The Artistry of Voice Acting
Most of us remember something about our first bits of art. A few leaves or twigs glued to a piece of paper…my first mixed media piece. A few weeds stuffed into an old glass and doused with water…my first flower arrangement. Then there was the crafty art I saw in my mother and grandmother: crocheted scarves, knitted blankets, handmade clothes, bunnies formed from washcloths, cakes decorated for the latest celebration. You get the idea. From quite a young age, art has been influencing our lives either into a greater art infused direction or into a stiff stifled “you’re not very artsy” one, or more than likely, somewhere in between. Despite my coloring fail in kindergarten, I still place myself in the somewhere in between category. Really, who fails coloring? Ummm…me.
Then there was the first time I heard my art. I was probably in the second or third grade. I was at church in my Sunday School class. We were arguing with our teacher. She’d recorded our voices individually on a tape recorder with an attached microphone. We thought that was the coolest thing. None of us had anything like that at home. The arguing came as the teacher played each of our recordings back for us to listen to and claim our voice. “That’s not me.” “I think you mixed them up.” “Is that someone on the radio?” “I don’t know that kid.” No one, not a single one of us knew our own voices. We were only nine, at most. Even when pointed out by the teacher, we argued there was no way that was our voice.
Over the years I’ve grown from my toddler twiggy masterpiece and my coloring fail. I’ve thrown my proverbial novice hat into the rings of card making, cross stitch, and acrylic painting. I’ve also created many a computer presentation that would qualify with an art tinted look. Last year though, I made the professional jump into voice over and audiobook narration. This has more completely combined my techie or business sense with my love for the art of a craft. Voice Over and audiobook narration combined into a definite craft and certainly required more from me.
Voice acting is so much more than the words on the page. It is much more than reading the words on the page. I’ve heard that more than a few times. The words are a start. The script…a beginning. Where to go from the mere words? The sky’s the limit is not too far off. With tone, cadence, emotions, feelings, moods, pace, and pitch, all at our disposal, the directions we can go are only limited by our own artistry. Add in sound effects and character voices for animation, and there’s no where we can’t go if we take time to prepare to get there. The repetitive emphasis on training and performance is rightly justified, to gain the preparation needed, to get us where we dream of going. The practice of acting is what’s going to get us there. The performance is our artistry, the how..of how we bring forth the words of the script.
Performance begins with the script and direction if any is provided by the client. Research of a client, a product, or an idea is essential to ascertain the feel of where the words are going. Digging into their website, scrolling through their social media, checking out their product reviews, and more can all reveal important performance clues for a particular read. Enunciation and clarity go without saying, but certainly not without practiced performance. Where a voice over is intending to land will also give valuable advice on performance direction. A commercial airing in the northwest of the United States will give a different vibe that one destined for English speakers in Europe. Which niche of voice over will it be? A commercial voice over must be timed to fit within specific time limits. A voice over for an e-learning segment must be informative and engaging over a longer period. An audiobook will pull multiple voices into the mix. An animated character may burst forth from some funny comment we heard in the past from a friend or made ourselves in a moment of time. The voices within our grasp are born and strengthened by our artistry skills gained through practice, practice, and more practice.
