Theta (a Sci-Fi webseries)
Project Overview
Hey everyone! It's Kurt, writer/creator of The Call of the Flame!
Let's be honest: machinima hit its prime some time ago, having never reached its potential. Red Vs. Blue being the exception. It was always a shame to me. It seemed like a good way to achieve high concept ideas on a shoestring budget, with Halo's hundreds of military sci-fi assets and environments, unique camera controls, with good inspiration and writing it should've led to at least a DOZEN good web videos and series.
I'm reminded of the medium's potential once again now that Halo: Reach is on PC, and machinima hasn't even entered the discussion. Right when things are more unlimited than ever. That's where we'd like to step in! A long time ago I did a machinima pilot called Theta. It had some things I'm still proud of to this day, I learned a lot of lessons in that production that I carried over to Call of the Flame years later, and there are some things in those ten scripts I had written I would still love to see. Taking full advantage of the Halo series and its assets, from green-screening in player models from Halo 4, to creating full in-depth environments and objects in Halo 5's advanced forge.
So, from the beginning, with those lessons on keeping a voice acting and editing crew together, with my newfound skills in audio, I intend to restart my very first project, Theta. From the very beginning this time, with a fresh new voice cast, original sound design, and some quality writing punch up.
The story follows an uncharted patrol team who serve what little humanity is left on Youth, the last human planet since the hostile alien Razon conquered Earth in a galactic war twenty six years earlier. With most of the planet still unexplored, the world is divided between a government struggling to maintain a city-state, and post-apocalyptic gangs scattered across the vast uncharted.
To make matters worse, a legion of Razon has been stranded somewhere unknown, and they aim to finish the campaign they started long ago. Suddenly, this motley patrol team's purpose in this world has been elevated, battling monsters both alien and human to defend the last home they have.
Sci-Fi/Western style, Inspired by Firefly, Cowboy Bebop, and a number of other adventure films and series' such as Del Toro's Hellboy and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Tackling themes such as late capitalism, isolationism, trauma, police violence and "who watches the watchmen?"
Rates:
As of now: compensation for recordings are at $0.17 per script line (essentially a half sentence of 5-8 words). Rounded off to the highest. Despite that, no role--even if it's 1 line, would be compensated less than $3. This is the same payment system as CotF.
For example Joseph, who speaks 169 times in Episode 1 (313 script lines), is $53. A reoccurring role like Ambassador would make $15 for his appearance in Episode 1.
We will have a Patreon page, and the show will be open for sponsors. If/when it gains some traction, all rates will be put into review. But until then I’m going in under the assumption it’ll fall completely on me for funding, which I’m totally prepared for. Still, I want to be fair, but at this time this is the only rate I can promise—it’s also the rate for which I’ve paid voice actors before for other projects.
Above all, I want to work with people who love voice acting for the fun of it. I love working on this stuff and hope to collaborate with people who love it too.
How to Audition:
- Send them to us here, or at [redacted]. Subject: Audition for (character name) from (username). Send them as either an attachment or a link, but preferably an attachment.
- Make sure to minimize noises or bumps while recording. Only your voice should be apparent. If you like to filter or remove vocal tics, be sure to include the unfiltered version as well.
- Record in .WAV.
- Save as: theta_username_audition (ex. Theta_Ambassador_RubbishMan_audition.wav).
- We will critique if requested. We also accept redos.
- If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail us at [redacted].
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P.S. Please, please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please PLEASE put your username in the file you upload for your audition. When I download them and apply filters and testing them in scenes I want to make it easy to trace back to you. Example: JosephAudition_RubbishLog.wav or I'll even take haloguyrubbishlog.mp3.
P.P.S. Please.
Since this is a Machinima, most of the show's emotion and humor must be conveyed through the character's voices, so be sure to show off your emotional range.
Note: We value acting ability over a voice that matches a character, so don't let your vocal pitch deter you from auditioning.
