Meet the Actor – Kelly Camelio

Kris Takahashi Meet the Actor 4 Comments

Dark Wings, Dark Words

There are terrific actors, wonderful singers, and quality recordings. Rarely do I ever get to check all three boxes. Kelly Camelio is a total pro. A pro’s pro. There are no cons.

Every bard song Giramor and Arisen1 have provided, she has done her best to add her own unique signature. Every role I have written her, she manages to fit the voice in my head flawlessly. Maybe she’s some sort of mind reader, but I’ll stick to assuming she’s got talent instead. She also took the time to answer some questions, not all of them inane.

Introduce yourself. You know, name, location, belly button type, whether you snore in your sleep.
Kelly (though most people actually call me Kemi), a small closet somewhere on the south-east coast of the US, slightly indented, and only when I’m sick.

Talk about how you got into voice acting, or learned to act in general.  Did you always have these powers, or did it come via mutant spider or gamma radiation?
I try to stay as far away from mutant spiders as physically possible, though I wouldn’t completely count out gamma radiation. Mostly I just took theatre in school. Like a lot of theatre. Like more theatre classes than should be allowed. They tried to convince me to take another elective once. That was funny.

As for voice acting specifically, well, ever since I was a little kid I loved imitating characters from my favorite shows or movies. When I was in high school, I discovered a website called Voice Acting Alliance, and tried my hand at dubbing anime and video games. “Tried” is the key word in the sentence. After that, I had a brief affair with local radio (which was the best learning experience an aspiring voice actor could ever ask for, by the way), and you guys know the rest from there!

Speaking of which, are spiders a valid form of delivering super hero powers, or do we need to go with something like mosquitoes or rats?
Why can’t mutant powers ever be delivered by something not utterly terrifying and/or revolting? Where is the mutant superpower-giving baby deer? Or even like a butterfly or a moth or something, if it must be an insect.

Each role you’ve done sounds distinct. Olivia has authority, Asteria goes from polite to bitchy, and Felena is Felena. Which role sounds closer to your real voice? Which do you enjoy most?
Closer to my real voice? Asteria, definitely. Once she drops the bard act, it’s practically my regular speaking voice. I have to say I enjoy Olivia most though, being stuffy and slightly British is never not fun. I do apologize to anyone in the UK that I may have offended with my horribly inaccurate accent, though.

Talk about your characters, what you like about them, what you don’t like, what characteristics you share, and who would be the most fun to hang out with.
I would love to hang out with Felena! She’s just so interesting, and we could dress up Sweetroll and have tea parties! I’m a lot more like Asteria in personality though (which is probably why I decided on a voice close to my own). We both love to cuss a lot, sing, and steal jewels from the obscenely wealthy!

Is Sweetroll marriage material?
Oh yes, if you prefer the strong and silent type, he’s perfect! Really low maintenance too. Unfortunately, I’m already married. To voice acting. And my husband, I guess.

http://youtu.be/pHQcQz7UMxc

Would you chew on your knuckles if they were made of macadamia nuts? Or would you consider it to be bad manners?
Dude, your knuckles are made of freaking macadamia nuts. I think bad manners are the last thing anyone ever would be thinking about in this scenario.

I think your voice is fantasterrific, which is a word I made up because the others weren’t good enough. Do you have any previous singing experience or aspirations?
My aspirations were to be such a great singer, that someone would make up an entirely new word to describe it. So now I’m at a loss for words, really. In all seriousness, I don’t really have all that much experience with singing, aside from obnoxiously singing to myself at all hours of the day and night. Sometimes I’ll involve myself in local musical theatre, or do silly song-dubs on YouTube. I just love to sing!

Arisen1 composed Dusk on Anvil Harbor and Tears of the Hist, while Giramor made Wolves of Jorrvaskr. What are your thoughts on the music in the mod so far?
My thoughts? The music in this mod is amazing. They get stuck in my head literally all the time, and I cannot express how happy I am that I got to sing them all. My favorite changes every so often – right now it’s Tears of the Hist. It’s so emotional, and I get this almost Celtic vibe from it (hint: I love Celtic music).

