be honest, i can take it

jason sabedra · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 4

i put together this reel and decided to have it critiqued before i put any music on it. i can take any criticism so don't hold back. thank you for listening and for your feedback.

Allison Scussel · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 928

Jason....
I'm accustomed to hearing demo's that that are completely produced segment by segmant, and then edited appropriately. I've never heard a dry demo with music to be added later. With that being said...... I had a hard time hearing when one spec ended and the other one began. It sounded like a complete run-on sentence.

You can get great advice from Melba and Scott Pollak regarding demo reels. There are other awesome talents on this site who give excellent feedback. I hope you get the advice you're looking for.

Good Luck!
Allison

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008, 15:35 (GMT) Post subject:

Don't know about great advice, but I've always got an opinion.

Jason, I don't think your reads here demonstrate readiness for open market competition. On some of the clips, you read too fast with words jumbled together, not enunciated well enough, and on others you read with this unnatural cadence that seems to be you imitating what you think an announcer sounds like. You have pauses in strange places, too.

Didn't look at your page, which I usually do, so I don't know what your training is, but I would suggest you take a basic acting class with script interp (something not related to VO per se) and some improv to loosen up and teach focus.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008, 17:40 (GMT) Post subject:

It would be incredibly simple to take this demo, add appropriate music/fx under each track and have a mediocre demo with music, as opposed to a mediocre dry demo.

Jason, you're putting the cart before the horse here. You're not ready for a demo yet. But I DO think you have potential. You have a pleasant youthful sound that is very much in vogue right now, and certain clips hinted at an ability to deliver a conversational, believable delivery. But if we were to say there were, oh, say, 10 steps from newbie to playing with the pros, I'd say you're at around step 2 or so.

You need:
- training
- coaching
- acting classes
- practice
- lots of critiques
and then when you're ready
- a PROFESSIONALLY PRODUCED demo

If you're willing to take it step at a time and really do all that, you can make a buck or two doing this. But do be aware that probably less than ONE PERCENT of people who go into this field can ever make a fulltime income at it. But if you want to go for it, do it on the side for fun and a buck here or there, I think you can do it.

jason sabedra · Joined: 12 Jun 2008 Posts: 4

thanks for the input everyone, i really appreciate it.