Episode 56 - Voice Acting for Animation and Visual Effects Technology with Brannon Hollingsworth

In this episode with hosts Jaclyn and Geoffrey Whitt, Brannon Hollingsworth provides an in-depth look into the world of animation and visual effects. He shares advice on how aspiring voice actors can enter the field, emphasizing the importance of networking and honing character acting skills. Brannon discusses the advanced technology, such as mocap and face capture, used in modern animation and its potential for remote collaboration. The episode also covers Brainy's unique approach to casting and giving feedback to help Christian creatives grow. Additionally, Brannon delves into his experiences working with Angel Studios on “The Shift”, explaining the integration of Unreal Game Engine for creating complex visual effects. This insightful conversation offers valuable guidance for anyone looking to pursue a career in animation or VFX.

• Breaking into Voice Acting for Animation
• Exploring Mocap and Face Capture Technology
• Casting Calls and Feedback Process
• Remote Recording and Studio Session
• The Shift: Visual Effects in Film
• Creating 3D Environments with Unreal Engine
• Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Brannon Hollingsworth’s insights into voice acting and visual effects provide a comprehensive guide for anyone looking to break into these fields. Whether you're an aspiring voice actor or a tech enthusiast eager to explore mocap and 3D environments, Brannon’s advice is to start experimenting and learning as much as you can. The opportunities in this industry are vast and ever-evolving, making it an exciting time to be a part of it. We hope this interview sheds light on the process and inspires you to take the next step in your creative journey.

BRANNON HOLLINGSWORTH (Creative Director/Writer) was born to create. An author, speaker, poet, producer, publisher, game designer, content creator, script writer, art director, and unapologetic Christ-follower, Brannon is a passionate creator, teacher, and deacon of young adults who promotes family-oriented ministries. Brannon is a multi-award-wining director, producer, and screenwriter of Christian animation, the author or co-author of over a dozen novels, novellas, and short stories as well as the co-creator of a game that Forbes called “a clever idea well executed” and “excellent”. He serves joyously as the Chief Operations Officer and Chief Creative Officer for Brainy Pixel Productions, a Christian Animation/Production studio in north Alabama.

Brannon's Links: https://linktr.ee/brainypixel

Faith and Family Summer Screenwriting Bootcamp: https://www.faffassociation.com/screenwriting-bootcamp

The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers,  talent agents, and distributors. 

It is produced and hosted by Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt , and is brought to you by the Faith & Family Filmmakers Association

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Copyright 2024 Ivan Ann Productions

Speaker: 00:00:00

Welcome to the members portion for the faith and family filmmakers podcast today.

Speaker: 00:00:04

Jeff and I are speaking with Brandon Hollingsworth of brainy pixel productions.

Jaclyn: 00:00:09

So obviously with animation, there's the whole production side and you know, I'm more on the live action kind of thing.

Jaclyn: 00:00:15

I'm a screenwriter and I also do voice acting, but.

Jaclyn: 00:00:18

Um, I'm just curious, how does someone break into this field?

Jaclyn: 00:00:21

And let me just pick actors at the moment.

Jaclyn: 00:00:23

Uh, so for myself as a voice actor, I was more into radio and audio books, but I have always dreamt of doing voice acting for animation.

Jaclyn: 00:00:32

So how would an actor get involved with working with you specifically?

Jaclyn: 00:00:37

or do you not do that part?

Brannon: 00:00:39

no, no, no, we, we absolutely do.

Brannon: 00:00:40

I mean, um, for instance, the lady who did the voice for Lily for Lily's lab, um, is a, known quantity in the voice acting world.

Brannon: 00:00:48

She's been on DuckTales, and she was the voice for baby Rolf on Muppet Babies when we were kids.

Brannon: 00:00:54

And, you know, the Dungeons Dragons cartoon way back in the day, you know, when I was watching cartoons in the afternoon.

Brannon: 00:01:01

And she's been doing this for, for years and years.

Brannon: 00:01:03

And she's an amazing, vocal performer.

Brannon: 00:01:05

so for voice actors specifically, um, continue doing what you're doing and let people know that you're interested in doing voice acting for animation.

