Directing a voice-over talent you've
hired to read a spot for, say, dog food
is pretty much the same as directing a
great actor in a scene in a major film
production. Well, almost the same. Go
with me here.
It's all about action. The end result of
the performers action in both situations
is a reaction from the audience. A
successful performance in the dog food
commercial gets the listener to buy the
product. The well-acted movie gets the
viewer to buy into the world it creates.
Independent filmmaker,
Steve Pak,
writes: "...the goal is to tell a story
dramatically rather than didactically,
which means characters do things rather
than explain things."
To get listeners to buy your product or
service, you need to get the voice actor
to actually do something with the copy,
not think about what they're doing with
the copy. Mr. Pak observes: "The
challenge for directors is to stop
talking about results and start talking
about process." In other words, it's
what happens during the journey, not
just arriving at the destination, that's
most important to the story.
Mr. Pak's key to talking about process
is the use of action verbs, not
adjectives. How does this work with a
piece of commercial copy? Let's take our
example of dog food. We'll call our
brand "Stinkalicious." It's a wet,
canned food. Now, Stinkalicious' unique
selling proposition is that it only
stinks to dogs! Yes, when you open a can
of new, genetically altered
Stinkalicious dog food, only your dog
can smell the disgusting aromas that
always appeal best to dogs. It's these
non-aromatic aromas that cause Rover to
come a-running.
Next, let's say your research into the
most effective copy approach leads you
to a discovery: people don't find stinky
things humorous. Surprisingly, the best
choice is straight copy, delivered with
an authoritative demeanor, written to
convey the sense of relief from
stinkiness the purchaser feels every
time he or she opens a can of
Stinkalicious.
Now here's where action verbs come into
your direction to the voice talent.
Instead of saying to the actor, "When
you get to the line about relief from
stinkiness be happy that people will be
relieved," say, "When you get to that
line, convince, Jane, the listener, to
really agree with you." By using action
verbs instead of adjectives, the voice
actor doesn't have to think, "Now I'm
supposed to be getting happy." Instead,
the talent can concentrate completely on
actually convincing the listener of the
happiness to be found with stink-free
Stinkalicious. That's motivation and
that's what the talent needs to make a
piece of copy come alive and be
persuasive.
In the words of Steve Pak, "Action verbs
lead to specific action through which
actors discover and experience emotions
-- resulting in compelling
performances." Not just in feature
films, but voiceovers, too.
©Peter
Drew
Peter
Drew, a freelance voice-over talent and
copywriter/producer with decades of
experience, is heard on radio and
television stations, corporate
presentations, web sites, and
messages-on-hold across America and
countries around the world. To send an
email regarding this article, please
visit Peter Drew Voiceovers at
http://www.peterdrewvo.com/
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