VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[patfraley]

I'd like to share a recent day working at Disney on the upcoming film, Wild Hogs, starring Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, John Travolta, and William H. Macy.

I arrived at the huge, comfortable and famous Stage B at Disney Studios about a half hour early.This is the facility Walt himself had created for all of the audio recordings of the talent for the classic animated features.
Just knowing that the voice talent for Alice in Wonderland, Lady And The Tramp, and Peter Pan used this stage, is exciting. It's an incredible building: back in the 40's, Walt knew that he would be up against the Burbank Airport, and the sound of planes overhead. Walt Disney literally had his people create a "building within a building," and NOTHING gets through the walls.

Now, I've been working ADR (Automatic Dialog Replacement) jobs since it was called Looping. But going in and meeting up with the rest of the group always makes me feel like a "side man" getting a gig with Benny Goodman's Band. There were 18 of us, and the core loop group are very special people indeed. I was in awe working with these artists.

From the very first cue, where we were required to wander about the stage and create the sounds of people milling about a small-town carnival, I was impressed. These pros know how it's done. I was struck by how LOUD everyone was, and how each time they would speak, they would reveal interaction, and relationship. One actor would ad-lib, "Where's Eugene?" Another would come back with, "Well, he's with you, right?" And somebody about 10 feet away said, "Check the Ferris wheel!"

What struck me was that not only did they create relationship, but the actors were never more clever than what you'd hear at an actual small town carnival. Skilled ADR performance makes movies better than what was filmed. It's not always about replacing damaged tracks (a plane goes overhead, etc.). It's about having a "second shot" at getting something right, and making the tracks more evocative.

When it came time to re-voice some of the characters on the screen, I was relieved; because I'm called into re-voice Tim Allen's exertion sounds for Buzz Lightyear (I did all of them for Toy Story II, as Mr. Allen gets bored with that kind of work) I felt like I was on "safe ground." That was until the director set up my first cue: Tim Allen's character getting hit in the crotch with a baseball.

After about four takes, my veins were pulsing on my temples, and I was happy to stagger back to a couch and take a breather. Not for long. We were up and down, re-voicing the background characters, matching some of the principals for lines, and sound, creating crowd walla, and generally yelling our heads off for most of the day. Since there's a lot of Hells Angels and bikers in the movie, it was a throat-ripper.

It's really wonderful work, however, and one of the most creative jobs in voice over.

[Hart]

Pat,

I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks so much for taking the time to share it. Amazing.
_________________
Hart Voice Overs Blog
Brian Hart Productions

[patfraley]

Brian: What a blessing to be able to go out and "forage" for my students. PF

[dhouston67]

Agreed. I read this earlier over at VoxDaily and was enthralled.

Superstar prima-donna-ism = ADR job security. Richard Pryor refused to do any looping, so Dave Coulier got hired to dub lots of his film work.
_________________
Great Voice. Great Choice. For Voice Talking and stuff.
http://davidhoustonvoice.com
Do That Voice! - The DHV Blog

[Chuck Davis]

Thanks for the chance to see that through your eyes Pat.

Having never experienced that kind of session...with that level/variety of acting...it could be hard to imagine. But your writing made it so visual!

Way cool! Hope you come back to Boston someday.. I missed the last workshop.

Chuck D
_________________
Wicked huge.....in India.
www.chuckdaviscreative.com

[bobsouer]

Pat,

What a delightful story. Thank you for giving us a glimpse into part of your world.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[scooter2]

Speaking of ADR.

I was one of an ADR group that put the finishing vocal touches on Dances With Wolves. Kevin Costner himself did the directing of our five person coterie.

In one scene we had to sound winded..that should be easy we thought..we'll just breathe hard...this is what your hear in many other such action flicks.. In this one Costner would have none of that nonsense..he insited we all do 20 pushups before huffing into the mics.

the rest of the stuff was easy.

I found the hardest part of getting the ADR work in LA was finding an ADR group that would have you. I did back then. I'm told it is really tough now.

I still get a few residual checks now and then and remember the "good old days."

But..anything worth having is worth doing sit ups for..or some such thing.

so sayeth the scooter
_________________
Just another voice in the wilderness!