This is something i feel rather strongly about. I hate the idea that celebrites are now dominating the CGI film market after realising how popular it has become and how much money it brings in. I find this unfair on all the voice actors considering they have alot more talent in that area while celebrites voices always come out alot more bland and characterless. Voice actors have been trained in this field and probably offer alot more variety in the way certain lines could be said. If celebrities dominate the market then there will be no more Billy West, Tom Kenny, Tara trong etc. These people arent credited enough and offer so much life to our animations.
i feel that most *not all* animation in america is mostly money driven now more than ever,rather than *art driven*, which explains ur celeb voices.They want kids to see stuff,but they also want to attract an adult audience.hence putting in familiar names from the movie world into animation,thus....more money and more popularity.
*remind me never to say thus or hence again*
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I can understand having lets say Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, theres two celbrites for about ten characters thats all you need. Unlike Shark Tale where nearly every character was a celebrity. It doesnt seem fair on the voice actors who have worked so hard. It is also annoying to see the film industry to be so money driven. I appreciate the fact that it's expensive but because of this it seems story lacks, although visual quality remains brilliant.
I don't mind celebrities providing voices for animated films. If they are directed right and they become the character then thats fine. I really was opposed to Ellen Degenerious being in "Nemo." I didn't think I could sit through an hour and a half of her talking, but she was awesome, and I really enjoyed the comedy and vulneralbitly she brought to Dory's character. What I don't like is Dreamworks' constant promoting of their celebrity voice talent. I don't go to see a movie just the hear 10 actors talking, I go to see a movie. I think that is one BIG problem with Dreamworks animated Features. Almost like they spend so much money to get the big name stars that they have no money left to hire writers. Hopefully it's just a phase they're going through.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
A few thoughts:
The movie industry in America has always been money-driven. Since studios began, they've only greenlit movies they thought could make a return on their investment. Sure, some great art got made in the process, but that's a side-effect, and has never been the goal of any studio head - ever.
Let's not forget that Tom Hanks and Tim Allen weren't Tom Hanks and Tim Allen when they started work on Toy Story. Hanks hadn't yet won his first Oscar when he first entered the booth, and Allen's TV show was just taking off - in fact, you could make the argument that he became Buzz because he was essentially under contract to Disney. Fortuitous casting, to be sure, but let's keep it in historical perspective.
I don't mind celebrity voices if they're cast appropriately. Ellen DeGeneres is an excellent example of a celebrity carrying it off. By contrast, Rosie O'Donnell was totally annoying in Tarzan, and Cameron Diaz is completely lifeless in Shrek. I understand the concern about voice actors losing out to celebs, and I share it to a degree. When it's "stunt casting" as Ginny McSwain calls it, it stinks. But there are those who pull it off.
What I do mind is when said celebrities get huge paydays for what amounts to a few weeks' work. There was a time where celebrity voices got paid scale. DW mucked that up with Shrek 2, paying the main cast $5 mill apiece for their work. I don't think there was a single animator paid that much, and without the work they did, all DW would have had was a very expensive radio show.
yeh DSB i agree,animating in like 1000 times more difficult than speaking into a microphone,*for an actor i mean,not saying voice acting is easy* but an actor such as eddie murphy or mike myers wud find it hella easy to adapt,yet they end up getting literally 4 million times more money than the actual animators.
hehe,a very expensive radio show,good one. :D
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I totally agree. I've become about as amused at Dreamworks stuff as I am with Mike Meyers pretending to go down the escalator behind the couch for the umpteenth time. I think they misnamed Shrek 2, it should have been Shrek 1...Again. Mike, er...I mean Shrek is ugly and self-conscious, WE GET IT ALREADY!
If the writing is good and the character's fit, then either way works with me.
Although, sometimes, if it isn't done right, I find myself thinking of that person in other roles and it totally pulls me out of the moment, or trying to place the voice instead of watching the movie.
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In the DVD "The Incredibles" the comentaries by Brad Bird and John Walker talked about this too. They were very happy that their actor came across so great. Even they point our how big stars do well not because of their voices but because of their acting on the big screen.
I gotta admit... I totally agree with you... I hate it when they bring actors in who can't fricken bring the character to life... it's... annoying! but I also gotta admit that some actors... yes... I'm refering to Ellen who did the voice of Dori/Dory (not totally sure how it's spelt) it's mostly dumb luck when they bring in big-name stars and they actually manage to carry the torch and do well. Ellen carried that torch and did EXCELLENT.
the Incredibles... I actually liked that movie... somewhat clichéd yet... not at the same time... I enjoyed it... and the voices were good... same with Toy Story.
