The Art of Voice Acting: the art and business of performing for voice over (21 page)

While working with a script, you will often find that you deliver the copy in a style that is very comfortable for you, but which may not be the most effective for your client. As you develop your performance, you’ll begin to make choices that will affect the many aspects of your delivery and how the words will be perceived. At some point in time, you settle on your choices, and that’s how you will perform the script.

But “what if” you slowed down on part of a line that you hadn’t considered before? Or sped up on a different line? Or maybe delivered a line with changing tempo or rhythm? “What if” you lowered your volume to a point just above a whisper? “What if” you gave one word in each sentence a great deal of value and importance? “What if” you chose a different audience? “What if” your character had a different posture? “What if” your character wanted a different outcome? “What if…”

Just because you think you’ve got a “killer” delivery for a script doesn’t mean that what you’ve come up with is what the director is looking for. If you get yourself stuck with one delivery, you may be in trouble when the director asks you for something different. By asking “what if…” throughout your woodshedding process, you’ll come up with lots of options which will prepare you for anything the director might throw at you. Ask “what if …”

One of the best examples of “what if” is a called
character departure
. As you work with each line of a script, deliver the line in completely different ways. There should be absolutely no similarity between your various departures. If your initial choice is to speak a line slowly, run the line again very fast and with a different attitude. Then run the line again with a varying tempo with another attitude or emotional subtext. If, through your woodshedding process, you choose a vocal characteristic or character voice for the line, run it again with a completely different voice.

It only through exploring these departures from your initial choices and the other “what ifs” that you will be able to make the strongest choices for delivering your copy.

Here’s another trick to fool your brain when searching for the proper inflection of a line of copy. A
lead-in line
is simply a short statement of a possible
back story
that will give your character
pre-life
before the first line of copy. Before delivering your first line, you say something that would be a logical introductory statement, or lead-in. You can say it silently, or out loud. If you say the line out loud, leave a beat of silence before your first line of copy so that the editor can remove the unwanted lead-in line.

For example, if you are reading copy for a spokesperson commercial, you might want to have a lead-in line that sets up who you are talking to. Let’s say you have determined that your audience is men and women in their thirties and forties, self-employed, and financially well-off. You have set your character as someone who is equal to the audience, so you won’t be patronizing; however, you will be conveying some important information.

Here’s the copy:

For a
lead-in line
, you might set up the copy by putting yourself in the position of talking to your best friend, John. Rather than starting cold, set a visual image in your mind of a conversation between you and John. Deliver your lines starting with:

Your lead-in line (
pre-sentence
) sets up a conversational delivery that helps you to close the gap and communicate your message on an emotional level. This approach works for all types of copy in any situation. The
lead-in line
can be anything from a few short words to an elaborate story leading into the written copy. Generally, the shorter and more specific, the better.

Your character lives before the first word of the script and continues to live after the last word of the script. Just as a
lead-in line
will give your character
pre-life
to help you to find the energy, attitude, and proper manner for responding, a
lead-out line
will help you to maintain your character beyond the last word spoken. And, occasionally, a
lead-out line
can help you determine the appropriate mood, attitude, or emotion for a line.

A common problem many beginning voice talent experience is that as they near the end of a script, their delivery begins to fall off, and any
character they’ve created loses believability. There can be several reasons for this, but the most common is simply the way our brains work. Most voice talent will be reading about six to eight words ahead of the words being spoken. As the eye reaches the end of the script (or in some cases a line of copy), the brain sees its job as being done, so it relaxes and waits for the mouth to catch up. The result is a fade out in energy and delivery.

When you create a
lead-out line
, you are giving extra life to your character. The lead-out line needs to be something that is appropriate for the context of the story. It can be used to set the tone and emotional attitude for a line of copy or the end of a script.

Find an interpretation and deliver the following line of copy, first only by itself…

Now, using each of the following lead-out lines, deliver the same line of copy again. Just hold the after-sentence in your head—don’t verbalize it. Notice how the intention of each lead-out line can completely change your delivery of the copy just by the thought you hold in your mind:

Use
lead-in
and
lead-out
lines to help maintain your character and lock in the attitude and emotional subtext of your delivery.

Generally, if a client or product name appears in a script, you will want to do something in your delivery that will help give it some special impact. There may also be a descriptive phrase or clause that needs some special treatment. Giving a word or phrase that extra punch is often referred to as
billboarding
. Typical methods for
billboarding
a word or phrase include: leaving a slight pause before or after you speak the words, slowing down slightly, changing your body language or facial expression, changing the inflection on the word or phrase, or even reducing the volume of your voice. All of these have the effect of giving more value and importance to the word or phrase you are
billboarding—
but only if you have the appropriate thoughts behind the words.

