Neuroscience, the Secret Service and Producing Better Voice Content | Mark Estdale
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
1 like•122 views
Delivered at Casual Connect USA 2018. Spies and neuroscience give developers a budget-busting toolbox and perspective that transforms voice casting, recording and performance for games. The methods developed and tested in the UK and first introduced to the US for Horizon Zero Dawn are a revolution but not rocket science. This talk introduces this can-do methodology that micro indies and mega devs alike can easily apply to up their game to new levels.
Recommended
More Related Content
Similar to Neuroscience, the Secret Service and Producing Better Voice Content | Mark Estdale
Similar to Neuroscience, the Secret Service and Producing Better Voice Content | Mark Estdale (20)
More from Jessica Tams
More from Jessica Tams (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Neuroscience, the Secret Service and Producing Better Voice Content | Mark Estdale
- 1. NEUROSCIENCE SPIES & VOICE Mark Estdale Founder Indie Dialogue Initiative & Vault 501 @3571 mark@omuk.com
- 2. NEUROSCIENCE SPIES & VOICE Mark Estdale Founder Indie Dialogue Initiative & Vault 501 @3571 mark@omuk.com
- 5. A picture is worth ten thousand words SOUND EFFECTS OTHER DIALOGUE MUSIC
- 10. SPY
- 11. SPY
- 14. SURVEILLANCE VEHICLE CONTROL ROOM
- 15. EMBASSY BOOTH
- 17. VISUAL • Characters • Scene • Items • Video AUDIO • Performance of other actors • Music • Spot Sound Effects • Environment Sounds
- 18. VISUAL • Characters • Scene • Items • Video AUDIO • Performance of other actors • Music • Spot Sound Effects • Environment Sounds
- 20. Script in advance Instinct advantage Lost
- 21. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
- 23. NEUROSCIENCE SPIES & VOICE Mark Estdale Founder Indie Dialogue Initiative & Vault 501 @3571 mark@omuk.com
Editor's Notes
- My focus, is entirely on voice performance, in games. When I was first invited, to join the games industry, to run voice studios, I thought it was going to be easy. Production was in my blood, I’d grown up in the studio, in theatre, and in TV, but I couldn’t, have been more wrong. 18 years ago, I spent an afternoon, working with an actor, for a role in a game. I’d seen him playing a lead in a show, and I knew he was ideal. He was talented, eager, and committed, but, when faced with the complexity, and size of the script, and the methods, we were using, he gave up, saying that games, just didn’t fit his process. For me, the experience turned out, to be the catalyst, for a journey. Initially, focusing on how, to make games fit with the actors’ process: I wanted the best, classically trained, actors to embrace, games, and for game developers, to resource actors, in a way that didn’t, compromise development. Little did I think, the journey would branch out, to human evolution, encounters with spies, to philosophy, and neuroscience, and that it would lead, to me redesigning recording studios, learning to design software, and manage programmers, and running workshops, for 3 of the worlds leading, acting schools.
- Whatever objective we have, for recording a voice, whether it’s a voice, announcing the player’s victory, a tutorial, a narrator, a player character, NPC’s, AI or pure Walla, we have multiple choices, for how we record. And obviously, those choices, have an impact, on the final outcome: on cost, on time, and on the team. Yet the choices we make, are influenced, by our own past experiences, and the experiences of others. When I started writing this talk, I wanted something, to illustrate, how experience, can be counterproductive, and blinker us ,and the horse, came to mind. The horse, was the most advance form of transport, for over 5 thousand years, then came the industrial revolution, and then, the car. In production terms, games are the car, to the horse of stage, film, radio and TV. The methods, that evolved, over thousands of years, for other media, don’t fit games. Every year, we witness, both the film and the games industry, waste tens of millions, being puzzled, by the failure, of what amounts to putting oats, into the fuel tank. If we just trust, past wisdom, we can mess up. To misquote the bible: it’s dumb, putting new wine, in old wineskins. It is dumb, to cling to tradition, if it doesn’t serve us. When faced, with the new, evolution teaches us, it is better, to be curious, and to experiment, with difference, than it is to rely, on what’s gone before. To illustrate, my own experimentation with difference, and to give you, some interesting takeaway, I’m going to concentrate, on just one, common practice, for recording voice, and that is, recording with an actor, alone, in the recording studio. But please, please remember, this is just, my perspective, it’s not the holy grail. It’s just some ideas, in practice.
