Rand Unwrapped (3 page)

One night, while working on an episode of
Robotech,
Steve Kramer was directing me and I had the simplest line. I think the line was
“… the day of oblivion has come for us all!”
part of
Episode 13 – Sand Storm
. It was an “ON” line written correctly, I just
couldn't say it. Maybe I was tired or more than likely I was just goofing around. But, the more I tried to do it, the more I kept missing it. Then, the worst thing happened. I started to laugh and once that got going, Steve started to laugh and then the engineer joined in as well. It was a downward spiral; the more I tried to get the line right, the more I couldn't do it. At one point I was able to achieve the correct sync but said the wrong line. Instead of “the day of oblivion has come for us all” I said, “the day of Bolivia has come for us all!” To this day, whenever I see Steve, one of us will say to each other “the day of Bolivia has come for us all!” or if we're short on time, we just say, “Bolivia.” But as someone once said somewhere, “ the show must go on.” That night in the session, Steve brought it all back down to earth and we finally finished the line and the episode. I can't leave a section on dubbing and sync without mentioning Greg Snegoff. I had the opportunity to work on many post
Robotech
projects with him and if there is any shred of ability in me to write sync, he put it there. Greg and I worked as writers on a Fox Television series called
The Adventures of Dynamo Duck (1990).
The series featured a whole collection live action animals including ducks, gerbils, badgers, weasels, frogs and gold fishes dressed in a variety of costumes with bow ties, hats, and vests. Our job was to cut, edit, and create character voices and story lines to this already existing raw footage shot by Jean Tourane. There were hundreds of hours of this material and to say the least, we had our work cut out for us. In addition, to writing and directing, Greg was actually the voice of the series lead character Dynamo Duck. This is a little known fact. For reasons, I can't remember, Greg's voice never made it to the final edit of the series. Actually, now as I write this, I
do
remember but you're not going to get anything out of me! Let's just say, that's another story and Greg, can tell it to you. During the writing process, Greg and I spent long hours sitting in front of television monitors rough cutting over 300 hours of footage, writing story lines and scripts. We cataloged every cut of the raw footage so that we would be able to retrieve it for a particular episode. When the rough cut was done, we had an infinite variety of situations featuring live animals dressed in all sorts of odd costumes trying to do one thing or another. Out of that larger body of material, we edited about eighty episodes. It was a daunting process at best to try to create a set of consistent characters and story lines out of such a large body of previously existing footage. Greg and I (especially Greg) wrote this show to life. He was able to hit every mannerism, syllable and movement of each character whether it was the lead duck (Dynamo) shaking his head between quacks, the wiggling nose to a hamster or bubbles coming out of a goldfish in a bowl. We wrote every gesture, every twitch literally every quack, which ultimately made the animals, come to life. Greg and I became friends of course during the making of
Robotech
. He was directing me when I improvised the now famous “Get a job!” line. That line actually goes back to my childhood when I used to tell it to my mom when she would get on my case for something or other. She would say something with the word “don't” in it. Like “don't scuff your shoes!” or “don't make so much noise!” I would always snap back, “Get a job!” We continued saying it even when I got older. It was just a something that my mother and I always said to each other. That's why I thought it was a perfect line to say to Rook's mom and it was in sync!

I always felt comfortable working with Greg in the studio on any level. He is intelligent, quick on his feet and funny as hell. And when you work with him, you know you're going to push the envelope. It is out of that spirit that, once in a while, all right more than once in a while, I would improvise a line or two during one of the takes. The “get a job”
line was one of those lines. On one of the takes, I said it and we all had a laugh (pretty good sync too) and then we moved on and did the correct line. Which to this day, I don't remember. Somehow, (nobody really knows) how the “get a job” line made it to the final network cut. The rest is as they say “history.” Greg and I subsequently developed many other projects together and working with him was some of most fun I've ever had while getting paid for it! Greg now lives in sunny Italy but has a nasty habit of showing up in Los Angeles from time to time. Despite the distance we now live from each other, we will work on some wonderfully creative and hopefully silly project again in the future. That is a given. And then there is the late Carl Macek.

