This Halloween - Scare Up some Shocking Results w/TC & Company

Last month's Blog topic was a roaring Halloween slash Presidential election tie-in. So, this month we reached back to present a gentler, kinder Halloween that kids can enjoy. Make way for the The Boogie Spooktakular! It's is a spectacle of fun for the whole family with a cast of characters that inspire kids to have lots of fun amidst a safe scare-free environment. 

 

We pitched the client that the host would have a playfulness that was fun, silly & amazed...not stupid & ditzy.

Kids are introduced to a bunch of silly characters like Mumzy, Wolfie and Gelga. 

It's all in the Halloween spirit while teaching kids dance moves and doing sing-a-longs to express themselves with other kids while having fun...safely!

 

So, the voice had to be engaging to kids and keep things moving along. Think of an MC that's daffy with a dash of Pee Wee, a pinch of surfer-dude and Voila!

 

Check to play Promo

 

Take a look at what we did for our New Hampshire all-year-round theme park Canobie Lake Park with their Halloween featured attraction - ScreeemFest.

They have a regular theme park operating throughout the year and do it up B-I-G for the Halloween season. A couple of years back we shifted from the wide-eyed la-de-dah voice and attitude to the Creepy-Guy voice...albeit, a bit Kinder & Gentler...wait for it! 

 Play TV spot

 

The Mortuary Haunted Mansion (NOLA) Presents -The Hellection attraction along with its Friday-the-13th Grand Opening. And they turned the throttle to 'high energy' to scare-up some shocking results for 'Friday The 13th' believers & shakers!

The Mortuary took full advantage of this September's early calendar of Friday the 13th, with their Hellection attraction and began the Halloween Season early this year. Stretching this year's season to almost Se7en full weeks! 

Here’s the link from this year’s Friday the 13th video promo that's in tandem with the Hellection attraction. Be advised, it features the Creepy-guy voice again. So, little eyes & ears beware.

Ditto for this Fast Rewind into the  not-so-distant past and we've had some very good luck maintaining a presence on the eastern seaboard doing all sorts of voice characterizations as far up as New Hampshire and Massachusetts and as far south as New Orleans, LA.  

Year after year working regularly as the Creepy-Guy voice...fashioned in many ways after Tobin Bell's character: Jizzsaw from the Saw movie franchise. Here's how it all started:  Click Red link below

 

Kentucky Scream Park

 

 

 

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

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This Halloween's Theme is the Hellection

 

In this HELLECTION, your vote will determine the fate of humanity. Good VS. Evil. Choose Evil and name the destroyer of worlds. Choose Good and fight the Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse. The choice is yours…Choose Thy Fate.

...Or so says the narration on this Halloween season's theme for the Mortuary...NOLA's Haunted Mansion. In 1872 this Grand Victorian Mansion first opened its doors. 

 

One hundred and thirty five years later, the mansion opened its doors as a haunted attraction in 2007 and they're taking this season's theme way too seriously. They've combined it with this years presidential election and its unquestionable importance. Casting the outcome as some sort of Orwellian composite, complete with text like: Gather Patriots within the hallowed halls of The Mortuary and cast your Final Vote. This is no ordinary HELLECTION, your vote will determine the fate of humanity.

 

These days 'ya gotta do what ya gotta do' to stay afloat and to eventually (all things being equal) thrive! Thematic attractions, while being already an attraction, do have their up side... especially if you want to extend the length of your season. Last year was kinda neat. The folks over at the Mort chose to go with a wedding theme...as in "Blood Weddings". People were getting hitched (deep faked in goth) or with actual paper work. It extended the season far into November. 

The HELLECTION thematic (as a noun) for this year...is taking a chance with the customer base marketing model. Or, could it be a shrewd piece of prescient maneuvering. They're counting on a swell of election fervor, now that the Dem's Harris/Walz ticket has got cred. 

Plus, the Republican ticket is gonna generate its own swell, especially if they keep eatin' at the Golden Arches while on the campaign trail!  Hellection is your only defense against the coming Apocalypse. It's the arsenal of democracy needed to keep the gates of the underworld  - closed. The choice is yours.

Will you choose to unleash the darkness or fight against it?

 

Embrace your civic duty and choose Thy Fate by casting your vote by clicking on the play button below for the Mortuary’s Hellelection theme mix for this year's Halloween season opener.

 

 

  

 

with: Stefan Nadelman

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the skinny with our most recent communique from Stefan Nadelman (Hollywood's resident visual artist in every sense) - - Remember dear readers you heard it hear first, off the record, on the QT and very hush-hush...