I can't go into too many details about my cartoon because I haven't pitched it to Frederator/Nickelodeon yet, but I'm hoping beyond hope for a particular actress to voice the main character. If she does, it stands a chance of becoming a "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" or "Lizzie McGuire"-type property. If she doesn't, it's a 7-minute one-shot.
i think who the voice talent is in the scheme of things is irrelevant. it should fit the character thats all that mattes.
in shreks case the characters appearence where based on the voice actors.
so in our days its not the voices that fit the character,its the characters that fits the voices.
:confused: yep.... just confused my damn self there.
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To me, Shark Tale was a huge let-down in many respects. What particularly bugged me about the voice acting was that the roles in that movie were clearly written specifically for the individual actors doing them. I doubt any of them were artistically challenged. Is it right to approach a movie like that? "Hey, Finding Nemo scored big time, so let's do an underwater comedy. Pop culture references worked wonderfully in Shrek 2 so let's have plenty of those as well. And celebs! I want DeNiro, Smith, Black and Jolie so see to it you write them roles they'll like, 'kay?"
agreed. :confused:
Right before i start talking again i must say this just in case someone get's the wrong impresion. I am not anti-celeb. Yes i agree with many of the quotes people are saying, it's the voice that matters, of course it is, we need a voice to fit our character. But for sake of argument let say Eddie Murphy signed up to do a voice and so did Billy West. And the voices were brilliant, both of them almost indentical. Eddie Murphy would get the job because the film would then have celebrity backup but they would also be losing out on $4,000,000 or so. That's not fair.
Mike Myers doing Shrek's voice. Why? I'm not saying it's bad, he did a good job which is slightly stunted at times but easily overlooked. I didn't understand why you would need a canadian to do a scottish voice, if they can provide me with a reason i'd say "fine, that's reasonable" I'd also agree with the Cameron Diaz statement made previously about her character Fiona. I still have respect for Shrek as there were many voice actors circulating around the main characters.
I have alot more appreciation for Pixar. They pick the right actors for the character rather then the right character for the actors. In alot of ways this has helped many of the actors, i had no idea who Tim Allen was until Toy Story, now i think it's great that he keeps coming back to do Toy Story. But there, to famous actors, thats all they had. Same goes for the rest of their films, they never seem to exceed over four A-List celebrites.
Right before i continue again i must once again say "I am not Anti-hollywood" but it really does frustrate me. The next paragraph is harsh but many of the facts are just things i've heard from word of mouth. Chicken Run, Aardmans first ever full length feature film. Brilliant success. Mel Gibson, brilliant actor, did a brilliant job. But, he was never down for the part of Rocky. Turns out that Hollywood would not buy, or fund the film unless an american actor was in it or an actor in general, but he had to be well known. This made little sense, why speciffically an american. Wallace and Gromit was a huge success in america, surley sticking "From the creators of Wallace and Gromit" on the film posters was enough. The same happened in the film Highlander, Mel Gibson playing a scottish man. Why bnot get a scottish actor who could do a good job and get his name out there and become even more famous.
What drags you into a film is the amount of famous actors they can advertise in the trailer. It tricks you in to thinking "Wow, it must be good if they all decided to do this" Wouldnt it be alot more fair if we publicised voice actors alot more so we could see on the trailer "Coming soon from Dreamworks, starring Tom Kenny, Dan Castellena, Clancy Brown, Tara Strong, Billy West, Nancy Cartwright Mike Castellia" Where every character would have alot of depth and personality in their voice.
that is VERY well put. I personally could NOT have said it any better my self... and by the way... nice list of voice actors. I'm impressed.
I personally want to be a voice actor... but now with all these celebrities replacing the REAL voice talent, it's getting harder and harder to scope out jobs. I personally tend to enjoy acting and doing voice work and hopefully... I'll get into acting too.
btw... as for the Eddie Murphy/Billy West conflict... I know you must've been choosing a name out of a hat but Eddie Murphy is an excellent voice. personally, I enjoy hearing his work. he adds depth and comedy to whatever character he does. dunno about you... but I'm impressed.
Thanks very much. Sorry i should of mentioned i was just using Eddie Murphy as an example as well as Billy West.
Sorry there is a slight mistake in my quote. I actually meant the film Braveheart. Although Highlander did have a frenchman playing an american or somebody, not to sure to be honest.
Couple of points:
Braveheart was Mel's movie to make, no? That's a little different than a studio just selecting a big name movie star over a very talented Scottish actor.
