Mark Sheng

Taking the Online Level One Video Game Intensive was one of the most valuable learning experiences I've had in voice acting so far. Before the class, I was often focused on simply delivering lines well. By the end of the intensive, I found myself thinking much more deeply about why a character was saying something, what had just happened in the scene, and how the gameplay itself influenced each performance.

One of the biggest takeaways for me was learning to make more specific, intentional acting choices. Rather than giving a generic read, I learned how to analyze the circumstances surrounding each line, identify the character's objective, and tailor my performance to fit the exact moment. The course also gave me a much stronger understanding of combat barks, vocal efforts, microphone technique, and how to perform efficiently while maintaining consistency during physically demanding sessions.

What stood out most, though, was Craig's teaching style. He created an environment that was incredibly encouraging, supportive, and fun. He challenged everyone to think critically about their performances while making each class enjoyable and engaging. His feedback was always constructive and specific, helping me understand not just what could be improved, but why those changes made the performance stronger. I never felt discouraged! I always left class excited to apply what I had learned to my next audition or recording session.

Overall, this intensive helped change the way I approach video game voice acting. I now spend more time breaking down scenes, understanding the character's mindset, and making purposeful choices that serve both the story and the gameplay. I'm incredibly grateful for the experience and for Craig's guidance, and I know the skills I gained will continue to shape my performances as I grow in the industry.

Completed Joe Zieja’s Voice Acting Academy, a comprehensive voice acting training program covering the performance, technical, business, and career-development aspects of professional voice-over.

Training included Voice Acting 101; signal chain and audio setup; building and treating a physical recording environment; finding paid voice-over opportunities; voice-over demos and agents; audition preparation and advanced audition techniques; professional directed recording sessions; SAG-AFTRA and the voice acting industry; vocal health and maintenance; rates, finances, and the business side of voice acting; social media and self-promotion; creating compelling and distinct character voices; and developing an efficient professional recording and editing workflow.

The course also covered Joe Zieja’s approaches to the “Awesome Audition” and “Spectacular Session,” with an emphasis on interpreting scripts, making strong performance choices, delivering competitive auditions, working effectively with clients and directors, and developing the technical and business skills needed to pursue professional voice acting opportunities.

Completed Creating Character Voices, instructed by professional voice actor Joe Zieja, an in-depth course focused on developing distinct, believable, consistent, and vocally sustainable characters for voice over performance.

Training began with understanding and manipulating key voice variables, including pitch, vocal placement, air, texture, precision, personalized vocal variables, and accents. These techniques were applied to explore vocal range and intentionally construct distinguishable character voices rather than relying solely on instinct or vocal impressions.

The course also explored character perspective and psychology, including age, intelligence versus wisdom, competence, emotional intelligence versus narcissism, confidence, humor, relationships, environment, and the principle that no character views themselves as the villain of their own story. This training emphasized understanding how a character's experiences, relationships, environment, and worldview influence both their vocal qualities and acting choices.

Practical application covered developing and practicing new voices, voice matching and impressions, maintaining character consistency, incorporating physicality into vocal performance, and prioritizing vocal health when creating demanding character voices. Advanced exercises focused on moving from script to character and from character specifications to performance, using written material and casting descriptions to develop appropriate vocal and acting choices.

Overall, the course strengthened my ability to approach character creation systematically combining vocal technique, character psychology, physicality, acting choices, consistency, and vocal health to create compelling characters suitable for animation, video games, and other character-driven voice over work.