In part 1 of Bob Bergen Directs Voice Over Intensive, Bob worked his magic with the voice actor, transforming her performance from ordinary to WOW! It was his beat by beat tweaks, peppering her with questions, helping her to navigate the copy and find nuances in her character that got her to the next level.

When the next actor got to the mic, he launched into his character, and performed the scene. After the read, Bob said, “That was really good and really safe. If you worry about what they think, you’ll never commit to a choice.” Then he started working his Maestro magic, orchestrating the actor to another WOW performance. Bob shares succinct and sage advice like, “Stay in the moment. Don’t clip your choices. We will animate at your pace.”

In addition to getting voice actors to commit to their choices, take risks and stay focused, Bob is big on physicality, saying that it’s key to making your characters come alive through the mic. When another actor played a priest dealing confronting aliens, Bob directed him using physical suggestions like:

-You’re a priest seeing Jesus for the first time!

-Look up into the sky!

-I want to hear you physically play the scene!

Then he launched into a Larry King improv saying, “I’m Larry King. You’re a guest on my show.” In a great Larry king voice, Bergen says, “So, what do you think of these aliens?” It worked. The actor discovered a new layer to his character.

Once again, he took the voice actor’s adequate performance to a WOW performance!

It’s clear that Bob Bergen is that Maestro, as he uses every ounce, every nugget of his own experience as a voice actor to conduct a vocal symphony guiding the voice talent to memorable and powerful performances.

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-Tracy Pattin