We welcome auditioning for multiple roles as long as you can make each of them a bit different!
We look forward to working with you guys! Also happy to answer any and all questions in comments or as a PM.
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The newcomer to the BIPD defense sector and Theta team. Freshfaced, green. His synthetic right eye--has often isolated him, making him socially awkward and unsure of how to relate to others despite his desire to serve and protect. He joined Theta thinking he would be doing justice and get a chance escape a stationary outpost to explore the planet's uncharted regions. He didn't expect to be greeted so roughly by his new team, whose idea of an "orientation" meant behaving even more rambunctiously than usual, taking every opportunity to rub in how out of his element he is on the field. Yet no orientation could have prepared him for the arrival of the band of Razon ... Socially awkward, possibly mild autism.
Voice: medium, slightly awkward, thoughtful, military formal, often deadpan.
"You mean no one here has any official training? Shouldn't there be geologists, astronauts, doctors or ... at least some certified marksman on staff?"
[Treating a bullet wound in Rus mid-battle] "Rus, oh crap! It's going to be okay! It's going to be all right!" [Russ: I know.] "I know I'm trying to calm you down!" [Russ: I'm totally calm.] "... and myself, mostly me. I'll stop talking." (Hums nervously while applying aid) [Russ: That's worse!] "Sorry!"
[Conclusion of episode] "Someone's gotta do their job. I mean, what kind of world would it be if everyone just found themselves standing on the edge of destruction, like we did, and just ... turned away?"
Theta's resident lone wolf. Her weapons are his only friend, now that the team's old medic, Beth, has died and been replaced by Joseph. She takes the Razon threat with a grim smile, rocket launcher slung over her back. Despite his boisterous front, Russ has retreated so far into herself that the only place he has left to go is the next life-- and there's no better way to get there than going for vengeful aliens with guns blazing.
Voice: Deep, gruff, occasionally crude and mocking, often boisterous.
"Nope." [Oft repeated line. Refusing anything from social interaction, to medical care, to contributing to any conversation.]
[re: Is that how you choose to deal with losing friends? By joining them?] "I don't remember makin' a choice. It don't matter. I know I'm no more important to the Feds than another gun or vehicle. We're replaceable. Hardware, that's what we are Green. It didn't take Matt, or Ricky, or
Beth dying for me to figure that out.""Groovy." [If you can follow in the footsteps of the great Ash Williams and pull this off, you're already hired.]
Sgt. Quinn, the leader of Theta, is the only one of the team to have seen the devastating Human-Razon war. 26 years later, he's finally managed to settle into as normal a life as possible for a veteran and Earth survivor. Serving in the BIPD and policing the uncharted regions of Youth with his team, he's even warmed up enough to display a dry wit and down-to-earth disposition. But the return of the Razon threatens to shatter him and force him to relive the most traumatizing time of his life.
The rest of the team looks up to him and sees him as a father figure, he does not see it that way.
Voice: Medium to deep, aged, simple, ranging from dry wit to low and bitter. Can hold military formality. Subtle southern accent.
"After Earth, the Feds led the Razon to believe the last of us were either captured or dead, so what was left could escape here. But if these Razon somehow make contact with their people, and alert them of our presence here on Youth--" [Eddie: "Game over man? Game over?"] "You bet your ass."
"I let you get too close, I always ALWAYS let you get too close! You nearly got yourselves killed, because you refused to listen." [Quinn but we had a--] "And stop that! I'm your senior officer, not your friend, and I'm sure as shit am not your father."
"There are some things you've got to confront, confront what's happening NOW, be in the moment. But some things ... some things you've got to block from your mind. From this moment on, block it from your mind. Thinking about it won't do anything but destroy you from the inside. Trust me ... I've been there."
One of Theta's most valuable members. A rebel at heart, Jean quit her technological studies to join the BIPD and climb its ranks with the ultimate goal of gaining a position from which she can make a difference. Although she can be warm and friendly, challenges can sometimes spark her independence into something more reckless and ruthless, driving others away.
