#the voice acting.. the sound design...

[lackadaisycats]

Do the characters of lackadaisy in the comics make cat noises just as much as they do in the animation or was that just added in the animation for some extra flare?

Like does comic Mordecai make grumpy cat growls when he’s irritated just like animated Mordecai?

In my mind, in working on the comic, I didn't really envision them making cat noises at all, save the occasional growl or yelp that could be construed as human or as feline. Kennedy Phillips, our sound supervisor, thought it was a travesty that the animated pilot didn't make use of cat vocabulary, though. So he inserted some as proof of concept. He and Fable eventually sold me on the idea. It just seemed to work really well with Freckle in particular, who is otherwise quite reticent. It helps that Rika, Kennedy's cat, is a consummate voice actress. Most of those sounds were custom-recorded by holding her up to a mic.

[provoiceactor1]

Hello lost soul, you really shouldn’t be in a place like this, demons are always walking these halls…

Amazing animation by @skeletoninthemelonland @behindthecodes (Saw you did this animation and just couldn’t help but kidnap my Michael VA and have him do some grunting sounds for this and everything else just followed suit 😂)

[daisythornes]

speedrun of things that cause me agony in the wondla tv series trailer:

whyyy did they have to make the sanctuary so sterile and minimalistic? the book sanctuaries had this charming clunky 70s sci-fi design to them – they were blocky and durable and Eva's was tangibly lived-in, even worn in some places, because that was the point! they were an experiment that outlived their usefulness, but people kept living in them & they felt like it. this feels like Kim Kardashian's creepy white torture house.

"this... is me." has this line not become extremely passé in trailers, like almost to the point of parody?

that is NOT Muthr. idk who that is, but she is not mothering. it's like they took her book design and stripped away anything that may have been even slightly challenging to the cocomelon-smoothed zeitgeist of current animation. she's just so... nothing. she doesn't even look like a robot so much as like.. the lame soul design from pixar's soul. book Muthr looked WEIRD, but you can see the ways in which she's literally a synthetic + superhuman recreation of a Mother Figure: her head shape mirrors the beehive hairdo, her big eyes are saccharine sweet, she has four arms bc she always needs to do a million things at once, etc. i get that this version of Muthr was probably way easier to animate, and i don't even think they had to stick to the original design 100% as long as they still did something interesting for her, but. they didn't.

rip Eva's sick as hell hairstyle. :( seriously, her complicated braids were so important. bc 1) they were an homage to Dorothy's braids in the wizard of oz, the book to which the whole trilogy is a love letter. 2) they immediately gave her a unique visual identity as a character. 3) they contributed to the world of Wondla feeling genuinely strange and foreign to our current one. 4) they subtly spoke to things like Eva's boredom and loneliness and all the time she had to herself.

the paltry mini braids and single low bun they gave her instead are WEAK. again, they didn't have to follow the books to the letter, but. they did kinda need to give us something more memorable and distinctive than this.

i mean... there is ofc the obvious question of why'd they make her 16 instead of going on 13 like she was in the books? but also, perhaps even more crucially, why does she look like a whole ass adult woman? wondla is very much a coming of age story, and it's really good at capturing the messiness of that experience in every way down to its character design. this Eva doesn't look messy, she looks like an influencer. also i hate that current disneyesque cgi character design.

her outfit's like... fine. but it was so fucking cute in the books. cute and ultra utilitarian, and unlike anything i'd ever really seen before. can't a girl have a vest with a funky collar, cool billowy balloon sleeves, and scrunchy knee socks? do yknow how many kids would want to be Eva for halloween if they simply gave her an outfit that looked cuter? they're leaving money on the damn table.

she wasn't done with her training for life on the surface in the books, and that was important. :/ not that anything could've really prepared her, but the fact that she was so young made her terror and anger all the more palpable. i guess i don't think it's inherently terrible for her to be a bit older in adaptation, but idk, at least let her retain that trial by fire/still kind of a scared kid quality that's integral to her arc.

the placement of the 'wondla' letters on the page makes no sense. it's meant to be the wonderful wizard of oz (or the wonderful wizard of oz by l. frank baum. i forget which, but ONE of those for sure), so by all accounts the l and a shouldn't be right next to each other like that, there should be more space between those two letters.