One thing about Mike Myers is that he really is very talented with voices. Eddie Murphy = Donkey = Mushu. Tom Hanks as Woody SOUNDS like Tom Hanks. But if you didn't know Myers did Shrek, COULD you tell? He's a good enough voice actor that he came up with a voice that sounded better for Shrek and they went back and rerecorded. I think he was using his "So I Married An Axe Murderer" Scottish accent and it was too "energetic." Shrek's is a lot more laid back.
I think Myers' case is like Doohan's from Star Trek. They hired the actor first, then came up with an appropriate accent for the character.
It's a good thing I didn't cast "Toy Story" because I would have made Tom Hanks "Buzz Lightyear" and Tim Allen "Woody." So there ya go.
One more thing, lol.
Eric Marienthal absolutely nailed Hogarth Hughes in "The Iron Giant." When he yells with astonishment, "You can FLY?!?" it epitomizes a dream come true for every little boy. Had they used Nancy Cartwright or the like, it would have failed. His voice alone made that scene.
Ha! I just watched "Iron Giant" last night. I forgot how great it is. And you're right, Hogarth's character (voice, writing, and especially animation) were perfect. They totally captured what it was like to be a boy that age.
Although, I thought Jennifer Aniston was just ok, but more distracting as her voice kept reminding me it was her. Harry Connick Jr. on the other hand was perfect for the beat-nick.
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Now with more doodling!
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I don't mean to be a jerk Spaceghost, but that doesn't say much about your property. I mean it's good to have a wish list of actors, but you're character should be a character on to herself, not a specific actress. I hope you get the actress you want, but being that you are a new creator, I doubt Nick is going to let you pick the voice cast of your dreams. It's also going to be even more difficult if this actress is a regular actress and isn't one of the handful of voice artist that the big four studios use. Like I said, I wish you the best.
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
No offense taken, schmuck. (j/k!)
First, let me say that one creator has already gotten Mark Hamill on board simply because he asked for him. Sure, the answer MIGHT be "no" but it might be "yes," too. You never know until you ask.
Second, yes, I am relying on the name recognition and fan base of the actress in question to draw attention to my QUALITY cartoon. But consider this: if the cartoon isn't any good, Frederator won't pick it up anyway. It won't even make it to "voice casting" time. And as much as it would excite ME to scream "JUNE FORAY DID THE VOICE!" that won't put very many butts in the seats, compared to, say, Meryl Streep. (Yes, I meant to mention June Foray and Meryl Streep in the same breath.)
Let me describe a situation for you.
Disney took an actress with a show and a fanbase (Melissa Joan Hart, "Clarissa") and put her in the live-action "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." Would they have taken an unknown actress and put her in the prime T.G.I.F. spot? Probably not. Would the show have gotten an animated spin-off? Probably not.
My property would make a rock-solid animated short, or animated series. Better yet, it's a series with an ongoing story where you want to see the next episode to see what happens in the story. Better still is that it has enormous potential as a live-action theatrical movie, and it would be to my advantage to have a celebrity actress in the role who could assume the live-action part. Casting a voice actress would require re-casting when the live-action film is made. Not to mention that, if the celebrity actress enjoyed the part, she might also push for development of a live-action version.
I know, there's a lot of chickens being counted here instead of eggs. But on the slim chance the eggs hatch, I'd be an idiot to not have any food ready for them so they didn't starve, or water, pens, heat lamps, etc.
All I'm doing is thinking ahead, trying to be prepared, covering every eventuality, and expanding possibilities. A celebrity actress won't necessarily improve my cartoon. She'll just open up additional opportunities later.
I've been reading the blogs of the other creators and I don't think there's one of them who "only" sees this as an opportunity to make one cartoon. Finster and Finster, Ivan the Unbearable, MooBeard, Krunch and the Kid, Call Me Bessie, Yaki and Yumi... they all give the impression that they are setting their characters up for additional opportunities. I just feel like, so far, I'm the only one who is thinking animation AND live-action.
Not to mention that Bill Plympton just pitched. Bill Plympton! Just shoot me now. No, you do not have to shoot me now. You can wait until we get home.
Ape, the actress is young but already well-known, AND she's already at Nickelodeon. I'm making an assumption here that it should be easier to bring her in for a couple of hours than, say, Dakota Fanning. Her interest will increase Nickelodeon's interest. That's all. And I'll live if her answer is "no."
If Frederator's answer is "no" though, that's another thing altogether, lol.
We'll know in about three weeks.