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Voice-Over Improvisation: Tips for Maximum Effectiveness

As a creative director or producer, there are bound to be moments where you’ve felt like nothing’s working, despite you doing your best. You might have crafted the best script or hired a brilliant voiceover artist, but, things just don’t seem to be working out.

Everything feels forced or lackluster and to make things worse, you can’t put your finger on what’s causing all the trouble. This is where the art of improvisation comes in.

Don’t get confused. Improvisation doesn’t mean changing everything. It’s all about fixing certain parts in your video/audio production to make the overall content appealing. Improvisation is practiced by many in the entertainment industry, especially comedians.

Here are a few helpful tips.

Don’t start from scratch

Don’t throw out the entire script. Asking the voiceover artist to change the whole thing might result in a video that is sloppier than the original. Instead, just look out for specific spots that need some tweaking. For instance, if there are certain lines that sound wrong or ineffective, address them by giving your voiceover artist the freedom to alter the tone as they see fit.

This will bring out some of their creativity and result in something unique.

Give your voiceover artist freedom

Allow your voiceover artist to make changes if necessary. This will bring a certain level of naturalness and comfort into the content.

When voiceover actors have the freedom to truly improvise, they begin to access their creative abilities in order to deliver a convincing performance. Plus, having some originality poured into the production can create authenticity. Otherwise, it’s all going to feel programmed and synthetic.

Be thorough with the script

You and your voiceover artist need to be extra familiar with the script in order to improvise. Unfamiliarity is the greatest deterrent to improvisation. It can create conflict and confusion for the audience. By knowing every single line, the voiceover artist will know exactly where to add his/her own brand of magic.

ABOUT ROBERTA –

Roberta is a Professional AND award Winning International Voiceover Actor, as well as an accomplished on-camera actress and spokesperson. She lives in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area and is the owner of Roberta Kennedy Voice Talent and RK Productions, Inc.

She voices for companies around the world using her state of the art, broadcast quality studio. She’s hired for commercials, web demos and explainer videos, product infomercials, documentaries, promo/imaging, political ads, e-learning videos, podcasts, guided real estate tours, telephony/IVR projects, high profile corporate presentations, video games and character animation.

Her voice is described as: playful, contemporary, compelling, commanding, inviting, sultry and smooth. A hip edge with sophistication, bold, warm, interesting and engaging are also commonly used adjectives to describe her voice.

Her home studio is equipped with ipDTL, ISDN and phone patch capability with lightning fast turnaround times! A voiceover talent with over 20 years of voiceover acting experience, she offers a full range of voiceover services at highly competitive rates & will work with your budget to help you promote your business to new levels of excellence!

To request a personal quote or audition and/or to review more of her credits & demos, feel free to visit her website: www.robertakennedy.com – or mail her at roberta@robertakennedy.com. You can even give her a call on (408) 313-7202.