now i don't fully remember, but i super don't think that 'Eva find me' note was in the books. Eva would've been way more obsessed with it if it was. in the books, she doesn't know the 'wondla' page was actually left for her, it's just this strange anomaly she finds that gives her hope, but she sort of creates that hope herself. its origin is an honest to god mystery until the second book, and therefore, the meaning that Eva gives it is what really comes to define it.

it's not just that no one had seen a human in a long time, most aliens on Orbona had never seen a human at all until Eva came along. that's a big difference! though, this audio does sound chopped up from multiple sentences, so maybe disregard this.

i don't like that they gave away the 'Orbona was once Earth' twist right off the bat. i know it's not a wholly original trope in sci-fi, but this is a middle-grade/family series, and it straight up blew my mind to see as a kid that hadn't ever really read true sci-fi before. and Orbona is SO bizarre, and Eva is SO desperate to find other humans, that the reveal is extra jarring and bleak, and it creates such powerful tension. why give the impact of that away in the trailer?? why not just let people think she's stuck on an alien planet until they get the full emotional gut punch when they actually watch it for themselves?

where's the lake in Lacus? :/ that was... kinda the basis of Lacus' culture and design and all. like ok i see some water, but Lacus should be almost more water than village.

Otto's design!! why god why.

why is Otto furry, why are his eyes Like That, etc.

nooo, don't show the ruins of New York in the trailer, that's for the audience to discover in horror along with Eva.

also why does Otto (i think that's him talking at least?) sound like that? thumbs down.

what are the. uh. shark tale-looking creatures running on water. they're very shark tale-looking (derogatory). they don't look like they belong in this series?? like did this footage just get misfiled?

egads it's coming out at the end of this month. i'm gonna watch it of course. but the whole time i'll be thinking about what could've been. and i'll reread the books, too. >:|

[audistorium]

There's something that needs to be said to Audio Drama creators/VAs/Sound People/Storytellers in general. It's sappy, but I'm saying it. Because I felt like it. Because I appreciate you. This is for you, from me, Lemon. (subtitles are in the video!)

[clearcatastrophe]

MINA AND JONATHAN’S “I will” IN SYNC I SHSHSHJSJSJSJS

GOD IM SO NORMAL ABOUT THEM

[heayn]

voilà! my biggest dead cells dub to date once again courtesy of @majorpepperidge!

this is just part one, but you can also find part two here as well!

and now with an added continuation!

[meirimerens]

straight up not respecting some of the alleged p2 characters' ages as they were given on the VA's papers bc you're telling me this is a 27yo man on the left & a 35(!)yo woman on the right? you jest. this woman is in her 20s at most. she doesn't have a wrinkle of age on her face. just worry. i know men age like milk this is taking the piss. i know patho 2 is the "hot blemishless 20something white(-passing) women" game but at this point own it. don't try lying to me. she doesn't look a day past 29. got friends below 25 with more winkles. in the first half of the 20th century too. where would she be getting her anti-aging serums.

you're telling me this woman who's a chronic worrier, dealing with chronic pain, who smokes like a locomotive to cope is allegedly 5 years Older than this guy who's been drinking himself to sleep for like 5 years.

(mike's mic voice) don't piss me off

[woodlouseonastring]

what i would give to live in acantha's cottage and bury bodies for a living

[vee-lociraptor]

how is derelict this underrated it’s literally Like That

[duskyashe]

NaNoWriMo Day #30

[masterlist] [part one] [part two] [part four]

Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about that accidental posting everyone (⁠;⁠ŏ⁠﹏⁠ŏ⁠) I was just too excited...

=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============

"Don't do anything stupid," Ellie mumbled into his chest, her arms wrapped around him like an octopus. "I just got back to you, so you have to come back to us, got it?"

Danny held his clone just as tightly. "I promise I'll do my best, okay?"

Ellie sniffed and let go of him. "That'll have to do. If you get the chance, could you maybe tell Starling I love her suit? The purple really works for her," she said, discreetly wiping away tears. Danny smirked and ruffled her hair, earning a disgruntled, "Hey!"

"Yeah, I'll tell her if I see her. If not, then I'll ask one of the others to pass along the message." Danny looked over at Sam and Tucker, Jazz behind them with a grounding hand on each of their shoulders. "If everything goes to plan, I'll be back by morning. If not, well, you know what to do." Four resolute nods saw him off as he headed to his chosen shrine of the night. For last night's offering of tithe, he'd picked a more well kept and easily accessible shrine, something anyone could have gotten to and reasonably close to their apartment. Tonight, he was flying to one of the shrines furthest away from their apartment, one that was still visible, still reachable, but not as readily available for the common shrine goer. Danny chose the one closest to Wayne Tower. He wasn't sure what was going to happen when he offered his help tonight, but he wanted to keep as many civilians as possible out of the potential crossfire. He didn't think Batman was the kind of guardian deity that would willingly put his people into harm's way, but you never know, especially if he didn't know they were his in the first place.