Emphasis is usually what directors will ask for when requesting extra punch on a word. Most people incorrectly interpret the word as meaning “to get louder,” “accent,” or “punctuate” in some way. By definition, the word
emphasis
means to change the intensity to add importance or value, specifically in terms of adding vocal weight to specific syllables. If you deliver a word by only making it louder, or “punching” the word, it will
sound artificial and unnatural. There must be a thought in your mind in order for an
emphasized
word or phrase to have any meaning. Without the thought, it’s just a louder word. When a director asks you to emphasize a word, change the way you think to interpret the request as asking for you to give greater importance and value to the word or phrase.

If you
billboard
, or place extra emphasis, on too many words or phrases, your delivery will sound artificial and forced, losing believability and credibility. Experiment with different ways to give value and importance to names, places, and phrases in a script. You will soon find one that sounds right. As a guide to help with your delivery, underline words you feel are important. As you work on your delivery, you may discover that underlining only the syllable that should receive value, rather than the entire word, can completely change the meaning or create a regional delivery. For example: defense could be spoken as defense or defense.

First person personal pronouns—I, me, we, us, our, you, and your—are all words that listeners tune in to. These are
connecting words
that help the voice actor reach the audience on an emotional level. Use these words to your advantage. Take your time with these words and don’t rush past them.

In some copy, you will want to give these words a special importance for greater impact. Most of the time, you will want to underplay the personal pronouns and give extra value to words that are the subject of a sentence. For example, the sentence—“It’s what you’re looking for!”— could have value placed on any of the five words, or a combination of two or more. The contractions—“it’s” and “you’re”—could even be separated into “it is” and “you are.” Each variation gives the sentence a unique meaning. Read the line out loud several different ways to see how the meaning changes. Placing the greatest value on the word “you’re” may not be appropriate if the context of the script is all about searching for exactly the right product. In that case, the word “looking” would probably be the best word to receive the greatest importance. Experiment with this phrase by changing the context to discover a delivery that sounds best for you.

A general rule-of-thumb is that when you emphasize or “punch” personal pronouns, the meaning shifts from the subject of the sentence to the individual being addressed. In the example above, the most important part of the line in the context of the story might be the aspect of finding that special thing everyone is “looking” for. By placing importance on the word “you’re,” the focus of the intent is shifted to the person and moved away from the action of looking. The result for the listener is that the meaning can be unclear, confused, or in some cases just doesn’t make any sense.

There are certainly many situations in which the pronoun is exactly the proper word that needs to receive importance and value. However, this is usually only a valid choice when the individual being addressed is the subject of the intention for that line of copy.

Bringing life to a script will often mean giving value and importance to certain words and phrases. But you can achieve similar results on a smaller scale when you
work the consonants
. Rather than emphasize an entire word, limit the emphasis to only the primary consonant in the word. This approach will help a word “pop” giving it a crisper edge in the context of a sentence. To do this, simply give the consonants a bit crisper articulation. The trick with using this technique is to find the correct amount of emphasis or articulation. If you hit the consonant too soft, the word can get lost in the mix. If you hit the consonant too hard, it can sound artificial.

This technique works well with copy that is descriptive, or which must be delivered quickly. There may not be enough time to spend with specific words and working the consonants will often achieve the same result. Also, working the consonants may be helpful for discovering a strong delivery for a line of copy. For example, in the following line of copy, the strongest delivery will be one which enables the listener to taste the food.

Working the consonants in a way that lets you taste the food, will help the listener taste the food. For fast copy, working the consonants can help your delivery “cut through” the mix when music and sound effects are added. Deliver the following line first in a conversational style, then by giving the consonants just a bit more articulation or emphasis at a faster pace, and observe the difference.

Notice how
working the consonants
almost forces you into a certain delivery style. If your delivery needs to be conversational, this technique may not be appropriate as it can produce a choppiness or insincere delivery style. Use care when applying this technique. It may not work for every script, but this is definitely a technique worth keeping in your back pocket.

A copy
transition
is a
bridge
between concepts within a line, between subjects within a script, or between characters, and it can take many forms. It may be a transition of a character’s mood or attitude. Or it may be a transition in the rhythm or pace of delivery. It might be a transition from a
question asked to an answer given. It could even be a transition between concepts or products within a list.

In a script these transitions may be indicated by an ellipsis, a comma, a hyphen, a colon, a semicolon, or even no punctuation at all. As an actor, you are at liberty to include transitions wherever they feel appropriate as you perform a script.

Transitions help “hook” the audience and keep their attention. Look for transitional phrases in the script and decide how you can make the transition interesting. Avoid keeping your delivery the same through all the transitions as you read a script. Give each transition a unique twist. Change your physical attitude, movement, mental picture, or use some other device to let your audience know that something special has happened, or that you have moved on to a new idea.

Sometimes all that is needed is a slight change in your facial expression or body posture. Sometimes a shift in volume, importance, back story, or who you are talking to will create the
transition bridge
. And sometimes, a simple pause in your delivery will do the trick. Experiment with different techniques to find out what will work best for the copy you are performing. In time you will develop a style that sets you apart from other voice talent.