Company Profile

Company Profile 

      CreatiVoices Productions is a one-stop shop. Its services include voice production, talent management and voice clinic. Here, they view voice acting as a craft to be honed and to be improved. Among its other services are audio design, voice talent production, animation production, concepts and consultations and pre to post productions.

      Its clientele includes: ABS-CBN/HERO TV, Smart Telecommunications, GMA-7, Globe Telecoms, Inquirer.Net, United Nations, 93.9 IFm, DDB Philippines, Jimenez Basic, Ace Saatchi & Saatchi, Office Of The President, Malacañang, Office of Senator Edgardo Angara, TOEI Animation, SM Supermalls, A.S.A.P. & A.C.P.I. and many more. 

Company’s Goal and Mission

       CreatiVoices is geared to set voice over industry standards, to help provide exposure for new, young, professional voice talents and voice over artists seeking voice over jobs and to provide easy access to producers and to agencies that have voice talent auditions or jobs requiring voice-overs.

Company’s Motto:

“Voice Acting is an Art, you work by heart and you speak by heart...”

      Pocholo Gonzales, CEO and Managing Director and Brian Mathew Ligsay, COO – Marketing Director of the company are also voice talents. They decided to put up a cottage industry such as this to protect and to help the commonly neglected field of voice acting. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

AGENT NUMBER 3: THEATER TRAINING EXPERIENCE AT THE CREATIVOICES RPODUCTIONS

The CreatiVoices Experience: An Intern’s Eye

      It was on October 18, 2007 that I started my theater training experience at the CreatiVoices Productions in Makati. I was swooned by the positive feedbacks of my other batchmates who also took their internship from the said company during the summer break.

      “Urgency for completion,” this line rang into my groggy mind and spirit as I, Mayie and Layla headed for Makati and finally had an internship interview with Sir Pocholo Gonzales, owner of the CreatiVoices productions---the country’s first voice production, school and management company for voice over talents.

      Aside from the impressive talk shared by the people from CreatiVoices during the symposium at school regarding the voice industry and dubbing in particular, the infamous “Meteor Garden,” I did not know what to expect from the interview. I just know that my batchmates who spent their internship at CreatiVoices learned and enjoyed their internship alot. When I arrived at the office at around 10a.m., my quite tension-filled feeling faded since the atmosphere elicited by the office was homey and cozy. Sir Pocholo Gonzales, the CEO of the company was not yet around that time, just his secretary Ate Marice. She asked for our resume and endorsement letters, which, we unfortunately had forgotten to bring along but she was kind enough to have it printed out. Then came Sir Choy with his wide smile and ushered us towards his table. He asked several questions regarding my achievement and goal in life. As I was observing him talk and scrutinize his applicants too, I said to myself that his workplace manifests his personality. Although I found him intimidating at first, he redeemed my notion of him because he interspersed his words of wisdom with humor. Also, I learned about how he came about having the kind of odd and rare job that he does and how he realized his dream of becoming the voice master in the Philippines.

      I was also surprised that the interview would turn out to be my first day in the company. By that time, Adrian was already there and together with Mayie, the succeeding hours spelled work. It was a lucky day for me since I witnessed the real deal of dubbing (a campaign jingle for a politician sung by Ades and the dubbing of “Chetan,” an Indian cartoon animation). In line with the latter, Mayie and I had been part of the “pre-production” when Sir Bryan, the co-owner and marketing manager of the company, asked us girls to write a negative article regarding the Stocks Exchange. He later disclosed that it would be used as filler for his line reading of “Chetan” because the previous script seemed insufficient. It was my first time to write news regarding business and the stock market; good thing that we had a newspaper with us from which we could get ideas from but still, it was not enough. There, I learned that the stock market in India is called the Bombay Stock Exchange.

      During the succeeding days, our internship was occupied by the preparations for the “OkDubberfest,” a fellowship night for dubbers with a cause (its proceeds will go to a foundation).  I was shocked to see Lovely (also a batchmate from Elbi) at the office who said that she would also apply for internship. Mayie texted me beforehand that she will not report for work today since she has to attend to a prior commitment. Thankfully, Martin also came along and the batch of interns was increased. I was asked by sir Choy to make a press release for “OkDubberfest ’07.” After which, Martin, Lovely and I continued working on an article about the company’s profile. We tried to look at it on another angle by using an intern’s perspective.

      “Expect the unexpected,” I remembered this line from Sir Choy during my first day as an intern. We were really busy for the pre-production preparation. We were asked to have a re-make of the national anthem. We surfed for images that bore the literal meaning of the lyrics of “Lupang Hinirang.”Sir Choy said that it would be used at a convention supported by the Philippine Marketing Association. Pinnacle software that was operated by Ades was very useful. I really wished that I also knew how to use it.

