The Art of Voice Acting: the art and business of performing for voice over (2 page)

One of the things that distinguishes human beings from our fellow creatures, is that we are animals who tell stories. In this digital age, the warm, personal connection of a flesh-and-blood person telling that story is more important than ever. At the heart of it, that is what voice acting is all about. Marice Tobias, one of the most sought-after Hollywood voice acting coaches, calls voiceover “storytelling with a point of view.” However simple this might seem, it’s much harder than it looks, which is why this book is so valuable.

Across the modern media landscape, there are many different places where the interpretive talents of the professional voice actor are used. From old-school national radio and television commercial campaigns, trailers for feature films, documentary narration, to more contemporary audio books, website opens, interactive flash animations and mini-documentary webisodes, each genre and subgenre is actually it’s own very separate and distinct world. Each has very different players, conventions and rules of engagement.

There may appear to be a unified field called “voiceover work” but it’s actually many different disciplines, with very little overlap. It’s much like professional sports, where all the players are athletes, but most specialize in only one sport, with precious few able to master more than one game. This book will help the beginner and journeyman alike to untangle the many related, but completely distinct, “games” in this business.

And as the subtitle of this book points out, voice acting is an art, but it is also a business. While it is still true that on the east and west coasts, most national work is handled through talent agents and managers, gone are the days when a voiceover actor could simply play the role of artist. Today, increasingly, to be successful one must have much in common with the entrepreneur, wearing the hat of both actor and manager of your own career. Few people possess the sensibilities of both actor and marketer, but both are necessary to compete in what is now a global marketplace.

Fortunately, James Alburger understands how to wear both of these hats, and has broken down each area in great depth for those who are new to the field and for veterans who are looking for ways to move their craft, and business to the next level.

In his book
Outliers
, author Malcolm Gladwell points out that his own research shows that in order to master any field of endeavor, from computer programming to playing guitar to basketball, at least 10,000 hours of practice are required. This has proven true in my own experience. A few years back, I knew a self-taught artist, who was invited to teach a beginner-level class in drawing at a community college. Though he was a great illustrator, he had no idea how to teach others. So he surprised himself when he heard these words come out of his own mouth on day one of his first class. He said: “Well, it’s going to take you about 10,000 drawings before you do anything that’s worth a damn… so, I guess you’d better get started.”

The Art of Voice Acting
is a great place to start.

Beau Weaver
www.spokenword.com

ABOUT BEAU WEAVER:

Beau Weaver is one of the West Coast’s perennial A-list voiceover artists, narrating trailers for feature films, network television promos, syndicated television shows, cable network documentaries, national radio and television commercial campaigns, and imaging for major market television affiliates and radio stations. He has had starring roles in animated series such as
Superman
and
The Fantastic Four
and narrates several popular documentary series for NatGeo, Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet.

Preface

James R. Alburger

When I first began teaching voiceover workshops in 1997, I never dreamed that my workshop notes would evolve into the most popular, and what is considered by many the most comprehensive, book on the craft and business of voiceover.

Upon completing the first edition, I knew I had only scratched the surface, but the thought that there would be a fourth edition never crossed my mind! Fortunately, with each new edition I have been able to expand the content to cover more and more aspects of this fascinating type of work.

The business of voiceover is one that is in a constant state of flux. Although the fundamental performing techniques may be consistent, there are trends and performing styles that are constantly changing. As voice actors, we must keep up with the trends and maintain our performing skills in order to keep the work coming in. But the reality is, there’s actually a lot more to it than that.

What you hold in your hands is a manual for working in the business of voiceover that will take you from the fundamentals of performing to the essentials of marketing… and everything in-between.

Most books on voiceover talk about interpretation—how to deliver phrases or analyze a script, some actually teach “announcing,” and some are more about the author than the craft of voiceover.

This book is different! This book was written with the intention of giving you a solid foundation in both the craft
and
business of voiceover. Within these pages you’ll find dozens of tools and techniques that are essential for success in this area of show business—some of which you won’t find anywhere else. With this book, you will learn exactly how to use these tools, not just in voiceover, but in everything you do. Unlike some other books on voiceover, I don’t focus on how I did it, or go into boring stories of my voiceover career. No… I’ll show you how
you
can do it! Every story and every technique you’ll read in this book is here for a reason—to teach you exactly how some aspect of this craft and business works, and how you can make it work for you.

The tools and techniques are just that—tools and techniques. Without understanding how to use them, they are little more than words on the page. But once you learn how to use a few of these tools, you’ll discover that
they can be used to improve relationships, get more customers, resolve problems, close more sales, make you a better actor, improve your public speaking skills, and so on, and so on. You won’t use every performance tool all the time, and some of the tools may not work for you at all. That’s fine. Find the tools and techniques that
do
work for you, take them, and make them your own. Create your own unique style.

This is a book about how you can bring your personal life experience to every message you present and, by using a few simple techniques, communicate more effectively than you can imagine. When you apply voice-acting techniques, you are communicating on an emotional level with your audience. Your message has power and impact that would not be there otherwise. Everything you experience in life holds an emotion that can be used to make you more effective as a voice actor. And even if you never intend to stand in front of a microphone in a recording studio, you can still use what you learn here to become a more effective communicator.

Performing voiceover is much like performing music: There is a limited number of musical notes, yet there is an almost unlimited variety of possibilities for performing those notes. The same is true with a voiceover script. Words and phrases can be delivered with infinite variety, subtlety, and nuance. A voiceover performance is, indeed, very similar to the way a conductor blends and balances the instruments of the orchestra. Your voice is your instrument, and this book will give you the tools to create a musical performance. You might think of voiceover as a “Symphony of Words,” or “Orchestrating Your Message,” both catch phrases I’ve used to describe the results of what we do as voice actors.

Acknowledgments

This fourth edition of my book would not have been possible without generous support and help from so many people and companies who work in the world of voiceover every day. As you read through these pages, you will see names, web site links, and other references to the many individuals who have supported my efforts with their contributions. Please join me in thanking them for their willingness to share their knowledge and experience.

A very special thank you goes to my coaching, creative, and business partner, Penny Abshire. As a skilled coach and brilliant copywriter, you’re the best! Thank you for your contributions and keen editing eye.

My goal with this book, as it is with my workshops, seminars, and other products, is to provide the best possible training in this craft that I possibly can. With the assistance of those who have contributed to this book, it is my hope that your journey into the world of voiceover is enjoyable and productive. If I help you on your journey, please let me know.

Introduction

“You should be doing commercials!”

“You’ve got a great voice!”

“You should be doing cartoons!”

If anyone has ever said any of these things to you—and you have, even for an instant, considered his or her suggestions—this may be just the book you need! If you simply enjoy making up funny character voices or sounds, or enjoy telling stories and jokes, this book will show you how to do it better and more effectively. If you need to make presentations as part of your job, this book will definitely give you a new insight into reaching your audience. If you are involved in any line of work for which you need to communicate any sort of message verbally to one or more individuals, this book will help you make your presentation more powerful and more memorable.

This book is about acting and performing, but a kind of acting that is not on a stage in front of thousands of people. In fact, with this kind of acting you rarely, if ever, see your audience or receive any applause. This is a kind of acting in which you will create illusions and believable images in the mind of the audience—a listening audience who might never see you, but who may remember your performance for many years.

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