As he neared his chosen shrine, Danny let himself become visible. He flew a slow circuit around the rooftop before settling down. He'd announced his location and intention, now all he had to do was wait.

=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============

As soon as Phantom appeared near one of the harder to reach rooftop shrines, Dick was on comms. "I've got eyes on Phantom, he just circled a shrine before sitting next to it like he was last night. B, permission to engage?"

"Questions only, keep comms open. This might be today's feeling, it might not, so be careful, understood?" Bruce replied. "He might have some useful information, he might have a question. Either way, trust your instincts, and keep us posted."

"Copy that, B, comms will be wide open." Dick grabbed the hand grips hidden near his utility belt and tugged them to prep the release mechanism. "Engaging now," he said before taking a running leap off Wayne Tower, pulling his arms, and the now fully released wings of his suit, taut in a perfect glide. Circling the rooftop shrine similarly to Phantom, in part to catch his attention and in part to lessen his momentum, Dick chose his landing spot and let go of his retractable wings. He dropped six feet, landing in a roll that left him kneeling in a ready position in front of Phantom and the shrine. Dick took a moment to catch his breath, head cocked to the side in an exaggeratedly curious way. He held his ready stance for a count of eight, then started relaxing parts of his body opposite how one would normally relax their body, starting with his legs and working his way up to his shoulders. He kept his head cocked, though, and just watched Phantom for another count of eight.

Just like the night prior, Phantom was casually sitting about a foot or so above the rooftop, his legs crossed as though to prove there was no trick behind it. He had a faint glow about him that brightened with the growing look of awe on his face. His cape billowed slightly in an unseen, unfelt breeze, blending in with the night near the edges. The crown bobbed up and down above his head ever so slightly, but always stayed perfectly centered whenever Phantom moved.

After another four counts, where Phantom said and did nothing more than stare at him, Dick finally spoke. "Yesssss?" He rasped, thinning out his voice and elongating certain sounds.

Phantom blinked. "Right. So, after last night, I got to thinking, and I talked it out with the rest of my Fright —everyone got in safely today, by the way, but thanks again for the offer—and we, I, can't help but feel kind of... Concerned. Please don't take offense to this, but you all seemed rather... Surprised? By yesterday's proceedings. Coupled with what we know of your species, well. Let me put it this way. Most of you are likely orphans, are you not? So there are things you may not know about your species you would have learned from your biological parents had they been around to teach you, things you likely wouldn't have been able to learn anywhere else due to lack of knowledge about them. Things I know and can teach all of you about, or put you in contact with others who can teach you what you need to know." Phantom shifted positions slightly, floating up a few inches at the same time. "Please believe me, I mean no disrespect. I just couldn't help but feel like you were all going off of instinct during our entire interaction last night, which, if true, is honestly amazing. I only want to give you the opportunity to put words to instinct and take the guess work out of your interactions with yourselves and each other. If I've overstepped, I apologize, I just didn't want to be right and not do anything, only to watch as something I could have possibly helped prevent happened due to my inaction."

Dick thought about that for a moment. Listened to his brothers talk over each other about what Phantom could mean, Steph joining in occasionally with a witty remark. Listened to Bruce discounting the truly outrageous options. Listened to his instincts, like his parents had told him growing up in the circus, like he'd learned the hard way when his parents died, like Bruce constantly reminded him to do ever since he first hit the streets as Robin. And he made a choice.

"Yoou can heelp make ssssensssse of the nnoisssse?" The constant fight between two or more sides within himself, the visible frustration and confusion whenever one of his siblings does something they don't understand, the hurt in Bruce's eyes when one of them is a little too sharp with another, the unease they all felt whenever Bruce had a feeling. If that was what Phantom meant he could help with... "Weeee acccceept."