 

As Stefan writes; Anyhow, Hollywood Con Queen is out on Apple. Mr. McMahon has wrapped for real, for totally real this time. They've delivered all the shots for all 6 episodes...This Just in -

 

Mr. McMahon has just been released for viewing on Netflix September 25th, 2024. Click the red link for an exclusive trailer.

100 Foot Wave Season Three is done so that it should hit HBO Max someday soon. Don't Die and Razzlekhan are scheduled to wrap by Hush..Hush perhaps. The Bored Apes NFT project and Eternal Values are roundabout somewhere maybe in the middle of production. Keep an eye out for "MONEY ELECTRIC: The Bitcoin Mystery" on HBO Max, where Stefan did the main titles and chapter cards.

PS Now that the summer is morphing into fall...it's been a pretty advantageous time for AI, who is constantly plotting its complete takeover. Apparently we're a couple years away from AGI (artificial general intelligence) which will figure out how to manipulate and deceive humans.

That's the scoop! Stay cool brother! 

Oh, what a nice guy

 

 

 

 

 

 

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

VoiceOverGuy
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Entertainment Industry Backs Bill to Outlaw AI Deepfakes

 

Those in the entertainment industry have come together to show their support for a bill that outlaws digital deepfakes. It would create the first-ever federal right to one’s voice and likeness. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, introduced a revised version of the bill, along with a bipartisan group of other senators. The bill titled; No Fakes Act, would make it illegal to create an AI replica of someone or their voice without their consent. 

The bill has the support of SAG-AFTRA, Disney, the Motion Picture Association, (representing several major studios), the Recording Industry Association of America, the Recording Academy and most major music labels and talent agencies. 

Fran Drescher, the president of SAG-AFTRA, said in a statement that it's “Game over A.I. fraudsters!”. She continued with “Enshrining protections against unauthorized digital replicas as a federal intellectual property right will keep us all protected in this brave new world. Especially for performers whose livelihoods depend on their likeness and brand, this step forward is a huge win!”  

The law would apply to deepfakes of everyone (famous and not-so-famous) alike. In the scheme of things, as usual, celebrities and public figures would have more at stake than mere mortals.

The NO FAKES Act allows a person's heirs controlling rights of their image and likeness for as long as 70 years after their passing, rather than expire at the time of a persons death.

Scarlett Johansson, who has been very outspoken against unauthorized usage of her likeness after her voice was used without permission in generative AI software. It's claimed that Open AI used a voice “eerily similar” to Scarlett Johansson’s after the actress turned down an offer to have her voice used for conversational AI software, the Chat GPT maker was developing. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is taking the issue head-on, and the bill she introduced to fight it unanimously passed the Senate last week. 

 

Video Game Strike "Active"

This just in from SAG headquarters

As you may know, SAG-AFTRA has called a strike against many video game companies, including some of the largest in the business. 

We’d much rather be informing you about a new contract that protects members and the work they do, but the reality is that we’re facing a pivotal moment, one in which we either stand strong for what’s right or stand by and let our livelihoods and this art we care so much about face an extinction level event. Showing your support will be slightly different than in previous strikes, but your participation is as critical as ever. 

We’re counting on you to post about the strike on social media, sign our letter of support and respond to digital and in-person calls to action. Find what you need to take action here.

SAG-AFTRA members who perform in video games are going on strike against all video game companies signed to the Interactive Media Agreement, effective 12:01 a.m. on Friday, July 26. The vote to strike comes after more than a year and a half of negotiations without a deal.

For the latest from SAG-AFTRA Comic-Con 2024 (San Diego) click for the "Human Art behind Game Performers"  video Podcast . Of course the main topic of concern was still AI and it was unanimous between them that more needs to be done. The panel focused on games performance and it's three categories: voice, facial and movement capture. The panel was made up of: actor Shannon Woodward, actor artist Ashly Burch, actor Noshir Dalal and voice actor Sarah Elmaleh.

Never one to pass up an opportunity to show off some early stages of old school Deep-Fake organic impersonations...check out the below episode of MTV's Celebrity Death Match back in the day -  featuring Vee-Jay (Jesse Kemp) matched against Vee-Jay Matt Pinfield (U'rs truly). May be unsuitable for young kids.

 

 

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

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TC & Company Unveils Pharmaline's Generic Roll-Out

We were given the opportunity to unveil Pharmaline's entrance into the generic EU pharmaceutical market with more than just a passing concern...we gave them a Voice! They've been an established pharmaceutical company since 1987. With over 10 license agreements with global giants such as Glaxo Smith Kline, Merck, Abbott and the like, it was time to go international!

