"You need to be multifaceted": the voice actors recorded a comic video in the car and woke up famous

At the end of December 2020, little-known at that time artists Karen Arutyunov, Albert Ibragimov and Anisa Murtayeva went from the performance of one of them to a stand-up show.

That evening Albert and Anisa were in a bad mood.

And Karen decided to defuse the situation a little.

He put the phone on record and the improvisation began.

Nothing special, but the video, where actors with professional intonations describe what is happening around them, fascinated subscribers.

Especially everyone was pleased with Anisa, arguing with the "girl from the navigator."

On December 31, Karen posted the video on his Instagram.

Two weeks later, the video got into TikTok, where, according to Arutyunov, tennis player Marat Safin liked it, and he posted it in his stories.

After that, the video became very popular.

We learned that these young people are part of a team of four people who together make comic videos: re-sound fragments from films.

We spoke with each of the participants in the video to find out what they do and how they feel about the popularity that has fallen on them.

• Karen Arutyunov

• © Photo from personal archive

Karen Arutyunov

 graduated from the Saratov State Academy of Law.

For a long time he worked on the profile.

But the desire to engage in creativity turned out to be stronger.

Together with their brother David Valiani, they founded their own film company Movie Mood, where they produce various media content, including scripts and sketches for commercials and TV series.

Karen is also involved in her own projects, where she acts as a creative producer. 

- Who came up with the idea to record this video?

- The idea came to me.

I have been doing such videos since 2014.

Once in the car, my brother accidentally recorded a video that hit the top on YouTube in 2015.

People still remember me for him.

In general, I wrote down a lot for myself, but did not spread it.

Studied the format.

And last year I started making mini-fairy tales: sounding fragments from films with a good voice to music.

I have them on Instagram.

For this, I put together a team, and we opened a voice acting studio to do such a show.

- Who is on your team?

- We have four guys who are first of all humorists and, in addition, can imitate, parody, do it efficiently, with a good timbre of voice.

In scripts and dialogues, I work on the principle of cross-minds.

Four people, four characters of different nature, who can keep a certain time period in the plot without drawdowns.

Because it's still an improvisational genre.

- How did you record that popular video in the car?

- At the end of December, I invited the guys to my performance at the club with a stand-up monologue on the topic that I have such a voice, how cool it is to live with such a voice, and what are the pros and cons of such an ability.

And he asked the guys to support.

The fourth member of the team, Dasha Blokhina, could not come.

I spoke, we left at 23:00, we can't go anywhere further, but I want to talk.

And I offered to go for a drive.

It was sad at first.

We were just driving, they were on their phones, tired.

And I say: "Guys, you can't do that, we have to write something down."

I turn on the music, we begin to throw it all, of course, from the first time.

"Well, shall we post it?"

- I ask.

And they: "No, it's all bullshit."

And I posted it.

- When did the success come?

- The January holidays are over.

There are some views.

Reaction - as always: "Wow, cool, revising, class-class."

And then, on some super day, we wake up - and the excitement begins.

They told me that Marat Safin posted us in his Instagram stories.

I didn't believe it.

And before that, someone, without our knowledge, through mutual friends posted us on TikTok.

So, with a light feed of Safin, they began to post large publics with a multimillion audience.  

- And how is it right after all - dubbing, dubbing, dubbing? 

- All are called differently.

They often say "scoring".

The word "dubbing" is closer to me.

And many media outlets have used just such a phrase - "dubbing actors".

Although I have not specified it anywhere.

I just wrote "voice actors with a sense of humor."

No one has large projects in this regard. 

- What do you have in your portfolio?

- I have voiced many different small stories and short roles.

I voiced the main character in the movie "The Robbers".

There are commercials that I filmed as a director.

One sensational one - about the ice cream "Rainbow", where everyone is in a good mood.

For me, a rainbow is an association with childhood.

Each has its own rainbow. 

But it's mostly YouTube content, serial stories.

It's fashionable now. 

- What could you call your business card?

- Good metaphor.

I even managed to make a wish while you said it.

I think my calling card is still ahead.

And I think that soon everything will shoot.

• Albert Ibragimov

• © Photo from personal archive

Albert Ibragimov

 was born in Tatarstan, in the city of Elabuga.

Theater and film actor.

Graduated from the German Sidakov School of Drama.

After graduation he was admitted to the troupe of the experimental theater, where he was engaged in three performances: "Crime and Punishment", "The Seagull" and "Little Tragedies".

Albert is doing a parody.

He took part in the Comedy Battle on TNT, in the show of live parodies "Parodice", in "Laughter" imitated the voice of Donald Trump behind the scenes.

He also created his own musical group "Main Role", in which he is both a performer and a songwriter. 

- The theater in which you play is called "Cinema".

What is its concept?

- In it we combine cinema and theater, act out improvisation with the audience, practice immersive (immersive effect.

