C’mon admit it. You love doing narration jobs. They’re steady. They usually pay well. Who can’t do narration?
Trouble is, “narration” encompasses quite a spectrum of performance. As a generic term, narration could mean everything from A National Geographic Documentary, to an eLlearning course on proper use of a fire extinguisher. PowerPoint presentations, white-board videos, corporate productions, tutorials, instructional design, slide-shows, and on and on and on.
It’s almost easier to say what narration is NOT.
It’s not so much acting…not close to the theatrics of audiobooks, or the intensive 30-second performance required for Radio and TV spots. It’s not the drama of gaming or cartoon voices, nor the panic of an automotive ad.
More than anything, I think of narration as being related to business. Just like on TV, a broadcast “in-show” narration should be the voice that explains, but gets out of the way. I am not a big fan of Peter Coyote’s voice in the all the Ken Burns documentaries, but I gotta admit, he unobtrusively tells the story. You don’t even realize he’s there after a while.
So let’s talk about narration, shall we? It’s gonna happen this Wednesday, 9-16-15 on our #WoVOChat. This World-Voices Organization event will feature a couple of guys who really know their stuff in this realm. Tim Keenan runs his own studio in Orange Co., California, and besides being a cracker-jack producer, is a top narration voice talent in his own right. Andy Boyns who is everybody’s favorite Brit voice in Istanbul (and elsewhere), kills it in this genre every day. We’re lucky to have ’em on our chat.
As always, WoVO Pro and content marketing specialist Pamela Muldoon is our moderator and the architect of the tweetchat. Brad Venable hosts for the hour, beginning at noon.
You can join in by using tchat.io or tweetchat.com. Tweetdeck and Hootsuite work fine too. Just create a column with the search term #WoVOChat, and watch the stream of consciousness fly by!
Below is the list of questions we’re tackling in that hour. Of course, all the contributions of our visitors, just adds to the knowledge-base.
C ya there!
CourVO
1) How was the narration niche of VO changed over the past few years?
2) What are some important skills a VO talent needs to be successful in narration VO work?
3) As a producer of narration VO, what are some tips for talent to improve their narration delivery?
4) Narration is a broad category. What are some of the projects you often see or have worked in this genre?
5) Should VO talent have separate demos for corporate narration VS broadcast or documentary?
6) Can one do Narrative VO internationally? What are rates and pitfalls?
7) Corporate VO work generally doesn’t pay as much as commercial work. Is it really worthwhile to pursue it?
8) What are some tips when performing Narration voiceover?
9) Where do I go to find Corporate VO work/TV narration/Documentary VO?
10) What are some additional tips to a VO talent can take away to improve their narration delivery & booking rate? #WoVoChat
