The Sound Of Animation Podcast: Recent Episodes
Bigmouth Audio
Each episode focuses on a specific animated film or series and features interviews with the industries leading Supervising Sound Editors.
In a significant move for the UK video game industry, Equity has introduced recommended minimum rates for performers in AAA games. This initiative addresses the long-standing issue of low pay within the sector, which has failed to keep pace with inflation and remains significantly lower than that offered in the US and Canada.
As part of Equity's Game On! campaign (#EquityGameOn), these minimum rates aim to advocate for better pay, terms, and conditions for video game performers. This is crucial, especially in light of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike in the US, where similar concerns about fair compensation and the threat of artificial intelligence are being raised. Unlike in the US, UK performers have lacked a collectively bargained agreement with video game companies to secure fair minimum rates.
Why Do These Rates Matter?
The UK video games industry is a powerhouse, valued at nearly £8 billion and benefiting from around £200 million in government tax breaks in 2022. Despite this, performers have struggled with stagnant wages. Equity’s new rates represent a vital step in aligning performer compensation with the industry’s value.
Recommended Minimum Rates Overview
The rates are designed for AAA games—productions by mid-size or major publishers—and include the following key areas:
- Voiceover Rates: Minimum £300 per hour, rising to £350 for sessions with headcam or facial reference.
- Ensemble Record: £800 for a half day, £1000 for a full day.
- Atmospheric/Walla Work: Minimum £200 per hour.
- Motion Capture: Minimum £650 per day, with performance capture starting at £850 per day.
- Usage Buyouts: Set at 200% of the Basic Session Fee (BSF) for up to four hours, and a minimum of 25% of BSF for additional hours.
- Overtime: Pro-rata for every 30 minutes beyond the scheduled session.
These rates are negotiable, and Equity encourages all productions—AAA, indie, and low-budget—to reach out to discuss tailored agreements.
Moving Forward Together
The introduction of these recommended rates marks a pivotal moment for performers in the video game industry. By standing in solidarity with their counterparts in the US, Equity is pushing for a future where video game performers receive the respect and compensation they deserve.
At Bigmouth Audio, we fully support this initiative and urge producers, studios, and performers to engage with Equity and adopt these standards. Together, we can create a more equitable landscape for everyone involved in video game production.
Bigmouth Audio teamed up with Hexworks and CI Games to help provide specialist resources in voice casting & voice production so that the ‘Lords of the Fallen’ developers could focus their time on the most important work internally.
Lords of the Fallen is an action role-playing video game developed by Hexworks and published by CI Games. A vast world awaits in this dark fantasy action-RPG. As one of the fabled Dark Crusaders, embark on an epic quest to overthrow Adyr, the demon God.
Cezar Virtosu, Creative Director at Hexworks says:“Your voice director, Donald, was awesome to work with. He is hands down the best & most intuitive voice director ever!”
Stephen Scott, CEO at Bigmouth Audio says:“We wanted to make sure we were stepping into the world of Lord of the Fallen and integrating seamlessly with the Hexworks team. Our goal was not only to deliver incredible voice performances but also to protect our client’s time and focus. They need to be free from distractions in order to do their best work and be confident in knowing the voice production was being dealt with for them”.
Ready to bring your story to life?
Let’s Talk. Contact Us
Bigmouth Audio delivered thousands of audio files and an incredible cast of actors as the voice casting & voice production partner on Disney’s animated comedy series; The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti, starring Trevor Dion Nicholas, Rasmus Hardiker and Amy-Leigh Hickman and created / produced by Gigglebug Entertainment.
The idea for The Unstoppable Yellow Yeti is inspired by the experiences of director Joonas Utti, growing up in a rural small town in Finland. When Joonas was 12, his family hosted a Costa Rican exchange student. He did not fit the mould but coloured life with vibrance! The friendship opened Joonas’ eyes to experiences he only dreamed of & they remain best friends even today.
In the series, 12-year-old Osmo and his dad move from the beach to live with their distant cousins in the quirky town of Winterton, where it snows all-year-round, and monsters are strictly forbidden. While exploring his strange new home with his no-nonsense cousin Rita, the two of them form an unlikely friendship with a 6 ft tall yellow yeti called Gustav – who is an unstoppable giant goofball. Together, the fearless cousins help keep Gustav hidden from Osmo’s monster-loathing uncle, the bureaucratic Mayor Chrome, while exploring all the adventures their frozen home has to offer.
Anttu Harlin, CEO at Gigglebug says “We worked on a previous project with Bigmouth Audio and everything just went super smoothly, so asking them to work with us on Yeti was a no brainer!”
Stephen Scott, CEO at Bigmouth Audio says “Working with Anttu and the Gigglebug team is always a real pleasure. They are a studio who are really driven by their core values and why they do the work they do. That’s something that really resonates with us at Bigmouth Audio - we’re all about story and purpose!”
Bigmouth Audio provided sound design and 5.1 mix for the launch trailer of Marvel’s collectable card came, Marvel Snap. We also provided music supervision working with up and coming young music artist Moore Kismet.
The trailer, directed by Dana Dorian and Paul Coulthard, introduces an eclectic group of Marvel characters in an epic battle that could only be seen in MARVEL SNAP.
Join VENOM, AMERICA CHAVEZ, and IRONHEART, as they work together to defeat a squad of DOOM BOTS. As the dust settles a larger foe approaches, a much larger foe, BABY GALACTUS. Using her star portal ability America summons more Marvel characters to strengthen their numbers against the mammoth toddler.
Philip Feenan, Audio Director at Bigmouth Audio says; “This was an incredibly exciting project for us to be involved and partnering with Axis and ByteDance just made it even better. They were incredibly trusting, it’s such a massive brand and we needed to do it justice. In the end I think we did a great job!”
Bigmouth Audio were brought on board this project to provide voice casting and voice production services. With one eye on marketing the game, the publishers - Raw Fury - asked us to get a little creative with the casting and stretch the budget as far as we could.
Our expert casting team ended up securing the vocal talents of video game superstar - Troy Baker - to play one of the lead roles; Dr Nathan Foster. As well as this we also cast gaming Youtuber turned voice actor - Yong Yea.
Per Aspera is a city-building game developed by Tlön Industries and published by Raw Fury for Windows on December 3, 2020. The player takes the role of AMI, an artificial intelligence with the objective of terraforming Mars for human colonization.
Should you hire union or non union? Will you be banished to that cold, dark and scary place reserved just for producers that don’t hire SAG talent? Or will your series or game suffer a lack of quality if you opt for non union?
The virtual recording method is nothing new and we have been working this way for many years. However, like every other industry it has become much more common and much improved. In this article we share our thoughts on the ‘virtual studio’ method to recording animation and games and look at the pros & cons of such an approach.
One of the questions that our clients ask us all the time is; What are SAG AFTRA residuals and how much are they? It's a pretty big question to cover in one blog post as there are a lot of variables, however, the fundamentals are actually fairly straightforward and that’s exactly what we will explain in this article.
Bigmouth Audio today announced the launch of Bigmouth Audio Toronto, a new North American headquarters for the animation & games audio services provider.
Given the facility shutdowns and social distancing guidance around the world, there are understandably questions being asked about how voice casting and recording for animation will be handled going forward and how effective it will be.
Our remote voice production & dubbing service is a workflow that connects engineers, voice directors and producers with voice actors from any location. It offers a new way for animation producers and games developers to remotely work with top voice acting talent, with pre approved home studios, during the Covid19 pandemic and beyond.