How to avoid a crash landing
A Bloody Mary in a miniature glass is placed on a napkin in front of you. You can smell the spice without picking it up. The ice jingles as it settles. The condensation rolls down the outside of the glass and onto the napkin. As you pick up the glass, the two have become inseparable friends.
The noise of the engines, once hurried and anxious on take-off, have now relaxed into a comforting drone that make your eyelids feel heavy. You allow a yawn to escape. Your partner yawns in empathy. The blissful escape of sleep seems inevitable.
Suddenly, you hear a commotion at the front of the aircraft. A cabin crew member has knocked over a drinks trolley in their haste to leave the cockpit. You notice their face. Their complexion is pale, their eyes enlarged with fear. This can’t be normal…..this can’t be good.
“Does anybody know how to fly a plane?”, exclaims the cabin crew member hurriedly.
What do you do? Do you -
A) Panic.
B) Look around you for a comforting show of hands and on seeing none then panic.
C) Confidently put your hand up but with zero knowledge of how to achieve this task.
D) Fall back asleep because this….is a dream.
99 times out of 100 the answer is D. I must point out flying is very safe. Crews are highly trained to deal with emergency scenarios. In fact to be a bit more specific the odds of being in an aircraft crash are 1 in 11,000,000 vs 1 in 5,000 for a car accident.
If you expected this article to be literal I apologise for deceiving you. In fact, this is no way for us to embark upon our friendship so let me try again.
My name’s Fraser Laing and I’m a part-time airline pilot and since lockdown a Voice Actor. My aim is to move to full-time VO work.
"Why? How and what have you learned?” I hear you ask. Well let me tell you…..
The aviation industry’s demise on account of the pandemic is well documented. The ripple effects have affected so many talented people in other associated sectors. It looked like my career was heading for a crash landing.
Heck - to say we’ve all had a tough time of late would be an understatement! However, lockdown and the ongoing pandemic era have afforded me the opportunity to take stock.
What’s important to me? What needs do I, and the others around me have? Ultimately, what are the things that can make me and others around me happy? That helped me to remember what the younger me wanted to do when he grew up. A career in voiceovers was the answer. I feel I had always known.
I’ve always loved cartoons, films and video games and, as a kid, I’d try to make my friends laugh by mimicking actors, characters or celebrities back in the day. I still do (much to the chagrin of my 10 year old son especially who has no idea who most of them are)….I must update them. Anyway, back in the day I was not skilled or confident enough to pursue this career but now is the perfect time for me to explore it, especially with the threat of redundancy hanging in the air.
So how, and where, to begin? It didn’t take me long to find the VON Network.
I signed up for the “Complete Guide to Voiceovers”, taught by Rachael. I hadn’t done so much handwriting since school…it had degraded somewhat over the years and I must apologise to the rainforest for the reams and reams of paper I have used. I was soon hooked at the prospect of this career as I learned how many different areas of voiceover there actually are.
I threw myself in at the deep end and hoping I would be able to learn to swim fast enough.
My lockdown diary was bursting at the seams, full of research and a variety of improvement courses. Vocal warm-ups have been delighting my neighbours on either side, particularly during kids’ dinner-time.
Late-finishing VOND socials, Business Superboost and workshops with Mela Lee, Tom Keegan, Adele Cutting, Scott Parkin and Randall Ryan followed.
Social media apps were downloaded after a 3-year hiatus. Accent coaching with Nice Redman and preparation for demo reels with Rich O’Donoghue undertaken. Logos and website ideas developed.
My couch was clearly too comfortable, so I decided to give it to a friend to make way for a Studio booth…..(my thanks to VON for the discount).
So? What have I learned?
- To quote the great Alan Shires - “It’s a marathon and not a race”.
- Fight the demons -“Can’t do it” creeps in too often - try to subdue or eliminate those doubting gremlins.
- Celebrate wins, learn from mistakes.
- Accept feedback - good and bad - it all helps.
- Trust the Network - Talk to VON members. They have some amazing advice and can help control the aforementioned gremlins.
- Self-care - diet / sleep / exercise / mental - its ok to not be ok. Control the controllables.
- You get out what you put in.
- I still have a lot to learn - but that’s not scary - that’s exciting.
- Invest in your career - relevant equipment and training.
There is still a lot to achieve and a long way to go, but I have never been happier - my friends and family have noticed it too. I truly believe that if you follow the good advice available around you, and take a step out of your comfort zone, you will be able to put your hand up in that dream and reply to that cabin crew member confidently because now…“YOU ARE FLYING”.
Facebook: fraserlaingVO
twitter: #fraserlaingVO
insta: fraserlaingVO
fraser@fraserlaing.com
