Andy Lerner, who has roots in Boston but now resides in LA, is a veteran of the voice actor world. Not only is he an established voice actor, he has also produced, directed, and written thousands of commercials and is currently a voice director for SpongeBob SquarePants and the Patrick Star show on Nickelodeon. (Andy is also an award-winning nature photographer. This guy really gets around. The world.)
When Lerner decided to offer voice-over actor coaching, he wanted to take a different approach. Especially in light of the fact that many producers of commercials and content were using artificial intelligence voices instead of hiring real voiceover artists.
Working with Grant Sanders at the SAND studio on Nantucket (digsand.com), they hit on an idea to use AI to defeat AI. The concept: If a budding voice actor is going to defeat the AI voice tools — technologies that just keep getting better and better — they will need to learn from a true, seasoned pro like Andy the VO coach.
The campaign features talking robot heads telling VO actors that they are “coming for all of your voiceover gigs.” and that they, “are screwed.” Unless they work with Andy the VO coach. On Instagram at @AndytheVOcoach.
The ironic part of this effort is that, aside from the scripts and one or two of the voiceovers, the entire campaign is AI-generated. The Robot heads were created by Sacramento digital artist, Joseph Holt (@adagio916 on Instagram) using AI image generation. And they were animated using desktop AI tools that are often used to create deepfake videos.
The videos can be seen here:
https://www.grant-sanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/watersq1.mov
https://www.grant-sanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/smelting1.mov
https://www.grant-sanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/chops1.mov
https://www.grant-sanders.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/blood1.mov
“I’m not a huge fan of AI replacing copywriters and art directors, but I really love to use AI in service of a big idea,” says Sanders. “It’s a tool, like any other kind of tool. A chisel in the hands of an amateur woodworker will make a mess while a seasoned carpenter can use it to create a perfect dovetail joint. Instead of worrying about how AI is taking my job away, I’m looking at it as a way to get a cool idea to come to life.”
The campaign is prepared to appear on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
“Grant and I have known each other for 35 years, going back to my days in Boston in the 90s. We’ve created hundreds of spots together. And we’ve won a small mountain of awards. It’s always a blast to see what’s going on in that brain of his,” says Lerner.
About SAND:
SAND was founded in May of 2019 to reinvent the ad agency model and serve a specific kind of client.
The SAND team has developed and executed impactful strategies and projects working with for-profit and non-profit organizations involved in mobility, entertainment, human services, air travel, bus rapid transit, train, elevator, fare payment, homeland security, aerospace and bike brands. More information: www.digsand.com.