- The bottom line, with voice, is to have performance, that is believable. And the biggest, underlying cause, of a weak performance, in a game, is not bad script, bad actor, or a bad director. It is usually unknown, misunderstood, or miscommunicated context, and fixing context, is easy. Context, is at the heart of the mismatch, between games, and all other media. Context, in other media, is a given, as you know, how to perform, because of the staging. For solo voice, there is a sterile studio, yet, for the performance to work, it has to be, true to context, and it is not just a matter of WHAT context, you give. The factors, that have the biggest impact, are HOW, you give context, and WHEN, you give context. To illustrate, one version, of how I want you all, to imagine, you’re being shot at, and you are hiding, behind a sofa, in a room. OK To imagine, that scene, you have just tapped into, more processing power, than every single device, connected to the web, combine that, with the fact, that our perceptions, are unique to each of us, based on our experiences, it is guaranteed, that all of us, will have imagined, something different. The weakest, and the slowest, form of communication, for context, is language. Period.
- If, we get context wrong, it is likely, the performance, will be wrong, so the more context, we give, the better. The strongest, communicators of context, are pictures.
- Use scene grabs, and video, or live gameplay. They connect the actor, instantly, to their environment, with precision. Also use character art, and object art. But In addition, to visuals, sound, paints, the picture too. The performances, of other actors, are essential, if you want a connection with any degree of nuance. Sound effects, play a massive role too, in nailing performance. For example, if the performance, is not true, to the sound of the environment, it is wrong, and wrong is not believable. And music, may add a powerful shortcuts, to the emotional core of the scene. These things, together, make for precision. The last element, of giving context is, WHEN, we give it. And this, is where it gets interesting, as it is counter to almost everything, I thought I knew. Outside of games, production is a journey, into believable performance.
- It’s a process, that starts with the script, and builds towards a fully orchestrated performance. By the time performance happens, everything is known, with absolute precision. Script, character, set, blocking, timing, props, costume, lighting, everything. It’s a process, that combines many different skills, but the focus is a performance and the script is usually, simple, linear, and small. This process is the horse. The reality is that games, are different. For one, as already mentioned, scripts can be massive, complex and non-linear. It’s OK to admire other media, but, to use their process, can, be putting oats into the fuel tank. For example. Don’t waste precious resources, trying to put the script, into a screenplay format. A game is not a screenplay. Don’t kowtow, to a reality, that is not yours. If you do, actors will think, that it is this model that you are following, and when they don’t get what they expect, you are the only one to blame. The trick, is to inspire them, to bring them into your reality, into your vision. One of the keys, is that this model, is not the whole picture. Zoom out, it actually looks something like this.
- If you’ve picked up, an unknown book, and read it to a child, or if you’ve given an actor a script, and they cold read it. You will experience, what seems like magic. Frequently, the very first read, will nail it. It’s not magic, it is instinct at play. Because all other media, are concerned with staging a performance, the instinctive cold read has limited value, it is just the beginning of their process. The process, is unnecessary, if instinct can be resourced.
- The fact, that we live, every moment, of every day, instinctively, is to our advantage. It is at the core, of human survival, And the human brain, is the reason for our survival. And reason, is the biggest reason. Physically, humans are neither the fastest, nor the strongest, our senses, are not the sharpest, but, we think about stuff, and that modifies our responses. A neurologist would say, the brain, has 2 prime functions, reaction, and reason. The core process, is actually instant, as soon as we react, we log and modify. I’m going to illustrate, the modification, by taking you, on a peaceful drive, into the country, with a well known internet meme.
- A screamer First time we see it, we jump. Instinct. The second, we jump less. We’ve modified. If we step out of instinct, there’s a journey, we must take, to get to back, to a place, where we can fake instinct. The actors craft, is about faking, instinct. Learning to do that, costs. Capturing instinct, surely makes sense.
- That was the conclusion, that I came to. And it was <##> SPIES, that tipped me over the edge. Spies, have an objective, of gathering information, and they use, 3 prime methods: observation, recruitment and infiltration. What is of interest, is infiltration as it is the primary key, for unlocking the actor. Go up to any actor, and ask them, if they wat to play a spy, and the answer will be, yes! We all, love spies in the movies: James Bond, Jason Bourne, Ethan Hunt, yeah? (if present) Even the spy here, in this room, is nodding to that. The reason, they are here, is to check, that I don’t breech national security. I’m not going to, and I’m not, going to blow their cover. But, by mentioning them, I have just put them on high alert, and they, are not showing it. Why? Because spies, are actors. And their training, is not about being a character built from learning lines in a script, it’s about being someone they are not, a character in the real world. They, are the best actors, you’ll ever meet. Their training, is about, instinct. Their lives, and national security, may depend on it. Instinct works. (if not present) When a spy has to assume the identity of someone else they are acting. And their training, is not about being a character built from learning lines in a script, it’s about being someone they are not, a character in the real world. They, are the best actors, you’ll ever meet. Their training, is about, instinct. Their lives, and national security, may depend on it. Instinct works.
