John Arcilla forays into voice acting on ‘Barangay 143’
'It has to come from genuine emotion because if not, it will really sound fake.'
Seasoned actor John Arcilla, who has been in show business for three decades now, is trying his hand at voice acting through the Japanese-Philippine-Singaporean anime television series “Barangay 143.”
Although it is his first time to do something like it, he said it went well as the animation part by artists came after dubbing instead of the other way around.
“It was the caricature and the anime that followed our emotions, the movement of our mouth so it was not really hard to do,” he said.
The story of “Barangay 143” is about a Korean boy whose search for his father brings him to the Philippines. Lost and desperate for answers, he finds an unlikely family in a team of misfits whose only ambition is to bring glory to their hometown.
It’s a tale about love and family set against the action-packed world of street basketball, where the stakes are always high and life is the biggest game you can win.
John said that when he took on the role, the first thing he did was analyze the look of the character to imagine its personality. While dubbing, he sometimes asked the staff to put the face of his character within peripheral vision.
On the series, John voices Coach B who rose to fame as one of the most gifted basketball coaches the game has ever seen. When his young son, Basti, is shot dead following a championship game, he becomes obsessed over seeking justice. A lead uncovers the dark side of basketball game-fixing, and to lure the masterminds of the syndicate out in the open, he needs a leader, a captain, who will take his ragtag team of misfit players to victory.
“If the back bone of the character is very clear to you, it will make magic, it will really make magic,” he said.
His experience as singer and actor was to his advantage. He said that just like singing where he put emotion into the intonation, to the melody; voice acting requires him to distil emotions into the lines he mouths.
“It has to come from genuine emotion because if not, it will really sound fake,” he added.
John admits the whole recording may be fun but it could be taxing at times.
“I have to work with the right emotion for a particular scene while you’re not actually seeing the people that you’re trying to interact with,” he explained. “For example you’re supposed to be talking to a woman but it’s actually your director who’s on the other side feeding the lines. So sometimes you have to work double, you have to work on your emotion and imagination that the one speaking is the other character.”
All-around actor
John said the story showcases the battle of a Filipino family in a slum area where they are trying to survive the daily struggles in life.
“But the twist is, it is a parallelism to winning a game, and that game is basketball,” he said.
He believes Pinoys will be hooked on the TV series because most Filipinos love basketball.
“But of course they need to draw the attention of their audiences so they put a lot of things in the story like love angle, family drama,” he shared. The first Philippine-made anime “Barangay 143” will have its national premiere in October. Songs by Pinoy artists like Gloc-9 and Shanti Dope will be featured. The series is under Synergy88 Entertainment, August Media Holdings and TV Asahi as presented by ASI Studios Inc. Production. The all-star Filipino cast also includes Migo Adecer as Bren, Julie Anne San Jose as Vicky, Ruru Madrid as Wax, Kelley Day as Jinri, Edu Manzano as Commissioner, and Cherie Gil as Sophia.
Other projects
Aside from the anime series, John has other projects. After the success of his films “Heneral Luna” and “Birdshot,” the actor will return on the big screen through the upcoming neo-noir crime thriller “On The Job 2,” again under the helm of Erik Matti. John said this new film has a totally different story from the first “On The Job,” as well as new characters. Of course, the 52-year-old continues to play Director Renato “Buwitre” Hipolito on television show “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano.” (Photos screengrab from YouTube and from “Barangay 143”s’ official website)
It has to come from genuine emotion because if not, it will really sound fake.