GETTING THE HANG OF IT DAY 3 CVAP
Around 3 pm on the second day of the Certified Voice Artist Program, I started feeling dizzy as I could ever feel. My body seems to not feel itself. My breathing got deeper and deeper and as each tick of the clock goes by, my eyes were falling slowly and slowly until after a blink, everything seemed to be dark- it was 4 am, Sunday.
THE EXPLANATION
Due to discarding the coffee midway, I lost all senses on the second session of CVAP. That was the reason why I was not able to finish or at least, it seemed like so as I deliberately ended my last entry with four dots to give you a somewhat true-to-life representation of how exhausted I was that day. However, day three in the training was different. I was able to get some sleep because, for some reason, my workmates decided to cancel our weekly meeting for that day, and thankfully too, I was able to finish my recordings way ahead of time. Finally, I had a few hours of sleep on that Saturday.
THE APPLICATIONAs I opened my eyes that day, all the memories for that week came in on me and reminded me how productive that was. A lot of new clients came in, my voice was not that exhausted anymore, I had not stopped drinking coffee, yet reduced it to more than fifty percent of my regular intake, and perhaps the most notable progress I got for the week was I had my first project which involved me talking over the microphone, taking over an old man’s voice. After more than a year of doing voice-over work, I finally took on the courage to say yes to a project which required me to change my voice. It wasn’t really a long one, at just short of a minute, that advertisement script at first looked like an ordinary script for the day until the client messaged me and said if I could pretend as an old man from Asia named Master Chang. At first I grinned, the expression I always do whenever I feel anxious at something, the thing I used to do followed by an immediate reply to the customer with the words “I’m really sorry”. This time on the other hand was again, different. Instead of feeling worried as my teeth peeked, my heart began to pump a little more than usual, but too much. Just enough to make me recall the tutorial the voice master imparted to me for free.
So I thought to myself, yes, this is it. I have another project that could potentially unlock a new skill in me. Taking into account everything I learned, from pitch modulation to the tempo of speech, I processed these factors in my mind, and then the words came out of my mouth, “I’m master Chang, and I have fifty-five years of experience in reading body language through the art of physiognomy”. I felt absolutely amazing after realizing I only did it in one take. It was a miracle until the customer’s feedback reached my email. I thought I blew it again. I thought wrong.
A new client-based from Hong Kong said my delivery was precise and that he almost believe that I was the character on that voice-over. A compliment that is more than enough to confirm my days in CVAP have finally taken effect.
The paragraph above might have taken you a few minutes to finish reading, but I’ll tell you everything almost happened so fast that morning and when I opened the computer, another surge of excitement has taken over my body again.More important matters were discussed on the third day, more motivation, more inspiration however the highlight for the day was the segment called “Zoom-arte” where we would have a quick presentation of our group, this time, with everyone’s voice, no exemptions. We were to act as if we were superheroes and my team has put up the show. Apparently, we were all ears to what the Father of Modern Filipino Dubbing, Danny “Ama” Mandia taught us that afternoon.
As day three ended, I realized we were closing in towards the end of the line for Batch 9. It seemed as if time was in a hurry. We all must have gotten used to that, how time flies so fast. As if in a blink, we will be called finally, Certified Voice Artists of the Philippines. The question is will I get used to it, and will I be worth it.
Around 3 pm on the second day of the Certified Voice Artist Program, I started feeling dizzy as I could ever feel. My body seems to not feel itself. My breathing got deeper and deeper and as each tick of the clock goes by, my eyes were falling slowly and slowly until after a blink, everything seemed to be dark- it was 4 am, Sunday.
THE EXPLANATION
Due to discarding the coffee midway, I lost all senses on the second session of CVAP. That was the reason why I was not able to finish or at least, it seemed like so as I deliberately ended my last entry with four dots to give you a somewhat true-to-life representation of how exhausted I was that day. However, day three in the training was different. I was able to get some sleep because, for some reason, my workmates decided to cancel our weekly meeting for that day, and thankfully too, I was able to finish my recordings way ahead of time. Finally, I had a few hours of sleep on that Saturday.
THE APPLICATIONAs I opened my eyes that day, all the memories for that week came in on me and reminded me how productive that was. A lot of new clients came in, my voice was not that exhausted anymore, I had not stopped drinking coffee, yet reduced it to more than fifty percent of my regular intake, and perhaps the most notable progress I got for the week was I had my first project which involved me talking over the microphone, taking over an old man’s voice. After more than a year of doing voice-over work, I finally took on the courage to say yes to a project which required me to change my voice. It wasn’t really a long one, at just short of a minute, that advertisement script at first looked like an ordinary script for the day until the client messaged me and said if I could pretend as an old man from Asia named Master Chang. At first I grinned, the expression I always do whenever I feel anxious at something, the thing I used to do followed by an immediate reply to the customer with the words “I’m really sorry”. This time on the other hand was again, different. Instead of feeling worried as my teeth peeked, my heart began to pump a little more than usual, but too much. Just enough to make me recall the tutorial the voice master imparted to me for free.
So I thought to myself, yes, this is it. I have another project that could potentially unlock a new skill in me. Taking into account everything I learned, from pitch modulation to the tempo of speech, I processed these factors in my mind, and then the words came out of my mouth, “I’m master Chang, and I have fifty-five years of experience in reading body language through the art of physiognomy”. I felt absolutely amazing after realizing I only did it in one take. It was a miracle until the customer’s feedback reached my email. I thought I blew it again. I thought wrong.
A new client-based from Hong Kong said my delivery was precise and that he almost believe that I was the character on that voice-over. A compliment that is more than enough to confirm my days in CVAP have finally taken effect.
THE FATHER'S ADVICE
Yet again I was star-struck. Another celebrity has appeared on the virtual seminar I was joining and this time it was someone who again did not know, and again, someone who has an amazing heart of an artist and of an advocate. Ama Danny has imparted invaluable lessons to us on how to dubb and use our own voices the right way to make believable characters on our recordings. It was a wonderful experience and honestly, my mind was flying as I was daydreaming of the moment that I would have the chance to visit NCR again (trips are being scheduled at the moment) and finally meet these people. I was astounded by their skills yes, but my amusement did not comprise of the feats that they can do or the achievements they have acquired by rather the way they wanted to help other people, normal, simple dreamers, like me, get to where they are right now. Simply amazing and I look forward to seeing Ama Danny and Sir Choi hopefully in the near future and when I do, of course, you will be the first to know.As day three ended, I realized we were closing in towards the end of the line for Batch 9. It seemed as if time was in a hurry. We all must have gotten used to that, how time flies so fast. As if in a blink, we will be called finally, Certified Voice Artists of the Philippines. The question is will I get used to it, and will I be worth it.