All filming is complete and the only thing holding me back from this is voice acting.

I am creating a recurring YouTube series based on pre-colonial African kingdoms, culture, history, and mythology. As mentioned before, it will be a recurring series so I am only looking for dedicated and committed actors/actresses. The story takes place on a mythical world that has very close parallels to the real world. Many of the place names and cultural practices are familiar while many are purely imaginative and mythical (ie:Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings). The protagonist is a young boy (who grows up after a few episodes) by the name of Kanoro who lives in a large and luxurious home that stands out from the small round mudhuts of his rural home village. He and his younger sister Udo are harassed by some of their jealous neighbors which leads them to lots of trouble. Another one of the main characters "Derrick Jamerson" who will appear in the second episode is a strange man from the future bearing a business suit, a gun, and many other strange modern objects such as a cellphone. He has no idea how or why he has found himself in the past and refuses to believe that he is, simply reassuring himself that he has only found himself in a very remote and "undiscovered" and "primitive" part of the modern world. Little does he know, his technological superiority over these people of the past is only short-lived and not as much of an advantage as he originally thought. For the sake of keeping my story safe and not spoiling it for anyone, that is as much as I can and will share at the moment. It will be a thirller/fantasy storyline rich with lore and culture from many precolonial African Kingdoms. Namely those of West Africa. I have had many volunteers for acting before but none ever seem to follow up with me so please do NOT contact me unless you are 100% sure that you want to be a part of this series. I want dedication and dedication only. Without further due, these are the roles that I need:

Kanoro: The protagonist of the story, and 11 year old boy who has a very brave and goal oriented personality. He is very protective over his younger sister and has high morals and values.
Udo (Already have 2 but if you can get me what I need quicker then the role is yours, neither of them have sent me completed scripts yet): Kanoro's younger sister who is 8 years old with a wild and brazen personality. She never seems to take anyone seriously nor does she have respect for anyone other than her older brother.
Sauda: A 44 year old, grumpy overweight neighbor in Kanoro's village who constantly harasses Kanoro and Udo out of pure jealousy.
Enzi: Sauda's youngest son who is 11 years old, chubby and Kanoro's best friend. He is well aware of how Kanoro is treated by his brother and father but he tries to avoid any involvement at all costs. He is a very cheerful, playful, and kindhearted boy.
Jelani (Role taken): Sauda's eldest son (17 years old) who is very powerfully built and similar to his father in the fact that he harasses Kanoro and his younger sister Udo. However, he tends to try to find reasons or excuses as opposed to his father who simply directs unsolicited anger at them.

I do not expect Hollywood quality acting but I at least expect something convincing and imposing. For example, if a character is angry and yelling, I want to hear actual angry yelling. If a character is laughing, I want to hear actual laughing. Again, please do NOT contact me if you aren't going to be active and reliable to this project. I don't want to have to constantly track you down and follow up with you. If you contact me at all, please be ready and willing to take part in this and only email me if you are following the instructions below:

1.) Breifly describe any background experience you have with acting, animating, music making, or anything else that you think would be valuable to this project. If there are none, do not worry. I judge everyone based off of their audition. Be sure to specify which character you are interested in portraying as well.
2.) Ensure that you have a decent microphone free of static or background noise and that when you speak into it, you aren't blowing any air.
3.) Go over the sample script below in a voice that would match the character that you want to do.
4.) Lastly, just email me the voice clips after you have recorded them.

Here is the sample video reference to allow for easy syncing of the voice clips to the script.
https://www.facebook.com/HuminBehaviorz/videos/vb.829390787115880/895136970541261/?type=2&theater

