Demo Reel Construction--Help?

[SaigoSentinel]

So I've been Voice Acting for about 3-4 years now, and very soon I plan to [attempt to] go pro, but I find it sad that I still have no idea what is good and what is not good to include in a Demo Reel. Could anyone offer some wisdom on the basics, like how long it should be, etc.? I'd very much appreciate it! Thanks!

[C.Strife89]

So I've been Voice Acting for about 3-4 years now, and very soon I plan to [attempt to] go pro, but I find it sad that I still have no idea what is good and what is not good to include in a Demo Reel. Could anyone offer some wisdom on the basics, like how long it should be, etc.? I'd very much appreciate it! Thanks!

Here's what I would do:

Normal casual speaking (like a high school student)
Speaking as if afraid of something.
Speaking as if a hero of something.
Speaking as if a villain.
Speaking in a heighten situation (such as a conflict)
Speaking as if in a funny conversation. (or making a funny joke)
Speaking in 3rd person
Soeaking showing love and emotion
Speaking in a violent manner.


There you go.

[martialmichael126]

Well, if you're talking about a professional demo reel, you should get a voice coach to help put one together for you.

If you're talking about something you'd simply put on the VAA, just try to showcase your vocal range in abou 60-90 seconds and minimize similar voices. Also make it sound like each take was in something professional.

[bninjah]

I would recommend going to www.videovoicebank.net and searching up voice actors that you look up to or respect and have a listen to their demos, and ask yourself what makes them special. What I would do is record a number if different types of characters and different types of character voices and then pick your favorites and put them into your demo. Put your strongest voices/characters first, and those strong characters should be around 7 seconds long at a minimum. What's great about having more clips to choose from is that you can add even more voices into your demo, and just cut some of the voices down a few seconds to squeeze them in. Since your just starting out and you say that you want to make this your professional demo to send to agencies/studios, I would say your demo should be around a minute long. Once you get more professional experience, then you can make it longer. Just make it short and effective.

Just a quick little thing: If you plan on making this yourself, make sure that your recording quality is REALLY PROFESSIONAL. This however, is only absolutely necessary if you plan on sending this particular demo out to studios and such. If its just for the VAA, then it doesn't matter as much. I would also make a commerical demo with your animation demo. This is not not required but its a good idea because not having a commercial demo can sometimes mean your not as versatile to them.