Voice: Adult, medium pitch, a little husky, authoritative, harsh when irritated.
WIP
The screwball of Theta. Before the Razon appeared Eddie was determined to slack his way through the job. Now that the Razon have returned, Eddie completely underestimates the Razon crisis, confident that the "big boys" will handle it, and that he and his fellow "grunts" will be put on the sidelines, as usual. But when and his team are thrust into the forefront of the conflict, Eddie begins to learn the necessity of getting involved, even if it means putting himself at risk.
Voice: Young. Medium to high, laid-back, good comedic timing, ranging from deadpan to snappy. Have fun with the delivery on this one.
WIP
The sweetest and the coolest, a big brother who'll have your back, who you can have a beer with. The real beating heart of Theta team, who's odds of survival are pretty damn good.
Voice: Chill and supportive, a little bit of *bro* thrown in for good measure.
Heeeeey rookie! Welcome aboard, I'm Matt! [delivers punch in the chest greeting]
[re: the Uncharted] We've been shot, stabbed, blown up, run through, deep fried. It's a mess out there. It looks bad, but you know what, it needs more people like us in it. Who'll lay down on a wire for the little guy.
[During first Razon encounter] Holy SHIT! I've got it! Take this--[weapon swiped away like taking candy from a baby] ... or not.
Not your typical alien commander antagonist. Despite serving a militant dynasty in his own galaxy, years of diplomacy have made him a suave, oddly casual manipulator of both humans and his own kind. Like a Razon ubermench, he's a cunning warrior, knowledgeable, intelligent, with an evolved intelligence making his purpose and ambitions beyond the understanding of his own troops. He despises his own species, respecting Humans all the more for it.
Voice: Smooth, knowing, and articulate despite his growly affectation. He stands out instantly from the rest of the Razon in this way, bringing even the most combative prisoner to listen.
Their language has no strict pronunciation guidelines, only that it'll be dry but paradoxically coupled with *s* sounds. Like spit from a dry mouth.
[Interrogation.] "I'm sure the last meeting between our people's left enough of an impression so that we may skip intimidation and get straight to business."
"Humans pose no threat now, but in a millennium, they will have developed their technology to match ours, they will repopulate, and they will never forget."
"Jssr evasskai raz ursst cath tethez," [Translation: Lock them away, and search the facility for others.] [Addressing to his lieutenant.] "Go get your brother, you know how this goes".
A tough yet cocky Outlander criminal and con-artist, whom Theta had a fateful an encounter with, and couldn't quite shake off ever since. She's cocky, eager to earn a reputation, bare her little fangs, and to overthrow her boss and take a hold of their organization.
She's not evil, she had a rough upbringing in the wasteland, got mean to survive, and gets unhinged when she doesn't have her way. A scrappy villain through and through, who can fall to pathetic status like Spike from Buffy, or rise to the top of her gang like the opportunistic she is, like Catra from She-Ra (whom YES I realize has a ton of similarities down to her name, I wrote this in 2010 and have like fifteen excellent recordings with her name already in there that I can't change. So yeah, comparisons are both flattering and a tad frustrating).
Voice: Sassy, sometimes even smooth, but can quickly become unhinged and vulgar.
[Post rescuing the main cast, "Who are you exactly?"] "I could tell you, but I'd look more badass if I left you wondering who I am and what my deal is."
[Phone call.] "Hey Broseph old buddy! I just figured since we're friends now I'd call to say hi. You did me a real solid back there, so I guess we're cool now," [Joseph: "I guess so?"] "Oh I also called to let you know I found the tracer you left on my ship. I'm not gonna draw accusations, I know you didn't put that there on purpose, you wouldn't do that to your new best friend ol' me right?" ["Oh ... Um--"] "Okay sarcasm over, because you SHIT in my face I'm doubling the bounty on you guys and I'm TRIPLING yours you backstabbing little f--!" [Hanged up.]
