Voice Actors

The film was finished, with only the final step remaining: voice acting.

The Head Balloon cast included men and women, young and old.

Naturally, Lin Chuan could not handle all the voice acting alone.

So this time, Lin Chuan specifically rented a recording studio.

With a generous budget, Lin Chuan deliberately chose the best studio available.

The studio owner was nicknamed Old Zhou. Supposedly, he had plenty of connections, knew many musicians, and was acquainted with some producers as well.

That much was obvious from the densely packed photos of Old Zhou posing with celebrities hanging on the studio walls.

His equipment was also top-tier in the industry.

These days, good recording studios were often booked out by major companies exclusively for their singers and artists.

Old Zhou's studio was the best one Lin Chuan could find.

With the studio settled, the next step was choosing voice actors.

The people Lin Chuan had contacted were all professional voice actors.

After reviewing nearly a hundred voice actors, Lin Chuan selected three women as backup candidates for the female lead of Balloon.

The next day, Lin Chuan headed to the recording studio to audition the three voice actresses.

Although he could listen to the demo recordings voice actors submitted during the selection process,

to choose someone whose voice truly suited the role, he still needed to hear them in person before making a better judgment.

Outside the recording studio, the three voice actresses waited nervously.

Because Huaguo's entertainment industry was underdeveloped, voice actors in the animation industry did not earn much either.

Even though Lin Chuan was not some famous director and could currently be considered, at best, an Uploader on Bika Net,

they treasured this job opportunity immensely.

Jiang Kui sat between the other two girls, unscrewed her little water bottle, and gulped down a large mouthful of water.

It protected her throat while easing the tension in her heart.

She had heard that the client this time was the director of Spoon Killer Demon.

Jiang Kui was a loyal Bika Net user, so naturally she had watched Spoon Killer Demon.

The short film had given her a huge surprise.

She had never seen such a bizarrely stylized horror film before. She had even become an enthusiastic promoter for it, forwarding it to her best friends.

It had given them Spoon Phobia.

When she heard that the director who made that short film was preparing an animated movie and had chosen her,

Jiang Kui had been thrilled.

Still, she did not feel that she had any advantage.

To Jiang Kui's left sat a petite, cute girl with an enormous bust—enough to make Jiang Kui feel inferior for three lifetimes.

Her voice was sweet and coquettish too, somewhat like the deliberately cutesy voice people often joked about online.

But in person, it truly sounded gentle, the kind that made your whole body tingle from scalp to soles.

It was incredibly pleasant.

To Jiang Kui's right sat a tall, mature beauty.

Actually, this mature beauty had a large bust too, but her height concealed it.

Her voice was cool and aloof, with the tone of a mature woman.

Jiang Kui felt that if she were a man, she definitely would not be able to resist that voice.

As for Jiang Kui's own voice, her self-assessment was that it was utterly ordinary.

Although she seriously pondered the characters and studied their fear in different situations, using different tones to convey their emotions,

against the overwhelming advantages of the other two voice actresses, Jiang Kui trembled inside.

Voice actors were a group that frequently interacted with the internet.

Naturally, the other two had also heard of the famous Spoon Killer Demon.

Both of them had clearly expressed their desire to work with this director.

As the three waited anxiously, Lin Chuan arrived at the recording studio and saw them waiting outside.

At the same time, a studio staff member came forward to greet him.

"Director Lin, you're here!"

Director Lin?

The three women looked at Lin Chuan at once. They had not expected him to be the director of Spoon Killer Demon, and he was so young.

And, well, he looked sunny and handsome.

He did not look like someone capable of making Spoon Killer Demon at all.

In their minds, the director who had made Spoon Killer Demon should have been a shut-in and a veteran horror-film enthusiast.

Someone who was awkward on the surface but possessed an extremely rich inner world.

The image they had imagined for the director of Spoon Killer Demon was actually somewhat similar to Xiao Hei, who played Little Fatty.

An unkempt eccentric.

Even if fame had made him pay more attention to his appearance, he should still have carried the unruly air of an artist.

But Lin Chuan's appearance completely shattered their expectations.

Lin Chuan nodded to the staff member in greeting, then walked into the studio.

"Which one of you is Zhou Yaoyao? Come in first. Let's test your voice."

The petite, busty cute girl to Jiang Kui's left stood up.

"That's me! Okay!"

Lin Chuan hesitated for a moment, then entered the control room and put on his headphones.

Zhou Yaoyao took a deep breath and introduced herself.

"Hello, Director Lin. I'm Zhou Yaoyao, twenty-two years old. I've voiced works such as Goodnight Canned Food, Happy Bus, and Winter Protection Boy."

Lin Chuan nodded. He had already seen all this information on her résumé.

The works Zhou Yaoyao had voiced were all animated shows for children between five and fifteen.

It was not that Zhou Yaoyao could not voice animation aimed at other age groups, but that the domestic entertainment industry was simply too weak.

There was no market for young adult animation at all.

Zhou Yaoyao had introduced herself all over again, probably because she was nervous.

Lin Chuan remained unmoved. "There are lines on the table. Read the first section first. I want you to convey fear.

"You're afraid of the unknown thing outside the window, terrified that it will notice you. Do you understand?"

"I understand!"

Zhou Yaoyao nodded and began reading from the script.

"I've locked myself in this house for a whole week now...

"But there's no food left.

"Ah, if this is a dream, I hope I wake up soon..."

Zhou Yaoyao's voice was certainly distinctive.

If he had to describe it in one word, it was extremely sweet.

