If voice-over performer Cathy Weseluck wins an Oscar, she'll know exactly
who to thank. She believes the Oscars would be just the place to give credit
to the two main influences on her career.
"I had these two gerbils when I was a kid -- Whiskers and Nibbles -- and
I used to make up voices to speak to them, pretending I was speaking 'gerbilese'
or something. That was probably my greatest inspiration to do voice-overs."
Strange as it sounds, Weseluck feels it makes perfect sense that her inspiration
should have come from gerbils. What else would you expect from someone who
has played the part of everything from a goofy penguin to a snotty chicken?
Much of the voice-over work Weseluck does is called prelay. That means
she creates voices for animated voices in new cartoons. The voices of Bugs
Bunny, Batman and Bart Simpson are all the product of this kind of voice-over
performance.
Talking animals may seem like kids' stuff, but prelay is very demanding
work, says Weseluck.
"We walk into the studio armed with nothing but a picture and a description
of the character we're playing. From these profiles, we come up with several
different character voices which we apply to the script for the director's
approval."
If the director likes one of the voices, Weseluck will go into a sound
studio with a script and an outline of the cartoon and begin her voice-over
performance. At this point, the animation hasn't been done for the cartoon,
so Weseluck has to imagine the actions of the character she's playing.
"It's tricky, because if your character trips and falls on his head, you
don't do it. You have to just imagine what kind of noise someone falling on
his head would make. In this way, prelay requires more imagination than standard
acting," says Weseluck.
Along with imagination, life experience and knowledge of languages are
also helpful to the voice-over performer.
David Hirt remembers doing a marketing tape for the American distributor
of a German product. "While the script was in English, it made references
to German cities and some other German names and words," the Georgia professional
recalls. "The client was glad to hear that I pronounced every word without
a hitch."
While that was a highlight, every bit of work is rewarding.
"Then again, every commercial is memorable when you hit the timing perfect
the first time out. And the client goes nuts because they think that they
wrote such great copy."
Creative effort is a big part of voice-over work. A performer in this field
always needs to have another character voice and another idea to pull out
of their hat. One of the challenges of prelay is that in the first few shows,
directors are still trying to find out what they want.
"Once I played a character who was supposed to be a 16-year-old princess,
but midway through the first show, the director decided to change her into
an action heroine," remembers Weseluck.
Although prelay is her favorite medium, Weseluck doesn't limit herself
to one type of voice-over work. She's had a wide range of experience doing
radio and television commercials. .
"CD-ROM narration is a huge part of the voice-over market. It offers a
lot of opportunity for people in this business," says Weseluck.
The voice-over business is very competitive. Experts estimate there are
at least 10 performers for every voice-over contract. Those odds don't bother
Weseluck, however. She believes there is a danger in getting too wrapped up
in competition.
"A lot of people worry constantly about the competition in this business.
They push so hard to get where they want to go, they almost self-destruct."
Weseluck steers clear of this kind of dog-eat-dog mentality. She credits
her sanity to a more inward-focused and positive approach to her work.
"I'm a fatalist. I believe if I'm meant to get something, I will. I just
try to concentrate on what I'm capable of doing, and what aspects of my work
I can be improving upon."
This kind of professionalism is the product of several years of experience
in the entertainment business. Weseluck started doing voice-over work about
eight years ago, after a long stint as an associate producer for a radio show.
"Radio was a good training ground for me. It taught me a lot about using
my voice," says Weseluck. "Ultimately, though, I think it's really important
to have some acting training in your background. I did some live theater first,
and this was really helpful."
Weseluck's theater background proved to be a real asset when she started
her voice-over career. Her first voice-over contracts were for audio digital
reproduction (ADR) work, an area of voice-over performance which demands strong
acting skills.
ADR is the dubbing of a voice-over performer's voice on a damaged or foreign
language film. The voice-over actors must follow the written script and watch
the film on a TV screen so they can speak in synch with the character on the
film.
"There's nothing worse than having the dialogue not match the way the characters
on screen are moving their lips. You have to use your brain to follow the
lip-synch and stay in character at the same time."
With all of these challenges, and the competition involved in making it
in voice-over performance, some might wonder why Weseluck does it. But she
says you couldn't pay her to change careers.
"Voice-over work is a wonderful creative outlet. How many people can say
they've been paid to talk like a chicken all day?"