      My scheduled trip and interview for the voice actors at ABS-CBN did not push through because I had German measles.  Nevertheless, CreatiVoices paved the way for us, interns to attend a comic conference for free. The said conference listed down tricks and techniques on how to be a professional comic book and manga artist from professional artists of the field (such as DC, Marvel, etc.). The 5^th Annual Comic Creative sponsored by the Glass House Graphics was a two-day seminar held at the Megatrade Conference Hall on October 27-28, 2007.

      It was a melting pot of creativity in printed form. Some of the essentials in comic creation are as follows: the four elements to become a pro-artist: ability to draw, ability to tell a story in picture, ability to create a saleable contemporary style, and professional attitude and follow-through; the editor’s job and the dynamics of the lay-out artist; the comics jargon such as reference (model) and swipe (sort of plagiarized figure).

      In the conference, I learned that despite the dying comic industry in the country, there was still hope for Filipinos whose life was in comic creation; there was still a market for comics after all. According to David Campiti the speaker, “Comics are, after all, all about people.” And, I am sure that Filipinos as we are, we could capitalize on our empathy and kapwa culture in the creation of exceptional comics characters. I was the first person to arrive at the venue (from the batch of interns); someone from Manila Bulletin (a cartoonist) who was interested on becoming a voice talent approached and inquired about the company. There had been a forum to jumpstart the conference. Day two of the seminar focused on writing the script for comics, coloring the panels and inking of the comics according from the experts and professionals of Glass House Graphics.  Since it was a Sunday, the conference hall’s spaces were filled up with an increasing number of people especially in the afternoon when press people swarmed the event.

      When the conference was through, the legwork for “OkDubberfest” paid off. Before having ourselves geared up for the said event, Sir Choy showed us, interns, how to do a fun dub. He dubbed the Filipino version of “Hana Kimi” and “Cromartie High School” (which presented an absurdist genre). I liked the experience of fun dubbing because even if my voice was not that good, their voice equipment mended that flaw, I just had to have the right timing when it came to throwing the lines and the video. The evening was ecstatic or rather, we were ecstatic for “OkDubberFest” that was held at Access Point in Tomas Morato. There, I met dubbers from “Meteor Garden” (say the voice of Mei Zhuo); Matutina was there including a UPLB alumni (Carlo, BA Communication Arts graduate). The event revealed the other talents of voice talents; it also exhibited their flexibility.

      My theater training experience evolved into many-twisted spectacle. My fellow interns and I were usually part of the pre-production. But the 3^rd Hataw! Hanep! Hero, paved the way for us interns to be key players in the event. It was held at the SMX Convention Center, beside SM Mall of Asia, on December 1-2, 2007. The company had a booth and Mayie, Ades, Ate Getz, Lovely, Randy (from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila), Angel and Trish (from San Beda College-Recoletos) experienced for the first time, a confluence of anime lovers, costume players (cosplayers) and of course, creativity that signaled how the anime fever had took over the Filipino youth’s values and subculture. Among the activities that were sponsored by the CreatiVoices were a dubbing booth and a dubbing competition. I was asked by Sir Choy to print out the scripts for the booth and the competition. Angel, Ate Gretz and I acted as ‘stage managers’ during the competition since we were the ones who facilitated the flow of the competition to the dubber-judges. The child in me was happy as I got to meet the dubbers of my favorite cartoons then; such were the talented Danny Mandia, Lucy Quinto, Alex Agcaoili, Teng Masilogan and Ryan Ang (they dubbed the voices of Akazukin Chacha, Magic Knight Ray Earth, Shrider, and many more). 

INSIGHTS

THIRD WAVE OF TRANSFORMATION

      My writing, oral and organizational skills were maximized in my theater training experience. In the aspect of production, although I was not able to deal and to be immersed with real theater production and was not able to work on a proscenium type of theater, the kind of production and events that I experienced at CreatiVoices somehow oriented me with the kind of production know-how that is needed in the corporate world.

      The training experience from CreatiVoices made me realize how important it is to have fun and enjoyment in your work. Compared to my previous practicum experiences, the people in the said company consider working as playing. This was so not only because they try to imitate child-like voices of anime characters most of the time, but they also get to discover the many possibilities in their voices. Passion for work would also fuel an individual’s success. Sir Choy Gonzales was a self-made man. His talent and skill paved the way for him to excel in what he was doing.

      CreatiVoices is a young and struggling company. It really needed manpower, unlike in the case of my previous internship in an established company where a particular role or task is devoted for a particular person. But the said set-up engaged me and my fellow interns to do multi-tasking; our roles and tasks were varying. There really was no delineation between what we can and cannot do and I came to love that fact.

      Public relations, business writing background, technical equipment know-how and events organizing were the skills required in a production company.  Again, although I lacked the background for handling software programs such as Adobe Audition, which was essential in voice editing, the confidence and eagerness to learn would suffice that allowed me and my fellow interns to accomplish the task assigned to us.

      A positive outlook, patience and perseverance were some qualities that helped me traverse the action-filled, quite demanding and taxing workplace of a production company.