Not that we are particularly partial to pharmaceuticals (Gummies maybe), but these guys were ranked among the top 3 in its category by IQVIA. Pharmaline is a member of the Malia Group, giving them a hefty reach amongst their contemps with a multi-verse of companies to boot.         

The agency tendered a mp4 of the roll-out campaign video entitled: "Achievement" . It contained the music track and the video was edited to match the voice-over for timing on the 30 second spot. The assignment was to give the copy some lift with a voice that had heartfelt nuances accenting the role these folks play...essentially, precision workmanship at every step. And from what we've seen so far, Pharmaline is a company with ethics. So, we tried to convey that every day on the job is special for a whole lot of reasons and pride is at the top of the list.

And nobody makes a better impression on those sentiments than, Sir Peter Thomas. There may be a bit of him floatin' about! Click to Play 30 sec. spot.

Given that Pharmaline has so many generic brands in its supply pantry, voicing them all, could turn out to be a full time gig until they discover  Artificial Intelligence...now just you never mind about that. Besides, with the graying of America there should be plenty of work for the both of us... Baby Boomers not withstanding.

It's not that often that I start scoping out a client and or their products and discover...Hey, I use that stuff. I'm reading and speaking about how much care goes into a generic pharmaceutical. But, at Pharmaline, it pretty much comes down to making a noble effort to be as good or better than the real McCoy. Being it's the end of June, which is Men's Health Month, let's make sure we're up-to-par and stock up on some of those Allopurinol gen's (Aluric) and we'll take a side of those Vitamin C gen's (C-Vital). Don't see any Gummies?

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

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Candid Camera / Tribute to Terry Anderson

Candid Camera as it reads from IMDb's page is an American hidden camera reality television series, with versions of the show appearing on television from 1948 until 2014. Originally created and produced by Allen Funt, it often featured practical jokes. In its day, it could very well have been the equivalent to today's Smart Phone's video capabilities at capturing candid moments. 

That being said, just over a month ago a fellow by the name of  Terry Anderson passed away. He was 76 years of age. Close to seven of those years were spent while his freedom was denied. Actually, Terry was held hostage by Mid-East militants while working for the Associated Press as their chief Middle-Eastern correspondent. After being in captivity for 6 years and 9 months, Terry's fortunes were about to change. In a way, so was the future of 4 actors who were fortunate enough to be cast on that Candid Camera show back in the day when Terry's captors chose to release him the very same night at the very same time as we few actors, were about to appear on that very same show in front of millions of Americans on CBS, 12/4/91!

Mucho great for Terry, but for us actors, who were about to shine in the light of national television (at least in N.Y.), we instead, fell victims to the dreaded "We Interrupt this Broadcast" announcement...'cause you've been "Preempted". N00ooo!  But wait, all may not be lost. I have a brother living in San Antonio, Texas...that's an hour away in the right direction!

In the meantime, we watched all the hoopla surrounding Terry with all the pomp and circumstance of a hero's welcome. Which brought to mind another hero that was lambasted for being famous because he was captured. There was no mistaking where I heard that before...almost word-for-word and how it related to another hero. No, no, not by that one. We're referring of course to the character in Woody Allen's film Celebrity, John Brennan. Almost word-for-word!

Sure enough, after I called my brother and asked him to tape the show, he got back and said he saw it in its regular time slot, taped it and would mail out the tape the next day. The tape arrived 3 days later in the mail!

This CC episode had the Set Up of me playing a Secret Service agent along with two other actors and a shill actor who played a celebrity autograph seeker. We descended upon the outside benches of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The agents would treat select bench-marks like a celebrity. The autograph-seeker would come up to the mark asking for an autograph and the agents would look like they were corralling the seeker to keep him at bay from the mark, to further sell the ruse. Just when the mark appeared to have had enough...an agent would do the reveal.

Click below picture to see abbreviated Candid Camera Show Secret Service Agents

On another episode that took place on location in Philadelphia, Pa., we learned a valuable lesson...for whom, I'm not sure. But, I had the occasion to play a reporter interviewing an adventurer type fellow in a rustic cabin way out in the boondocks. He was constantly communicating with an expedition via shortwave radio. Then the unthinkable happened...the actual shortwave prop crapped out! The entire production shut down while the engineers worked on the problem. It was getting close to lunch when I noticed that the inside of the shortwave was kinda hollow.