I had the privilege of working with Carl on projects including of course
Robotech, Captain Harlock and Queen of a Thousand Years
and later on
Computer Warriors.
Carl Macek was a one of kind creative genius that was extremely talented in taking the existing footage a creating a story line around it. Carl was a master at putting a creative frame around everything we did. In one instance, he single handedly created one series out of two already existing animae series
Captain Harlock and Queen Millennia
. Carl created 65 episodes with a connected story out of two different series, with different characters and storyline. He did the same thing with
Robotech.
I remember him one day sitting in a tiny studio at Intersound in front of a monitor while eating a sandwich going over diverse pieces of animated footage and effortlessly blending them together into one concise story. Only Carl could do that. But Carl was much more than a super talented writer. He was the glue that held us all together. He could remember all of the details from episode to episode and never forget the big picture. Often, when the members of the
Robotech
cast were on conference panels fielding questions, fans would ask specific things about the storyline and characters in the story. Only Carl could put the elements of the show together in a way that we all understood it. I worked with Carl on a several post
Robotech
projects. One of which
Computer Warriors
, which was based around a line of toys made by Mattel in the early nineties. The project, co written and produced by Carl and Bill Kroyer, was truly ahead of its time. It involved a top-secret government mega computer that unleashed an evil army of viruses. The fun part of the project was that the virus villains made their way into everyday common household items like diet soda cans, lamps and computers. Of course, the goal of these nasty viruses was to be very bad and dominate the world. Thanks to Carl, I was able to create a character with an English dialect that was one of the good guys sent to battle the bad virus army. Unfortunately the
Computer Warriors
did not get produced beyond a pilot episode. But it was fun to get to do an English dialect. This is something I rarely (no never) get to do. I'm usually cast as the “streetwise” wise cracking tough guy. It was great to get a chance to stretch a bit. Over the years, Carl and I talked about doing several other projects together. One of the projects he was interested in doing was to publish a collection of old 1930's movie treatments and scripts that I own the rights to and perhaps develop several of them into actual projects. We always talked about doing it but never did because we were too busy. We always believed that we would get to it later and that we had all the time in the world. We actually spent one summer afternoon sitting in a café in Studio City figuring out how we would put the whole thing together. But, we both got busy on other projects and never did. I regret that deeply. Carl had a wonderfully unique and creative way at looking at the world and was truly a master at seeing what we all could not see and we will all miss him.

It was the ADR or dubbing writer's job to take Carl's creative idea and connect the dialogue and action. As I have said, along with Steve Kramer and Greg Snegoff, there were a lot of wonderful talented people connected at every level of the production including the late Bob Barren and Mike Reynolds. However, it was Greg Snegoff and Steve Kramer that I worked with the most. They taught me the most about “how to do it.” They had a sense of the project as a whole, knew how to interpret Carl's vision, knew what they're doing and more importantly, always made it fun during the creative process.

I have been luckier than most to get to work with a group of talent people who would always be there to catch you if you fell. I know the old saying that you “learn by doing.” But what a great way to learn! I often see advertisements for many different types of voice over classes promising guaranteed employment. But really, there is no way in a classroom setting to prepare an actor for a dubbing experience. Over the years, some of the camera classes I have taught have had voice acting components. I have had some very talented students who possess that uncanny ability to make a character come to life by creating a compelling voice. You can get a sense of what voice acting is like in a class but the best way to learn is to just do it. This is the only way to become accustomed to the many variables one might encounter when creating a character within an animated or live action setting. In addition, when you're in the studio, the script and the quality of the writing becomes crucial. For actors that are new to dubbing, I think the best way to learn is to sit in a walla session. I will talk more about that later in this book. But you can also work as a voice actor on student films and independent productions. However, I want to tell you up front, that a lot of them are not very good. They are not very good because most of the people working on them really don't know how to write, direct or perform dubbed projects. The result is they produce work of inferior quality.

If the writer of a particular project falls short in this task, it can result in long laborious recording sessions where the director and actor have to rewrite the script line for line as they record it. I will say, that I have done my fair share of what we voice over folks call
schlock
which literally translated from Yiddish slang means
“goods produced of cheap or inferior quality.”
These projects, which are written and edited poorly, are the kind that you get hired to do and you just go in and do them. When it's done you fill out the paperwork and go home. But even doing what we would call
schlock
is a way to learn. Yes, to quote Mike Reynolds, you can always learn something from a bad experience. You can learn what not to do and what doesn't work. You take that knowledge with you to the next session and it makes you a better voice actor. As far as learning how to sync to animation or live action, there's no school for that as well. I guess, you could turn the sound off on your television and try to capture the lip movements of the characters that are up on the screen. But that's not the way you're going to get it in a darkened studio with a time code running. The ability to do effective sync when voicing a character takes into consideration that the actor is able to capture the essence of the character and have the ability to place the voice within the framework of what ‘s up on the screen. It's something you just learn to do after doing it for a long time. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you can read your character's lines like you're reading a book and hope that they fit. You have literally, got to scoop up and capture the lines and retain the essence of what's going on up there on the screen. You literally become one with the character. It's a very Zen experience and there's no school for that. You just learn it as you go. But when creating a character in an animated series such as
Robotech
, you have got to
literally bring something to the party. What you bring with you is a wealth of all your experiences literally everything that has ever touched your life physically, intellectually and emotionally. Whether you know it or not, it's all there, every experience of your life, is in the studio with you. And you, without you even knowing it, use these experiences, which become part of your character. At least that's the way it was for me and this is my story in creating the character of Rand.

