The Art of Voice Acting: the art and business of performing for voice over (23 page)

Wear comfortable clothes when recording. Tight or uncomfortable clothing can be restricting or distracting. You do not want to be concerned with shoes that are too tight when you are working in a high-priced recording studio. Stay comfortable. The voiceover business is a casual affair. With the increase in home studios for voiceover work, you can now even record in your jammies and no one will know the difference. I even know of one voice actor who will occasionally record—how shall I say this—in the all-together. He says it’s a very freeing way to work.

Another note about clothing: A studio microphone is very sensitive and will pick up every little noise you make. Be careful not to wear clothing that rustles or “squeaks.” Nylon jackets, leather coats, and many other fabrics can be noisy when worn in a recording studio. Other things to be aware of are: noisy jewelry, loose change, cell phones, and pagers. If you do wear noisy clothing, it may be necessary for you to restrict your movement while in the studio, which can seriously affect your performance. Maybe my friend who records in the all-together has something!

If you are recording in your home studio, you’ll need to not only be aware of clothing noise, but also the many other potential noise sources around your home, both inside and out. Dealing with environmental noise will be covered later in the section on home studios.

One of the objectives of voice acting is to lead the listener to action. The most effective way to do that is to create believability through a
suspension of disbelief
. You suspend disbelief whenever you allow yourself to be drawn into a story while watching a movie or play or read a book. You are fully aware that what is taking place in the story really isn’t real. However, as you experience it, you suspend your disbelief and momentarily accept the appearance of the reality of what is happening in the story.

Suspension of disbelief in voiceover is essential for creating a sense of believability in the message. The audience must believe you, and for that to happen,
you
must, at least momentarily, believe in what you are saying.

Use your imagination to create a believable visual image in your mind for the message you are delivering. The more visual you can make it, the more believable it will be for you and for your audience. On a subconscious level, your mind does not know the difference between illusion and reality. Just as your physical attitude affects the sound of your voice, if you create a strong enough visual illusion in your mind, your words will be believable.

Creating a visual illusion is a technique used by most great actors and virtually all magicians. For a magician to make the audience believe that a person is really floating in the air, he must momentarily believe it himself. The performer’s belief in what is taking place contributes to establishing the suspension of disbelief in the audience. If the magician is focused on the mechanics of his illusion, he will not give a convincing performance.

If you are focused on the technical aspects of your performance you cannot possibly be believable. The technical aspects and techniques of your voiceover work must become completely automatic to the point where you are not even aware of them. The words on that script in front of you must come from within you—from the character you create. Only then will you be able to successfully suspend disbelief. This is what’s meant by the phrases “making the words your own” and “getting off the page.”

Visual imagery is a powerful technique for creating believability when delivering any type of copy. Read your script a few times to get an understanding of what you are saying. Then, set your visual image and let your character come in and be the storyteller, the expert, the spokesperson, the salesperson, the eccentric neighbor, the inquisitive customer, the kooky boss, and so on. By allowing your character to take over, you automatically shift your focus from the technical aspects of reading the copy to the creative aspects of performing and telling the story.

A visual image helps give life to your character, reason for its existence, an environment for it to live in, and motivation for its words. Visualization helps make your character believable to you. If the character is believable to you, its words become true, and the message becomes believable to the audience. To put it another way: If you believe it, your audience will.

A considerable amount of voiceover work is in the form of advertising as radio and television commercials. The advertising industry is generally in a constant state of flux simply because its job is to reach today’s customers in a way that will motivate them to buy the current “hot item.” In order to do that, advertisers must connect on an emotional level with their audience. And, in order to do that, the delivery of a commercial must be in alignment with the attitude and behavior of the target audience. Each generation seems to have a unique lifestyle, physical attitude, slang, and style of dress. These constantly shifting
trends
are reflected in the advertising on radio and TV. In other words, what is “in style” today may be “out of style” tomorrow.

As a voice actor, it is important that you keep up with the current trends and develop flexibility and versatility in your performing style. You may develop a performing style that is perfect for a certain attitude or market niche, but if you don’t adapt to changing trends you may discover that your style is no longer in demand. During the mid 1990s, the Carl’s Jr. restaurant chain ran an advertising campaign that featured a very droll, flat, almost monotone voiceover with a very definite lackadaisical, yet sardonic attitude. The key phrase of the campaign was “If it doesn’t get all over the place, it doesn’t belong in your face.” The delivery style became a trend. Suddenly there were commercials everywhere that had a similar delivery style. The trend lasted for a few years, during which a handful of voice talent who could effectively perform in that style did quite well, financially. But when the trend had run its course, that flat, monotone delivery style vanished from the advertising scene almost overnight. Those voice actors who were at the top of their game during those few short years found it necessary to adapt and follow the current trends if they were to continue to be successful in their voiceover careers.

Probably the best way to keep pace with current trends is to simply study radio and television advertising that is on the air today. Listen to what the major national advertising producers are doing in terms of delivery attitude, pace, and rhythm. Observe the energy of the music and how the visuals are edited in television commercials and notice how the voiceover works with or against that energy. Look for commonalities among the commercials you study, and you will begin to notice the current trends.

One thing you will notice is that most locally produced advertising does not follow national advertising, or at best, is several months behind.

You don’t really need to do anything about these trends, other than to be aware of what they are and how they might affect your performance. That awareness will prove to be another valuable tool for you to use when you audition or are booked for a session. Use it to your advantage.

