In Transformers 2007, Starscream had this deep and menacing voice, but in Revenge of the Fallen, he was given a more wacky cowardly-sounding voice, why did they changed it? They couldn't get the first actor back? Was this changed to give him a personality similar to his G1 counterpart?
Starscream's actor, Charles Adler, never changed. The change involved some kind of post, audio effect that actually made all the transformers sound deeper in the first one, but is non-existent in the following installments. If you pay attention, Optimus sounds aaaaaaaalot deeper in 2007 compared the Rotf and beyond.
Well someone already mentioned that it's still the same actor... I assume the reason they changed it is because all of the Decepticons in the first movie sound the same... Like they just ran everyone's voice through the same monster voice synthesizer to give them that deep gravel tone... Except for Frenzy I assume because he's so much smaller than everyone else they didn't think that type of voice would fit. Oh and because the live action films are just a giant clusterfuck of inconsistent non-sense run by an incompetent person who doesn't give a crap. Actually that audio effect was only used on the Decepticons. Peter Cullen wasn't altered at all. Really it might actually be the opposite in his case because a lot of people didn't like how Optimus sounded in the 2007 movie. Peter Cullen's age really shows especially in that movie as it's clearly not the same as his G1 Optimus voice. Same actor but he hasn't played that character in YEARS. He essentially had to relearn how to be Optimus again. And rumor has it that no one was giving him any direction behind the scenes since they figured that just having the G1 voice actor was enough, it didn't need to be good. That's why he seems to have the exact same flat tone for a lot of his dialog cause they just used the first take with no direction. He wasn't told what was suppose to be happening, just to read lines. No one sounds good when they're just reading lines... And most aren't even trying to sound good cause in most cases no one is ever going to hear the straight read threw... There's occasionally one person who's already memorized the script and is acting their part out just for the cast and crew but otherwise it's a pretty boring and uneventful thing. Hugo Weaving apparently phoned in his entire "performance" as Megatron over a Skype call, only read his own lines, has no idea who the character is, and never even spoke to Micheal Bay. Yeah you would think that the Director would actually meet with his actors at some point but no. He did meet with Peter Cullen at least once and there is video of them in a sound booth together but you can't hear what they're talking about...
I'm not know, man. From what they've showed behind the scenes, the actors sound a lot like they do in the sequels then they do in the first one, Decepticons AND Autobots. You can hear it well when you listen the Ratchet's voice actor in the video. He sounds more like his post-07 performances, same with Starscream. Jazz's actor sounds a bit lighter compared to his post-effect voice too. Though with Cullen's voice I could sway they might not have done an effect for all of it, but when listening the the 07 movie, I still believes there must be at least some line the digitally altered.
Charlie Adler did the voice of Starscream for all 3 films. In the first film, a filter was applied that made his voice deeper. This is the case with almost all of the Transformers in the first film, even Megatron and Optimus, who are obviously pitched down (probably to seem more intimidating). Starscream also speaks in a very prideful and aggressive way, to the point where he almost sounds like Megatron. In the second film, I can only assume that they decided to drop the filters to an extent because Starscream sounds completely different. Starscream’s voice is now much higher due to this. It also seems that he speaks in a much more reserved and sly way. This could be due to the revival of Megatron and the fact that he is no longer in charge. What’s interesting is that the voice filter from the first movie still appears in the video games for Revenge of the Fallen. These are some lines from the PS2 version of the RotF Game. For the G1 Starscream and Sunstorm DLC characters for the PS3 RotF multiplayer, Charlie Adler’s voice was used without the filter, but with the loud and aggressive voice from TF1. It can be heard in this video. It should be noted that the filter is still applied when Starscream speaks Cybertronian, as seen in this video at 8:25 Another example of him spekaing Cybertronian when he is commanding Long Haul in the Egypt battle. It can be seem here at 3:50 My theory is that Starscream uses the “intimidating voice” when he’s commanding and leading others, but uses the “pitiful and slimy voice” to suck up to and kiss Megatron’s ass. However, the practical reason is probably that they had a catalog of Starscream Cybertronian lines that they didn’t bother removing the filter from, because frankly it would sound kind of silly without it, and they probably didn’t give a shit.
I just figured in the first movie they wanted to sound scary and powerful but for ROTF and DOTM they wanted more of the classic suck up whiny voice to give more of a classic Starscream sound.
Are the actors even doing the voices when they speak Cybertronian? I was under the impression that they only voiced the English speaking parts. The Cybertronian language was made by recording different mechanical noises such as that Dial Up tone when you try to connect to the internet. They took 3 or 4 different noises and played them all on top of each other to make different sounds then strong all those noises together so it sounds like a kind of language. Then again... Frenzy never speaks English and he's voiced by Reno Wilson... damn that dude is in every movie but he's always playing a different character. Anyway... he might be the one exception cause he does sound different from the others, kind of crazy, like he's just speaking nonsense.
I think it was to make him sound more characterised. Since, there's the mention of voice filters in TF2007. I wonder what Jazz's voice would be like had he survived.
Technically, Frenzy does say words in English. When hacking into Hoover Dam's systems, he chants, "Megatron! Megatron! Megatron!" and "Megatron melting". His last words were, "Oh sh*t". Not exactly complete sentences, but English nonetheless.
Good point, I totally forgot about that. Still he's the only character who actually sounds like a person making noises when he's speaking Cybertronian. Everyone else sounds like different machine sounds were recorded and over lapped on top of each other to make something that sounded alien and mechanical. I don't think anyone was actually making those noises... except Reno Wilson I can totally picture him going nuts in a recording booth making weird noises.
I don't know about the others, but frenzy was all done by Reno Wilson. Even his non english. I saw a video interview once where he just went off into a twenty second Frenzy ramble. Sounded just like in the film. Was pretty awesome to watch.
wish they kept the tf1 voice. he only had like two sentences in english but it was badass. i remember being quite disappointed & confused when we first hear scream on the nemesis in rotf
I can understand confused but that's really how Starscream always should of sounded to begin with. The first movie was disappointing cause the scene on the damn with Starscream and Megatron talking to each other just sounds like the same voice. The heavy filter they used just completely removed any difference in the actors voices and made everyone sound the same. They really didn't even need to act in that movie since the voice filter was doing all the work. I freaking hate voice filters by the way... Like why even hire someone Hugo Weaving to do the voice if you're just going to filter him anyone. Frank Welker actually does that voice by himself without the filter... Though Soundwave uses a voice filter to give him that robotic tone... but Soundwave in the movies never had a voice filter applied to him and he sounds like every Decepticon in the first movie because that's how Frank Welker has always done Soundwave. But that also means that Megatron and Soundwave sound a lot alike since Frank Welker did started doing to the voice in the sequels.
Starscream is one of the biggest examples, but all of the returning characters in ROTF sound a little different compared to the first film. Starscream and, to a lesser extent, Megatron, have the filters toned way down. Even the Autobots, while less noticeable, have this going on too. Out of them Optimus is definitely the one that you can tell, there are less effects used on Peter Cullen’s voice.
Honestly, I prefer Charlie's Screamer without the effects. I feel the effects kinda take away the personality that Charlie added into the character, which is why Screamer became one of the best things in ROTF and DOTM. Charlie's performance in those flicks actually made Starscream stand out from the other Decepticons (which always felt like generic monsters).