“A man's gotta do – what a man's gotta do…”

- Episode 24 – Dark Finale

In my case, my professional career as a voice artist began when I was living in Hawaii attending graduate school. I was cast to create a voice for the title character in a live action series called
Ultra 7
. I voiced the character, who by day was
Dan Moroboshi - Planet Man Dan
and by night the super hero
Ultra 7
. The series was originally created and successfully broadcast in Japan in 1967 as
Urutora Sebun
. My girlfriend at the time got me the job because she knew the producer's daughter. They asked me to go in and read a few lines and then told me I got the job. I had never dubbed before but figured how hard could it be? I accepted the offer and became involved in the dubbing of this series into English while I was a graduate student at the University of Hawaii studying Kabuki, Peking Opera as well as acting. The program at the university seemed to me to be more academic than artistic for my liking but I did have a significant financial package at the school, so I stayed. And I'm so glad I did! I had the opportunity to study acting with some of the best teachers I've ever had. The first is Glenn Cannon and despite his Hawaiian address, Glenn was a very east coast actor/director rooted in a no nonsense approach to creating a character and putting it up on stage or film. You would think to study acting of this professional caliber; one would have to go to Los Angeles or New York City. But Glenn taught be how to find a character within a script, interpret it and then put it up on stage. I went through the script page by page, and looked for clues. What did the playwright say about my character? What did my character say about himself and lastly what did other characters say about my character? Within that matrix, the truth could be found. This was a great lesson for me. Glenn cast me in a production of Moliere's
Scapin
to play the title role. It was a fast paced farcical romp that toured most of the island of Oahu in parks, schools and theatres. Glenn allowed me to fully explore the character and put a lot of myself into the role. My character, Scapino, opened the play each performance eating a two-foot long hero sandwich while talking directly to the audience. It was fun and built upon my improvisational skills and most importantly I couldn't make a bad choice because I was so totally connected to the character. Glenn was then and is now a professional actor, director and teacher. At that time, he was a reoccurring character on the Hawaii 5-0 television series. He also performed and directed professionally for the stage. He brought a lot of what I will call “reality” to the craft of acting. He told it like it was and was great to work with as a director. My other acting teacher at the University of Hawaii, Terence Knapp was trained in England, and taught me about what he often called “
leaping into the darkness
” when creating a character. From him, I learned to take risks in the creation of a character rather than just create a stereotype rendition of what was in the script. At the time, I studied with Knapp; I didn't always appreciate the
“leap in the darkness”
idea of creating a character. I was more about getting it done point-to-point and wanted to leave the leaping to someone else. I wanted to
do
the things that I knew would be audience pleasers rather than try to explore the inner workings of the character. However, it was in this inner exploration that Terrence Knapp taught me that the true core of a character lived. At the time, I hated this creative process, but over the years, and with decades of teaching acting behind me I now can see clearly that he was right on the mark. I got to work with Terence Knapp on a
project called the
Mysteries and the Passion
which was a medieval cycle play made up of several smaller stories centered around the Bible. I opened this show as well playing Adam in the Garden of Eden. There was a lot of talk around town that the Adam and Eve Garden of Eden scene was going to be performed in the nude. In the final production, this did not happen and I was extremely glad about that. Instead, Knapp put us in anatomically correct tights and we played the Garden of Eden as more of a dance piece than a scene. It was beautifully done as a metaphor of the loss of innocence rather than a scene about the original sin. It was very powerful and really set up the rest of the production quite well. After Adam, I played other roles in the same production – The Second Shepard in the
Second Shepard's Play
and finally Pontius Pilot in the
Crucifixion
. In this part of the play, Knapp had me enter the scene slowly from a sub stage below with a mask over my face wearing an ancient Greek style Chiton (long flowing robe), holding a large hand held mirror and sporting cothurni (enormously tall wooden shoes). The cothurni were over a foot high and were like wearing a combination of Frankenstein boots and spiked heals. It was those large wooden shoes that gave me the most trouble. Once I put them on, I was almost seven feet tall. They were extremely heavy which made walking with them on a chore. For my big entrance, I had to walk up a narrow stairway from the stage below, (wearing the cumbersome costume and mask) enter up stage center to face an angry mob. My line went something like, “Whom do you choose? Jesus or Barabbas?” The crowd chanted “Barabbas” and then I let Barabbas free and condemned Jesus to be crucified. After that, I washed my hands in a bowl of water and then exited back down those narrow stairs as they took Jesus away. There must have been bad karma playing the Pontius Pilot character. One night, during a performance, I was trying to exit by slowly descending the dark narrow stairway to the stage area below. But that night, I just couldn't make it down that narrow stairway wearing those cothurni and fell down the entire flight of stairs to the stage below and broke my foot. I am thankful the audience didn't see it. I finished the show that night with the broken foot and then was taken to the hospital where they put a full leg cast on me. I thought I would have to leave the show, but Knapp would have none of it and had me complete the run of the show on crutches. After the run of
Mysteries and Passion
, and falling down the stairs, I truly felt that I had learned to
leap into the darkness.
Both Glenn Cannon and Terence Knapp are great directors and acting coaches and I was extremely fortunate to study and work on several projects with them.