Once you’ve found some good sources for copy, whether printed or online, you can get to work by reading them out loud. It may be you’ve never done that before, save for pulling a quote to discuss with a friend, but it’s always been there, part of the fabric of our modern lives, just waiting for you, the voice-over actor, to bring it to life!
Read the spot silently through once, as you’ve always done.
Now go back and read it out loud.
And now… Sit up. Slow down. And read it again. And this time, start looking for likely words and phrases the company is trying to bring to your attention.
Then try it a few different ways. Stay with this one piece for a few minutes – don’t rush to the next one! By reading out loud, then re-reading, changing, experimenting, finessing, trying different approaches, you’ll begin to find ways the copy sounds better or worse. And to imagine what a client might be shooting for in the studio in your mutual attempt to find the best delivery for the piece at hand.
OK, now how about actually doing it: Find a short piece of copy in a newspaper or magazine – or just one of the piece from the link – and read it through, then again and again, until you feel that you’ve become familiar with it enough to decide on the best approach to making it both your own, and something that would work as an effective presentation for the client.
You can find a dozen excuses not to do this right now, but I can pretty well assure you, your success in voice-over depends on your preparation, motivation and practice.
‘Feel me?
James