The bad-ass mother (literally) in charge of the BIPD Department, and friend of Quinn. She has always strived to be in charge of a successful department, fighting criminal scumbags-- but facing a small legion of ruthless aliens wasn't quite what she had in mind when she climbed the ranks. Especially now that she'll have to deal with it from behind a desk.
Voice: Older. Medium to low, smooth, diplomatic, a little weary but still game.
"You know I remember when we first landed on this planet. It was a shithole." ["Was?"] "Well, it still is. But it was free."
"The Feds refer to you all as ... What was the word, a disreputable bunch?"
The alien invaders of this story. An overabundance of technology and genetic tampering have made their evolution stagnate and regress. With little to overcome, and little need in society to understand. They're proudly ignorant, and either avoid or destroy anything they perceive as weak with sadistic glee, and will take extreme measures to be seen as strong. They didn't reason themselves into the warrior's life, and there's no reasoning them out of it.
Physically they're huge reptilians, snake-like in appearance with an overabundance of muscle with no necessity for body heat given their planet's extremely hot climate.
Voice: Overbearing. They're not evil, there are varying degrees of proud and sadistic or both in them, depending on how deep they are in their delusion. Slightly exhausted and angry with the weight of heavy plate armor on their shoulders. There's a hint of *bro* in them too.
Their language has no strict pronunciation guidelines, only that it'll be dry but paradoxically coupled with *s* sounds. Like spit from a dry mouth.
"Shut up, or I'll spill your guts out."
"Zith soth za ras shin, mas kash zin jithath?" [Translation: We found these two hiding, what should we do with them boss?]
"RAZTABAK!" [Their home planet battle cry.]
The various scientists, guards, dockhands, station workers, civilians, outlanders, and randos on the street. Rural sort of accents (American Southern, Aussie) recommended for Outlanders, any accents for scientists, and somewhere between the two for station attendants or guards.
[Scientist, amidst keyboard strokes and commands] "Looks like we're green across the board ... transferring power ... igniting the torch--Hang on ... gonna need administrator approval before-- what are you doing?" ["I have a key"]
[Outlander civilian] "Wait! Don't shoot us! We just came by to see if anyone was hurt! Nobody's hurt right? ... Or gonna be? We have a right to live on these parts!"
[Station attendant.] "Stand by for retinal scan. Look into the red light, don't blink son." [Waits on result] "Ah, rookie. Fresh meat for the grinder. You can roll on in, just don't piss off anyone named Russ."
The Razon Ambassador's hand. A Razon with the noble blood of the Xar'val, ancient Razon warriors. While not as needlessly cruel as her counterparts, she is still fiercely loyal to the Ambassador, and will kill on command.
Voice: Low and gruff. Refined, almost archaic.
"We are paladins of the Xar'val, chosen from a roster of thousands. Never forget why we do this. The oath we swore. We will serve the empire, and they will leave our clan be. If we are to serve our people, we are to do as the Ambassador bids, and slay his enemies."
The Razon Ambassador's hand. A Razon with the noble blood of the Xar'val, ancient Razon warriors. He is questioning his faith, where his sister Jak'ra is ferociously loyal in contrast.
Voice: Low and gruff. Refined, almost archaic.
WIP
"We are paladins of the Xar'val, chosen from a roster of thousands. Never forget why we do this. The oath we swore. We will serve the empire, and they will leave our clan be. If we are to serve our people, we are to do as the Ambassador bids, and slay his enemies."
Halo: Reach PC came out this year, and so far the modding tools as well as tutorials have become ... a moving target for me. They say developer tools have yet to drop, and I'd like to wait until then before getting acquainted. Until then, I may need assistance with some of the basics.
Say something you think would fit
Pre-existing models for Halo and especially Reach are already public, just looking for someone that can apply them for some small sequences or actions (getting out of a bunk, lifting themself over a ledge, getting to their feet).
Say something you think would fit
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