Voices.com Takes 2nd Place in 60 Second Pitch Contest

Last Thursday, TechAlliance Venture Services concluded the fourth annual 60-Second Pitch Contest with a Community Award Celebration and Mixer.

Participants and supporters gathered at Up on Carling for an after-work bash to announce winners of the competition aimed at educating and boosting awareness among member firms of the importance of a well thought-out pitch.

Coming in first was April Yuhasz (Startech.com); second was Carol Mroz (Voices.com) and third was David Billson (rtraction). Winners shared more than $20,000 in business acceleration prizes to help grow their expanding companies. Paul Seed (Startech.com) and Chuck Hounsell (TD Canada Trust) made their own pitch for donations to the United Way. Chuck noted Uniway’s leadership campaign asked supporters to give $1,000+ over the year.

Emceed by Marilyn Sinclair and Carmen Gicante (TechAlliance),the event featured hors-d’oeuvres and a chance to win door prizes donated by businesses.

Attendees included David Canton (Harrison Pensa LLP); Joel McLean (Info-Tech Research Group); Joanne Merner (ZTR Control Systems); Gord Delamont (Business London Magazine); Patricia Hoffer (the Lashbrook Group); Lisa Brown (Primus); James Campbell (Procom) and Andrew McClenaghan (Echidna Solutions Corp.).

Source: The London Free Press

Full Circle Comes 65 Years Later for UK Voice Actor

Derek Partridge was only seven years old when he was pulled off a flight with his caretaker leaving from Lisbon in 1943 so that a celebrated British actor, Leslie Howard, could jump on the plane headed for Bristol, UK with his manager, a flight that was destined never to arrive as it was shot down over the Bay of Biscay by a squadron of 6 Luftwaffe Ju88 fighter-bombers with the loss of all on board.

Partridge’s father, who was in the MI6, similar to the CIA in the US, was one of the first people to hear of the tragedy and spent twenty-four agonizing hours trying to figure out how he would tell his wife that their child had been killed. Soon thereafter, the news reached him that Derek was in fact safe and as one of the least significant members of the flight manifest had been removed from his seat so that the actor Leslie Howard could make haste and return quickly to the United Kingdom.

Sixty-five years has passed since then and there have been four books and a plethora of conspiracy theories surrounding the mystery of Flight 777, including a recent documentary in need of a presenter.

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Want KITT in Your Car?

As mentioned on Wired.com, there’s a new GPS featuring the talents of voice actor William Daniels as the infamous KITT from the original Knight Rider series.

The Knight Rider GPS will soon be available on the market retailing for $270.

The GPS box, from satnav maker Mio, pictured above, asks the question “Michael, where do you want to go today?” when powered up.

Pretty cool for fans who are looking for something to take the Knight Rider experience to the next level and likely a very good gig for William Daniels.

Astro Boy Adds High Profile Thesps To Voice Acting Cast

Summit Entertainment and IMAGI Studios have entered into a global alliance whereby Summit will distribute IMAGI’s upcoming CG-animated motion picture Astro Boy worldwide except for IMAGI’s reserved territories of Japan, Hong Kong and China. The announcement was made jointly by Rob Friedman, Co-Chairman and CEO of Summit Entertainment and Douglas Glen, CEO of IMAGI Studios.

“We are pleased to join with IMAGI Studios in bringing the exceptional world of Astro Boy to both existing and a new generation of fans alike,” said Friedman. “The team at IMAGI Studios is capturing the spirit of this popular post-modern franchise by doing great things with the story, characters and animation. Astro Boy promises to be an excellent addition to our existing slate of family films.”

Glen said, “Astro Boy has been one of the world’s best-known and most loved superheroes for more than fifty years. We are pleased to partner with Summit to deliver Astro Boy’s first CGI feature film to worldwide audiences on a grand scale. IMAGI and Summit are a great fit, with high energy, entrepreneurial cultures and a vision of building movie-driven global brands.”

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The World of the Voice Over Artist Explored in the Corporate World of Branding

Professor Andrew Linn of Sheffield University released the mathematical formula for the perfect voice: a female talking 164 words per minute with a 0.48 second pause between sentences that fall rather than rise in intonation holds the most appeal to the panelists who were part of the research.

Falling into this category is voice-over artist Natascha Slasten. Natascha has won voice-acting roles for companies such as Heineken and Toyota. German born Natascha has a perfect command of English but it is the use of her mother tongue that is building her career - a career that is about to stretch all the way to Hong Kong. Chapel Kensington engaged her as the German audio guide on the fleet of tourist buses in London and Dubai, currently in operation with ‘The Big Bus Company.’

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Got an IDEA of How English Dialects Sound?

The International Dialects of English Archive, IDEA, was created in 1997 as a repository of primary source recordings for actors and other artists in the performing arts. Its home is the Department of Theatre and Film at the University Of Kansas, in Lawrence, KS, USA; while associate editors form a global network.

All recordings are in English, are of native speakers, and you will find both English language dialects and English spoken in the accents of other languages. The recordings are downloadable and playable for both PC and Macintosh computers.

Visitors to the site can click to hear English dialects from all continents on the earth and even specific regional dialects.

