Everyone loves our Animators. And more than likely, your Visionary Project Managers are accepting all the glory in the project so far!
But here at Visionary, we often feel like our Voice Artists don’t get enough of the limelight …
Much like typography, copywriting, or design, Voice Acting is a subtle, but powerful, art form. It requires a great deal of skill and flair to do it well, but rarely gets the attention that it deserves. Whilst the quality of our animation and the slick script writing is pretty obvious to most …
Why are the talents of our poor Voice Actors terribly overlooked!?
This week, we’re paying tribute to our invisible heroes by taking a closer look at the subtle art of Voice Acting. Here are 6 things a quality Voice Artist contributes to the emotional impact of your video.
1. Clarity and Depth Of Understanding
This is the perhaps the most crucial element of great voice work. If nobody can understand you, what’s the point?
Projection, tonality, intonation, enunciation, and volume all contribute the overall clarity of a performance. These aspects need to be finely-tuned over years of practice.
Watch out for “hobbyist” “Voice Amateurs” recording bulk voiceovers as a simple “side-gig”!
What really differentiates the best from the rest is that talented Voice Artists are also conveying personality through your brand. They connect with your audience.
Unskilled “commodity” Voice Artists, on the other hand, have no passion in their art … And therefore, will struggle to perform your script with the right amount of personality.
2. Energy
Your audience will resonate with the emotion in your voiceover. If you want to engage them, you’ll need to sound like your product is exciting.
A calm, focused energy is essential to creating this effect, and a quality artist will be able to communicate this without sounding over the top.
Check out one of our videos below to hear this effect in action. Teresa Lim – Award Winning Voice Actor, and co-director of the Visionary E-Learning offering – is at the mic, performing the script for The Vein Clinic.
Notice she has the perfect balance of professionalism, with a touch of excitement. Notice how the script flows. The volume is consistent. And the the right parts of the script are accentuated with her tone.
This is ART.
The right voice enables the viewer to trust the brand, while also retaining an exciting “human” element:
3. Pacing
If your voiceover is too rushed, your audience is likely to miss a lot of key information. If it’s too slow, they’ll fall asleep.
A great Voice Artist has an instinct for pacing your script correctly to keep people both interested and informed.
Again, check out the pacing on this fantastic example above, and notice how it keeps the product exciting, inspiring the viewer to watch the video until the end.
4. Restraint
Energy is essential to keeping people engaged. Go too far the other way, however, and your animation is likely to come across clownish and immature.
We told you … this Voice Artistry stuff ain’t easy!
Talented Voice Actors avoid the “overacting effect” and keep their narration modest, yet purposeful and energetic.
5. Fluidity
Breathing sounds, hesitations, volume/pitch variations, audible soundbyte cuts and unnecessary pauses are hallmarks of the amateur voice actor. They break the flow of communication and make it more difficult for the listener to follow.
Great Voice Artists make sure their narration is organic and fluid – it needs to “flow” … And pauses aid the communication, instead of hindering it.
During the scripting phase of your project we will have put plenty of consideration into constructing sentences and paragraphs which, while adhering to our “Code V” scripting formulas, will also sound amazing when performed by a talented Voice Actor.
The fluidity of the voiceover will generally go unnoticed by the conscious untrained ear. But it WILL have an impact on the EMOTION your viewers FEEL about your brand.
Don’t take this lightly!
6. X Factor
The very best Voice Artists always have that little extra something that puts them a cut above the rest.
It’s a hard thing to put one’s finger on, but ‘X Factor’ is the best phrase we could come up with. Other candidates were control, a passion, a vision …
If you’re reading this, you’re probably part of our target market – visionary business owners who deliver beyond your industry standard – so you’ll instinctively understand exactly what we mean by “that little extra something” and “X Factor”.
Professional Voice Actors have an uncanny ability to capture the exact emotion you’re going for on a certain line. Sometimes before you even express it.
Their intonation, pacing, energy, and expression all work together to get just the right effect.
As we said – it’s not just speaking into a microphone – the best Voice Actors produce nothing short of art.
So Thank You, To All Voice Artists Who Consider Their Work An Art, Not Just A Commodity …
As Visionary, we’re careful (ie. “OCD”) about the Voice Artists we choose for your project.
Like all components of your video – the right voice, combined with the right brief from your Creative Manager will produce a performance that EMOTIONALLY CONNECTS with your audience.
Thank the Animated Explainer Video Gods, for talented Voice Artists …
Want to preview some more of our Voice Artists in action? See plenty of examples here:
