Ohayocon Panels - Vic Mignogna,
Chris Patton, Debbie Rabbai and Monica Rial
The demands
of dubbing need more than a good performer. An actor needs a sense of rhythm
so he can hit the marks and match the onscreen lip flaps. No surprise,
then, that musicians and actors with musical theater experience often are
good dub actors. Vic Mignogna, an accomplished commercial musician with
dozens of ads and jingles to his credit, also is an actor in AD Vision
dubs - and is a newcomer to anime conventions. Even in the post-production
side, some of the best editors are musicians," Mignogna said. "There is
a `beat' in a scene. They can produce a mood of excitement or a lethargic
mood, based on the tempo or speed that you cut the scene." Some accomplished
stage and movie actors - and some aspiring actors - seem intimidated in
the dubbing booth. Mignogna said there's no room or time for that. "When
it comes to the point that your flesh is ripping apart and you're screaming
bloody murder that's the most fun to me. There's that self conscious side,
but you have to let go of it."
Chris Patton,
who has moved to lead roles in ADV dubs in recent years, goes to extremes
to get the roles right. In Rahxephon, when learned he was getting a lead
role, spent weeks researching the character so he'd be absolutely ready.
Then there were the recording sessions for Spriggan, where his character
had a big fight scene in which he's losing badly, on the ground and bleeding
from the mouth. "They laid wood on the floor and had me lay on the floor,
and gave me water. During the scene I let the water out of my mouth so
it sounded like i was hemorrhaging." One extreme that Patton doesn't take
is trying to match the original Japanese actor, although he happened to
sound a lot like the original Daley Wong in Bubble Gum Crisis 2040.
Debbie Rabbai,
who moved from improv work to voice acting, told a story about an actor
who had never handled a dubbing role before who had a little trouble with
the script. A scene where the actor had been running contained lines of
dialogue followed by the instruction, "pants," where the actor was supposed
to sound as if he was out of breath. This actor, experienced on stage but
not in the recording booth, took the instruction literally and shouted
"Pants!" One of Rabbai's stories is told about herself, when she took on
a "sort of hentai show" where most of her dialogue was "oh," "ooh" "um."
A greater challenge was Rabbai's role in Boogie Pop Phantom where she played
a disturbed teenaged girl who is constantly calling for her brother. Each
line of "Brother?" in that well-written show had to be delivered with a
different emotion, inflection and meaning.
Monica Rial
often speaks in a normal high-pitched voice, then switches to a lower-pitched,
calmer sound, but sings in an alto register - much like the changes she
needs to make in her dub roles where she never sounds the same. Her Hyatt
in Excel Saga has subtle, but important differences from her Kirika in
Noir, but both are soft-spoken roles that are nothing like Rial's outgoing
personality at conventions. "I've done things that are so opposite from
my own speaking voice," Rial said. "How they know I can do a 1000 year
old weasel or a 29 year old ass kicker I don't know." Part of the trick
is to physically act out the role in the booth through body movements.
In the baseball series Princess Nine, someone created a makeshift baseball
bat out of tape and spare scripts, with the idea that the actors would
grip and swing the "bat" when dubbing the baseball sequences. Of course,
Rial managed to swing too hard, hit the microphone and knock the scripts
to the floor.
The demands
of dubbing need more than a good performer. An actor needs a sense of rhythm
so he can hit the marks and match the onscreen lip flaps. No surprise,
then, that musicians and actors with musical theater experience often are
good dub actors. Vic Mignogna, an accomplished commercial musician with
dozens of ads and jingles to his credit, also is an actor in AD Vision
dubs - and is a newcomer to anime conventions. Even in the post-production
side, some of the best editors are musicians," Mignogna said. "There is
a `beat' in a scene. They can produce a mood of excitement or a lethargic
mood, based on the tempo or speed that you cut the scene." Some accomplished
stage and movie actors - and some aspiring actors - seem intimidated in
the dubbing booth. Mignogna said there's no room or time for that. "When
it comes to the point that your flesh is ripping apart and you're screaming
bloody murder that's the most fun to me. There's that self conscious side,
but you have to let go of it."
Chris Patton,
who has moved to lead roles in ADV dubs in recent years, goes to extremes
to get the roles right. In Rahxephon, when learned he was getting a lead
role, spent weeks researching the character so he'd be absolutely ready.
Then there were the recording sessions for Spriggan, where his character
had a big fight scene in which he's losing badly, on the ground and bleeding
from the mouth. "They laid wood on the floor and had me lay on the floor,
and gave me water. During the scene I let the water out of my mouth so
it sounded like i was hemorrhaging." One extreme that Patton doesn't take
is trying to match the original Japanese actor, although he happened to
sound a lot like the original Daley Wong in Bubble Gum Crisis 2040.
Debbie Rabbai,
who moved from improv work to voice acting, told a story about an actor
who had never handled a dubbing role before who had a little trouble with
the script. A scene where the actor had been running contained lines of
dialogue followed by the instruction, "pants," where the actor was supposed
to sound as if he was out of breath. This actor, experienced on stage but
not in the recording booth, took the instruction literally and shouted
"Pants!" One of Rabbai's stories is told about herself, when she took on
a "sort of hentai show" where most of her dialogue was "oh," "ooh" "um."
A greater challenge was Rabbai's role in Boogie Pop Phantom where she played
a disturbed teenaged girl who is constantly calling for her brother. Each
line of "Brother?" in that well-written show had to be delivered with a
different emotion, inflection and meaning.
Monica Rial
often speaks in a normal high-pitched voice, then switches to a lower-pitched,
calmer sound, but sings in an alto register - much like the changes she
needs to make in her dub roles where she never sounds the same. Her Hyatt
in Excel Saga has subtle, but important differences from her Kirika in
Noir, but both are soft-spoken roles that are nothing like Rial's outgoing
personality at conventions. "I've done things that are so opposite from
my own speaking voice," Rial said. "How they know I can do a 1000 year
old weasel or a 29 year old ass kicker I don't know." Part of the trick
is to physically act out the role in the booth through body movements.
In the baseball series Princess Nine, someone created a makeshift baseball
bat out of tape and spare scripts, with the idea that the actors would
grip and swing the "bat" when dubbing the baseball sequences. Of course,
Rial managed to swing too hard, hit the microphone and knock the scripts
to the floor.