- If we take an actor, and approach their role, as if they were a spy, it becomes character first. This is the essence, of all my work. And getting the actor, to work as a spy, is easy. It is like throwing a switch. Their craft, in truth, is all about character, and at its core, it is relying on what, it is to be human. And being human, is to live instinctively. To support the concept, of actor as spy, I took the analogy to another level, by remodelling the way I worked to mirror the way the spy is supported in the field. I actually took my lead from a movie. I think it was Mission impossible. You’ve got the support team in a surveillance vehicle outside the embassy, and the spy is on their mission inside.
- The first thing I did was to remodel the studio control room, to be like the surveillance vehicle. I made the control room, single purpose. Mission only, to empower performance, and record it. I wanted something pure.
- A standard studio, doubles as a mix space, and has the engineer, in the central position.
- But as the director is the chief, I moved them to the central position with complete control. and I moved the engineer to the side, they are the tech expert, silently monitoring and invisible, capturing the performance, yet always on hand when there’s an issue. I then, removed the talkback button, the mic is always open. We work together, as a team, with the actor, on the mission together. Talkback isolates. (we call it the paranoia button) It is essential that the actor needs to feel safe, and supported at all times. The main rule of the of the space is that it is the job, of everything, and everyone in the control room, to support the actor, in achieving their mission.
- The second thing I did, was change the booth, the booth becomes like the embassy. It’s the place where the actor, achieves their objective. This is where, we immerse them, and support them, in the moment. The first thing I did there, was to change the script.
- I got rid of paper. I got it on-screen, using Excel, and controlled, by the director. We use a format, that fits, with the need, of the game. (a database, or anything that can import/export from the game would be fine.) If an actor asks, for a specially formatted script, we educate them, they get it.
- The next thing, was the asset recall, for context, so the actor can be in the moment. I created an asset player, for the director so they could share context with the actor instantly. <#>
- It’s not rocket science. It just connects the game’s visual and audio assets, including, every single take, of every other performance. And, of course, the script. I also, didn’t want the studio technology to get in the way of performance, I wanted it to be as invisible as possible.
- So I removed the static microphones, and had a mic attached to the actor. This essentially enables the actor to move and live the character. The static mic is a cage, it constrains performance, and constraint can be heard. And finally, With the objective, of wanting the magic of instinct, without, the costs, of having to fake it, you don’t give, the actor, the script, in advance. When I first proposed this, the ridicule was instant and vitriolic, and in truth I was first in the line. This was the biggest clash, between the horse, and the car. Tradition builds from the script, to performance. Yet, as soon as a script is read, any advantage of instinct, is lost.
- The first arguement, that brought me to consider, no script in advance, was the actor’s process. It doesn’t fit with complexity, unless you have the resources to waste. I understood, that instinct made sense, both for the spy, and the improv actor, as there’s not script. However I got stuck, on why cold reading a script, worked. But then, I saw a meme, that appeared in 2003.
- This is the world of Psycholinguistics. Although Cambridge University, denied being the source. They did acknowledge the reality, with a few caveats. However, it was the essence of this, that unlocked, why cold reading works. HOW WE READ IS NOT, HOW WE THINK WE READ. The topic is fascinating, there aren’t enough hours in a lifetime, to research it. I discovered sight reading, to be a window, into the heart, of our evolution, that connects, anthropology, psychology, neurology, philosophy the list goes on….. I got hooked. And to help me absorb more I picked up a book, on speed reading, by the author David Butler. It had a brain on the cover. His method, is based, on the premise, of seeing meaning not words. The intent, behind the words. This is engaging the imagination, the imaging engine, at the core, of our amazing brains. It is the connection at the heart of our survival as a species, between reaction and reason. It is Instinct. The truth is, I’m only the scratching the surface, but the insights I gained, gave me the confidence, to be bold with no script in advance. It was 12 years ago, when I finally changed the studios in London. My goal was always, to empower, to liberate, and inspire performance. Over ten years of experimenting with the method has proven it works. Last year, I built the vault in Santa Monica, to demonstrate, the methodology. It’s easy to apply. The key to the method is character first. The preparation, is working with the actor on who they are playing, just like with the spy, going under cover. I brief them, for their objective, then drop them into the game world. I’m going to show another short video, this is from the vault. It is introducing the actor, Debra Wilson, to the method. I used the sample from the game Blues and Bullets, that I showed earlier. Doing the character set up, with Debra for this took less than a minute. The video, starts with guns blazing.
- Debra
- The biggest thing I’ve learnt, has been, that using instinct does works. The second, and probably the most important lesson is: letting go, of the preconceptions of conventional wisdom, being curious, and having the courage to experiment with difference, leads to surprising and exciting places. Be curious about everything. Thank you.