I Know That Voice

Whose are the voices in the cartoons. The documentary asks that and finds the voice actors. They come into a room, sit at the microphone, and a familiar voice comes out. What is discussed is the trade: how the auditions work, how a character's voice is found, how many parts one person plays in a single episode, how the market changed when famous actors came into the work, and how a voice wears out. Some have voiced the same character for forty years. None of them is recognised in the street. Lawrence Shapiro directs; the voice actor John DiMaggio produced. Charlie Adler, Pamela Adlon, Carlos Alazraqui, Jack Angel and many others from the field speak in it. It is an American production. The documentary interviews more than fifty voice actors. The matter it treats is invisible labour; the work is done entirely with the voice and nobody sees a face. The documentary shows the technical side too; breathing, distance from the microphone and how a session is run. The narrative takes on the change in the industry as well; the preference for famous actors in large productions narrowed the work for people in the trade. The interviews are joined in short pieces and the narrative proceeds episodically. The documentary builds no argument and leaves its structure to the conversation. The use of footage of the characters is limited; most scenes are absent because of rights. Its limit is structure; the narrative is scattered, there are many speakers, and there is little depth. Who it is for: viewers curious about animation and the voice trade. Who it is not for: it is scattered, the subject narrow, and the ending does not gather it.