Having worked on the trailers for hit movie The King's Speech, it was interesting to be asked to contribute to the promo campaign for a follow-up documetary airing on NatGeo called The King's Speech Revealed. It follows the fascinating story of Lionel Logue, the Australian speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush in the film, and how his letters and diaries were first discovered by his grandson Mark Logue. Highly interesting stuff:
Longtime clients Volvo Cars have been going through a bit of upheaval lately having been sold by Ford to Chinese conglomerate Zhejiang Geely in August 2010 with the subsequent appointment of former VW America boss Stefan Jacoby as CEO.
So all eyes were on the launch of their new luxury model, curiously named the Concept Universe, at the Shanghai Motor Show last week. Here's the video I narrated for the launch. It looks like an impressive car (though I'm still not sure about that name):
The terrible destruction and suffering left by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan
can leave one feeling at a loss to know what to do, beyond making a donation to the relief fund. So hats off to producer Neil Gardner of Ladbroke Productions and Spokenworld Audio who decided at short notice to produce a downloadable audiobook of Japanese fairy stories to raise funds. I was pleased to be asked to read one of the stories and the complete book can be bought here (all proceeds to the Red Cross Japan apeal): spokenworldaudio.com
Some interesting work this week with Rareday Films, the production company headed by former More 4 supremo Peter Dale, who are handling the launch of the new PBS channel in the UK. PBS, of course, is the venerable and celebrated US public service broadcaster. Here at CKUK we spent a day putting together the audio for several test promos and a promotional film. Launch is slated for later this year.
Meanwhile The King's Speech swept all (or nearly all) before it at the Oscars, amid much rejoicing at Momentum Pictures. It's hard now to remember now how difficult it was to get this movie off the ground a couple of years back. Here is another of the original trailers I voiced on launch late last year:
An interesting project that's been gathering steam over the last few weeks has been Onetonnelife, an initiative between Volvo Cars, house designers A-hus and energy company Vattenfall. They have installed a Swedish family in a climate smart house for six months with the aim of lowering average output of CO2 from 7 tonnes to one tonne per person per year. The eco-designed house generates it's own energy from the sun, and even powers the family's Volvo C30 electric car. Their journey is being charted through webisods, blogs and articles at onetonnelife.com. Here is the trailer for the project with my voiceover:
A late session came in from The Fox Soccer Channel in the US A late session came in from The Fox Soccer Channel in the US who were wanting some British promos for the big Liverpool-Chelsea game in London last weekend, which had been given additional spice by the £50m transfer of star player Fernando Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea just before. We set up a Friday evening ISDN session to LA and knocked out a raft of high-octane promos and teasers for broadcast across the US in the runup to the game. Football/soccer fans won't need reminding of the result...
Meanwhile, great excitement at the BAFTAs, where The King's Speech triumphed with seven awards, including deserved recognition for all three main actors. Having voiced the trailer campaign, loyalty naturally dictated that I had voted solidly for Speech in all the main categories, but the competition is stiff this year and without home advantage the Oscars may be a tougher ride. The Social Network is a very sharp and superbly scripted piece of work which is packing a lot of heat and there is a groundswell of support for True Grit though personally, much as I enjoyed it, I found it a fairly conventional film, given its Coen Brothers pedigree...
who were wanting some British promos for the big Liverpool-Chelsea game in London last weekend, which had been given additional spice by the £50m transfer of star player Fernando Torres from Liverpool to Chelsea just before. We set up a Friday evening ISDN session to LA and knocked out a raft of high-octane promos and teasers for broadcast across the US in the runup to the game. Football/soccer fans won't need reminding of the result...
Meanwhile, great excitement at the BAFTAs, where The King's Speech triumphed with seven awards, including deserved recognition for all three main actors. Having voiced the trailer campaign, loyalty naturally dictated that I had voted solidly for Speech in all the main categories, but the competition is stiff this year and without home advantage the Oscars may be a tougher ride. The Social Network is a very sharp and superbly scripted piece of work which is packing a lot of heat and there is a groundswell of support for True Grit though personally, much as I enjoyed it, I found it a fairly conventional film, given its Coen Brothers pedigree...
Over to NatGeo this week to record the narration for a new documentary, provisionally titled The Truth about T Rex (TX date TBC), which tells the fascinating story of the discovery of fossilised feathered dinosaur remains and subsequent research suggesting that, far from the scaly grey reptiles of popular myth, some dinosaurs may have been covered in brightly coloured plumage. According to this school of thought poor old T Rex might end up being downgraded from fearsome monster to a remote ancestor of the common chicken. How the mighty are fallen...
Meanwhile, work has continued on another intriguing documentary for London production company MS Productions examining the recent elections in Bahrain. Not democracy as we know it but highly interesting in the light of current upheavals in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East.
Two weeks after opening, The King's Speech has already become the number one film in the UK and is on the BAFTA longlist in multiple categories. Naturally, we like to think the trailer campaign has had something to do with it... I've been back at Angell Sound in the last few days recording additional TV and radio spots to pick up on some of the press coverage. Here's the original TV spot:
Desperately sad news this week of the death of the British actor Pete Postlethwaite, who had been suffering from cancer.
I mentioned in a previous post that I had been covering some of his work on the Cathedral City campaign and it seems likely now that his illness was the real reason he wasn't available.