Dialect categories include:

๏ Africa
๏ Asia
๏ Australia-Oceania
๏ Caribbean
๏ Central America
๏ Europe
๏ Middle-East
๏ North America
๏ South America
๏ Special Collections

IDEA was created in 1997 as a free, online library of primary source recordings for the performing arts. Its Founder and Director is Paul Meier, author of the best-selling Accents and Dialects for Stage and Screen, and a leading dialect coach for theatre and film.

The Technical Advisor and Founding Webmaster Emeritus for the archive is Shawn Muller.

Source: International Dialects of English Archive

Pictured: Dialect Expert Paul Meier

Behind Studio Doors : The Incredible Hulk Voice Over Sessions

While most people are going to the theatres to see Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, they’re going to hear the growling, groaning and grunting voice of the Incredible Hulk.

What they don’t know, however, is that getting the perfect sound for the hulking protagonist was a complicated process of casting, assigning voice acting roles based upon the Hulk’s emotions and also some sound engineering magic in post production that could possibly include lions roars mixed in with the human voices as they make what one Hulk voice actor said “unearthly” sounds.

The Incredible Hulk voice acting is a shared effort between four male voice actors, one of whom is actor J.D. Hall, a veteran actor and voice actor who provided the beastly side of The Incredible Hulk, creating the deep, primal growls, groans and grunts that present themselves in times of struggle and combat.

During the sessions, the voice actors drank tea, had lozenges and throat sprays on hand to help them get through their intense yet rewarding voice over sessions.

J.D. Hall relayed, “I drank a lot tea and tried to protect my voice as much as I could. It’s difficult to make those sounds even when you’re supporting with your diaphragm. We had tea, throat lozenges and throat sprays, too. At the end of the day, none of those really prevented the sore throats.”

The most important thing, Hall confided, was that voice actors need to know their limits and respect their instrument while giving it their best effort to deliver on what their client is looking for in the performance.

Hall urged, “Know your limits and don’t push it. You don’t want to do permanent damage to your voice. You want to please the client without causing injury to your voice which is a hard compromise to make because you need your voice for other roles that may come up shortly after the job you’re presently recording. You have to be wise and know your limits. Most importantly, know when to speak up if you’re uncomfortable. Ask the director to tell you what you want and have them say it early on in your experimentation. If they can catch you a couple of seconds in to a growl and it’s not the right sound, they can cut you off early and help you to save your energy for the sound they are looking for. Be aware of your voice, limitations and be in communication with people you are working with.”

Source: VOX Daily

Kim Cattrall Signed as Voice of Dee in “Producing Parker”

Kim Cattrall has signed on as the voice of Dee in the highly anticipated animated sitcom PRODUCING PARKER, slated to premiere in spring 2009 on E! in Canada. The announcement was made Thursday by Kevin Gillis, Ira Levy and Peter Williamson, the Executive Producers at Breakthrough Animation.

Cattrall will star as Dee, Parker Kovak’s self-absorbed, high-maintenance boss and host of THE DEE SHOW, a daytime talk show that sells viewers the myth of having it all. Each episode of PRODUCING PARKER follows the outrageous adventures of Parker, the show’s overworked and underpaid television producer, as she manages her boss’s delicate ego, the quirky production crew and all the hilarious behind-the-scenes antics of THE DEE SHOW.

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eBay Closes Doors on its Media Marketplace

Adweek is reporting that online auction house eBay has shuttered its Internet-based system for buying and selling TV and radio ads, the company has confirmed on its Web site. The system had been up and running for just over a year.

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Ed Burns Voice Over to Help Tone Down Elitist Image of Pro Golf

As the U.S. Open golf tournament gets under way, the U.S. Golf Association is launching a $10 million ad campaign designed to take some of the starch out of the game’s image. New TV spots debut tonight on ESPN.

The campaign was developed by Omnicom’s Fathom Communications, New York, which won the account in April after a review that included Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners. Incumbent BBDO did not defend.

Four new TV spots air this week on ESPN’s prime-time coverage and during NBC’s weekend afternoon telecasts of the final two rounds (June 14-15).

In addition to the new commercials, directed by Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris (Fog of War), the campaign will utilize online, direct mail and experiential components.

The spots (with voiceovers by actor Ed Burns) are designed to soften the game’s elitist image and demonstrate that anyone can play. In one ad, kids are shown playing. In another a couple is playing a round and it’s the woman who has the handicap, not her male partner. But while everyday folks are featured instead of the celebrity-laden spots featured previously, the “For the good of the game” tagline, developed by BBDO, remains.

The overall campaign will focus on the core functions of the USGA, which include writing the Rules of Golf, establishing the USGA Handicap Index System, conducting 13 national championships, and maintaining the history of the game through the USGA Museum and the new Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History in Bernards Township, N.J.

Commenting on the new campaign, USGA chief business officer Pete Bevacqua said, “We are excited about the energy, creativity and vision that Fathom has demonstrated. We look forward to working very closely with them as we unveil additional components of our campaign over the coming months.”

Peter Groome, president of Fathom Communications, said. “Our focus for the USGA is to develop a complete communications plan that will create a stronger connection between golfers and the USGA at all points of contact and well beyond their most visible medium, television.”

Source: AdWeek.com

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