I'm gonna start this out on a bit of a serious note - I'm a massive fan of Mass Effect and Kaidan, mostly due to your voice work, but also to the great writing he received!
I've struggled a lot with my identity due to my sexuality (21 yo Gay man here), and my trust and security due to having a family that wasn't amazingly close and friends that weren't overly concerned with friendship. I played Mass Effect 3 when it was released, and finding out that Kaidan could be romanced by a male character was incredibly refreshing and intriguing, as I'd never had the chance to play as a homosexual character, or experience a gay romance in a videogame at all. And most other gay romances I'd seen in media were stereotypical views on gay men to the point of satire.
I was expecting it to be a massive revelation, and for it to be a center of gossip and reactions of shock, or confusion by other characters in the game. But it wasn't. It was just a small aspect of his persona, and the story. He was written for his humanity and relation to the world and the player, not for his sexuality. Seeing how the world stayed the same, how this was such a small aspect of his total character, and how this drew Commander Shepard (and by extension, the player) closer to him, really helped me make the decision to just come out to everyone. I just couldn't bare hiding anymore, or creating bits of fiction about myself.
I came out earlier in the year hoping for the same reaction Kaidan got, and I received it. My parents banded together to just give me pure support, which I was so afraid I wouldn't receive. To the point where in the past year I've spent more time with them than I have in a decade. And I've realised how much I made them miss parts of my life by hiding away. After seeing so many negative portrayals in media about coming out stories, finally receiving a character that had such a positive and nonplussed reaction just really helped me in life. As you can see by the massive wall of writing! I really just have to thank you and Cathleen Rootsaert (Kaidan's writer for Mass Effect 3), for just making my life as it is now! Seems melodramatic, but that one character of yours has helped completely shaped this part of my life.
But now it's question time! Obviously you've done a lot of voice acting for various games and shows. A lot of game companies these days are turning to motion capture to tell their stories in games, instead of using booths.
My question is - As a voice actor, how would this change your methods of acting? Instead of just the voice, you're the movement, the gestures, the posture of the character. Would you approach it as you would for a theater/TV show or would you use another method? Or, if you've already done motion capture, how was your experience of it in comparison to your other acting works?
Rainbow_Duck43 karma
Thanks for doing this AMA in advance!
I'm gonna start this out on a bit of a serious note - I'm a massive fan of Mass Effect and Kaidan, mostly due to your voice work, but also to the great writing he received!
I've struggled a lot with my identity due to my sexuality (21 yo Gay man here), and my trust and security due to having a family that wasn't amazingly close and friends that weren't overly concerned with friendship. I played Mass Effect 3 when it was released, and finding out that Kaidan could be romanced by a male character was incredibly refreshing and intriguing, as I'd never had the chance to play as a homosexual character, or experience a gay romance in a videogame at all. And most other gay romances I'd seen in media were stereotypical views on gay men to the point of satire.
I was expecting it to be a massive revelation, and for it to be a center of gossip and reactions of shock, or confusion by other characters in the game. But it wasn't. It was just a small aspect of his persona, and the story. He was written for his humanity and relation to the world and the player, not for his sexuality. Seeing how the world stayed the same, how this was such a small aspect of his total character, and how this drew Commander Shepard (and by extension, the player) closer to him, really helped me make the decision to just come out to everyone. I just couldn't bare hiding anymore, or creating bits of fiction about myself.
I came out earlier in the year hoping for the same reaction Kaidan got, and I received it. My parents banded together to just give me pure support, which I was so afraid I wouldn't receive. To the point where in the past year I've spent more time with them than I have in a decade. And I've realised how much I made them miss parts of my life by hiding away. After seeing so many negative portrayals in media about coming out stories, finally receiving a character that had such a positive and nonplussed reaction just really helped me in life. As you can see by the massive wall of writing! I really just have to thank you and Cathleen Rootsaert (Kaidan's writer for Mass Effect 3), for just making my life as it is now! Seems melodramatic, but that one character of yours has helped completely shaped this part of my life.
But now it's question time! Obviously you've done a lot of voice acting for various games and shows. A lot of game companies these days are turning to motion capture to tell their stories in games, instead of using booths.
My question is - As a voice actor, how would this change your methods of acting? Instead of just the voice, you're the movement, the gestures, the posture of the character. Would you approach it as you would for a theater/TV show or would you use another method? Or, if you've already done motion capture, how was your experience of it in comparison to your other acting works?
View HistoryShare Link