way, you still don't have to worry about paying anyone, but you're not asking them for such an unbelievable commitment here. Also, agreed on posting audition lines, even if it's just one per character. As it is now, your project really seems like a case of biting off more than you can chew. Good luck in getting it going, but starting small is a good idea with this one.
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Mystic Jackson
Member
Member of the VAC Server
Posts: 7
I Am A(n): Creator/Producer, Writer, Hobbyist Voice Actor
Pronouns: he/him
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Post by Mystic Jackson on Nov 2, 2017 17:57:22 GMT -8
Alright, so I've decided to use my time for at least 2 hrs. here spent on editing so much information and details that, quite honestly, I wasn't really too pleased about. When I re-read my project post, I can most certainly agree with LadyStadust as well as those that have chimed in saying that my post definitely contains the three major problems that my original post had.
The introduction was too long, and had a LOT of run-on sentences and unnecessary ramblings (though, to be fair, I often have a bad habit with that type of stuff when it comes to typing my responses on the internet, here and there), and an understandably long and quite frankly demanding production schedule. I mean, to be fair, having projects have a very long time commitment can be present in a lot of projects online and in the professional field, but I can agree that 100 chapters seems to be kinda pushing it just a tad too much, imo. And, I've finally added in audition lines for all characters. Oh, and I've shortened the introductions and edited a lot of sentences so it doesn't sound too run-on and rambling-like. And, I've definitely made my post hopefully sound a lot less demanding and expecting and more friendly and a less stressful on the surface. Also, I've removed a lot of characters, since I don't think anyone would be committed to wanting to audition for over 30+ characters at a time.
So, you guys can go back and take a look at my new edited thread that I've spent a lot of time fixing. By the way, thanks for the critiques and tips on how to improve my audition threads and stuff like that. Very much appreciated. Of course, any feedback is welcome, as long as it's constructive critiquing. Let me know what you guys think, and I'll be checking back here from time to time. Once again, thanks for the constructive feedback. Later!
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Post by Lady Stardust ★ on Nov 3, 2017 21:06:30 GMT -8
I'll chime in, as Lady Stardust said. You talk about having high expectations of quality from your voice actors -- acting ability, microphone quality, demos with high production quality. For VAs working professionally (at the level you seem to be asking for) a lot of those people won't even *do* fan projects at all, though some do. For amateurs and hobbyists who WILL do fan projects, your expectations seem a bit demanding and overwhelming. This is likely to make people either too scared to even audition, or not want to end up with a "diva" director nitpicking every little thing if they DO get the role (or both.) It's not wrong to want your project to sound good, and it's definitely not wrong to ask for retakes! But if I'm 100% honest -- and not to be rude, BUT -- there's a possibility you might come across as being high-risk ending up a "nightmare director" from the way you talk in your post and replies. Furthermore, and this goes quadruple for fan projects again -- your insistence that no one may choose which role(s) they are interested in. Maybe they don't WANT to be cast as "whatever role you think they suit best". People who do fan projects are doing it for fun. Oh goodness, I didn't even see your other replies to your thread at the time I gave my feedback. Razzle is absolutely right. EDIT: Alright, everybody! It's time once again for a small little update. I'm going to start looking and communicating with certain members on this website to see if they would be very interested to contributing in this project with mixing/editing the voice performance clips into one complete file that can make an entire audio chapter, if you will. Not only that, I believe it's about time I start searching for talented voice actors whom have had experience with working on big/professional voice acting projects before in their resumes. So, I do have too bring out one rule on how you could send your voice demo reels professionally to my email: send demo reels that have the following qualities to a good voice demo reel: a great mic quality, the sound of the audio, great mixing/editing to your voice performances, great acting for scenes that match the mood to what scenario is going on, a wide range of voices you can do, mixing music that fits well to the situation of the scenarios, and over-lasting appeal. I've heard a lot of demo reels that mostly suffer from bad mic quality, mediocre vocal performances, and just pretty bad audio files. Just send me voice demos that sounds crisp, precise, and professional. Also, another important role for anybody who is considering about auditioning: Do not ask me if you can audition as 'this character or that character' and that kind of stuff. That limits your chance of getting cast in projects like this or any other professional projects you see online on many websites like this, for instance. I determine to see if I'll cast you if you can send good demo reels to my email and I may consider communicating back with you in a span between 2-3 weeks at the latest. This does bring up an old saying that may sound a bit selfish, but I feel needs to be addressed here: Don't approach me to ask me if you can audition as whichever character you wanna audition for, that is for me to come to you if you wanted to start auditioning for any character I feel suits you the best. This part is very, very off-putting in my opinion. You don't have to consider auditions that are recorded from a potato mic, but I honestly feel like what you are expecting isn't realistic for an unpaid fan project and will turn most people away. I get that you want it to be "perfect", but there's something to be said for just doing a hobby project for fun, especially to get practice with mixing. Speaking of mixing, it sounds from the first part of what I quoted here that you are looking for someone to mix/edit your project for you? That's even more of a turnoff for voice actors because unless you are a large, well established production team or studio, you're basically asking others to do your editing work for you, and most people are not going to edit and mix someone else's project for free. I'm also not really sure about your whole rule of people not being allowed to audition for specific characters. That doesn't really make sense to me. Sure, sometimes in official games or for agencies when they have hundreds of auditions to sort through, the casting director will pick specific roles for each person to audition for, but that simply makes no sense for a fan project. Let people pick the roles they think they're suited for and if the audition doesn't fit the character, you don't have to consider it any further. I apologize if any of this seems like we're being too harsh. I get the feeling that you are young and have big aspirations, which is great, but we all have to work our way up, whether it's as voice actors or producers. Start small, get practice mixing and finishing fun projects with a cast of others looking to do this as a hobby, and relax a little  |
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Mystic Jackson
Member
Member of the VAC Server
Posts: 7
I Am A(n): Creator/Producer, Writer, Hobbyist Voice Actor
Pronouns: he/him
|
Post by Mystic Jackson on Nov 3, 2017 22:06:40 GMT -8
Hello, Ms. LadyStardust! So, I just got your reply about almost an hour ago, and let me say thank you very much for the feedback you've given me thus far and I'll always look forward to hearing back from you in the future! So, for starters, this edit post was written back in September, but I'm already way past the phase where I have to ask certain people to mix/edit the project for me, and I'm just now learning and I'm starting to become much less demanding and more welcome to aspiring voice actors who would be willing to audition, regardless of pay. However, I can kinda see why people wouldn't be too interested in my fan project considering most of what's posted here are original pieces like indie video games, projects, and much more. So, much respect to those people getting their projects off the ground. If you want, I'll just delete all of my edit posts since that was the time I was very desperate, but I'm still trying my best to not make a big mistake like what you've might've seen in my original post from this point forward. Once again, any feedback is appreciated. Have a good night! |
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