Brannon: 00:01:12

It's really not a lot different than what you're doing now.

Brannon: 00:01:15

it's the same, tools, the same toolkit that you're using, whether you're doing, you know, books or what have you.

Brannon: 00:01:21

you do have to learn a little bit about character acting because you are embodying a character with nothing but your voice.

Brannon: 00:01:27

so definitely that's one way, but, you know, just kind of let people know that's what you're doing and we'll get around at least in this industry, because it's.

Brannon: 00:01:34

Really not, not nearly as large as you think it is.

Brannon: 00:01:37

And then there's another opportunity as well, um, which is a little bit unique, to what we do.

Brannon: 00:01:42

And that is actually mocap acting or face capture acting.

Brannon: 00:01:46

and this is something that technology is rapidly changing and making easier.

Brannon: 00:01:52

Uh, for instance, when we were working with Mark Lowry, to do grandpa Mark.

Brannon: 00:01:57

he's a bit of a tech, he's a geek, right?

Brannon: 00:01:58

He's a tech guy.

Brannon: 00:01:59

even though he's on up in years, he loves playing around with new technology and new apps and his phone and upgrading his computer.

Brannon: 00:02:07

That's one of his passions.

Brannon: 00:02:09

And so he was able to literally sit in his house and sing and act to his iPhone, and we were able to capture his face and vocal performance through a specific piece of software.

Brannon: 00:02:22

and pull that down and then use that to drive a large portion of his animated character.

Brannon: 00:02:28

So it could literally be as easy as what we're doing right here.

Brannon: 00:02:32

Um, you know, talking or acting to your computer.

Brannon: 00:02:35

now the mocap is a little bit different cause you have to put on the suit.

Brannon: 00:02:38

but that actually is changing as well with technology.

Brannon: 00:02:41

Um, the cameras are getting high fidelity enough and they're understanding.

Brannon: 00:02:46

They're getting smarter.

Brannon: 00:02:47

The software is getting smarter to understand an object in 3D space, so it can track your movements or track even multiple people's movements with just something like an iPhone.

Brannon: 00:02:57

And we've done that before, and the results are really, really positive.

Brannon: 00:03:00

very, very clean and very strong in terms of the data that you can collect.

Brannon: 00:03:05

So I would say start experimenting.

Brannon: 00:03:07

If you're looking to get started in this area, then start experimenting.

Brannon: 00:03:10

You know, do some search on MoCap, do some search on FaceCap.

Brannon: 00:03:13

You can reach out to us.

Brannon: 00:03:15

We'll be happy to tell you what we're using.

Brannon: 00:03:17

And start playing around with it and add it to your portfolio.

Brannon: 00:03:20

Add it to your reel.

Brannon: 00:03:21

Because if people see that you can do it or you have done it, you're more likely to get more work doing it in the future.

Jaclyn: 00:03:27

And so for your studio specifically, How do you do a casting call?

Jaclyn: 00:03:32

Where do you put that information?

Brannon: 00:03:34

So we will, um, what we typically do is we have a mailing list that we tell people if they will join our mailing list, that is the first place we do any kind of casting calls or open calls is to our mailing list.

Brannon: 00:03:45

And then after that, if we don't find what we need there, then we'll go out and we'll blast it on the web.

Brannon: 00:03:51

we're partners with, Christiancasting.

Brannon: 00:03:53

com on Facebook, which is a very large and very prolific, Christian casting community.

Brannon: 00:03:58

They've got a new app called Room 4.

Brannon: 00:04:00

Definitely jump on that app.

Brannon: 00:04:01

It's wonderful and growing by leaps and bounds.

Brannon: 00:04:05

And then depending on the specifics, there are sites, I think voices.

Brannon: 00:04:10

com is one that is specific to voice actors.

Brannon: 00:04:13

That we might even go to that level.

Brannon: 00:04:15

But typically by the time we hit Facebook, We've got plenty of stuff to go look at.

Brannon: 00:04:20

so our kind of is mailing lists first.

Brannon: 00:04:22

Then we usually do Christian casting in the room for app, and then we'll hit the web at large.