=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============

I can't believe I went the full month and only now wrote Dick's POV! What the heck! (⁠┛⁠◉⁠Д⁠◉⁠)⁠┛⁠彡⁠┻⁠━⁠┻ I should have done something with him much sooner! ┬⁠─⁠─⁠┬⁠◡⁠ﾉ⁠(⁠°⁠ ⁠-⁠°⁠ﾉ⁠) Okay, but seriously, I hope this lived up to y'all's expectations, because I had a lot of fun writing Dick character acting and being a drama queen with his epic custom made wingsuit. I kinda wanna see a costume design of his Raven suit, with and without his wings open ⊙⁠.⁠☉ if anyone wants to do some art of his suit, please, do so! I'd love to see it! Heck, if anyone wants to do any fanart of my ficlets, I'd be absolutely honored!

Also, I just wanna point out, I posted part two of this ficlet series on the eve of me hitting 200 followers, and I'm posting part three on the eve of me hitting 300 followers. Like, wth? (⁠(⁠(⁠;⁠ꏿ⁠_⁠ꏿ⁠;⁠)⁠)⁠) Y'all, I am honored. I'll be posting some more edits from the Batpham Discord server the day I hit 300 as a celebration (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ

I had a long, stressful day, and I just want to crawl into bed and sleep, so I hope everyone who wanted to read part three of this ficlet series followed me... I, once again, don't have the brain capacity to tag everyone who wants to be tagged...

Have a good morning/day/night!

UPDATE (4/10/23): @davestridernb made some fanart of Dick's Raven costume and it's AMAZING! It looks even better than I ever could have imagined, myself! Please go check it out!

[mortalcrux]

Looking for references for cool distorted vocals that simulate wearing a helmet. Preferably metallic/reverb heavy.

For me, Gears always comes to mind for having an interesting variety of distorted/muffled filters based on the type of headgear a character is wearing.

I'd like to do something similar for the vocals of knights wearing full-plate helmets

[apollon2006]

Some more Maroon sketches + some fun concepts I've come up with

Here's all of the stuff I've made recently for my concepts.

[colinarmistead]

EDIT: BOTH POSITIONS FOUND!

Currently looking for people to help with the opening of my BFA3 film at Calarts!  Here is the type of thing I have in mind stylistically. If you're interested please email me at colinarmistead@alum.calarts.edu and i will give you a rundown of the project. this is a student film and an unpaid opportunity!

[a-side-character]

(TW: brief but graphic descriptions of body horror)

I always feel a bit weird listening to podcasts in public, but sitting here on my college campus while the sounds of someone's liquefied remains sloshing out of the cryogenic storage chamber he was forced into are playing through my earbuds is a whole other level.

Like, damn Red Valley, a less vague warning would have been nice. I can handle horror but got damn.

[audistorium]

A message to creators from us. Stop rushing so much. Breathe if you can and your creativity will flourish. This message will be up on spotify soon under Audistorium if you'd like to listen there! Transcript:

Hello, I’m Lemon, and the strangest thing I have found as a creator is this need to constantly produce. To never stop this grind to make the next thing stuck in our heads. And while it’s great that you have all of this drive, remember to think about yourself. It’s called a grind for a reason. It wears you down. I haven’t always been the best about that. Sometimes I feel like if I’m not creating and putting something out I’m just wasting my time. However, that could not be further from the truth. I’m taking the time to breathe. If you don’t let the wind brush against your face and appreciate the world you’ve cultivated around you, are you really living? You’re not a machine with the sole purpose of creating entertainment, we just like what you make. Even if you’re not actually outside, take the time to appreciate your life and those in it, whether that’s spending time with buddies in person or on the internet, or the respite of a cozy night at home eating your favorite foods. 

You have to remember to live. You can make people laugh with the mic turned off, too. I know the joys it can bring to put out something new and listen to the excitement of your viewers. It’s like a fire is lit under you every time. But what’s next? Nose to the grindstone once more? I used to do that. Then I realized that there is not a soul rushing me to get more done than what is feasible, and no one should be pushing you. Creativity has no pace. Artwork sometimes takes a great many hours. Who says you can’t stop and take a moment to appreciate what you’ve done for just as long as it took to make it? Even if not for just as long, remember to at least thank yourself. You know what you put in to do that, and you did it. You made something. Somebody saw it. They took the time to appreciate it. So you can too.

[jam-does-audio]

Fear; a short audio story TMA tribute: The Dark

You're studying late at night and the lights go out.

Warning: slight flashing lights, best watched with headphones.

Short audio story tribute to The Magnus Archives, all editing, writing, voices, sounds and art by Jam Wright.