Voicing TV Commercials
Multi-voicing
Voicing TV commercials requires different skills to voicing radio commercials. Not only do you have to keep to a time limit (30, 40 or 50 seconds etc). You also have to make sure your pace is in keeping with the visual of the ad. I was asked to be one of the contributing voices for a multi voice TV advert for Shark FlexStyle (a new multistyling hair tool). This means that there were several other female voiceover artists involved in the ad. In the advert, there are different models demonstrating the different functions the tool can do. Each model needed a different voiceover artist. “Why didn’t they just get the models to voice their sections?” I hear you ask. Well, often models are not voice actors, plus the models could be from different parts of the world and not have the ‘accents’ or ‘dialect’ that the product requires.
Interestingly for this particular advert, they had a US version and a UK version to appeal to the two different markets. A whole bunch of American voice actors voiced the US one. Then myself and 4 other female voice artists voiced the UK one.
How it works on the day
The ad needed six different female voices. A narrator – who introduces the product and describes its functions. Then five characters to voice the five models. To give the client options, each voiceover artist recorded every line of the script. Then at a later stage, the client chose which voice they wanted to give to each model. I didn’t know which line of the script the client had chosen for my voice until the ad was aired. The suspense was real! All six of us were asked to meet in a central London studio and take it in turns to go into the booth and record the script. In the studio there was a big TV that played the commercial on repeat. This was so that when in the booth, we could match up what we were saying to the ad.
It was so great to meet and work with an array of talented v/o artists. It was also fun to hear what different flairs and ideas they brought to the script. I think the final ad looks and sounds great! Have a watch n see what you think 🙂 ——>
Rosie.