Part I
(Camera pans and zooms around the village as calm, peaceful music plays and birds feed and fly around chirp bird flies away after being startled by Kanoro and Udo’s laughter)
Udo and Kanoro: (Laughing wildly and breathing heavily) [4 seconds]
Udo: (While camera shows on bird on roof it gets started after Udo and Kanoro’s play) *huff puff* Heeheeheeheehee *huff puff huff*
Kanoro: (While chasing Udo)*grunt* *huff puff huff* (Tackles Udo) *grunt*
Udo: (When caught) *Surprised grunt* (After hitting the ground) Ooof….. ow. [2seconds]
Kanoro: *Huff puff huff* (Still breathing heavily while speaking) Haha I told you I would catch you. It is far too easy. [5 seconds]
Udo: It does not seem like it was easy. It took you a very long time! [4 seconds]
Kanoro: *Huff puff* (starts to resist heavy breathing) ehh hmm… I was just being nice... that is all. (Reaches out a hand to help Udo to her feet) [6 seconds]
Udo: (Promptly jumps to her feet on her own) Liar! Admit it, I was too fast for you! [3 seconds] Heeheeheeheehee [3 seconds] (Camera goes over to Kanoro with a flustered demeanor) Kanoro could not even catch a nine year old! [4 seconds] Heeheeheeheehee! [3 seconds] (laughs continuously until Kanoro stops her)
Kanoro: (Runs over to Udo) Shhh quiet Udo. [1-2 seconds] (Starts to walk away) We do not want to disturb anyone, no more playing for now. And you are only eight… not nine. [5 seconds]
Udo: No! (Turns to Kanoro) I told you I’m not eight!... I’m eight [4 seconds] Camera shows Kanoro with a dull look on his face) and a half! Why do we have to stop? Is it that hard for you `to catch me? Teehee! You are just making excuses. [7 seconds]
Kanoro: (Starts to walk away unknowingly toward Sauda). It is not that at all, it is just that we need to do our chores before Mama wakes up. I do not want to get into trouble aga-[6 seconds] (Interrupted by accidentally walks into Sauda’s belly without looking)

PART II of the sample script audition just to give a general feel for expressing emotions and behaviors:

Ridicule: Yes Abasi, please do explain why I am to pay you ten Okpoho for this. It is painfully embarrassing to watch this.
Happy: Haha I told you I would catch you. It is far too easy.
Humor: Liar! Admit it, I was too fast for you! Heehee, Kanoro could not even catch a nine year old!
While lifting something heavy: Let go of the damn spear!
Confused: But Kanoro did nothing wrong. What lesson is there to learn?
Worried: Your father is not particularly happy with me right now either.
Sarcastic/stern: Udo… you do realize that you are the reason he does not like us, right?
Anger: HEY BOY, WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING! AND KEEP DOWN THE NOISE. NOT ALL OF US LIVE IN GIANT HOUSES LIKE YOURS THAT BLOCK IT ALL OUT!
Sadness: Enzi… just go. Jelani is wrong in everything he is doing. I do not want you to get into trouble.
After being hit in the stomach: Gyahhh *cough* *cough*

I do not expect you to match your words with their lip movement, so as long as your clips are as long as the time stamps on the script. If you have any other questions not covered in this post, feel free to ask. Do not email me saying "I want to act in your animation, what do I do?" because all of the instructions are here. Also don't forget to like the Facebook page and subscribe to the YouTube channel. Thanks!

Email: HuminBehaviorz@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HuminBehaviorz
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe8ECDU2IldN_rAAAXUvyUQ

Good luck OP. I just hope you can afford to pay after all this your grammar and Oganess.

jcmaiah:
Good luck OP. I just hope you can afford to pay after all this your grammar and Oganess.

I hope so too but for now I'm just getting started. I'm sure this can be a good stepping stone for aspiring actors. It just saddens me that nobody wants to be a part of it . Also what's wrong with my grammar and what's Oganess?

Kanoro:


I hope so too but for now I'm just getting started. I'm sure this can be a good stepping stone for aspiring actors. It just saddens me that nobody wants to be a part of it . Also what's wrong with my grammar and what's Oganess?

Its not like nobody wants to be part of it, rather you sounded like you wanted professionals for the job and you didn't give a glimpse of what they get or stand to gain in the whole thing. Oganess means bossy. You sounded a bit bossy in my opinion. What you need are people who could share from your dream so your approach wasn't really helping. Its not that you sounded mean o, but you ought to come from a peer based approach not boss-employee approach. Good luck.

jcmaiah:

Its not like nobody wants to be part of it, rather you sounded like you wanted professionals for the job and you didn't give a glimpse of what they get or stand to gain in the whole thing. Oganess means bossy. You sounded a bit bossy in my opinion. What you need are people who could share from your dream so your approach wasn't really helping. Its not that you sounded mean o, but you ought to come from a peer based approach not boss-employee approach. Good luck.

