Bob Bergen

I caught the tail end of Bob Bergen’s animation workshop Sunday. Here are a few “pearls”:

When you audition for animation, you’ll often times get a script that appears disjointed and each line may be from a different scene. You must remember what to do…

• Mentally create what happens just before the line (a hard choice)


• Figure out who you are talking to


• What s your relationship?


• Where are you and others  physically in the scene? Outside, in a room, is there a crowd, etc.


• Make some acting choices that show variation including voice modulation and distance to the mic.


• Really work that distance to the mic to create an audio illusion.


• Listen back carefully. The mic in this instance is your scene partner.


• Don’t scream or use a voice that could hurt you. If it is painful, just don’t do it! You may end up getting booked for a series and end up with polyps or nodes on your vocal chords, you’ll be out of work, and your agent and the client will be very unhappy.