Revolutionising the Industry: How Film and Television Studios Use Altered Studio's Custom Voice Services to Support Child Actors.

13 April 2023 | 5 min min

Introduction

Working with child actors in film and television projects can be a challenging and sensitive endeavour. There are a number of considerations to take into account, from ensuring the child's welfare to navigating legal requirements and production schedules. Altered Studio's Custom Voice Services offer an innovative solution to many of these challenges by creating supporting voiceover for Child Actors. In this case study, we will explore how film and television studios can leverage this cutting-edge technology to streamline their production process while prioritising the well-being of child actors.

Challenges Faced by Film and Television Studios when Working with Child Actors:

1. Limited Working Hours: child actors' working hours are regulated to ensure their well-being and maintain a healthy balance. This can result in scheduling challenges for film and television studios, as they must plan their shooting schedule around the child actors' availability and schooling schedules. These limitations can lead to increased production costs due to the need for more extensive planning and additional crew.
2. Performance Consistency: children's voices can change rapidly as they grow, which can create continuity issues for long-running television series, film sequels, or long periods between the original film shoot and post production ADR sessions. This can be especially problematic for voice-over work, where consistency in the actor's voice is crucial. 
3. Safeguarding Considerations: it is a priority for film and television studios to provide safety and ensure the well-being of all crew and actors on set, especially children. This includes adhering to strict regulations, such as providing a safe environment on set and ensuring the presence of a designated chaperone or guardian for child actors.

How Film and Television Studios use Altered AI's Custom Voice Services to Support Child Actors

With the right consents in place, Altered Studio's Custom Voice Services can address many of the challenges faced by film and television studios working with child actors. By creating high-quality voice overs that closely resemble the child actor's voice, studios can streamline their pre and post production processes, minimise disruptions, and maintain the well-being of the child actors involved.

Key Features of Altered Studio's Custom Voice Services:

1. AI-Generated Voice Clones: Altered Studio's cutting-edge speech-to-speech AI technology can generate a realistic voice clone of the child actor, which can be used for temp voice-over work, placeholder voiceover or ADR. This eliminates the need for the child to spend long hours in the recording booth, thus reducing their workload and ensuring compliance with regulations regarding working hours.

2. Customization and Flexibility: The Custom Voice Services allow for a high level of customization, enabling studios to adjust the AI-generated voice to match the desired tone, pitch, and emotion of the character. This ensures that the final result is not only a close match to the child actor's voice, but also a convincing performance that maintains continuity and authenticity.

3. Fast Turnaround Time: The AI-powered voice generation process is significantly faster than traditional voice-over recording, allowing studios to quickly create quick synthetic voice overs for use during the editing and post-production stages. This can save time and resources, while minimising the impact of scheduling conflicts and other challenges associated with working with child actors.

4. Powerful Speech Technology: Altered Studio offers both Speech-to-Speech and Text-to-Speech synthesis, giving studios two powerful ways to create voice content. In cases where the child actor voice has matured, they can ‘drive’ the Custom Voice model of their own, younger voice using Speech-to-Speech to ensure their natural performance is maintained.

Case Study

Using Altered's Custom Voice Services for Temp Voice Over in a Television Series

In this case study, we will explore how a television studio used Altered's Custom Voice Services to create temp voice overs for a child actor in a popular TV series.

The Challenge

The studio was faced with several challenges during the production of their TV series, which featured a young child actor in a prominent role. The child's limited working hours and educational requirements made it difficult to schedule voice-over recording sessions. Additionally, there were concerns about the child's well-being, as spending long hours in the recording booth could be taxing. The studio needed a solution that would allow them to create high-quality temp voice overs while prioritising the child actor's welfare and complying with industry regulations.

The Solution

The studio turned to Altered's Custom Voice Services to create AI-generated voice clones of the child actor. This innovative technology allowed them to generate realistic, customizable temp voice overs without requiring the child actor to spend excessive time in the recording booth.

The Process

1. Voice Sample Collection: With consent from the child actor's parents and legal representatives, the studio collated existing voice recordings of the child. These samples were then securely submitted to Altered for the AI voice generation process.

2. AI Voice Generation: Altered used their cutting-edge AI technology to create a realistic voice clone based on the submitted samples. The generated voice closely resembled the child actor's natural voice, capturing their unique tone.

3. Customization: The studio worked with Altered Studio to fine-tune the AI-generated voice, ensuring it accurately portrayed the desired emotions and realistic performances of the character. 

4. Implementation: Once the customised AI-generated voice was approved, the studio used an adult actor to create placeholder temp voice overs for the child actor's character. These temp voice overs were then incorporated into the editing and post-production stages of the TV series, only bringing the child actor back into the recording booth for final edits.

The Results

1. By using Altered Studio's Custom Voice Services, the television studio was able to:
2. Ensure the well-being of the child actor by reducing their workload and complying with industry regulations regarding working hours.
3. Maintain continuity in the child actor's voice performance throughout the TV series, despite the natural changes in their voice as they grew.
4. Save time and resources by streamlining the voice-over recording process and minimising scheduling conflicts.
5. Create a high-quality, authentic voice that effectively portrayed the character's emotions and personality.

Conclusion

Altered Studio's Custom Voice Services offer a groundbreaking solution to the challenges faced by film and television studios when working with child actors. By utilising AI-generated voice clones, studios can create realistic voice performances throughout the production process while prioritising the well-being of the child actors involved. 

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