I get what you mean by the bossy part and that is due to the fact that I got so many people who volunteered but never actually submitted anything or clearly neglected to read the post sending emails like "Hey I'd like to volunteer for voice acting, what do I do?" even though the post tells them everything they need to do. However, I didn't think it seemed as though I needed professionals considering I clearly stated "I do not expect Hollywood quality, just something convincing and imposing"

Kanoro:


I get what you mean by the bossy part and that is due to the fact that I got so many people who volunteered but never actually submitted anything or clearly neglected to read the post sending emails like "Hey I'd like to volunteer for voice acting, what do I do?" even though the post tells them everything they need to do. However, I didn't think it seemed as though I needed professionals considering I clearly stated "I do not expect Hollywood quality, just something convincing and imposing"

Why don't you try sourcing people from your location? At least, they can work under your supervision and with your rig. Seriously, you need mostly teenagers and people a little above 20, those are the class of people that might even have time to devote without any serious pay or incentive. Definitely if it was normal acting in front of camera, na u for dey run. You know a lot of Nigerians don't have all those recording stuff, thats for those that even have a laptop.

jcmaiah:

Why don't you try sourcing people from your location? At least, they can work under your supervision and with your rig. Seriously, you need mostly teenagers and people a little above 20, those are the class of people that might even have time to devote without any serious pay or incentive. Definitely if it was normal acting in front of camera, na u for dey run. You know a lot of Nigerians don't have all those recording stuff, thats for those that even have a laptop.

True but I live in the US so I can't particularly find people who have the accents that I need here. Also recording with a cellphone works perfectly fine and I know most Nigerians at least have phones, especially Nairaland users.

Kanoro:


True but I live in the US so I can't particularly find people who have the accents that I need here. Also recording with a cellphone works perfectly fine and I know most Nigerians at least have phones, especially Nairaland users.

I see. You really have a big challenge. Basically you are looking for two things in one person: someone with a good ear for sound and a fair knowledge of quality recording. Secondly, someone who has an appreciable level of voice acting or at least talented at it.
Like I said before, you just have to let your target talents know whats in it for them else you will not really get there fast.
Also bear in mind you might need to help guide them on how to record good audio with a phone. Mind you, most phones being used here aren't high end phones, hence they can't deliver quality audio like the iPhones and samsungs with a third party app

Did you place Benin to the west?

tpiander:
Did you place Benin to the west?

Yes it's not supposed to be a 100% accurate representation.

jcmaiah:

I see. You really have a big challenge. Basically you are looking for two things in one person: someone with a good ear for sound and a fair knowledge of quality recording. Secondly, someone who has an appreciable level of voice acting or at least talented at it.
Like I said before, you just have to let your target talents know whats in it for them else you will not really get there fast.
Also bear in mind you might need to help guide them on how to record good audio with a phone. Mind you, most phones being used here aren't high end phones, hence they can't deliver quality audio like the iPhones and samsungs with a third party app

The problem is, I have nothing to offer. It's a homemade project and it will continue on for multiple episodes so if I offer money or something for the first episode, it'll only attract money hungry people who only want to do this for the money. I want people who genuinely want to take part in this for the fame, glory, and just overall enjoyment of spreading our history and culture to the world. You do make good points but it's just that again, I've gotten volunteers in older posts. Very wanting, willing and enthusiastic ones but they always email me once and then I never hear from them again after I reply.

Kanoro:


The problem is, I have nothing to offer. It's a homemade project and it will continue on for multiple episodes so if I offer money or something for the first episode, it'll only attract money hungry people who only want to do this for the money. I want people who genuinely want to take part in this for the fame, glory, and just overall enjoyment of spreading our history and culture to the world. You do make good points but it's just that again, I've gotten volunteers in older posts. Very wanting, willing and enthusiastic ones but they always email me once and then I never hear from them again after I reply.

Hmm, I feel your pain bro. I wish I could be of help myself.

jcmaiah:

Hmm, I feel your pain bro. I wish I could be of help myself.

What's holding you back?

Kanoro:

What's holding you back?

My duty. I am very busy for now, and might probably be till this year ends.