Life of Lash - Audio Drama Series (Season 2)
saitogami1 for Etrin (orc)
The male lead for the Season 2 premiere. His values have been twisted after his peaceful orc tribe was slaughtered by humans unprovoked. Once a gentle soul, his hulking size and strength have since become tools of vengeance and violence since losing his tribe. While he is adamant in his new hateful beliefs, he also is madly in love with his wife Noralai, for whom he’d do anything for. Searching for his long lost son, he is disappointed when he learns his boy has come to accept and live amongst humans, and seeks to punish him for doing so. His path is one of vengeance born through pain, hoping to take down as many humans as possible in a misinformed fight to right the wrongs that have happened to him.
His voice is intended to be medium-low to very low in octave, stern and strong in conviction. While usually calm and ‘professional’ in how he speaks, he can get carried into his own emotions and also expresses a feeling of love when speaking to his wife Noralai. Whatever voice you feel brings the character and his personality and values to life is something I’m excited to hear!
In terms of scheduling, Etrin will be the male lead in the Season 2 premiere, as well as in Episode 3 of Season 2. If cast, the hope is to have all his lines recorded and submitted by around mid-December so I can start editing the episodes together and get them to the soundtrack composer, but realistically only his lines for the season premiere episode actually have to be completed by then. He will also play a part in the Season 3 premiere that is scheduled for production early next year. While this is the extent of the commitment, he might show up again in later seasons and whoever voices him will be contacted to reprise the role in that instance (though there will be no obligation to do so given that you might be too busy to do so at that point).
(please note the associated image for the character is just a visual example and was not done for this specifically)
(after being asked if he and Noralai hail from a violent war tribe) “Certainly not! We were part of a peaceful orc tribe. We did things differently. It did not matter. The humans came. We barely escaped.”
(speaking to his wife Noralai when deciding if they should kill their half-orc grandson) “Draknar would never forgive us. But…the one we knew is lost to us. The existence of this very Dyr-bred makes that clear. He has forgotten. Chosen to at that. Still, we shouldn’t be too hasty. We need to take the child back with us to the cavern. There we can decide.”
(explaining his plans for his half-orc grandson to his babysitter/bodyguard after taking them both prisoner and his intent to use them to punish his own son) “We won’t harm the child, not like this. We worried for our missing son. As much as we hate what he has turned into, not knowing if he was even still alive was absolute torture. Finding out the intense worry we’d felt for so many years was for nothing, a complete lie, deserves an equal fate. An eye for an eye.”
saitogami1, certainly! First off, thank you for your audition! Frankly it's going to be really tough choosing as every audition I've received here has really blown me away and you are definitely part of that. In terms of feedback, you certainly gave a compelling take on the character. Making choices and committing to them are huge and I think you made interesting choices and totally committed which I thoroughly enjoyed. You went with an interpretation that allows for a lot of nuance which is strong for audio-based storytelling. With no body language or expressions to really act with, every intent of the performance has to be put into the voice and this was done well. I particularly like your take on the "as much as we hate what he has turned into...not knowing if he was even still alive was absolute torture" line at 00:55 - 01:00. The emotion came through there so authentically that you made it feel real, which is what it's all about! With live auditions I'd have actual suggestions but only because I do it to test ability to take direction and versatility -- I don't look for anything in particular in terms of style, instead keeping an open mind for all interpretations on the character, so online there rarely is a reason for me to ask for anyone to do the extra work of re-recording an audition. For future auditions with other peoples' projects, I'd recommend lowering the gain during the angrier/louder parts so the peak volume doesn't redline as this adds static/distortion and hurts audio quality, and only because some casting managers go nuts over that, but it's not something you have to worry about here. I never reject auditions over technical stuff because it's something I can easily troubleshoot with someone if cast and asking someone to do extra work fixing audio quality just for an audition is not the purpose of auditions for me -- I strictly look at performance-type stuff at this stage. And again, you gave a great performance here! Whether you end up getting cast for this or not, keep doing what you're doing either way! -Very Respectfully, Nathan Goodall, Volunteer Showrunner LIFE OF LASH