Halo: Celestia, A Halo Audio Drama (New Role Added!)
itsjdchris for Thomas Darren
Thomas Darren is a young man whom was taken in by a cargo pilot whom runs shipments for anyone who pays. He is in his late teens or so, and has a bit of a guilt factor to his tone of voice. He is currently learning in a sort of internship under Captain Faux on how to be a pilot, and sees him as a sort of father figure. He can be relatively soft spoken to others, unless it is Leonard Copplin, whom he has a sort of sibling tone towards.
"Afternoon sir. Actually, I was thinking I will just obsere some more today, if it's all the same to you....I apologize for the inconvenience, sir. I'm just feeling a bit under the radar today."
(Alright, quick update on this line. I had a question about what this line is supposed to mean, so heres a explanation so it is easier to understand. So, in this scene, the ship is entering the planet's atmosphere. When the clouds dissapear and the crew is looking down to the planet's surface, one of the characters notes, "There she is. Beautiful, ain't she, kid?". To the rest of the crew, they've seen the planet plenty of times, and it's lost the effect on them. But for Thomas, someone who's never traveled around before, let alone to the Outer Colonies, he is awestruck by the beauty of the landscape. Imagine Rey from The Force Awakens when seeing 'so much green'. It's in a simular veign to that scene. Thomas, while being awestruck by the beauty he is seeing on the planet's surface, is slightly shocked that the other character doesn't sound more excited. If you have any questions about this line in particular, please feel free to ask me further.)
"Well, yeah. I've never seen this side of the colonies before."
(shocked)
"...You gave weapons to terrorists?..."
(panicing; Think you just spilled beer on your date during the first date)
"Oh my- I'm so sorry-"
A very good audition! I think I recognize your name from Reddit.. Haha. In regards to your question about the second line, here is the concept: Thomas is looking out the window as they enter the atmosphere of a new planet. As the clouds fade, he can see a sprawling city and wide patches of green below him. It's almost reminiscent of Rey in The Force Awakens in a way. The line is responding to one of the other characters saying, "Isn't she beautiful, kid?" in which he seems slightly shocked by the question, since he just assumes everyone thinks the planet looks beautiful. But in their experience, it's just another job. But for Thomas, it's amazing and new, breathtaking in a way. Hence why he seems a little shocked by the lack of emotion from the previous character in reference to the planet. I will be sure to try and summarize that somehow for that line to make it slightly more understandable. Haha, thanks for bringing it up!
Hey! So out of curiosity, was there anything that you didn't like about the audition? Maybe something I could work on? I know my voice might not be exactly what you're looking for, but maybe instead of Thomas, I have a better suited voice for another character.
So I ran through your audition again. One thing I didn't bring up before is during your first line when you say, "Afternoon sir. Actually, I was thinking I will just observe some more today, if it's all the same to you....I apologize for the inconvenience, sir. I'm just feeling a bit under the radar today." I would suggest saying it as if your parent is mad at you and you're almost somewhat dissapointed or scared in a way. Example: Parent: "I can't believe you deliberately disobeyed me." You: "..I'm, sorry. I.. I just didn't want to go today.." Something along those lines(literally) if that makes sense. He is the new guy aboard and the other two characters, Leonard Copplin and Anthony Kelp, are a bit of a hard ass, with the latter more so and the former more of just a sarcastic prick. Thomas is a bit of a low-self esteem teen who isn't full of his abilities, and surely doesn't want to mess anything up and feel the reproductions of his failure. I kind of got that tone with the first and second attempt you did for it, but at some points it came off as slightly robotic. Which is a simple fix. I already told you about the second line, so I won't repeat myself on that. As far as the terrorists line, I would sugguest having a bit lower tone with it. Make it almost sound like he is wispering to him in a croud. He doesn't exactly know how to respond, and he's a bit unerved. For the pace of the read, let's try something like this and let me know if it makes any sense to you and we'll try it. (shocked)"...You..You gave weapons, (slight pause, but keep same tone, don't raise tone) to terrorists?.." I can imagine that didn't make sense, but the main idea is that there is a slight dramatic pause, which you did, but you keep the same tone throughout. Imagine saying, "I am apart of the Halo audition." Now try saying that without raising your tone or using any influxation. Sometimes when specifically trying to bring attention to certain parts of a read by reading it a certain way, it highlights it a little bit too much. While, that can sometimes emphasize that point more, sometimes it can come off as a bit too noticeable and even corny or robotic in it's tone. As I said, for a first time voice actor, you're doing well. I think I'm going to make a video tutorial on all of the roles here today and give examples of what I'm looking for. But otherwise, keep working at it. Voice acting is something you don't just read in a book and know. It takes time and practice more than anything. I've been doing it for years, and I can't pull of the perfect Morgan Freeman voice (Probably because I'm not). But if you practice enough, you can get a lot closer than you were before. That's the trick with voice acting. Even when looking for a natural sound, it can take time to develop it, because it can still come off as just reading lines with your voice. Keep at it and you'll get there.
Alright, sounds great! Thanks! I'm going to send in a 2nd audition before the day is out. Last question though, is there any other character that I should try for? Like maybe I have a sound you're looking for in a different role?
Hm. Nothing that comes to mind in particular. I mean, both the Operator and Platform Inspector roles are more or less what they are in the auditions, and you can feel free to try them out by all means. But remember, since the feedback from the community at large has been so great with this proof of concept, I plan on continuing this series. So, there will be more roles to come regardless.