Hummm, I said very quietly to the engineer, you know there's just enough room to put one of those crappy little Radio Shack Walkie-Talkies in that hollowed chamber. Even though the W/T's are crappy, you only need to be 8 feet away in another room, so they'll sound just fine.

The engineer went for lunch with the grip and came back with 2 Walkies for $9.95 apiece. Long story short, since the actor only needed to have the receiver end operational, it worked like a charm. No one, especially the audience, would be the wiser. Hey nice going Tommy C the director said. We'll continue filming after lunch.

Now get this - Even though I was seen as a shiny penny from the production staff's point of view, I had the lead CC actor take me aside and say; Hey man, you probably just cost us an extra days work. He said he'd been with the production company for a while and in situations like this one, if they didn't resolve the problem by a certain point, they would've fixed us up with hotel rooms, and continued the shoot the next day. Oh...it's Emily Litella time!

We had Post Cards made to send out to prospective casting agents and advertising staff. In their day, these were the preferred way to generate interest. See below.

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

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TC & Co. Throw-back Thursday - Wednesday - Fri...

Sometimes it becomes reasonable to post a Throwback Thursday or as Apollonia made famous; Thursday - Wednesday - Friday - Sunday - Saturday and then...Ka-Boom! That's because, by accident we found a gem from the past and we're a little short on 'New & Improves'.

But that shouldn't stand in the way of presenting cool and creative nostalgia like portraying Frank Lloyd Wright on NPR's Kids America series. 

We did a guest spot call-in from the home studio in Queens at the time. It was at night, it was Christmas and the last show of Mystery History Guest. 

Kids would call in from around the nation and try and guess who the person was they were listening to. With some sound effects and development from the NPR studios we'd transition into the past and begin to introduce our Mystery guest. 

As the guest, I would come up with a character's voice and Foley effects to compliment the guest's environment and time frame. Remember kids...this was from a time when people listened to the radio. I was diggin' the edgy energy from being 'Live', fleshing out the character, laying out characteristic details and stats about the Mystery guest.

Now here's the rub with 'ole Whisker-puss...even though he hasn't any. In real life recordings of Mr. Wright, he comes off a bit of a kvetch and not very approachable, least not for lame and sophomoric banter. This was one of those times, you really wanted to be good. I mean, you wanted to give the kids a good show. Of course, there's always that nagging possibility that you'll come off lookin' like Joey Nickels (what an ass--) from the movie Annie Hall. 

So we came up with a voice that was more happy and peppy and bursting with love. We had a lot of fun playing the guessing game and playing the part. It was also a trip to do all of it 'Live' before your very ears. And it was all analog. That means cassette players queued up with music and SFX,  making sure things are moving along at a good pace, dropping some reference and levity here & there...and being careful not to channel - Joey Nickels. Click > button below to play FLW

Might also be riveting to check on what Chris's been up to all these years. No, that's not Chris on the right, who was on the show with us, but an early photo of Frank Wright. Actually, it was sans the Lloyd epaulet. Although, you might say he's working on it.

Some of the clues dropped were; cantilever, prairie, Taliesin, Fallingwater, Usonian, "Space is the Breath of Art" etc.  

On a more personal note, every so often we go on the prowl to find our own Frank Lloyd Wright golden nugget right here on Long Island. Great Neck, to be well, more precise.

  

Though, citing rubs, we've not yet been able to locate the Wright phantom house...or set eyes on it. We have the address, but can never seem to find it on our own. 

So, with respect to the current occupants privacy, we'll show just a glimpse of the house...as it can be seen by anyone on the web, or willing to stick it out with a - Google Earth Map.

With respect to that peculiar mental process known as thinking, maybe time to re-think that nostalgia reference up top. Just finished reading an article by Maxine Hong Kingston that hits close to home. Especially, since it relates to the 'this is the business we chose' mantra...which, as a voice-over artist has been on shaky ground lately with the advent of Artificial Intelligence. She says and I quote: "I'm not nostalgic myself. I don't like the feeling of nostalgia. Nostalgia has something to do with regret, the sadness of, oh, this time is over. I don't like it when I have that feeling, but I don't seem to get it very often. I like to go into the new". 

Could this be a sign. You mean, an early clue to a new direction...Sunny Jim!