He was a wonderful actor (the best in the world according to Spielberg, no less) and an inspiring person. He will be sorely missed.
A busy week working with Momentum Pictures on the UK trailer campaign for the major new movie THE KING'S SPEECH, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter.
Nominated for seven Golden Globes, the film tells the true story of King George VI, his unexpected rise to the throne following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII and the unconventional speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his crippling stammer. The Tom Hooper-directed film has outstanding central performances and is already generating a lot of Oscar buzz. Watch this space...
And meanwhile, a very Happy Christmas and peaceful New Year to everybody.
Some fascinating work this week narrating a documentary film for a major new Smithsonian exhibition called SHIPWRECKED: TANG TREASURES AND MONSOON WINDS.
The exhibition tells the story of the discovery of the coral-encrusted remains of an ancient shipwreck in the Java Sea, which contained tens of thousands of ceramic, gold and silver treasures - the largest find of Tang Dynasty artifacts ever discovered. Many of these priceless objects feature in the travelling exhibition, which starts at the Smithsonian Singapre before moving on to Washington DC and finally reaching the V&A in London in 2012. Well worth catching...
Some interesting medical narrations this week and a slew of Mercedes dealer ads recorded via ISDN from the CKUK studio.
Then over to Sky for a couple of sessions on promos for their big Harry Potter season. Warner Brothers very hands on about every aspect of this:
Well, I guess we all like to think we're first choice for every job, but sometimes being second choice throws up some interesting assigments. The great Pete Postlethwaite has been voicing an ongoing campaign for Cathedral City cheddar but when filming commitments meant he was unavailable for the latest radio spots, London agency Canvas Media gave Chris a call instead. Have a listen:
Some fun sessions this week working on new TV and radio spots for Johnnie Walker Red Label from the CKUK studio via Source Connect & ISDN with ace post-house The Work Room & the King James Agency in Cape Town, SA. Advertising whisky on the telly – what would mother say?
Over to Soundtracks this week for a new TV and radio campaign for Magnum Mini ice creams.
No product samples available at the session, sadly. Have a look:
Back from a restful couple of weeks in the Italian sun with the family and a backlog of recording to catch up with. Promo sessions for Universal and Sci Fi (or SyFy as we now call it) plus a campaign for a cool new show called Rookie Blue running on the newly branded Diva International channel. It's about new recruits to the NYPD and looks stylish and a lot of fun.
Meanwhile in the CKUK studio, a fascinating medical narration about new developments in Diabetes treatment and a programme about oilfield exploration for French-American oil giant Schlumberger. If only a fellow could remember even a small fraction of all this stuff he'd be very knowledgeable indeed...
Chris dropped into Sky this week to voice some nice promos for their new season of Superman movies. The campaign majors on the darker feel of the more recent films and featured some excellent work from Sky's creative department.
Meanwhile, top UK corporate agency Speakeasy passed through the CKUK studio with a stylish branding film for Lloyds TSB and asked Chris to add the narration.
Chris continued work this week with ace London broadcast design team BDA on the current rebrand of the Hallmark Channel across Europe. This week we've been working on the identity for territories in eastern Europe to rollout the new 13th Street crime and suspense channel, so Chris has been adding some dark and sinister voice-overs to a whole raft of newly branded promos.
In the CKUK studio this week, Chris has narrated a new film for Rolls Royce cars about their "entry-level" Ghost model and learnt along the way that a Rolls Royce is on average the eighth car in an owner's fleet.
Imagine, the magazine for animation industry professionals, featured an interview with Chris in this month's focus on voice in animation:
Who are you and what do you do?
I'm Chris Kent, director of CKUK Media, spoken word recording specialists. As an actor I've always been involved in voice over work. I originally set up a small recording studio at home which grew steadily until we acquired dedicated premises and built a high-end production facility in West London seven years ago.
What are your top tips 3 tips for an aspiring voice over person?
1. Voiceover in animation isn't about funny voices – it's about creating personalities in sound. Whether you're playing an animated carrot or Hamlet the audience has to believe in the character.
2. The essential skill is reading other people's words persuasively. Record yourself, listen back and ask whether it sounds like you're reading. It shouldn't.
3. A voice over needs a good ear. Listen to the way people speak: accent and dialect obviously, but also pitch, placement and how this relates to physicality. In animation and games recording you often have to play several characters and it helps to be able to create vocal variety if you can build a physical sense of each character for yourself.
How do you go about matching a voice with a character?
As an actor, visual clues from artwork usually spark off an idea of how a character should sound or, if there's no picture, like all acting you mine the text for clues. When casting I'm always listening first for believability and second for the ability to shift energy levels and registers. Control of accents is good but not if it sounds like the same person each time with no emotional range. Sometimes we need a very specific vocal quality but generally I want to hear flexibility and creativity.
What have you worked on/are you currently working on?
We've been quite involved with games, particularly the Worms series (which we did in several languages) and more recently Horrible Histories with Terry Deary. As a voice actor I've done hundreds of characters in games and animations, including Stronghold Crusader, Robin Hood, Short Fuzes, Speed Freaks, etc.
A nice book trailer came in this week for US author Jeri Westerson's latest medieval whodunnit The Demon's Parchment. Searching around for the voice of her hero Crispin Guest, Jeri decided CK was the man she needed. Ace production from US agency Two Rock Media:
+44 20 8991 1855
chris@ckuk.com
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