Voices From The Outer Ring (Lead Role Re-Opened)
trugbild for Artemis
Daughter of an ex-assassin, Artemis was born with a superhuman ability to command darkness. She was brought up to never wear her heart on her sleeve, and as a result she appeared cold and distant to her peers to the point where she has trouble holding an average conversation in her present age without it drying up. Her loneliness has given way to depression which in turn has led to a borderline misanthropic outlook. One of her greatest fears is the feeling of being trapped - chained down to a one-track life devoid of greater purpose. As a teenager, she combated this fear by keeping vigil on the streets as a masked heroine and foiling crime with the use of her powers and skills that she inherited from her father. During college, she settled down into a comfortable apartment with her younger sister. Throughout her years, Artemis spent much of her free time learning computer science and programming; developing a knack for writing code and becoming familiar with cybersecurity protocol. She currently shares her knowledge on an anonymous dark web chat, regularly speaking with other members to discuss their latest developments. Despite having never seen their faces, the other members of the online chat have proven to be Artemis's closest friends. The desire to escape from the mundane soon overtakes her, and she eventually decides to take up the mantle as a vigilante once again.
Her voice is best described as soft, yet at times strained and flat. When annoyed, it becomes sharp and snappy. When happy, her voice is sincere, gentle, and silvery. Her normal tone of voice will gravitate towards a more somber feel. Keep in mind that this is a lead role, and will require greater commitment than the supporting and minor roles due to significantly more reading. Please only audition for this role if you are certain you will be able to consistently submit lines in a timely manner.
[Optional: You don't have to do this, but I would like it if you introduced yourself and state what made you interested in this project.]
(Narrating) "I could smell the lies coming off his breath like the stench of his last drink. I needed answers and he was playing around. I don't ask again. I break the glass over his face and I grab him by the collar. I've done my research on him - I know some of the things he's done. That's why I don't feel bad when I break his nose. I avoid the jaw in case he finally decides to loosen up his lips. Wanna know the really fucked up part? The feeling of caving in his giant pig snout is fucking electric. It's giving me a rush I haven't felt in a long time, and now... now I almost don't care if he doesn't talk. Either I get what I'm looking for, or I get a stress doll in the form of a human punching bag. I can deal with this."
(Announcing herself) "Corey, I'm home. I brought some takeout from down the block - they were having a special on orange chicken; hope you didn't fill up on chips while I was gone. I'm gonna take a quick shower and I'll set up dinner. Also, you might wanna turn down that movie or at least invest in some headphones. I don't want the neighbors coming over because they thought we were getting murdered again."
Thank you for auditioning. You have a very interesting interpretation of the character and it reflects in your read. Your narration read is quite strong and your portrayal of emotion stands out. Not to mention you have the appropriate range for the character. For the narration lines, it would be better if you slowed down a bit on the pacing, but in the second set of lines to read, the fast pacing is an even more prevalent issue. I have also noticed that in the cadence of your voice, you seem to start off high and then your voice trails off - this tonal pattern recurs throughout your recording. This doesn't inherently detract from your recording, but it is something to keep in mind. Thank you for auditioning and taking an interest in my project.
Thank you very much for your feedback! I am glad my interpretation of the character and the emotions invested work for you :) The habit to start off higher and end lower I have noticed as well, I think it's something I also do when speaking naturally. Just noting that down to communicate that I'm aware of this, should it ever become an issue. The pacing I can and will definitely work on, especially in the narrating parts. I am still somewhat new to narrating so I still find it a bit hard to find a good balance between giving every line enough attention and actually moving forward at a decent speed in a long script. For the second take the pacing was somewhat conciously fast, so I'd elaborate on that real quick: As all these sentences were stringed to each other, I was under the impression that she didn't want to leave room for Corey to actually butt in and react to anything she said, so I rushed a bit more to not "give space" for her to reply. In a dialogue scenario, I would have definitely slowed down. Just to elaborate on my thought process about the pacing. Anyway, thank you very much for the feedback, I'll make sure to keep it in mind :)
It’s actually an interesting perspective you have on how you interpreted the second line; definitely tells me you put thought into it and worked it into your delivery. Though she isn’t trying to monopolize a conversation to the point where Corey can’t respond so much as she’s simply just announcing herself in. The reason the sentences are strung together the way they are is simply because they’re for one person to read. The actual script will tend to have a lot more back and forths between characters.