Acting in Video Games

Article from Backstage.com

Spotlight on Video Games
And Then They Thought About Game
Voiceover and motion capture provide job opportunities for actors and fertile ground for their imaginations.
October 16, 2008
By Sarah Kuhn
Josh Keaton has always been a gamer. In his youth, he whiled away the hours on Atari and Nintendo, enthralled by interactive stories spun in pixels. There was one element, however, that always broke the spell.

"It stuck out to me when I was younger how bad a lot of the voice acting was in video games," he says with a chuckle. "They were just getting into technologies that would allow them to even have real voices. Before, it was all text-based. It was almost like the beginning of film, where everybody was just figuring out what to do."

Since then, of course, technology has advanced far beyond the back-and-forth paddle-swinging of Pong. Today's games are elaborate cinematic opuses, and they require talented actors to bring them to life. Keaton, who has voiced characters in such popular games as Metal Gear Solid 3, Spider-Man, and God of War II, is one of those actors. "Games have a story, and people want to see it acted out," he says. "They want to basically play a movie."

And though breaking in isn't necessarily easier than it is in other mediums, casting director and voice director Kris Zimmerman Salter says there's plenty of room for fresh talent: "I'm always looking for a new crop of actors, and I think most of the casting directors are as well. If it's the same 50 people in every U.S video game, that's going to get boring to the player. I like to have the challenge of finding new people."

Not Just Another Pretty Face
The acting work in video games falls into two basic categories: voiceover and motion capture. Typically, different actors do the voiceover and motion-capture work for a character, though in select cases an actor might be called upon to do both.

In voiceover, says Zimmerman Salter, there are a couple of elements: "You have the scenes that are the cinematics. They tell the story of the characters, and then the player goes into game play and then they're trying to make their way through the maze or beat the opponent. The style of acting in the cinematics is, of course, more dramatic. It involves more interaction with the characters, whereas the game play is a lot of call-outs, death noises, screaming."

In casting the actors who will populate a game's world, Zimmerman Salter looks for a few key qualities. "You have dozens, sometimes 60 or 80, characters in a game, so there's a versatility issue: I need someone who can cover multiple roles for me," she says. "When it comes to games like SOCOM, which is a Navy SEALs-based game, I need people who can sustain a certain level of energy for a four-hour period of time. And I prefer someone who's a strong actor rather than just a voice."

That last element is particularly important, so top-notch acting skills are as crucial as voiceover training. Keaton, an experienced voice actor who has worked extensively in commercials and animation, says his approach to creating a game character is no different from that for any other role. "I always try to make sure I can get the entire script, or at least as much of it as possible" before recording, he says. "When you have that information, you just go through and make your choices and be as specific as possible."

For instance, when Keaton voiced the character of Ryu in Ninja Gaiden II, he looked to the films of Akira Kurosawa for inspiration. "He didn't speak much," Keaton says of the character. "I'm a huge Kurosawa fan, and it's not so much about how much you say; it's about making meaning of the small amount of words you do say. They're chosen very carefully."

Your acting skills will also come in handy when you're auditioning for a role originated by another actor. As some games are based on movies or TV shows, you may be called upon to match someone else's voice. In these cases, casting directors aren't looking for a straight-up mimic, says Zimmerman Salter: "Yes, Scooby-Doo has to sound like Scooby-Doo. But if it's only a voice and not the heart and soul of the character, there's a disconnect that is subtle, but it can be heard. So not only does the actor need to be able to sound like that character; they need to be able to live that character."

Adds Keaton, who has several of these types of roles on his résumé, "You never want to go through and make it sound, pitch for pitch, exactly like the person. You want to get the timbre of their voice and their vocal quality and then do the performance yourself." Another challenge of video game work has to do with the solitude of recording. Whereas animated shows will sometimes schedule their casts to record together, video game voiceovers are usually done all by your lonesome. "As long as you make your choices and have what the other actor would be doing in your head, it's not too bad," says Keaton.

Moving Experience
While Keaton and others are using their voices to bring the game industry's most popular personas to life, actors like Joseph Gatt are doing it in a completely different way. Gatt is a seasoned motion-capture actor who has worked on such titles as God of War II, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, and 24: The Game. Initially it was his varied background that made him suitable for motion-capture gigs, he says — he's an actor with training in athletics, martial arts, and the military — but he learned the process of motion capture on the job. "You can explain and explain the technical process, but it's the same as doing anything: You kind of learn through doing," he says. "And generally, there are other actors around who've done it before, and they can give you clues and tips. If you're a reasonably intelligent person, you'll pick it up quickly."

When performing motion capture, the actor dons a wetsuitlike garment covered in sensors that resemble pingpong balls. Cameras placed around the room use those sensors to read the movements of the actor, which are then translated into the animation of the game.

Like Keaton, Gatt says his approach to a game character is very similar to the way he crafts roles in other mediums, but with a few marked differences. "You don't have much in the way of sets or props," he says. "You're using an awful lot of imagination. There's hardly anything there for you to actually physically grab hold of. On the other hand, that kind of thing can actually aid you, because you don't have anything really restricting you in your movements."

Additionally, sequences in which the actors need to connect with one another — close-combat fight scenes, for instance — must be shot in a unique way. "We do all the same movements," Gatt explains, "but we do them about 4 or 5 feet apart from each other. We're doing the full fight, but we leave a gap between ourselves. That way, the computer can pick up everything that's going on, with nothing getting in the way of all the sensors. Then in post, it's very easy for them to just move the two characters together."

Casting director Brigitte Burdine, who has also directed and produced video games, says athletic ability and movement training are good things for aspiring motion-capture performers to have, but in the end a lot depends on the specifics of the role. "I have a physical description of the character, and we try to come as close to that as possible — height, weight, stature," she says. "And then of course the actor needs to be able to move like the character would. So for instance, if we were doing the SOCOM game for Sony, it's helpful if those actors have some military experience or firearm experience, that kind of thing."

Like Zimmerman Salter, Burdine is eager to discover new talent. In addition to sending her casting calls to agents, she tries to make them available via resources such as Actors Access. "I'm very actor-friendly, so I want to try to give people a chance at it," she says. Burdine also believes that video game characters require talented actors: "Movements have to be motivated, and in order for movement to be motivated, you have to have an actor or it just doesn't work. It doesn't look correct; it doesn't translate."

In that vein, no matter what type of game work you're auditioning for, Keaton recommends that you prepare as you would for any other acting job. "Play some of the really popular games," he suggests. "There are companies like GameFly where you can set up an account and rent the games, or you can just go to Blockbuster. Just try them out so you can see the format. If you're going to be auditioning for Gossip Girl, obviously you're going to turn in a much different read than if you're reading for CSI; the pacing and the structure of the shows are much different. So if you're going to be going in and reading for a Lord of the Rings-type game, your approach is going to be much different than if you're reading for a first-person shooter. It's just like on-camera: You've got to research the craft."

Write to the author at sarahkuhn@backstage.com.