The Power of Authentic voice Casting
Authentic casting can be powerful.
Tiger, our American kitten, and Minette, our French pink kitten, are portrayed by authentic actors from each country. This enhances the viewing experience for children, allowing them to relate to the characters and learn the correct pronunciation of French words. It also helps them understand someone speaking with a genuine French accent and empathize with their challenges. By promoting respect for differences and cultural diversity instead of mockery, this fosters a healthier relationship between the characters and teaches valuable life lessons to the kids.
There is a growing conversation around authenticity in casting, particularly concerning ethnicity and LGBTQ+ representation.
While this topic is extensively debated on various platforms, less attention is given to the accuracy of languages and country of origin portrayal in independent and major Hollywood productions so this is what we are going to focus on here today.
NB: I’m not talking about disabilities here either as it’s a vast and complex subject that needs its on blog posts. So stay tuned for that later.
Unfortunately, we still witness a lack of authenticity, with characters often speaking in ways that are offensive and disrespectful to native speakers.
This not only affects the credibility of the production but also alienates a significant portion of the audience, including first and second-generation immigrants who deserve to see themselves represented accurately on screen.
It is crucial for casting directors and producers to understand the impact of genuine casting choices and the harmful effects of perpetuating stereotypes through language and accent portrayals.
In particular, the use of Gibberish should no longer be acceptable.
Why Authentic Voice Casting Matters
Breakthrough the Noise: Stand Out with Authentic Voice Over Casting
Authentic voice casting is crucial for creating believable and relatable characters. Here are key reasons why it elevates your project:
- Enhanced Credibility: Genuine voices bring authenticity, making characters more convincing.
- Emotional Connection: Authentic voices resonate better with audiences, fostering a deeper emotional bond.
- Diverse Representation: Accurate casting ensures diverse voices are heard, promoting inclusivity.
- Improved Storytelling: Authentic voices add depth and richness to the narrative, enhancing the overall storytelling experience.
- Audience Engagement: Relatable voices keep audiences engaged and invested in the story.
So what can you do to improve your casting?
- Authentic country of origin: Work with a casting director who understand the importance of authentic casting and will look for genuine actors who come from the right country.
- Unify all accents: If the show is set in a foreign country, it’s ok to either cast everyone from that country so they all have genuine accents, or cast an all English native speaker cast and not do any accents. The problem arises when fake accents come in as very few actors are capable of doing them in a genuine way.
- Foreign dialog: If there is foreign dialog and the character is supposed to be native from that country: Either cast a native actor, or dub the dialog with a native actor who will voice match the orignal actor. Make sure the dialog is written in that language properly, no gibberish.
- Hire a language/cultural consultant: If the show has a character from a country that isn’t yours, it is important to have a consultant who can help with your script writing in order to avoid stereotypes and cultural misteps that would damage the reputation of your content.
Need help with your casting?
Contact us here and we’ll make sure to get you the best actors for your project.
Why this matter to me (and your audience)
When I first moved country and my English wasn’t particularly good, I remember vividly people talking to me very loudly and over articulating. I had to tell them “I’m not deaf, I’m just foreign, I can hear you, I just don’t understand the words you are saying.”
Repeating the same words louder did not make me understand better, it made me feel less than. It made me want to cry.
What I needed was for people to rephrase with different words to give me a chance to understand.
Instead people would shout, and then when I still did not understand would get frustrated with me and think I was dumb and walk away.
When I think about this, it still brings tears to my eyes, all my insecurities come back up and I want to crawl in a small space and disappear.
I still meet people today, despite my near perfect English, who tell me my opinion on something is of no value because “I’m not from here”.
So I have now made it my mission to help change this way of thinking by promoting genuine casting and respect of other cultures and languages. I know I’m not alone in this fight and I can see things changing, slowly.
Full disclosure: I used AI to rephrase some of the sentences on this blog because I’m still self conscious, I’m still that little girl afraid to speak because people will make fun of my English. I wish I had not, I feel guilt over it. This is why casting authentically matters, so no little girl ever feels bad again for speaking with an accent and can grow up to write with confidence without feeling that she needs dreaded AI to help her be a worthy human.
Hey people!!!!!
Good mood and good luck to everyone!!!!!