- RT

).

In general, we are trying to follow this experimental path. 

- Under the video was written "voice actors with a sense of humor."

Have you studied dubbing?

- I did not graduate from a special school.

But I took master classes and intensives, for example, from Artyom Malikov.

By the way, for some reason, this caption to the video touched some professional dubbing actors.

We are not claiming anything.

Although I do voice acting, as it is called in the common people.

And rightly so - a voice actor, as far as I know.

- Where can you hear your voice?

- I still cannot boast that I have some kind of major work, while there are no rental films and cartoons.

But we are moving towards this.

Each of us had some kind of humorous projects.

We made a series together, which I can't talk about yet.

And I once played in KVN.

- Which team?

- In the KVN team "Razmakh" from my hometown of Elabuga and in the team "Nine and a half people" from Almetyevsk, another city in Tatarstan.

This was in 2005-2006.

Then I moved to Moscow.

The KVN school often helps me out.

This is a good experience of communication, interaction with society and oneself.

- How did you meet Karen's idea to record a video?

- We guys are not sad, not sour, and for any activity.

True, it was on that day that Anisa and I were in a minor mood, unlike Karen, who, on the contrary, was in high spirits.

Then we had personal experiences.

And we're like, "Of course, let's write it down."

I think it's better to do than not to do.

This applies to anything that has a positive key.

Because you never know what will come in and what will not.

If something doesn't work out, you shouldn't be offended by the world, you just need to not fold your wings.

Something will work out someday.

Even when you are alone with yourself, this can also be turned into a holiday, and you do not have to be bored. 

- Who do you parody?

- My signature character is Alexander Gudkov.

I am also good at Dmitry Guberniev, Viktor Gusev and other sports commentators.

Alexander Maslyakov, Ivan Urgant, Dmitry Dibrov, Semyon Slepakov.

From vocal parodies - these are the groups "Beasts", "Bi-2", "Beetles". 

- Are these sound parodies, or do you copy them outwardly?

- From sound parodies, all this turns into facial expressions, into the body.

For example, when Maslyakov speaks, the mouth bends a little, so the eyes become different, and the expression on the face.

When you do Slepakov, the eyebrows become a house, the eyes are a little larger.

Everything is interconnected.

- Has the pandemic affected your work?

- I think there should be more to an actor than just acting.

You need to be multifaceted to be successful, heard and make good money.

Therefore, all the same, there were some hacks.

If an actor knows how to conduct corporate events, sing, compose - this is always good.

• Anisa Murtaeva

• © Photo from personal archive

Anisa Murtayeva

 graduated from the North Caucasus State Institute of Arts in Nalchik with a degree in acting.

She starred in the short film "First I" by Kantemir Balagov for his term paper in the studio of Alexander Sokurov.

She also played in the film by Maryana Kalmykova "She is waiting", which was shown at "Kinotavr".

- What do you do and where does your voice come from?

- I have a professional acting education.

From there and the delivered voice.

Nobody taught me to voice.

But I always watched films and, simultaneously with dubbing, pronounced the lines of the actors.

Thus, I have developed these intonations.

I am also a self-taught singer, and this is my main occupation: I sing in restaurants, in karaoke, and perform at corporate parties.

I auditioned for vocal shows "The Voice", "New Star", "Songs on TNT", but, unfortunately, it was a failure.

And I have been doing blogging relatively recently, for two years. 

- Didn't your mom scold you for mate? 

- She scolded, of course.

Mom said, "I could use another word."

I say: "Well, mom, who knew that such popularity would be!"

In general, we only use the mate in a narrow friendly circle as the cherry on the cake.

- Why were you up against in the comments?

- For the fact that we took the glory from the dubbing actors.

But how can we take fame from them if they are professionals?

We were just kidding and filmed a funny video, not even suspecting that it would go so far.

We immediately explained to all our subscribers that we are not professionals.

And these are not the voices that people usually hear.

It just turned out very similar.

We are not impostors, but aspiring actors, we take an example from the top dubbing, and I think that we still have everything ahead.

- Which of them is your standard?

- I am very inspired by Olga Zubkova.

- Tell us about what your creative group, which we saw in the video, is doing?

- The format is this: we take excerpts from famous films and re-sound them with humor, but so that it is impossible to distinguish from the original.

This makes an unexpected impression on the viewer.

It was planned to post it on all sites.

I think this year we will do everything we have in mind.

We will also start working as a full-fledged dubbing team.

- Whom would you like to voice?

Have a dream?

- The sequel to Sex and the City will soon be filming.

I really like Samantha: she reminds me of her character.

But, they say that she did not agree to act, because they have a tense relationship with Sarah Jessica Parker there.

Let's see how they get out of this situation.

If not Samantha, then I would love to voice Carrie.

I hope someone will suggest it to me.