Brannon: 00:04:26

And by the point we've done that, we're usually inundated and have way more than what we need.

Brannon: 00:04:31

and then we go through that process of reviewing those.

Brannon: 00:04:33

One of the things we're really passionate about.

Brannon: 00:04:35

when we do an open call, we give everyone feedback.

Brannon: 00:04:38

We don't just, you know, throw you into reject pile and not let you know.

Brannon: 00:04:43

We may let you know that you didn't make it, but here's why.

Brannon: 00:04:46

we try and help exhort and grow other Christian creatives in everything that we do, because we're so passionate about encouraging Christian creatives and helping to empower them to do what God's called them to do in this industry, because we desperately need more Christian creatives who feel like they're empowered to go do what God's called them to do.

Jaclyn: 00:05:05

That's amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:05:06

is so beneficial.

Jaclyn: 00:05:07

Like just thinking of how many times I've auditioned for something that I think I did an amazing job at.

Jaclyn: 00:05:13

And then I didn't hear anything.

Jaclyn: 00:05:15

just know I didn't get it, but I would love to at least know, know, even if they were like, you did a great job, but we wanted someone with different tone or something like that.

Jaclyn: 00:05:24

And then I would know it's not me.

Jaclyn: 00:05:25

Right.

Jaclyn: 00:05:25

Like I just, I can't be that person.

Jaclyn: 00:05:27

or maybe they didn't like my accent, like, whatever.

Jaclyn: 00:05:30

Right.

Jaclyn: 00:05:31

But let's just say, for example, that you put out the casting call.

Jaclyn: 00:05:35

I audition.

Jaclyn: 00:05:36

And, you know, you guys decide, oh, we love this woman, right?

Jaclyn: 00:05:39

Like we want her.

Jaclyn: 00:05:40

Would I have to come to your studio?

Jaclyn: 00:05:42

Or is that something that can be recorded remotely?

Jaclyn: 00:05:45

How does that part work?

Brannon: 00:05:46

So typically it depends on what facilities you have available to you.

Brannon: 00:05:49

rarely do we need to have someone fly to us, and do something locally.

Brannon: 00:05:54

We can typically do everything we need to remotely with high speed internet and with meetings like this being high fidelity as they are.

Brannon: 00:06:03

for instance, on the Super Scout show, we had, uh, a gentleman come from Atlanta.

Brannon: 00:06:08

he came up to, uh, Brainy doesn't have a sound recording studio, but we have a partner in town who has a very high class studio, so we rented his studio for the day, we got in there, and then we had the director, virtually from California, uh, On a zoom meeting who was directing the folks in the booth and it worked out great.

Brannon: 00:06:26

It was almost like he was, you know, there, except you couldn't hug his neck at the end of the recording session.

Brannon: 00:06:30

but we had a guy come up from Atlanta, you know, and, occasionally we'll have someone fly in, but now we can do most of it virtually.

Brannon: 00:06:36

Jaclyn - BadAudio - Brandon Hollingsworth: Your

Brannon: 00:06:37

We're working on a show right now where, if we can get it made, it's going to be a 2D comedy and, we're probably going to fly people into Nashville, where we've got, we've been blessed to get access to a very high end studio there with an amazing composer and a sound engineer, and we may be doing it from that facility just because it's been offered to us.

Brannon: 00:06:56

And if you've got that ability, why not use it?

Brannon: 00:06:59

but most of the stuff we can do virtually if we need to.

Brannon: 00:07:02

which is a huge blessing and a huge cost saver.

Jaclyn: 00:07:05

That's amazing.

Jaclyn: 00:07:06

And actually I'm very excited right now.

Jaclyn: 00:07:08

You're probably gonna hear from me, especially since I'm thinking like, okay.

Jaclyn: 00:07:12

as much as I would love the part.

Jaclyn: 00:07:14

also excited at the fact that you would give feedback I think that that is just so beneficial for actors.

Brannon: 00:07:19

well, to us, we see that as a very clear call as Christians, right?

Brannon: 00:07:23

Is that if you're putting yourself out there and you're saying, Hey, this is my best offering.

Brannon: 00:07:28

Then we at least need to let you know, right?

Brannon: 00:07:30

So that if, you're doing great, but you just weren't for the part, that's great for you to know.

Brannon: 00:07:33

If, if you didn't quite make it because of this reason or that, then you need to know that as well, because hopefully you're wanting to hone your craft so you can bring a better offering next time.

Brannon: 00:07:42

Because ultimately, we're all trying to use the skills, gifts, talents, and abilities that God has given us to bring our best offering.

Brannon: 00:07:49

We never want to bring our second best.

Brannon: 00:07:51

And so if you don't know, you don't know to improve.

Brannon: 00:07:54

So that's really, really a core part of kind of who Brainy is.

Brannon: 00:07:58

And that's the way we do with our interns and anybody that we work with is we just want to, we want to help everyone bring their best offering.

Geoff: 00:08:08

Yeah, so we're back with Brandon Hollingsworth, and we want to talk about The Shift and virtual effects in film.

Geoff: 00:08:14

Tell us about that whole aspect of your work.

Geoff: 00:08:18

Um,

Brannon: 00:08:19

to get that job.

Brannon: 00:08:20

And, it was an amazing experience and, uh, Angel Studios, they do it right.

Brannon: 00:08:25

I mean, they do it, they do it the way it ought to be done.

Brannon: 00:08:27

So we were, we were super blessed to be there.

Brannon: 00:08:28

We felt like, newbies because we were newbies, honestly.

Brannon: 00:08:31

It was the first film set I'd ever been on.

Brannon: 00:08:32

So it was really cool.

Brannon: 00:08:33

Um, but initially we had a pre production meeting, early, um, in 2023 with Brock and with the producers and with the DP.

Brannon: 00:08:42

To understand kind of what they wanted and they wanted to kind of a whole list of things.

Brannon: 00:08:46

And we were able to do some of those, we weren't able to do others.

Brannon: 00:08:50

And they were able to do that with their other visual effects folks.

Brannon: 00:08:53

And that's typically the way this industry works is you have VFX house and some of them are really good at doing explosions or lasers or particle effects or creatures or what have you, very rarely will you find a VFX house that does it all because it's all really hard.

Brannon: 00:09:08

And it's all really technically challenging.

Brannon: 00:09:10

so for us, one of our strengths is utilizing something called the Unreal Game Engine.

Brannon: 00:09:16

Which is an engine that's put out by Epic Games.

Brannon: 00:09:18

It's primarily used for making video games like Fortnite, famously.

Brannon: 00:09:22

that's made by, the Unreal Game Engine and by the folks at Epic Games.

Brannon: 00:09:26

And we've been using this technology for years.

Brannon: 00:09:29

We were very early adopters of it.

Brannon: 00:09:31

We saw the potential, uh, and we jumped into it and started trying to figure out how we could utilize it primarily for animation.

Brannon: 00:09:37

And so what we were able to do is one of the big ideas that Brock had was he wanted his character to shift between different universes.

Brannon: 00:09:46

and so we were charged with creating about seven or eight, I can't remember how many it was now, um, seven or eight entirely different worlds.

Brannon: 00:09:54

3D environments where, the actor could be filmed against on an LED screen or like a baby volume, right?

Brannon: 00:10:02

it was not a complete volume, but we kind of worked with the VFX team to pull something together that would work for the shot.

Brannon: 00:10:09

So, we got the job, we went off and started building essentially some kind of mock ups, some previs.

Brannon: 00:10:15

Previsualization kind of ideas of what might work for the script that Brock had written.

Brannon: 00:10:23

Um, and then we were able to sit with the team and down select and go, well, we like this, but we don't like this.

Brannon: 00:10:28

Let's bring that element into this.

Brannon: 00:10:30

And Ooh, I really liked that ice world idea.

Brannon: 00:10:32

I didn't have that idea originally.

Brannon: 00:10:33

So instead of doing.

Brannon: 00:10:35

You know, our busy market street, let's do an ice world or what have you.

Brannon: 00:10:39

Um, again, this kind of goes back to our early conversations about understanding what's really expensive and what's really hard to do in animation and visual effects and what's really cheap and more affordable.

Brannon: 00:10:50

And so, uh, an example was, one of Brock's original idea was like, uh, I think, uh, Busy, bizarre street with lots of people.

Brannon: 00:10:57

Well, that becomes really expensive because you have to build all those people.

Brannon: 00:11:01

You have to model them.

Brannon: 00:11:02

You have to texture them.

Brannon: 00:11:03

You have to give them clothing and you know, their skin and their hair.

Brannon: 00:11:07

You have to rig them and then you have to animate them.

Brannon: 00:11:09

So we said, well, instead of maybe this busy, bizarre, why don't we think about something a little bit more remote and alien, like maybe, you know, an ice planet or something like that.

Brannon: 00:11:18

And Brock really liked that idea.

Brannon: 00:11:19

So.

Brannon: 00:11:20

Once we had gone through this kind of pre production process of understanding what it was we were going to go build, We then started going and building these things in 3D and we were giving, you know, occasional updates to Brock and the team.

Brannon: 00:11:32

They began to get the ideas of maybe having some foreground elements for some of the shots that we would match to, to kind of create a seamless transition from real world into 3D world and help blend that, you know, help make that magic happen.

Brannon: 00:11:45

And so we started building those specific assets but we got images and, reference from the prop department.

Brannon: 00:11:52

So, you know, like, Hey, we want this torch to be in the foreground.

Brannon: 00:11:55

So we want some torches like it in the background.

Brannon: 00:11:56

So we built those in 3d and rigged them up and everything.

Brannon: 00:12:00

And then, yeah, and then everything was said and done.

Brannon: 00:12:02

We had everything built and approved and then we waited for our day to go shoot.

Brannon: 00:12:05

And so, we went and shot and, um, got everything in the can that Brock wanted.

Brannon: 00:12:10

And it was awesome.

Brannon: 00:12:11

Uh, it was a very, very long day.

Brannon: 00:12:13

It was like a, about a, yeah.

Brannon: 00:12:14

16 hour day for us.

Brannon: 00:12:16

So it was a lot of work, but we got it done and it was really awesome.

Brannon: 00:12:19

And then before the show was done, they called us back up and said, Hey, we've got some screen replacement work that we need done, which is anytime in live action, when you film a screen, whether it's a phone or whether it's a TV or even something in the background, a bulletin board or what have you, um, you can't show what's on that screen.

Brannon: 00:12:37

So you have to, what's called green screen it.

Brannon: 00:12:39

You have to typically cover it with a green paper or blue paper.

Brannon: 00:12:43

And then your visual effects team comes in and put something on the screen that the production owns.

Brannon: 00:12:49

Because if you put MSN up there, you owe them royalties and you have to pay them money to put their content on your screen.

Brannon: 00:12:55

And so they called us up and said, Hey, can you do some green screen replacement?

Brannon: 00:12:59

And we did a bunch of that for them in the early scenes of the movie.

Brannon: 00:13:04

Um, the characters in a, I think of like a bar and there's all TVs that are announcing this bad thing that happens.

Brannon: 00:13:09

And, we did all of that green screen replacement.

Brannon: 00:13:11

We created the content that went on those screens.

Brannon: 00:13:13

The visual effects team, actually placed it there, but we created all of that, from scratch and worked with Brock very closely to get exactly what he wanted.

Brannon: 00:13:20

So it was super cool.

Brannon: 00:13:21

It was kind of our initial foray into the world of visual effects and we loved it and would love to do more of that.

Brannon: 00:13:27

And, um, we'll just see what the Lord brings.

Brannon: 00:13:28

Has in store for us.

Brannon: 00:13:29

So, very, very neat.

Geoff: 00:13:31

you mentioned a long day on set, so what was involved in that day for you, as the virtual effects?

Geoff: 00:13:36

I think you had mentioned, was it, LED screens that these

Geoff: 00:13:40

virtual

Brannon: 00:13:40

was, yeah, the, yeah, there was a visual effects supervisor and he and his team were on set, making sure that all the shots, you know, where there are lasers or where there's shifting happening or whatever, where they're getting all the plates that they need for that.