Her voice was delicate and soft, easily stirring a person's protective instincts. It was simply too delicate, though, and did not match Lin Chuan's vision for the character.

Lin Chuan felt that perhaps he had not explained things clearly enough and had hindered her understanding of the role, so he continued.

"Although the enemy outside the window is terrifying, what you feel more strongly is agitation and unease, not panic to the point of losing your head.

"And you've already been dealing with the monster for a week. You should be able to tell that from the lines.

"Deep down, you are agitated and uneasy, but you're constantly trying to think calmly and find a solution.

"Don't make your voice so weak."

Zhou Yaoyao tried reading it again, but still failed to meet Lin Chuan's requirements. She could only leave in disappointment.

The next voice actress was called into the studio.

This time, it was the tall, mature beauty.

Lin Chuan repeated his previous instructions.

The mature beauty read the lines.

"I've locked myself in this house for a whole week now...

"But there's no food left.

"Hmm, if this is a dream, I hope I wake up soon."

Lin Chuan nodded. This voice actress had a more accurate grasp of the character than the previous one.

She was just a little too calm, making it feel as though she had read the script beforehand, but it was still within Lin Chuan's acceptable range.

With some further guidance, she could probably meet his requirements.

The next lines were the real test of an actor.

Lin Chuan nodded. "Read the next section. In this part, the monster is speaking in your voice. You can think of it as your dark personality."

The mature beauty nodded and read from the script.

"Hezi, stop struggling and open the window!"

"Sigh... You must be starving, right? If you don't come out and eat something, you'll starve to death!"

Hmm. The delivery of those lines was somewhat superficial, lacking the depth and richness Lin Chuan wanted.

On the surface, the lines looked like simple words of concern, but they were actually highly deceptive.

Lin Chuan wanted most people to hear nothing unusual in them, while certain sensitive listeners would have their hair stand on end after hearing them.

If he had to describe it with an image, it would be like those staged peace photos from the War of Resistance Against Japan.

A smiling Japanese soldier held out a lollipop to a little girl.

But the mature beauty's delivery carried too much threat. It was too direct and obvious, lacking that chilling feeling that came from thinking about it more deeply.

Lin Chuan was troubled. He had the mature beauty call in the remaining voice actress so he could listen to her tone before making a decision.

Jiang Kui walked into the recording studio nervously.

Noticing her unease, Lin Chuan casually asked a question unrelated to voice acting.

"Is Jiang Kui your real name?"

Many voice actors used aliases during auditions. The mature beauty from earlier had been using an alias.

As for Zhou Yaoyao, Lin Chuan suspected that was also an alias, though he had no proof.

Jiang Kui nodded. "It's my real name. That's what it says on my ID card!"

Jiang Kui even had the urge to pull out her ID card from her bag, and Lin Chuan hurriedly stopped her.

This girl was a little too honest.

The reason Lin Chuan had asked such a seemingly random question was because the Kui in Jiang Kui's name referred to a strange beast recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The original text of the Classic of Mountains and Seas recorded:

"In the Eastern Sea is Mount Liubo, seven thousand li out to sea. Upon it is a beast shaped like an ox, blue-bodied and hornless, with one foot. When it enters or leaves the water, wind and rain must follow. Its radiance is like the sun and moon, its voice like thunder. Its name is Kui. The Yellow Emperor obtained it and made a drum from its hide, striking it with the bones of the Thunder Beast. Its sound could be heard five hundred li away, intimidating all beneath heaven."

What kind of parents would give their child the name of a strange beast that had been skinned and made into a drum?

Lin Chuan had assumed Jiang Kui's real name was Jiang Kui, using the character for sunflower. He had not expected her parents to actually give her that name.

Lin Chuan did not continue dwelling on the matter and got straight to the point.

"There are lines on the table. You can read them first, think over the character's state, then give me your interpretation."

There were fewer than a hundred words across the two sections of dialogue, yet Jiang Kui spent over ten minutes reading them.

Jiang Kui put down the script and began.

"I've locked myself in this house for a whole week now...

"But there's no food left either.

"Ah... if this is a dream, I hope I wake up soon."

"But I can't even take one step out of this house. If I step outside, that thing will definitely..."

Lin Chuan's eyes lit up as he listened.

Compared to the previous two voice actresses, Jiang Kui's voice undoubtedly sounded much more ordinary.

Here, ordinary was a compliment.

The mature beauty and the busty cute girl from before had voices that sounded stunning at first.

But they were a mass-produced kind of stunning, something that could be manufactured in bulk.

There was not much difference between Zhou Yaoyao's voice and those of other sweet-voiced girls.

The mature beauty was the same.

Jiang Kui was different.

She had almost perfectly portrayed the natural reaction of an ordinary high school girl facing a crisis.

She was calmly assessing the situation, but because of the enormous disparity in physical strength, unease inevitably colored her voice.

"Continue with the next section."

Lin Chuan encouraged her.

Based on the script, Jiang Kui adjusted her emotions.

"Hezi, stop struggling and open the window!

"Sigh... You must be starving, right? If you don't come out and eat something, you'll starve to death!"

Her voice was unexpectedly gentle, but Lin Chuan could still hear the falseness in her words.

If he had to force an analogy, it was the difference between a biological mother and a stepmother.

Lin Chuan stood and shook Jiang Kui's hand. "Congratulations. You're the voice actress for Balloon!"

"Unless something unexpected happens, we'll start recording tomorrow!"

"Th-thank you, Director! I'll definitely work hard!"

Jiang Kui sprang to her feet, her eyes reddening as she tightly gripped Lin Chuan's hand.