What kind of mic do you use and what difficulties did you run into making your recording environment?
I use a Shure PG42 condenser mic. It’s probably the best 100-someodd dollars I’ve ever spent. It even comes in a shiny metal carrying case that I’ve never used! As for difficulties recording, I’m staring at him as I type this. I have a needy cat, you see. If I don’t let him sit on my lap when I’m in the booth, he tends to throw little cat fits and ruin all of my takes. It’s actually rather adorable, in a horribly frustrating sort of way.

If you had to choose between everyone singing to you instead of speaking or everyone talking when they should be singing, which would it be?
If the world was singing instead of speaking, it would be about a thousand times cooler.

Have you played the mod? If so, do you have a favorite character? If not, why are you such a horrible person?
I admit, I haven’t played nearly as much of this mod as I want to (does that make me a sort of badish person?). My computer isn’t cut out for PC gaming, but I kicked it into submission anyway and managed to dabble in it a little bit. I absolutely adore Rumarin, from the moment I met him he’s been following me everywhere I go. He’s just so damn funny, adventuring Skyrim without him at this point would be dull. I’m also a huge Eldawyn fan, though I haven’t been able to talk with her as much.

Stormcloaks or Imperials, cats or dogs, french fries or mash potatoes?
Stormcloaks, cats, and that is a cruel question and you should feel ashamed. I could never pick between french fries and mashed potatoes.

What’s bigger nightmare fuel, spiders, clowns, or feet?
Whelp, I was going to say spiders, but I just combined the three in my head, and clownish spiders on my feet is probably the most terrifying thing I have ever envisioned. So… the answer is C. All of the above.

http://youtu.be/ml2C0wGWiyI

If you could have one Dragon Shout to use in real life, what would it be?
Is there a shout that makes pizza? Because there should totally be a shout that makes pizza. I don’t care how it’s made, I just want instant pizza. (also Whirlwind Sprint)

What other projects are you currently involved in? Where else can we hear your talents?
I’m mostly doing a lot of commercial work right now, local radio ads and whatnot. But! I am involved in a few other (albeit older) on-going projects, such as Actorman’s Final Fantasy IX fandub, MasakoX’s Kampfer Abridged, and Mike Sempai’s Pretty Cure All Stars DX fandub. I also release my own stuff from time to time, when I’m not fighting crime or thieving from jarls. You can find all of that mess on my YouTube channel, under my internet handle SaiyanSerenityV!

What sort of character type, mod or elsewhere, would you like to voice/play next?
Evil. Evil evil evil. And evil. Being bad is just so much fun. Villains get all of the fun, crazy dialogue. Nothing is more fun than throwing your head back and laughing maniacally whilst revealing your master plan to the hero who has already all but escaped from your grasp.

What would you rather take along for your journey in Skyrim, a talking sword or a jetpack?
Gonna opt for the jetpack. Think of all the useful qualities a jetpack has. High Hrothgar? Bam. There. Good luck attacking me, giant ferocious bear, when I’m like twenty feet in the air above you. Besides, what if the sword is obnoxious? What if it only gives you bad advice? What if it slows your movement to a crawl, and is voiced by a screaming Ashley Burch? Wait, I’m getting my games mixed up. What was the question?

 

Character Profile – Puck

Kris Takahashi Character Profiles No Comments

Seeing Red

When I was in high school, I played a lot of basketball, and if you play a lot of basketball, at some point you will sprain your ankle. The severity of it will vary, but it will happen, as sure as Bowser kidnapping the princess or your job kidnapping your week.  When you sprain your ankle, you basically have two options. You can come in crutches, trotting along mechanically while people feign interest, or you can sack up and just limp.

I was the kind to walk with a limp. I’d mummify my ankle in tape, then proceed to swing it forward like my torso was holding a golf club.  I thought I was being brave. Doing the guy thing. Yet sometimes, when you choose the path of the limper, it looks like you’re doing this on purpose – trying to walk with swag. Like your average Congressman, I blame the rap videos. Nevertheless, I became a victim of this association, one day after I suffered a serious sprain.

There I was, hobbling to my locker, when another kid swerved around and cut me off like an angry motorist. At first, I thought nothing of it. I mean, I wasn’t even old enough to drive, let alone use it as an analogy. In fact, I still didn’t get it when the kid started to do an exaggerated pimp walk, flashing a few gang signs to his female friend giggling beside him. Slow as I was, physically and mentally, it took me a whole nother minute to realize he was mocking me.