Brannon: 00:13:52

Well, they were also in charge of, they had built this, I called it a mini volume.

Brannon: 00:13:56

It was a whole set.

Brannon: 00:13:58

I think it was about 12 or 14 very large LED screens that they had set up, and we had some virtual motion tracking from the camera that Brock and the DP were using that they were tracking in 3D space, and we helped set that up and get that working appropriately.

Brannon: 00:14:14

And then we were there making sure that the environments were working and that the light and everything was exactly the way the DP and Brock wanted.

Brannon: 00:14:21

And so it was a lot of kind of in the minute, on set, tweak this, tweak that, we got to get this shot, can't wait around, let's get her done.

Brannon: 00:14:28

so yeah, it was pretty hair raising.

Brannon: 00:14:30

It was definitely different than sitting in your jammies at home, you know, creating animation.

Brannon: 00:14:35

It was a totally different process, but it was fun.

Geoff: 00:14:38

Yeah, and the depth of the technology.

Geoff: 00:14:41

Is, uh, beyond someone who hasn't actually been there and worked on that.

Brannon: 00:14:46

Well, I would encourage folks to, I mean, you can learn almost anything on YouTube these days and, if you're specifically interested in the Unreal Game Engine, Epic Games has a tremendous learning center.

Brannon: 00:14:56

They I think it's like, learning.

Brannon: 00:14:58

epicgames.

Brannon: 00:14:59

com, where they've got these college level Courses with videos and tests and, you know, documentation, they have gone well out of their way to make sure you, if you want to learn something, you can go learn it if you want to invest the time.

Brannon: 00:15:13

Um, and it's a tremendous career for young folks that are out there or even older folks.

Brannon: 00:15:17

if you want to get into this space, there's really no reason why you can't because you've been given all the tools for free, if you'll apply yourself and, uh, and spend the time.

Brannon: 00:15:26

It's a tremendous resource.

Geoff: 00:15:28

Well, that's really good advice, it's great to hear your experiences.

Geoff: 00:15:31

It's also great to kind of get some direction for those who are interested.

Geoff: 00:15:35

thank you.

Brannon: 00:15:36

Yeah, well, everyone will know, we've learned it the hard way, so,

Geoff: 00:15:39

Ha, ha,

Brannon: 00:15:39

we're happy to share whatever wisdom we've been attributed, so.

Jaclyn: 00:15:43

Well, thank you so much.

Jaclyn: 00:15:44

I really enjoyed hearing all the stories and the insight and the direction, and, you know, it's something that really didn't have very much of if any knowledge on before.

Jaclyn: 00:15:53

And so, you know now, mean, I know it's just the tip of the iceberg, but I don't feel as lost as I once did.

Jaclyn: 00:16:01

So there's that.

Brannon: 00:16:02

feel it at all.

Jaclyn: 00:16:07

Amen.

Brannon: 00:16:10

That we have, the secular market doesn't have.

Brannon: 00:16:13

They're all out for themselves and making themselves better.

Brannon: 00:16:16

And yet what we should do is make one another better.

Brannon: 00:16:19

And that way all of us together can glorify God in a more amazing way.

Brannon: 00:16:23

So let's help one another.

Brannon: 00:16:24

Let's pull together and make amazing things for God.

Geoff: 00:16:27

And that's our goal as well.

Geoff: 00:16:28

That's podcast.

Brannon: 00:16:30

that's why I'm here.

Geoff: 00:16:32

Well, thanks again.

Geoff: 00:16:33

We really appreciate your time and your insights.

Geoff: 00:16:36

And, we look forward to meeting you.

Geoff: 00:16:38

Hopefully sometime in this coming year at a festival.

Brannon: 00:16:41

Yeah, likewise, we'd love to hang out.

Brannon: 00:16:42

That'd be great.

Geoff: 00:16:43

All right.

Geoff: 00:16:43

God bless.

Brannon: 00:16:44

God bless you guys.

Brannon: 00:16:45

Thanks for

Brannon: 00:16:45

having me on.

Geoff: 00:16:46

Bye bye.