As you study voice acting you will develop instincts as to how to develop your character, deliver your lines, and create drama in your performance. These instincts are good and necessary for a professional performer. However, if left at the level of instincts, they will limit your ability to find the nuance and subtlety of the performance—those seemingly insignificant things that make the drama powerful, the dialogue interesting, or a comedic script hysterical rather than just humorous.

All voiceover copy is written for the purpose of communicating something—selling a product or service, providing information, education, or expressing an emotion or feeling. No matter how well-written, it is not the words in and of themselves that convey the message, it is the
way
in which
the words are spoken
that ultimately moves the audience. It is the details of the performance behind the words—the nuance—that allow a performer to bring a script and a character to life. And behind every performer, there is a director. Somewhere in your mind is a director. You may not have realized it, but that director is there. Allow your director to sit front row, center in your mind—in a big, overstuffed chair—so he or she can objectively watch your performance to keep you on track and performing at your best.

Voiceover copy is theatrical truth—not real-life truth—and your internal director is the part of you that gives you silent cues to keep you, or rather, your character, real. As you work with copy, you will find a little voice in your head that tells you, “Yeah, that was good” or “That line needs to be done differently.” The director in the front row of your mind is the result of critical thinking. He or she is the part of you that keeps you on track, helps you stay in the moment, and gives you focus and guidance with your performance. Think of this director as a separate person (or part of you) who is watching your performance from a distance, yet close enough to give you cues.

Over time, your internal director and your performance will become as one—a seamless blending of director and performer resulting in a truly professional dramatic artist, without any conscious effort. This mastery of self-direction is the level to strive for. This is what theater is all about. This is what you, as a voice actor, can achieve with any type of copy you are asked to read.

But there is a catch! As with most things in life, you must learn to walk before you can run. When performing voiceover, a mastery of performing skills is only the beginning. You must also learn how to dig deep into a script to uncover the truth that is hidden behind the words. This is a process commonly known as
script analysis
, or
woodshedding
.

Although this chapter will include some review of concepts covered earlier, everything here is intended to help you discover a process of your own for quickly and effectively uncovering the details in any script so you can practice in a way that will bring the character to life. Once mastered, your personal process for
woodshedding,
or
script analysis,
may happen as quickly as reading through a script.

The term
woodshedding
comes from the early days of American theater. As theatrical troupes traveled to new frontiers in the early West, the only place they could rehearse and work out their performances was in a woodshed. The term stuck and its still in common use today.

From the moment you first read any script, you will instinctively come up with a way to speak the words. Sometimes your gut instincts and choices will be dead-on accurate. At other times, you may struggle with a script as you try to figure out what it’s all about and your character’s role in telling the story. The character you create may ultimately be defined as simply an “announcer” or spokesperson doing a hard-sell sales pitch or, perhaps, a “friendly neighbor” telling the story about a great new product he has discovered. In other cases, the character you need to define may have a complex personality with a range of emotions. For almost every script, you’ll need to do some sort of basic analysis to uncover the information you need for an effective performance. The process you use may be very simple, or it may be a complex analysis of every detail in the script. As your skills develop, you will most likely change they way you
woodshed
a script.

Let’s review some of the key elements of copy that can help determine your character, attitude, emotion, and other aspects of your performance. For a more complete explanation, please refer to
Chapters 6
,
7
, and
8
.

• The structure of the copy
  (the way it is written) — Is the copy written in a dialect style? Is the wording “flowery” or expressive in some way? Is the copy a straight pitch? What is the pace of the copy? What is the mood of the copy? What is the attitude of the character?
  
• Know the audience
  —Knowing the target audience is a good way to discover your character. Experienced copywriters know that most people fit into one of several clearly defined categories. The words and style they choose for their copy will be carefully chosen to target the specific category of buying public they want to reach. Specific words and phrases will be used to elicit an emotional response from the target audience. Your character may be defined in part by the words spoken to convey a thought, or his or her attitude may be clearly expressed within the context of the copy.
  
• What is the back story
  (the moment before)?—What happened before the first word of copy? The back story is the specific event that brought your character to this moment in time and to which he or she is responding. This may or may not be obvious in the script. All voiceover copy has a back story. If a back story is not defined within the context of the script, make one up.
  
• Who are the characters?
  —Who is your character and how do other characters, known or unknown, interrelate with your character and each other (as in a dialogue script)? This interaction can give solid clues about your character.
  
• What is the scene?
  —Where does the story in the script take place? What is the environment? Temperature? Understanding the big picture of the script will reveal a tremendous amount of information that will help you discover the most effective performance.
  
• What does your character want?
  —Your character has a specific purpose for speaking the words in the script. What is the underlying want and need of your character, and what is ultimately achieved by the end of the script?
  
• How does your character behave or move?
  —The writing style or context of a script will often reveal how your character moves and behaves as he or she responds to various to other characters or situations occurring in the story.
  
• What is the conflict?
  —What happens in the copy to draw the listener into the story? Where is the drama in the story? How is conflict resolved or left unresolved? Is the conflict humorous or serious? How is the product or message presented through the resolution or nonresolution of conflict? It may take some digging, but when you discover the conflict, your performance will be much more interesting and compelling.
  

There are many other clues in the copy that will lead you to discover the character. As the performer, you may have one idea for portraying the character, and the producer may have another. If there is any question about your character, discuss it with the producer.