As you grow your voice over business, one thing you can count on is that you will rarely, if ever work without a script (also known as copy).
But scripts can be frustrating little buggers.
Sometimes they are formatted weirdly or the punctuation doesn’t make sense.
There can be words you don’t know how to pronounce and other times the English is just plain bad.
But before you re-write a single word (I’ll explain why you should NEVER do this in the video)…
This week we’re going to talk about your voice over scripts. I’ve got some great tips for you on how to read them better, because the first thing is, you got to make sure you understand what they’re trying to say. You never know what’s going to show up in a script, and sometimes it might not make sense, so don’t assume anything. Call the client or your agent, or look online. Do some research if you’re not clear what it is you’re talking about, because if you don’t know, the listener’s not going to know. Good old Google and even YouTube is going to help you.
Next, you want to make sure you properly pronounce the name of the product or what you’re advertising. Again, we always go on Google, look for pronunciations, and YouTube as well. Often what companies will do is have their product featured on YouTube. They might have a media person talking about it, and you know what? If neither of those is a good solution, just pick up the phone and call the company. You’ll hear the way they answer, how they pronounce the name. It’s really simple and it works.
Third thing you want to do is figure out where you’re going to breathe when you’re reading the script. You don’t want to be grabbing breaths any old place. The proper place to breathe in a script is at the end of a thought, which may or may not be at the end of a sentence or a comma, so plan that out ahead of time, plan your breaths, and mark the copy accordingly.
Next, you’re going to read it aloud several times before you even start to record. That will help you get warmed up. That will help you smooth the read out, and finally load it into your tablet and get ready to read. We love to use a tablet because you don’t have page turn noises, and even though it’s a little more difficult to mark the script, it’s the most cost effective and the greenest way to do a voice over.
Watch this week’s short training video Here Now
Have you ever struggled with a voice over script? What happened?
Tell me all about it in the comments box. I want to read about what’s on your mind so I can support you.
To your voice over success,
Susan Berkley
Signature voice of Citibank
Founder, The Great Voice Company
PS. I’ll be coaching and mentoring a very small group of voice over beginners and emerging talent at my Mic To Money Bootcamp December 7-9, 2019. Learn my Perfect Performance techniques, the Mic To Money Marketing Framework and get a home studio Tech Check .Click or call: https://greatvoice.com/bootcamp-1 talent@greatvoice.com or 800-333-8108.