We're done wit dat one your Honor - this just IN! The Late Show's Stephen Colbert brought in the news last nite, May 8th, with Prez wannabee RFK Jr.'s claim that some of his brain was eaten by a worm...a specific worm of none other than Busytown's Lowly Worm. And just to refresh our memory, who is it that plays Lowly Worm...Tommy 'C' . Thanks Stephen. We emailed TLS's talent coordinator... Imagine That!

 

Click on > below to to play.

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

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How to Spot Artificial Intelligence in Your Shorts

To Be...or Not to Be. 

To 'A' or not to A...I, is certainly the question everyone has been asking. It's been at the center of one of the longest strikes in our nations talent union's history ( Sag/Aftra). Because it presents an answer that could potentially end an era in the voice acting industry. (This is where, if we had the budget, we'd see the Fontaine Bleau over here come careening down...pretty much the same way the by-gone Las Vegas hotels did at the end of the movie, Casino.)  

Ah, but before we start talking to the CGI folks over at Skywalker Studio's, let's take a closer look or better yet, listen to some differences between humans and machine. Here's a link to a Utube Short of The Top 10 Largest Hotels in Las Vegas ....Click link and listen if you can spot the difference!

 

Then there are the not-so-obvious examples, like "Crazy Historical Photos You Won't See Anywhere Else" with Tab Hunter and Gwen Verdon. The AI voice-over narrates Gwen's sir name as if it's separated in the middle - Ver' Don ala Pierre Car'don. So, you hear two distinct syllables and in the end, something doesn't quite sound right. The result is that it becomes less recognizable...unless it's Gwen's new way of pronouncing her name.

I also remember that as a generational 'Boomer', it was Jacqueline Bissett who set the stage to alternate celebrity 'sir name' changing. It seemed that every couple of years someone previously-know-as would step forth and make the announcement. Biss'set begot Biss'it, Francis Ford CaPolla became Co-pa-la. And we're still not all that sure about Mr. Scorsese' s preferred dinner call.

 

Or how 'bout this gem from the same folks over at Crazy Historical Photos You Won't See Anywhere Else, where the AI voice pronounces actor George Peppard's name so mangled, that it becomes a WTF moment. George was pepper'ed rather than Pep'pard (ed). And no, he didn't have a stutter. Just bad or no redundancies to detail on the production end. No brainer stuff - you know, "When the light is green the trap is clean". We saw Ghostbuster's four, last Sunday. Second time in less than a month, the theater was way under occupied. What to do...what to do. Somebody's got to start thinkin'.

The Most Challenging Training Ever explores what happens when there's a give-a-way word or phrase that well, sorta let's the AI outta the bag, so-to-speak. In this case it's the word; string'gent. Click on the red title to listen for yourself. This brings to mind when I was a teenager in Holland. My traveling buddy, Hans Niehout touted a story or proverbial  phrase about how a German could not say a certain word in Dutch without giving away his nationality. The word sounded something close to a contrivance like - schlaivningha. 

Thing is - throughout the years I've run into several people who've confirmed & offered other nationality tongue twisters.

“As artificial intelligence continues to evolve, the law must progress as well…. Beyond state laws, there needs to be a push for greater protection of the common person against vocal deepfakes.”

This comes from the pages of IP Watchdog dot com. It's entitled: Voices, Copywriting and Deepfakes. The article dives head first into the murky waters of protecting ones iconic voice. In short, is a voice copyrightable? Here's the law.

 

And if you are in the music industry or the comedy industry...welp, get a load of this sh--! George Carlin's estate had to bring suit against some AI-Generated Comedy Special (George Carlin - I'm glad I'm Dead) over an AI-generated imitation of the late comedian. The creators agreed to remove it from their YouTube channel and podcast feed. SAG-AFTRA has pushed for federal legislation that would make it illegal to create a fake digital replica of someone without their consent.

 

In the music world, some 200 artists, organized by the non-profit Artist Rights Alliance, including Billie Eilish, Kacey Musgraves, J Balvin, Ja Rule, Jon Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, Miranda Lambert and more, are speaking out against artificial intelligence-related threats in the music industry.

The artists sent an Open Letter to AI developers, technology companies, platforms and digital music services to “cease the use of artificial intelligence to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.”

The letter highlights AI threats including deepfakes and voice cloning, as well as “irresponsible uses of AI” such as the using AI sound to diminish royalty payments to artists and the use of musical works by AI developers without permission to train and produce AI copycats. The artists’ statement underscores how AI is poised to reshape creative industries and our economy.

 

 

 

And for the Easter holiday's we have Bug's Bunny - wishing all-in-the-land a Happy Facebook Easter! Click to get into the holiday spirit!:

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

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