By then, the moment had passed.  It was too late to get even.  I could only get mad.

This is how petty I am. If I could go back in time, one of the first things I would do is tell this fucker I sprained my ankle.  It wouldn’t be the only thing as I am not a complete moron, but things of this nature would be first in line as opposed to buying stocks and stopping 9/11.  Instead, I would go back to that autumn day in Millbrae, tap this dude on the shoulder and say something like Hey, I know you’re trying to impress your girl, but I am not trying to be like the young kids with the gangsta walk. I sprained my ankle playing basketball. Then me and his girlfriend would proceed to make out while he buried his face in a puddle of shame.

There’s just one problem with this scenario.  I would have one less thing to be angry about.

You don’t have to be an angry person to write an angry character, but you do have to know what it’s like to be angry. Otherwise it just loses that authenticity.  When you first meet Puck and he asks you Have you ever hated someone so much, you just want to bite off his eyes? That sentence was born out of real, unmitigated anger. If I were to write that opening sentence now, he probably would say something generic like I just want to punch his face.

The difference between the two is why it’s important for someone like myself, who has nothing to be bitter about, to collect these moments like so many rare Pokemon. Acrimony.  Loathing.  Spite.  I save them all in my little memory cabinet because I want to remind myself what it feels like. If I find an incendiary troll post, the first thing I do is rage, and if my rage is strong enough, I immediately bookmark the page for later use. Yet even without the bookmark, I would probably remember. Shit, I need to remember. In a sense, it’s almost a form of method writing. If I want Puck to be a mass of unadulterated anger, I can’t let that emotion be a stranger.

They say don’t get mad, get even, but I don’t know.  Personally, it would be incredibly satisfying to get even, but from an artistic standpoint, I don’t see a problem with getting a little mad.

Character Profile – Dar’Rakki

Kris Takahashi Character Profiles 8 Comments

The world of Skyrim is not built to scale. Objects on the map are further than they appear. When playing an open world game, such warning labels are never applied, but the implications are there. Just as a second in real life is tantamount to a minute of game time, so is a single step akin to traveling ten.

However, unlike with time, in-game distance can hardly be quantified with neat little ratios.  We may be able to travel from Markarth to Riften in less than a day, but that doesn’t represent or even give us an idea of the actual time it should have taken if Skyrim were real. That’s because if Skyrim were a landmass the size of Europe, spending most of your game traveling from hold to hold would be incredibly fucking tedious.

Thus, when the lore tells you there are 7000 steps on the way to High Hrothgar, the bullshit detector should not sound the alarm. The idea as a developer is to make the journey appear to be of significant length without making it a chore.  At the same time, being cognizant of these realities doesn’t stop the question from burrowing into your mind.  Every time I walked the steps, I felt the junkie need. I felt a burning desire to count.

And with that, the basis for the character Dar’Rakki was born.

Of course, like all the NPCs, The Conspiracy of the 7000 Steps was never explicitly designed to be a quest.  The true nature of Dar’Rakki’s conflict has nothing to do with the Greybeards or High Hrothgar or even the notion of conspiracies. Dar’Rakki is a character about coping with grief.  Thus, when trying to integrate the player into that story, the logical thing to consider was how people try to allay that suffering.

For those who bypassed the backstory, Dar’Rakki never wanted to come to Skyrim. It was his childhood friend, Adanja, who coaxed him to make the journey. She promised him she would never leave him alone, and when she lost her life to save him, he treated it as a betrayal. In truth, his anger belies his sadness, heartbreak, and fear. As the prototypical stranger in a strange land, his survival will likely depend on the kindness of others. Yet after what happened to Adanja, the one thing that scares him more than making new friends is the thought of losing them. To Dar’Rakki, the Greybeards represent the best Skyrim has to offer. If they can’t be trusted, then no one can.

Which is precisely why there are consequences for telling him the truth.

Dar’Rakki’s quest, you see, is not about how many steps there are or whether the Greybeards are a bunch of lazy charlatans. It’s about white lies and how what we want to know isn’t always what we need to hear. When you converse with him, you learn that Dar’Rakki is fragile – with a mind that should be bubble-wrapped and handled with care. If you plan on telling him the truth about the Throat of the World, you might as well drop him from it.

Sometimes the warning labels are there. Even if they’re just implied.