Time for another exciting interview!
This time, we sat down with the incredible Aysha Selim and asked her questions submitted by you over on our Discord server. Thank you to everyone who sent in their questions! We really love hearing from you.
We also hope you enjoyed our previous interviews with our Narrative Lead Brian Mitsoda and our Composer Christos Antoniou. Be sure to check those out too if you haven’t already!
Without any further do, onto the interview we go!
????: Tarek Aziz
Hi, Aysha! Thank you for taking the time to sit down and chat with us.
Discord community member “dropko” had quite a few great questions about your career:
How did you break into doing voiceover for video games? Was it intentional or by chance?
Aysha: Actually, it was by chance. I’ve been working in the sound/dubbing business since 1997. First, as Disney Character Voices International’s Creative and Operation Manager for the Arabic dubs until 2006, then as co-partner in the localization Company Masreya Media from 2007-2017 as Head of the Dubbing Department. In 2016, in my job capacity we had been requested by a client to cast the role of Ana. It had to be a mature voice with good English (no British or American accent) and whose mother tongue is Egyptian Arabic. We did send the client voice samples, which they didn’t like that much, so a colleague at the office suggested I tryout. So I did it from the couch of my home on the phone :) Surprise… surprise, I was approved the following day. From there, I ventured into the voice acting world. By 2017, as planned prior to voice acting, I limited my work at Masreya Media to Dubbing consultancy.
How important is collaboration with the game directors, developers and designers in creating the right voice?
Aysha: Extremely important. During recordings, there is the director and the writer and also a sound director for all the screams and other sounds. Together they guide the performer. It’s not like working on a movie or series script, where there is a dramatic line that you can read beforehand. The lines might seem just random, so a performer would need context and to stay consistent with the voice.
Do you believe your acting should affect in any way the characters' design or do you prefer something fully laid out?
Aysha: When it comes to Art, there is no “fully laid out”. There is always room to bring something of you to the character, as long as it is in line with the initial character’s design.
“truthell” asked:
Do you have access to images or videos of your character before and during your voiceover?
Aysha: Mainly images. Anything available at the time of the recording is being shared with me.
And “J-dudd” wanted to know:
Are there any specific voice performances you are taking inspiration from?
Aysha: One should be able to take inspiration from everything. It could be the performance or the actual recording experience.
“dropko” wanted to get your thoughts on a hot topic:
Many "movie stars" very often voice over for animated movies and some even do for video games as well. As a voice actor, how do you feel about this?
Aysha: It’s always great for animated movies from a business perspective, but sometimes it poses a lot of difficulties due to movie stars’ schedules, especially with sequels. However, for video games, I feel it’s more of a mystery to have the characters voiced by non-movie stars in order not to have the image of the movie star in mind when hearing the voice. Voices are very powerful in themselves when you don’t have an image.
And “Sand Wraith” had another topical question:
How do you think AI based speech synthesis will affect the career of upcoming voice actors in the next 5 years?
Aysha: It will definitely have an effect, but not for major roles or deep performances. No matter how advanced AI is, it cannot replace the soul of a human being performing.
“dropko” wanted to know:
You started big with hugely popular games like Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm. Did it change your opinion on the role and importance of voicing a video game character?
Aysha: Absolutely not. All big names started somewhere and working with a new company has the advantage of being part of the team. I saw Mandragora growing from scratch and it feels like watching a baby grow and it’s thrilling to be part of that journey.
Before Overwatch, I had no idea about how huge video games are. Now, I can see how it is a world of its own and how the characters do inspire people.
“Screwdriver” was curious about the following:
What, in the Mandragora Universe, prompted you to participate in its dubbing? What were the differences with your previous works for Overwatch?
Aysha: Overwatch was an already established game, so of course Blizzard. I jumped aboard. With Mandragora there was something fresh. The team that contacted me was very genuine and so passionate about what they do. Passion is contagious and I was hooked. It helped of course that the prelim images and music were perfect! and in my mind I thought “this is going to be BIG” and I want to be part of it.
Finally, to close this interview off, “dropko” also had a question about your work on Mandragora:
Can you tell us a bit about your character in Mandragora and what challenges you are finding in voicing her?
Aysha: I just had my first recording session. The first challenge was finding the right voice. The voice had to be non-Ana, yet it had to be MY voice. The second challenge was understanding the character. It’s a very mysterious character, which will allow me a lot of exploration. I fell in love with her immediately and had loads of fun voicing her.
And that’s a wrap!
We really hope you enjoyed this interview with incredible voice talent Aysha Selim.
Special thanks again to everyone who submitted a question!
We look forward to hearing your thoughts right here in the comments or over on our Discord!
If you’d like to further support us and our game, please tell a friend about Mandragora and give us a follow on social media!
Until next time! ????
Attending Gamescom? Don’t forget to check out Mandragora!
If you’ll be attending Gamescom (August 23-27), be sure to drop by our booth and check out Mandragora! You’ll be able to find our game and even try out a public hands-on demo at Koelnmesse’s Hall 8.1, booth C-020!
