So, we all know that success depends on skill, current market forces, and marketing yourself to clients in said market. This post is going to be about the market of voiceover, and how to learn current trends in commercials, in Four Easy Steps:
Learn the current Voiceover market.
Option A: Go to https://www.ispot.tv/browse and play around! See what TV ads are currently running, and listen to the ads with VOs throughout, as well as live-performer/celebrity ads. For the live-performer ads, the actor may interact with an off-camera VO, or there will very often be an announcer voiceover (AVO) tagline near the end. Pay attention to the quality/texture of their voices, the approach they’re using (both in terms of guessing their intention in communication, and in terms of the vocal tools they’re using), and if they have a bright (smile) or dark (no smile) tone to their voices as they speak.
Option B: Google/search a super simple phrase that is fodder for “Top Ten” list, such as, “Best commercials of 2020.” Then, start perusing! You can just click over to the Videos section if you like, or click on the actual Top Ten-styled articles. Some of these articles will have the commercials embedded for your ease, or some will just be a reference point for the commercial titles that you can search in another browser tab. Again, some ads will have celebrity spokespeople, no worries, listen to the quality of their voices too, but remember to watch to the end to find AVO taglines.
Pick three commercials with VO’s with voices/sounds similar to your own to analyze further.
Sit with a notebook and write down all of those thoughts that come to you in terms of analyzing their sound (is it bright/dark, high/low in pitch, rapid/slow rate-of-delivery, wry/earnest, direct/coy, friendly/commanding, etc.), as well as your emotional reaction to the commercial spot. Use Harold Guskin’s technique from How to Stop Acting, of writing down words that pop into your head while listening (such as “purple, lava, passion, stoic, integrity, etc.”) to capture your initial/visceral reaction to the ad. Often, I’ve found that the more image-ridden the words are the better, but don’t prescribe judgment to whatever you write down, just write ‘em. These are instinctual reactions and cues that you can only capture the first time or two you hear/read something, so capture that lightning-in-a-bottle. The reason: these reactions are similar to what your audience will hear the first time they hear your spot! And we want to work at getting better and better at eliciting an emotional response from our audience.
Mimic those sounds alongside the ad as it plays.
(You can also do this with radio ads, by repeating what they’re saying a beat behind them, much like you would with an ear prompter. This also has the added benefit of you just acting off of impulse without time to judge yourself. For you fellow perfectionists out there.) The reason for this is to limber up your voice and learn that there is a vast array of sounds that you can make that are outside your normal instincts or go-tos. For those that are thinking things like, “But those aren’t MY choices. They’re not authentic to me. I don’t want line readings, because then the copy doesn’t resonate,” don’t worry! We’re going there next. This is simply an exercise to expand your vocal skill and dexterity, see more options for your own approach, and have the muscle memory of doing some new things with your voice.
Now, to combine the notes and the style of delivery into your own unique sound and delivery AND RECORD IT.
Pick a completely different script/ad copy than the three commercials you watched. Take those observation notes from Step 2, and, with your own instincts, apply each set of notes, in turn, to three takes of the new ad copy (so Take 1 will use notes from the first commercial, Take 2 uses the second commercial’s notes, etc.). Make sure to Record these, so you can listen to playback, and refine and play as you go. You can also do three takes of each approach, if you want to really explore those notes and delivery.
Awesome. Guess what, those observation notes that you’ve taken and embodied? They are what you receive in prompts/Specs from the casting directors and ad agents casting the commercial voiceovers. By doing the above, you’ve just reverse-engineered the Voiceover audition process by using currently successful commercial sounds to refine your own skills and your approach to reads.
Much love!