I want to talk about the secret behind the formula of how to deliver the perfect narration. First and foremost, there is not a perfect formula. Sorry to disappoint, but the truth is that narration is less about the “how” and more about the “why”.
Narration can be a scary word to the non-narrator, or better yet, the untrained or ill-informed narrator. To someone who is not a narrator, or someone who is looking to become a narrator, the first impression might be that narration falls into two categories: the National Geographic “In the Heart of the African Rainforest” style, or the audiobook narrator. But the reality is that narration is perhaps the most expansive and accessible form of work that a voice-over talent might perform.
First, let’s simplify the title, “narrator”.
Rather than identifying as the narrator, you should see yourself as the storyteller.
The title of storyteller provides so much more opportunity for creative freedom with copy, and helps to remove any preconceived ideas of what a narrator does. A story can be told about anything and to anyone. You might tell your spouse a story about what happened to you at work that day, or you might tell your child a story about kings and dragons. The point is that the opportunity to tell a story presents itself in nearly every facet of life.
When you tell a story pertaining to your everyday life, you don’t think about how you are going to tell that story, you just begin to tell it. And because you subconsciously know the “why” behind the story, you express the passion, or heartache, or annoyance, or any combination of possible emotions across the endless spectrum of human existence. You have motivation to speak the words, an objective you are trying to achieve by telling the story. As a result, the story you are telling holds the interest of those you are telling it to.
So, why is telling a story well (inside of our daily life) so easy, and not so easy when the idea is to narrate?
My answer is this: the words spoken in one scenario are of your own original thought, and the other are a scriptwriter’s, instead of a story about your day or a bedtime story about dragons. As a voice talent, you might tell a story about why data is such an important aspect in your business. Or how a man named “Jack” found the perfect solution to help your baby sleep through the night. Or a story about how a hard working man named “Freddy” created a chain of restaurants.
It is our job as a professional storyteller to make the words of the written copy our own. So how do we do that? With a quick script analysis! Someone who has spent years developing their skills can do it “on the fly” as they move through the copy. But for someone who has not yet reached that skill level, I think the best way to do this is to familiarize yourself with, or even memorize, the copy as if it is a monologue in a play. The moment you can take your eyes off of the piece of paper you’re reading from is the moment you will begin to understand the truth behind the words you’re speaking, because you’re no longer concerned with what word comes next. You know the words, now you just have to think about what you are saying within those words: the subtext.
As we discussed earlier, when you’re telling a story in your life, you are connected emotionally; you are making uninhibited spontaneous choices while telling your story to accomplish your objective. So, when you are telling someone else’s story, or narrating, you should have the ability to connect emotionally and make those spontaneous choices while understanding what you’re trying to accomplish by speaking the predetermined words.
You must understand that there is a message within each and every piece of well-written copy, and simply reading the words on the page without understanding your motivation is a true disservice to the scriptwriter who has poured his complex human thoughts into the script.
The key words in that last sentence are, “human thoughts.” Who wrote the copy? A human being. Who will listen to the copy? Human beings. And who are you? You guessed it. So why limit yourself to reading the copy when you can express the copy as a full-fledged human being who loves, cries, gets annoyed, thinks, breathes, etc…
The Title of this blog is Producing Original Narration. So how can we be original within our storytelling?
I think the answer is pretty simple. You allow yourself to be you within the context of the copy. Reflect the totality of your human existence and live in the moments within the script. No one else has your unique perspective on life, or love, or how you see or feel about the world. So originality is a given; the challenging part is ridding ourselves of our inhibitions.
Ryan Ramon is a professional voice actor for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Miller Brewing, Wrangler, Petco, Radio Shack, AirBnB, and more. He’s also a coach/producer at Such A Voice. For more of his work, visit RamonVoiceOvers.com.
