When you’re listening to the radio while driving your car, do you keep it on one station, or do you flip through different channels? What makes you stop — a favorite song, the latest breaking news, or perhaps a commercial that really grabs your attention? If the voiceover talent reading the script is doing a great job in acting the part, then you may stop because the topic sounds exciting or relate-able. A good voiceover actor really brings a script to life!
I am referring to a growing field in the entertainment industry that many people aren’t even aware of. Last year, the voiceover industry increased 7% to a $11.7 billion dollar industry! So yes, it can be an incredibly lucrative career that is also fun, rewarding and flexible! If you’ve been told you have a great voice or distinctive sound, you may have the “chops” for voiceovers. However, there’s a lot more to becoming a great voiceover talent then just having a good sound. Voiceovers are voice acting. You need to bring the script to life! When you’re reading copy, which is another word for script, you become that character. You need to ask yourself a few basic questions when analyzing the script:
1) Who is your intended audience or demographic that you’re talking to?
2) How can you personally connect with the product? As mentioned above, voiceovers are voice acting! If you’re not able to connect with the product from personal experiences, ask yourself how you, as the actor in the script, can connect to it.
3) Understanding the emotion of the script is very important to be able to bring it to life. Ask yourself what the emotion will convey the message of the script.
4) Who do you know who you can picture while reading this script? If you can’t personally relate to it, then who (as the actor in this situation) are you picturing that you’re talking to? Visualization is very important in voiceovers!
The key to voiceovers is to sound like the script you’re reading is coming out of your head, not off a sheet of paper. There always needs to be a bigger reason for reading the script, and not just because the client has hired you to do so. If fifty people audition for the same job and they all have great voices, how do you stand out above the rest? Bring the script to life!
In addition to analyzing the script, another important skill you want to master as a voiceover talent is breathing. Using proper breathing techniques as a voice actor is critical in helping you sound natural. When we talk, we take a breath when needed, and usually we never sound like we’re running out of air. When a person is reading, if they don’t breathe properly, they will sound that way. So the key is to always sound like you’re SPEAKING, not reading. Remember to breathe naturally in the correct places within your script.
In order to breathe properly as a voice talent you need to intentionally engage your diaphragm. This will help you control your breath, help with your phrasing, and give you stamina for longer reads.
How to take a diaphragm breath:
1. While standing, raise your arms straight up over your head. Then, with your ribs raised, slowly lower your arms while focusing on keeping your ribs up. Having your arms raised is not needed to take a diaphragm breath, it’s just a good idea when you’re learning to help align your body.
2. Position your hands right above your waist so that your fingers are facing towards your belly button and your thumbs are against your back. This is also not needed to take a diaphragm breath, but it will give you feedback if you’re moving correctly or not. .
3. Once your hands are in place and your ribs are raised, then focus on taking a low, deep breath. This will feel more like a “filling up like a balloon” sensation, or a downward motion, instead of filling your lungs up with air. When you take this breath, make sure that your shoulders do not move up. In actuality, your stomach should move OUT when you INHALE and move IN when you EXHALE. This is very similar to how a baby’s stomach moves while it is sleeping.
4. You should also feel your fingers moving outward with your inhaled breath as well as feeling slight movement in the palms of your hands as your entire diaphragm is moving outward.
5. Here are a few exercises you can practice to learn how to breathe with your diaphragm:
a) While sitting on a chair with your legs in front of you, bend over on top of yourself so that your chest is touching the top of your legs. Let your arms hang down at your sides and then focus on taking a low, deep breath. You should feel your stomach moving outward against your legs.
b) Using a floor or a bed, lie down flat on your back with your hands placed on your stomach. Take a low breath and focus on feeling your stomach move against your hands, upward when you breathe in, and downward when you breathe out.
c) Lastly, try lying down with your body curled over a large yoga ball (or equivalent) with your arms hanging along side, kind of like you’re hugging it. Then roll back and forth to position yourself so that your stomach is the center of your weight, not your chest. Then focus on taking a low, deep breath and feel your stomach move OUTWARD against the ball while you’re inhaling.
In addition to having a proper diaphragm breath, it is also important to decide WHERE in the script you’re going to breathe so that it sounds natural. You should mark up your script ahead of time so that you’re breathing in appropriate places to avoid sounding like you’re running out of air. Make sure you keep in mind natural phrasing, conversational pauses, etc.
As far as how to notate your breaths, that’s entirely up to you. Pick markings that you will remember. Voiceover talent will sometimes use a mid-air comma (like a musical breath notation), or a line like this | or this / or you can connect the words with a long, continuous line in an arch shape to notate NOT to breathe in between them.
So there you have it — a few key points to remember when reading a voiceover script. Analyze your copy, use a low, diaphragm breath and notate your script to show exactly where to breathe to sound natural. Have fun!
To receive your free voice-over evaluation and information on getting voice over jobs, visit our website. Our tested blueprint for getting voice over work have helped thousands of voice-over artists get started in this fascinating industry.