That’s a quote straight from VO Coach and producer Nancy Wolfson in this, her 10th mini-video lesson of our weekly series.
The comment deserves some context, for sure, and Wolfson’s remarks are designed for the female voice actors having an issue with relaxing the voice…letting go of the tension, and luxuriating into the emotive words present in the copy. Remember last week, we addressed the same issue with the guys in HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.
When you watch these videos, it’s so easy as the observer to think: “I totally get what she’s saying…I could do that…lemmee up there!” –or– “Why can’t Xxxxx get that?…it’s so easy!”
Just remember, the subjects in these videos are ON THE STAGE with the awesome Nancy Wolfson, and standing in front of a roomful of peers all ostensibly better than you. Most voice-actors would HATE that setting. In this case, the subject is VO Talent Mo Holland, and she totally nails the copy in the final take. Just watch:
[quicktime]http://braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/10_lie_down_women.mov[/quicktime]
You can also watch this video from the site: http://www.braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/10.html
OK, now back to the context from whence the Wolfson remark came: “let your words glide”. I’m no Vince Lombardi of voice coaches like Wolfson, but I AM a graduate of her World-Cup Series Olympic-Scale VO Obstacle Course, and I’m sure she’d say the answer to your questions about delivering ANY copy come from the words themselves.
TV or Radio copy? That’s the first consideration. Then: are the words evocative?…telling?…descriptive? In this case yes YES YES. So use them to your advantage. (Holland made it happen in the final).
We’re in the last few weeks of this 13-part series, but the fun doesn’t have to end. Wolfson is making available the entire 127-tip motherlode video for a price that is far below its worth in my estimation. Check out the site: HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE for the details.
Next week: Support the End of Your Sentence.
CourVO
