Kim Ji-hye advises aspiring voice actors on immersion and speech flow

During a one-on-one consulting session, voice actor Kim Ji-hye corrected a 24-year-old aspirant's tendency to break speech excessively and warned that practicing in the wrong direction could lead to harmful habits.

For aspiring voice actors preparing through self-study, the most essential tool is the ability to view their own voice objectively. During a one-on-one consulting session conducted by Voice Actor Kim Ji-hye, she identified specific problems that are difficult to find when studying alone and demonstrated a practical correction process.

"You shouldn't break your speech"… Correcting unnatural articulation

A 24-year-old aspiring voice actor had been studying independently using books written by Voice Actor Kim Ji-hye. However, the aspirant expressed concerns that it was difficult to identify their own shortcomings through monitoring alone. Voice Actor Kim Ji-hye identified the first issue as the aspirant's tendency to break their speech excessively while reading lines.

Emphasizing that "you shouldn't break your speech," Voice Actor Kim Ji-hye taught how to maintain the flow between sentences. For example, when delivering the line, "If there is something you want to eat, don't worry about what others think and just eat it," she explained that instead of pausing at every word, one should place emphasis on specific words to connect the sentence naturally. By practicing placing emphasis on the phrase "don't worry about what others think" to bind the sentence together, she led a change where the broken speech flowed in a single breath.

The difference between stage and media acting: "Speak with the thoughts in your head"

After correcting the broken speech, a second critique regarding the direction of the acting followed. Because the aspirant had experience in stage plays, a problem arose where "stage-style acting"—which is somewhat exaggerated—appeared when delivering lines. Voice Actor Kim Ji-hye explained the characteristics of media acting, stating, "It is completely different from stage acting."

Voice Actor Kim Ji-hye pointed out that dubbing for video is of a different nature than stage acting, where the audience watches from the front. She instructed the aspirant to perform naturally within a real situation rather than reciting memorized lines, saying, "It is your line. You must keep speaking from the thoughts that come from your head." Her advice emphasized that the core is to be completely immersed in the situation rather than spitting out lines driven by emotion.

The danger of losing immersion: "Practicing in the wrong direction is harmful"

The most important thing to guard against during the acting process is the phenomenon where one becomes immersed in a situation only to be instantly ejected from it. When the aspirant lost the flow of emotion and drifted away from the situation while delivering lines, Voice Actor Kim Ji-hye provided immediate feedback. Her instruction was, "If you have already broken out of the situation like this, you must do it again."

She added a warning that repeating practice in the wrong direction could cause it to stick to the body and become a habit. Emphasizing the quality of immersion, Voice Actor Kim Ji-hye said, "Even if you say a single word, it is important to truly enter that situation and do it realistically. Doing a hundred words is useless." She concluded the consulting by recommending that the aspirant practice imitating the acting of TV drama actors or dubbing over existing dramas.

Source: original video (YouTube)