Demo Reels: All you need to know
Before you go about finding work as a voiceover artist, you will need to have demo reels to showcase your talent. Being a female voice actor who works across audiobooks, commercials, explainer videos, corporate videos etc, I have a reel for each of these specialities. Unfortunately, there isn’t just one demo reel that fits all. The skills and vocal qualities required for a commercial are quite different to that of documentary narration. For example, a commercial voiceover may be quite playful or salesy, whereas documentary narration (in most cases) requires more of a straight read, without any frills or silliness. Employers will only be interested in hearing a demo reel that relates specifically to the type of project they’re working on i.e. narration, commercial or explainer video etc…
Making your reel
Once you have all of your scripts for each of your reels, you’ll need to get your reel recorded and edited professionally. There are lots of companies that offer this service, but these can be quite pricey. I recorded my scripts at home in my home studio and then paid a sound engineer to master the sound and add in any backing tracks/sound effects. This proved much cheaper and the results were just the same as what a reel making service would offer. It’s up to you what you prefer to do.
Choosing your scripts…
Commercial reel
Most voiceover artists who are starting out, don’t have “real” samples of commercial work on their reels. Often they are made for reel purposes only. So if you’ve never worked on a radio commercial project before and are desperate to put a reel together, then do not fear! A good tip for how to find commercial scripts best fit for your voice is to listen to the radio. Listen out for any ads where the tone and delivery match your voice. Try and record them if you can and copy the script down. Another thing you can do is to visit voiceover agent’s websites and find voiceover artists who are the same gender, a similar age and have a similar accent to yourself and listen to their commercial reel. Note down any scripts that you think your voice would be suited to. You will want to find 4-5 scripts that are contrasting to one another. An upbeat one, a more serious one, a jokey one etc…
Narration reel
Some people choose to have separate Audiobook and Documentary reels, but most employers will happily accept an audiobook reel, even if the project is for a documentary and vice versa. Two short 30-50 sec clips will be suffice. Again, you want your scripts to be contrasting.
Read my ‘A beginners guide to narrating audiobooks’ blog post to learn about how best to choose scripts for your audiobook reel.
For a documentary narration reel, I would suggest finding scripts from different genres. If one script is for a history documentary, then your second script could be for a property programme for example. Even though most documentary narration requires a formal tone, you could apply a more serious “David Attenborough” style to one and then apply a more ‘fun and enthusiastic’ read to the other.
Explainer reel
I would suggest finding 3-4 scripts for this. Explainer scripts come in a variety of formats, so you have plenty to choose from in order to show variation. You may have one script that explains how to use a piece of equipment, then one that tells the listener how to fill in an application form and then another that talks about what to expect when visiting a public place. There are so many explainer/instructional videos out there telling users what to expect from an experience or how to use a product.
To find these scripts, it’s worth typing into YouTube ‘Instructional video’ and simply browsing through the videos it brings up. If you come across a voiceover you like that you think you could put your own spin on, then write it down. Some explainer scripts are more fun than others, so it’s good to have some variety. I once did an explainer video for Sky on what to do if your TV is displaying a satellite signal message. The client didn’t want it to be too serious; they wanted it to be playful and entertaining. This was because most people watching the video would probably be in quite a negative mood because their satellite service was unavailable. They wanted to uplift customers with a slightly comedic script and delivery that would leave consumers in a much more positive mindset afterwards. If you can find a script along these lines, that could be a nice one to throw in the mix with the more serious ones.
Video Game reel
The best way to find video game scripts is again, YouTube. On YouTube you will find thousands of excerpts from video games. It’s simply a case of watching clips, and finding a script you like that you would want to do, similar to finding the explainer script material.
It’s worth saying that when finding these scripts, you what you do not want to do, is imitate the original voiceover artist. If you do this, it won’t sound very good and you don’t want people to hear it and think you’ve copied someone else.
If you’ve played video games in the past or present, then you may already have an idea of what your voice would be suited to. If you have never played/watched a videogame in your life, then it may be worth asking a friend who is familiar with the gaming world and asking them if there are any characters in games they’ve played that they think your voice may be suited to.
Again, find scripts that are contrasting in terms of the type of game they are and what age their suited to.
It’s important to mention here that video game reels are different from other reels I’ve mentioned in that video game voiceover employers want to hear examples of different characters and accents you can do. This is where you can really get creative and stray away from your natural speaking voice. This is because often video game production companies will want to hire one actor who can play multiple roles to save money. If accents and silly voices is your forte, then pursuing a career in video games is definitely one for you!
Be sure to check out my voicereels to help give you a better understanding of all aforementioned. If you’ve heard my reels and would like to work with me, then please get feel free to get in touch.
Rosie 🙂 – 6/9/24
