Production - Stop Motion: Passion, Process and Performance - page 262

Rosemary Joshua, the voice of Gilda from Rigoletto and Ashley Thorburn, the voice of
Sparafucile.
Alasdair Saunders, sound engineer, Hullabaloo, UK
My fi rst animation recording session was for fi ve days with just myself, the series director and one actor.
I became fascinated with and how these voices ended up as a television full of talking small, furry
animals. The series had four main characters, several smaller roles and a narrator. I was amazed that
one actor could switch voice from character to character, having two-, three- and four-way conversations
with himself as well as using his natural voice to narrate.
Cosgrove Hall sessions were on a much grander scale. The production team would turn up en masse , with
as many as nine artists, often famous names; all recorded simultaneously - by far the most complex job
I've had. I had no idea that recording sessions could be so demanding.
A new series is always very exciting. The cast is made up of actors, comedians and, in my view, the
unsung heroes of animation: voice artists. These incredible individuals specialise in using their one voice
to create a plethora of different characters of all ages, accents and gender. An actor new to the world of
animation is often taken aback at the skills shown by their fellow voice artists. What ensues is a battle of
professional rivalry with each vying to top the other's performance. This results in blisteringly outlandish
recordings, perfect ingredients to hand on to the animators. A fi ne example of this is the BBC's remake
of Bill and Ben , where the interplay between the two fl owerpot men (comedic actor John Thomson and