One of my very favorite parts of being a coach with Such A Voice has to be: the students! I have met the most kind, diverse, and interesting people – who all have creative interests, and it brings an energy to my day I didn’t know I was missing.
Voice-over can be lonely: I audition alone, I market alone, and I sit in a booth alone (aside from the occasional live directed session). With the magic of Zoom, my students and I are in each other’s homes, with our pets and kids and street noise and life happening around us. We are vulnerable together, rooting for each other, and repeatedly offering a space to fail and to thrive.
My other favorite part of being a Such A Voice coach is what I have learned most by taking continuous deep dives into script analysis with my students. Throughout my voice-over career I have been taught numerous interpretations of script analysis such as, “Who What When Where Why How”, and Such A Voice’s, “What am I really saying? Who am I talking to? Who are you? What are you reacting to?”.
Each strategy encourages the voice-over actor to dissect the script. A lot of thought has been put into each word of that script: if a brand only has a fifteen-second spot, you can bet the creative director, producer, and copy editor are going to get the most out of every single second.
Yes, you need a voice that is pleasant to listen to in order to succeed as a voice-over actor – but to really compete, you need a nuanced response to the script.
As a voice-over actor, I put a lot of effort into setting the scene and finding my “reasons why” during script analysis. Then, I “react” and begin recording. I have found that I’m often forgetting my, “Who I’m talking to” or, “Why I’m here” analysis about halfway through the script. Finding those beats or transitions help my performance, but for the script to make the most sense to me, I have a conversation.
Just like my favorite part of being a Such A Voice coach is the conversation and interaction with my students, I have found treating the script copy as a true conversation finds me the most success. I know some voice-over folks are cringing because the most frequent and sometimes obnoxious script spec is “conversational”, which can mean many different things to many different producers and directors.
I am not saying to be conversational in your performance.
I am saying to actually have a conversation. Find a spot in the script where the person you are talking to might respond to what you just said – that next line is your response. This helps me continuously remember, “Why I’m here”, “Who I’m talking to”, and “How I want to react”. It feels more genuine and less pushy. It is a more natural response, as if I know the listener’s inner thoughts – and isn’t getting inside the consumer’s head what all the ad agency creatives and marketing directors want?
See there, you just solved their problem – and that’s what gets you hired.
Check out our free PDF with pro-tips from real working voice-over actors here!
Want to learn more about voiceover? Signup for our introductory VO webinar.
