Darlo's World

Has been a bit of a while hasn’t it. So what have I been up to? Not a fantastic amount to be honest, but thing have certainly been happening (in other words, I’m not dead). I guess first of all I should announce that the Learn With Anna auditions closed and an auditionee has been selected for the narrator role. After a very tough choice from a wide range of styles I decided to choose Wushubabe, who saw the post on the Voice Acting Alliance website. Congrats Wushubabe, and I look forward to working with you.

The bins! Oh yes the bins. Finally I’ve had my bin emptied by someone (not sure if it was the actual binmen or the contracted collectors), and so the mess outside my house is gone. However I think the strike is still going on, which is going to suck the big one come the time our bins fill up once again.

And finally, I have taken up the Japanese martial art of Iaido. I went to the Leeds University Iaido Club give it a go session on Monday and really enjoyed it, so tonight I’m heading to my first proper session. Though I could give you a full insight into what Iaido is, I’ll just give you this quote from the Wikipedia article.

Iaidō (居合道) is a Japanese martial art associated with the smooth, controlled movements of drawing the sword from its scabbard, striking or cutting an opponent, removing blood from the blade, and then replacing the sword in the scabbard.

Well I’ve finally finished it. Ish. The animation that I started over a year ago. The only thing I’m missing is sound, and I’m hoping that’s where you come in. I’m looking for a narrator to interact with Anna, the main character, while she learns a simple Japanese phrase. I don’t mind about the voice too much, as long as you’re clear and easy to listen to, but remember that this is in the style of a children’s show (though if Stephen Fry wanted to audition I’m sure he’d be perfect). As Anna’s learning a Japanese phrase, a basic knowledge of how to pronounce Japanese words (written in romanised text) would be helpful. I should also point out that Anna doesn’t physically speak, but uses text bubbles. So if you want to have a go, here’s what you need to do.

Record yourself following the audition lines below in MP3 format, and send them to me at darlo@darlosworld.co.uk. The audition deadline will be Saturday 10th October (6pm BST), so there’s still plenty of time.

Audition Lines:

• Good morning Anna, are you ready to learn today?
• Would you like to learn some Japanese?
• Do you know any Japanese already? (Anna thinks, but doesn’t seem to know any) Oh I’m sure you know some Japanese words, let’s think really hard.
• To say “I am Anna”, you say “Watashi wa Anna desu”.
• (Anna get’s it wrong and laughs it off) Never mind, shall we try again?
• Very good Anna well done … (stammers and get’s cut off as Anna recites a phrase of Japanese) oh Anna, now you’re just showing off, aren’t you.

Here’s the animation so you can get a feel for it. Don’t worry about timing the lines accordingly, as I will make adjustments to the timings.

AUDITIONS RECEIVED (last updated 10th October 09)
Kakkun
Jason Phelps
katy
R Wong
slowolf88
Tiffany
wushubabe
Damaru12
Jennifer Vaughn
KingTsundere
Tylec