Demoreel Criticism Please?

[Emi Kaori]

I just recently produced my very first demo reel. Since I'm relatively new to this I thought I'd ask the general voice-acting public what they thought about it. Any tips on voice acting, producing of demo reels, equipment, etc?

Link to demo reel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_B7841TNfY&feature=youtu.be


Thanks guys!
~Emi K.

[Stephanie W]

This belongs in the Demo Reels (http://voiceactingalliance.com/board/forumdisplay.php?14-Demo-Reels) section. I'm sure you'll get a critique there C:.

[Emi Kaori]

Oh, my bad. :P (I'm kind of new around this website...) I'll go post it there right away. Thanks!

[PhantasyStar]

While I think this is good, there's some range lacking with your voice, so most of your characters sounded the same. You sound like a mix of Mila Kunis and Laura Bailey (which is awesome btw :))

[BigTUnit1]

So hey! Demo reel advice!
So I can tell from this demo reel that you have a good range, but your energy by far was the more impressive aspect of it. Your diction was a little sloppy though, as a lot of the words kind of blended together, but that could be an effect of your microphone. Practicing with some vocal exercises will definitely improve that, so it'll only get better over time. Now onto the demo itself. As I said before, you have a decent selection of voices, but there are three things in specific that can be improved on to make it even better. For one, There were quite a few parts with dead air, or no voices, that tend to drop the energy of the entire product. If you can, avoid these moments of nothing by cutting those them out. The demo was a minutes and a half long, so it wouldn't hurt. Number two, Try to make more of an effort to make each voice feel like a separate character. If you open with a hyper, high voiced pixie, show your range by putting a deliberate and smooth voiced assassin. Highlighting the differences in your voices by showing a variety of voices, vocal speeds and patterns is what a character reel is all about. Number three, and I feel this is probably the most important one, is the lines you use. The biggest draw for a demo is what is being said, combined with the character that says it. If the lines themselves come off too generic and uninteresting, you will lose the attention of your audience. Lines like "How could YOU do THIS to me?" are pretty common, but can be made even better by being specific. Change it to something like "How could the Assassin's guild leave their own agents to die?", and suddenly the lines is a lot more interesting. The who, what, when, where, and how give the lines more of an organic feel, so feel free to use your imagination with them. You have a lot of potential, so don't be discouraged. Keep practicing and your demo reel will get progressively better! Oh, and if you have any questions of more extensive detail, you can always PM me or Skype me and I'll do what I can to help :)

[TruthBrothers]

It was good, cant complain on the "diffrence" in your voices, since i can only do about two voices, Adam jensen/Batman and my normal voice xD, but yeah good job!

[JWalker]

love the voice, time on demo was good, kept me hooked lol. As far as negatives, pretty much what others have already said. Keep on auditioning and do different roles and you should be set for the next step into becoming voice acting megagod!

[Emi Kaori]

So hey! Demo reel advice!
So I can tell from this demo reel that you have a good range, but your energy by far was the more impressive aspect of it. Your diction was a little sloppy though, as a lot of the words kind of blended together, but that could be an effect of your microphone. Practicing with some vocal exercises will definitely improve that, so it'll only get better over time. Now onto the demo itself. As I said before, you have a decent selection of voices, but there are three things in specific that can be improved on to make it even better. For one, There were quite a few parts with dead air, or no voices, that tend to drop the energy of the entire product. If you can, avoid these moments of nothing by cutting those them out. The demo was a minutes and a half long, so it wouldn't hurt. Number two, Try to make more of an effort to make each voice feel like a separate character. If you open with a hyper, high voiced pixie, show your range by putting a deliberate and smooth voiced assassin. Highlighting the differences in your voices by showing a variety of voices, vocal speeds and patterns is what a character reel is all about. Number three, and I feel this is probably the most important one, is the lines you use. The biggest draw for a demo is what is being said, combined with the character that says it. If the lines themselves come off too generic and uninteresting, you will lose the attention of your audience. Lines like "How could YOU do THIS to me?" are pretty common, but can be made even better by being specific. Change it to something like "How could the Assassin's guild leave their own agents to die?", and suddenly the lines is a lot more interesting. The who, what, when, where, and how give the lines more of an organic feel, so feel free to use your imagination with them. You have a lot of potential, so don't be discouraged. Keep practicing and your demo reel will get progressively better! Oh, and if you have any questions of more extensive detail, you can always PM me or Skype me and I'll do what I can to help :)


Wow thank you for that great advice! Very extensive and in-depth. :) I know that I will have to improve my range; however, it's good that you pointed out that I'm slurring some of my words together, because I never would have noticed that. I will try to incorporate everything you said into my next demo reel, which will probably be soon. Thanks again!!

[Emi Kaori]

Haha thank you! I love it when people just tell me like it is. :3

[Emi Kaori]

Thanks for the advice! And it's funny, because that's the second time someone has said that I sound like Mila Kunis. I wasn't aware that I had a voice like someone else! XD Anyway, thanks again!