Chips, Blocks, and Apples

At least she had successfully crossed the hurdle of being exposed to the Old Boss and Seasoned Animator... of course, there was also the Translator on the side.

Awkwardness and a multi-whammy of embarrassments aside, Courteney was quick to school all that within her as the voice acting briefing commenced. An actress is good at being an actress after all.

Nonetheless, Alexander still elicited inner amusement on many things. He was also briefed as a voice actor after all.

They would be a pair working together for a long time as the first arc of Dragonball always has Bulma and Goku hanging around throughout the adventure.

It was quite entertaining to note Miss Cox's trembling eyes when she heard that the misunderstood employee's child, misunderstood son of Alexander Creed, and essentially the true Alexander Creed would be tagging with her for the most part.

Alexander was always in for seriousness and all that but at least having a little joke like earlier was a nice change of pace.

It mostly dispelled his frustrations from the legal attacks and made him much more at ease when it came to his grandfather's unmentioned goal of having him voice act.

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Anyways, Seasoned Hayao gave them a preliminary brief of all there is to know and gave them some time to get to know each other.

The job wasn't done right there on the spot and at that time. After all, there were still people that have yet to be called on or are yet to arrive.

"I guess we will be hanging out for most of this ordeal." Alexander talked first lest the embarrassed lady stay quiet. It would only grow awkward for what looks to be a long-term cooperation.

"I guess it is." There was no turning back now, so Courteney could only sigh. Of course, she had to correct her blunder. "About earlier... keep it as a joke... Mr. Creed."

"It's fine." Alexander really didn't want to rib people's faults any further. "It's also kind of my fault as well for not clarifying things sooner. I do hope you don't hold a grudge against me for that. It would be kind of inconducive for our future work partnership after all."

"Phew." Courteney was relieved when she heard of 'work partnership'. "I had already steeled myself to lose this job already. To think that I still get to keep it after all I've... 'joked' about."

"Well, I won't dwell on that further as long as you don't dwell on mine." Alexander didn't do this out of magnanimity. Replacing a coincidental Bulma-esque lady from playing Bulma in an already rushed VA project is quite the extra hassle. "Besides, it's not like you're the first lady who wanted to be my wife. For some reason, after the release of 'A Mysterious Feeling Called Love', a lot of people were sending their love declarations through the Creed survey's suggestion box."

"Err..." Courteney was conflicted because excusing as a 'joke' seems irrelevant now. "I don't know about the others but I do hope you don't report to the police. I didn't know that the famous Alexander Creed was just a kid."

"That's an easy matter to fix." After she said that, the FBI meme went through advanced-minded. Of course, he also didn't want to go through with that 'because you didn't ask' cliche. "This trouble started because we hadn't truly introduced each other. I guess I'm that famous Alexander Creed and just a little boy at 10."

"I know now." The lady affirmed solemnly and introduced herself as well As you already know, I'm Courteney Cox playing Bulma. A 20-year-old turning 21, whose voice will play a 16-year-old."

The introducing duo nodded respectively to each other to complete the entire thing. They did it in a somewhat strained and formal manner but it was a bit better than what it had initially been.

Anyways, professionalism had always been a good way to reduce whatever embarrassment one has over the other.

------

With that professionalism and their partnership not so strained, the voice acting work commenced on the scheduled days that it should.

Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience.

Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent.

It was supposed to be as simple as that. With script in hand and a working voice box, being Goku should be quite the easy task.

However, it would seem that it isn't so. One has to imagine the character at work and embody it. In the case of animation, VAs seems to have to work doubly hard to do so.

Seasoned Hayao mentioned that script and storyboard may form the solid foundation for the entire project, the factor of dubbing, sounds, and now... voice acting is another technicality on its own.

Taken for example are Bulma's exaggeration and promiscuousness as shown in the panels and story progression. Courteney had to convey that with vocal ticks and intonation.

For the most part, how Courteney pulls it off in her voice recordings also dictates how the animators work around it as well.

When Bulma is cocky, everyone should know she's cocky. When she's mad, everyone should know she's mad. When she's scared, everyone should know she's scared.

Infectious and evocative acting is the chef's kiss for the most value of entertainment. Hollywood and all that even make a supremely big deal out of it with all their posh awards.

In the case of animation... infectious and evocative voices are needed. Audios and visuals make audiovisuals for what it is. Doing great on any of these parts meant a great product overall.

Thinking back on it, it seemed doubly hard given the fact that the audio part and the visual part can't be done simultaneously. It would have been nice to layer and correct them together at the same time.

Unfortunately, animation production isn't as simple as a cut and re-take as most live-action productions are.

Alexander's knowledge about voice acting has always been restricted to a technicality. Now that he was exposed to the practicality of it, there was truly a lot to know.

His grandfather's sermon about 'trying is better than denying' truly has some merit to it.

As much as he views it derogatorily and in a talent exploitative view, there were truly aspects that made it hard and complex on its own.

It might take some getting used to... even more so for someone like Alexander. After all, what could one expect from a complete voice-acting newbie who was already smug from knowing the wiki description of it?

Of course, what could one also expect from a semi-reclusive, introvert whose received birthday present alludes to how much of a bland, cold robot he is?

-----

Alexander realized many things as he stepped up close to the specialized microphone in the dubbing room.

He had a script in an easily readable distance but his eyes were pretty much glued to the excited grin of his scheming grandpa.

With a long-planned scheme and a lot of guilt trips laced with devious schemes, Old Sullivan's efforts finally fell into place. The operation to give his grandson "emotions" was finally in play with the boy practically in the dubbing room and ready to record his first "act".

Although Goku's character was just filled with mostly bland naivete, it was better than a super-business-moded child.

Alexander realized his grandpa's plan at some point and he could only praise it.

At least he can now tell people where all his deviousness, schemes, manipulations, and multi-layered plannings stem from.

He, Alexander Creed, is a chip off from a chip that came from an old block named Sullivan Creed.

A tricky apple that didn't fall that too far off from a tricky grandpa apple tree.