Kotaku 
Enter your username and password.
Denver, 5:29 PM
Tue Nov 10
62 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip us: tips@kotaku.com
Editor-In-Chief:
Brian Crecente
Email | AIM | Twitter
Deputy Editor:
Stephen Totilo
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Michael McWhertor
Email | AIM | Twitter
Senior Contributing Editor, Japan:
Brian Ashcraft
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, East Coast:
Michael Fahey
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Oceania:
Luke Plunkett
Email | AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editor, Weekends:
Owen Good
Email | AIM | Twitter
Correspondent, San Francisco:
AJ Glasser
Email | AIM | Twitter
Columnist:
Leigh Alexander
Columnist:
Tim Rogers
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
10/28/09
Guys like Dee Bradley Baker who spend all day recording noises for the Grunts in Halo and other crazy sounds would stop getting paid as much because those are "atmospheric" voices.
The writers of the contract don't realize that games are all about "atmospheric" voices and that just because the character doesn't have a name or doesn't speak 300 words of written dialog does not mean that the character is not important or isn't a vocally stressful job.
The contract also never specified what a "written line" was. Do grunts and reactions count? Because depending on the title, those could outnumber actual words, and they are also much more stressful on the voice.
As a voice actor myself, I'm glad this got shot down, even though I'm looking into joining a pseudo-union or AFTRA in the future, not SAG. #industrynews
10/28/09
10/28/09
That is one parasitic organization that needs to go. #industrynews
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
Also, I'm all for an alliance of craftspeople but SAG is mainly an over-rated, industry-incestuous club comprised of self-absorbed morons and people that don't want to be in it but have to in order to get a job in the industry. #industrynews
10/28/09
10/03/09
10/03/09
10/03/09
If you hate unions you must have never read anything about them in your American history class because they're very important for employees to be able to achieve better working conditions and higher safety in the work environment.
10/03/09
"Oblivion Casting."
10/03/09
10/03/09
I see all thse commenters going HEY, I'M NOT A VOICE ACTOR NOR HAVE I EVER BEEN, but man this is TERRIBLe because I'm STUPID and I HATE THINGS ETC
and it seems like not one person knows what they're talking about.
I dont know
10/03/09
The concerns on both sides show validity.
10/03/09
Most games I play have amateurish voice acting all up and down the audio tracks. Hell, I probably could do better and I'm no actor.
10/03/09
Of course, paying higher rates for voice acting could also, theoretically, attract better talent. Japanese VAs get paid more and treated better than American VAs as it is...
10/03/09
At the same time, I would'nt be as deadset against this agreement if I didn't think this would cut out newcomers who are cutting their teeth in the 'biz.
10/03/09
Maybe I'm being too harsh on the actors themselves. For all I know it could be the directors who blow chunks.
10/03/09
10/03/09
10/03/09
10/03/09
I've also read that they'll be handed the script the same day that they're supposed to be reading. If this is the process for video games, they aren't acting, they're just saying their lines.
10/03/09
On the bright side, there is plenty of evidence of excellent voice acting if you look at games that need the least amount of localisation. Persona 3 & 4 needed pretty much no lip-syncing whatsoever and it was prue quality throughout with no stupid dubbing-style pauses. Also Valkyria Chronicles' dub was better than the original Japanese recording in my opinion and that required very little lip-sync fixing as well.
Hopefully now that Japanese publishers are now looking to attract Western gamers, perhaps they'll follow Atlus/Square Enix and put more money into localisation and give the voice actors a far better chance to give a performance of pure awesomeness...
Fingers crossed.
10/03/09
If it is the Walt Disney style of voicetalenting, the actors voice first, and then the animators illustrate according to those voice match-ups.
In the traditional way of voicetalenting, the script is given and the gaffer and voicetalent best worked the best way to emphasize, articulate and tone the character or narration.
There are other meshes that work in derivative, and often it depends on the production company and the director.
10/03/09
Sometimes, a "newcomer" might be a person who has worked in a different market (or language) that does not (yet) have an AFTRA/SAG card.
There are instances where a person might have experience in other ways that do not translate to them having a card either, as I know of a former Armed Forces Radio and Television Service person that just started voicework in the civilian sector that does not have a SAG/AFTRA card, yet has over twenty years experience doing voicework.
Just saying. There are cracks in the system that are rarely discussed that benefit the AFTRA & SAG organizations, but not the "newcomer" that has experience.
10/03/09
10/03/09
10/03/09
10/03/09
10/03/09
In the past, the interactive medium were a great way for voicetalents to build up their resume so that they would be a viable SAG and/or AFTRA candidate.
Now, this "agreement" makes it harder for those newcomers.
10/03/09
10/03/09
10/03/09
but when things like this are accomplished- it instills a tiny bit of faith in my mind toward unions- this is what they should be accomplishing all the time. then it wouldn't feel like such a waste of time and resources.
10/03/09
These days, I rarely see anything decent about AFTRA and SAG, especially since the way their current layout does little to nothing to benefit newer actors (who have to figure out how to keep up with dues), and the production groups that are now having to figure out the new headaches involved with two of the most money-grubbing unions in the nation!
Most unions try to even the playing field (at least on paper). AFTRA and SAG for the last few decades do little to convince me that this is what it is about, especially since voicework is decently available already at fair wage.
For the sake of keeping the costs low, I can only hope that the ESA works around AFTRA and SAG's proposed voice monopoly and goes the route of hiring newer raw talent that are not yet SAG and AFTRA members.
Having said this, I now know what will kill Snake. It wasn't Foxdie. It were AFTRA & SAG's attempted manipulation in the interactive markets.
SCREW AFTRA AND SAG!!!
10/03/09
From what I'm understanding it means that VA's get paid more now? but I feel there's some bigger stuff here.
10/03/09
Vocally stressful roles do exist, and the conditions on the actors there can get pretty brutal, so there probably should be some warning and pay increase. There's a huge difference between someone voicing a conversation, and someone struggling through Dragonball Z or something.
That said - other than conditions, I don't see why they get paid per character instead of per hour. Who cares if you're playing one guy who talks for three hours, or a thousand clones who talk for three hours? If you're in the studio talking for three hours, what's the real difference in effort? You go in, you read lines, you leave. The per-voice pay rate seems like an entirely arbitrary standard.
10/03/09
10/03/09
Models don't just stand there
VAs don't just read lines
Actors don't just walk and talk
These are complex, difficult things that require practice work and dedication. You're belittling views are naive and hurtful
10/03/09
Then again, the union system as a whole works towards that 'oblivion effect' rather than against it. The market should set the prices, rather than the unions - that would mean the performance and the work behind it would be rewarded, not just the arbitrary numerology of characters.
You're talking about excellence in performance, but using it in support of a system that favors spreading wealth over rewarding excellence.